Ok, Ok

Alright that las post probably made me sound like I'm having a terrible time here. Thats not true of course. I'm just feeling homesick and anxious over my job search. Here, enjoy this official description of Big Thunder Railroad, taken from the Disney network! (Shhh!)

Location: Frontierland
Phone: 8-273-5344

Restriction: Children must be at least 40" tall to ride. Loose articles, hats, and glasses should be removed and secured.

Opening Date: September 23, 1980


Grand Opening: November 15, 1980
Description: Roller coaster-type ride:


Big Thunder Mountain Railroad carries visitors careening around redstone slopes and through mysterious caverns in the spirit of the Old West. Guests enter the ramshackled headquarters of the Big Thunder Mining Co. and board converted ore cars. The train, without a human hand at the throttle, suddenly whisks the unsuspecting passengers away on a harrowing journey. Guests brave flashfloods, earthquakes, avalanches, and hairpin turns as the train, with a mind of its own, courses its way around and about the majestic mountain.

Attraction Statistics:


Attraction Area: Approximately 2.5 acres
Height of Main Butte: 197 feet, 6 inches above sea level:
The height of genuine mountains is actually calculated by measuring the height from sea level, which is how the 197 feet, 6 inches measurement was obtained for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

When a ground level measurement is used, the height of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad's Main Butte becomes approximately 100 feet above ground level.
Show Time: 3 minutes, 25 seconds
Trains:
6 trains: 1 Engine + 5 cars per train

Capacity: 6 guests per car, 30 guests per train

Tracks: 2,780 feet of railroad tracks

Approximate Maximum Speed: 24-30 mph
POINTS OF INTEREST:

Audio-Animatronics®: There are approximately 20 Audio-Animatronics® figures throughout Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, including chickens, donkeys, possums, a goat, a longjohn-clad resident spinning through the flood in a bathtub, and a rainmaker whose name is Professor Cumulus Isobar. Careful observers will also note a that a party is going on in the second-story room of a saloon.

Big Thunder Trains: The names of the six trains (engines) are as follows:


U.B. Bold
U.R. Daring
U.R. Courageous
I.M. Brave
I.B. Hearty
I.M. Fearless
Construction Statistics: It took years of planning, hundreds of rock makers, tons of steel and concrete, and gallons of paint and water to build the redrock buttes and windswept mine buildings. The following are approximate quantities of materials used in the construction of the attraction:


6,500 tons of steel beams, rods, and mesh

4,675 tons of concrete (including cement and sand

90,000 gallons of water

4,000 gallons of desert paint in assorted colors

Cousin Elrod: The washed-up miner, floating by in a bathtub during the flash flood at Tumbleweed, is known as Cousin Elrod.

Height: Rising 197 and a half feet above sea level, and spanning two and a half acres, Big Thunder Mountain is the tallest "mountain" in Florida. (See Also Attraction Statistics)

Hidden Mickey: Three rusty gears laying on the grass as you reenter the station.
Mining Equipment: Genuine antique mining equipment can be found around the 2.5 acre attraction. These pieces were purchased at various auctions throughout the Southwest and include a double-stamp ore crusher, an ore-hauling wagon, and an old ball mill used to extract gold from ore.

Music: The following selection of songs can be heard in the attraction (The titles are listed alphabetically and do not necessarily represent the order of presentation. In addition, this selection may not represent the complete list of songs featured in the attraction):


Believe Me If All Those Endearing Young Charms (Melody: 1775; lyrics and music: 1807-1808)

The Big Rock Candy Mountain (1885)

The Blue Tail Fly, or, Jimmy Crack Corn (1846)

Clementine (Oh, My Darling Clementine - 1884)

Hand Me Down My Walking Cane (1865)

Home on the Range (c.1873)

Little Brown Jug (1869)

The Red River Valley (1896)

Shenandoah (c.1826)

Sweet Genevieve (1869)

Turkey in the Straw, or, Old Zip Coon (1834)

When You and I Were Young, Maggie (1866)

Rainmaker: The rainmaker in the town of Tumbleweed is Professor Cumulus Isobar. The term professor, like that of doctor, was often times a title that was self-imposed by so-called "Medicine Show" peddlers.

Background Story: During long dry spells in the weather, so-called rainmakers would appear, seemingly out of nowhere, promising, for a small fee, to bring rain by shooting cannonballs at the clouds, shouting mystical incantations at the sky, or promising a miracle based purely on faith alone. Sometimes blind luck intervened and it rained. Sometimes it didn't, and the miracle worker might find himself being tarred, feathered, tied to a railway tie and trotted out of town by an angry mob of disillusioned townsfolk.
The name Cumulus is derived from a formation of clouds that look like puffs, mounds or towers with flat bases and tops that often resemble cauliflowers. Once these clouds reach a certain height and density they become indicative of rainstorms and are often called "thunderheads" or "thunderclouds."
The term "isobar" refers to a line drawn on a weather map that connects points at which the barometric pressure is the same. A barometer is an instrument that measures air pressure.
Show Scenes:

Miner's Cave

Bat Cave

Grotto

Waterfall

Natural Arch Canyon

Robber's Cave

Flash Flood

Dave V. Jones Mine

Winch House

Big Horned Sheep

Spiral Butte

Abandoned Mine

Big Thunder Mine

Avalanche

River Trestle

Snow Shed

Dinosaur Bones

Sulfur Pools

Geysers
Spiels: The spiels for "the wildest ride in the wilderness" were recorded by Dallas McKennon who also provides the voices for Benjamin Franklin in The American Adventure presentation and for the Professor in Disney's animated feature film, Lady and the Tramp.

Theming: The attraction is set in a Southwestern landscape, reminiscent of the wind swept features found in Arizona’s Monument Valley. While Big Thunder Mountain looms in the background, the remainder of the area is punctuated by narrow gorges, tunnels, caverns, and dry river beds.

Tumbleweed: The name of the small flooded town situated along the tracks of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is Tumbleweed.