The Backstories and Magical Secrets of Walt Disney World

by Christopher E Smith

  Next we see the flooded wagon of Professor Cumulus Isobar, Rainmaker. Did he cause the massive flood with his precipitation talents? Or was it the curse of mountain spirits? Nobody knows for sure. Be sure to look at all of the contraptions that decorate the top of Isobar’s wagon, and of course the professor himself taking time to empty buckets of water from the wagon. According to his “Moisture Gauge,” the precipitation level is “dogs,” with the other measurement points being “cats” and “drizzle.” Also be on the lookout for famed character “Cousin Elrod” who can be seen floating in a nearby bathtub. Cousin Elrod is wearing long johns and seems to be enjoying the flood with a relaxed expression on his face.

  Once the trains exit the town of Tumbleweed, they speed past an abandoned mine (labeled as the “Dave V. Jones Mine”) and past audio-animatronic mules, goats, roadrunners, and snakes en route to Big Thunder’s second lift hill. A “Flood-ometer” indicates a “Flooded Out” condition.

  As the trains climb the third and final hill, another “earthquake” hits the mountain, clearly indicating that the spirits are not happy with us. Originally, this effect included boulders and rocks actually falling from above, though today you’ll experience only lighting and sound effects. The trains “barely” exit the cavern before the disastrous effects of the quake are complete.

  Another interesting moment in the attraction is when the trains pass a series of unearthed dinosaur fossils. A crate adjacent to one is labeled “Professor Fullery” of the U.S. Geological Society. Get it…tomfoolery! Nearby, the Tumbleweed Cabinet & Casket Co. advertises services of “Furniture, Upholstery & Embalming.” The advertisement is placed on a casket.

  As you begin your return to the train station, you’ll see bubbling phosphorescent pools, hot springs, and geysers, before exiting your mine carts on “Nugget Way.” Upon exiting, be on the lookout for the office of the Big Thunder Mining Company’s telegraph manager, “Morris Code!”

  If you enjoyed the blasting machines in the queue, you’ll get a pleasant surprise on the exit path, where a standalone blasting machine can trigger a nearby explosion. Another magical secret that few guests notice when exiting Big Thunder Mountain is a geyser that erupts periodically.

  More Magical Secrets of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

  In addition to the numerous storytelling elements found in the queue and the attraction, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is home to a number of other magical secrets:

  The stick used to measure the height of young prospectors before boarding the attraction is labeled “Today’s rain forecast,” and points to 40 inches, the height requirement for Big Thunder Mountain.

  The attraction features six different trains: U.B. Bold, U.R. Daring, U.R. Courageous, I.M. Brave, I.B. Hearty, and I.M. Fearless.

  Maximum speed of the attraction is about thirty-five miles per hour. I say “maximum” because as the temperatures rise throughout the day and the grease on the tracks melts, the speed of the attraction gradually increases.

  Big Thunder features about twenty audio-animatronic figures consisting of people and a variety of animals. The use of dinosaur bones extruding from the stone and some of the animals (a bobcat atop a cactus, and a roadrunner and a snake) are hidden tributes to the predecessor of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad in Disneyland, the Mine Train Through Nature’s Wonderland.

  Can you guess how many pounds of rockwork were used to recreate a Monument Valley landscape? Well…none! The façade of the attraction was constructed using cement, concrete, and stucco (along with the work of some brilliant Imagineers).

  To construct Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, the Imagineers used 630 tons of steel, 4,675 tons of special “mud,” and 9,000 gallons of paint.

  During construction, the Imagineers drained the Rivers of America so that the attraction could be built as close to the water as possible.

  Real History

  Initial Plans

  The real history behind how Big Thunder Mountain Railroad came to be built in the Magic Kingdom may actually surpass its incredible backstory and storytelling elements. The original plans for the Magic Kingdom did not include Big Thunder, at least not in the form that guests enjoy today. Instead, Imagineer Marc Davis designed plans for perhaps the greatest attraction concept that never was: Thunder Mesa.

  In the 1960s, Davis’ duties transitioned from an animator on Disney feature films to a designer and artist for Disneyland and later for Walt Disney World. In designing plans for Thunder Mesa, Davis set a modest goal for himself: create the greatest Disney theme-park attraction of all time. In other words, he wanted to “out-Pirate” his signature creation, Pirates of the Caribbean in Disneyland. This new attraction, Western River Expedition, would be the key component of a larger theme park area set within the Frontierland section of the Magic Kingdom known as Thunder Mesa.

  To gain a true understanding of the scope of Thunder Mesa, you must first grasp the sheer magnitude of the proposed show building. The massive structure was to be approximately four stories tall and cover a sprawling area from the current location of the Briar Patch gift shop (in front of Splash Mountain in Frontierland) all the way through the current footprint of the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. It would have literally towered over Frontierland and provided a very dramatic, breathtaking backdrop for the land.

  The true star of Thunder Mesa was to be the Western River Expedition, a Wild West-themed Pirates of the Caribbean attraction that would have carried guests via boats through numerous intricately themed and comical scenes set to an Old West backdrop. Guests would have also experienced a runaway mine-train coaster that travelled through a network of ore mines over, around, and through the Thunder Mesa landscape. As you can probably imagine, this mine train component of Thunder Mesa was the ideological predecessor to the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Plans for a mine-train coaster were significant because the attraction would have been the first “thrill” ride and the first roller coaster at Walt Disney World. Imagineer Marty Sklar described the decision of not including thrill rides in the Magic Kingdom on opening day as one of the biggest “goofs” of Disney Imagineers, noting that “we figured there would be too many older, retired people.” With that belief, the attractions in operation on the Magic Kingdom’s opening day were largely family-centered, and included classics such as Peter Pan’s Flight and Jungle Cruise. Disneyland’s popular roller coaster, the Matterhorn Bobsleds, was not replicated in Disney World, and Space Mountain would not open until January 15, 1975.

  Thunder Mesa Gets Shelved

  Because Thunder Mesa was such a monumental project, it not surprisingly also carried a monumental price tag. As construction of the Magic Kingdom progressed and costs began to soar, Disney executives faced a difficult decision. Did they move forward with the ambitious and costly Thunder Mesa project and sacrifice multiple other attractions? Or did they devote resources to developing numerous smaller attractions to help divert and occupy the expected huge volume of theme park guests expected on opening day? Ultimately, they chose option two, and Thunder Mesa was placed on the Phase One project list, a designation of projects to be completed within the first five years after the Magic Kingdom opened.

  The rationale behind a Phase One plan for Thunder Mesa, as opposed to pushing that it be completed for opening day, was threefold. First, the five-year Phase One period provided Disney personnel with sufficient time to get a threshold amount of attractions and other offerings operating at the Magic Kingdom to address the expected crowd levels. Second, the revenue from the Magic Kingdom, which was expected to be significant, could be used to offset the enormous construction costs for Thunder Mesa. Finally, a promise of additional experiences coming within a five-year period was the perfect enticement for first-time visitors (which they all were at that point) to come re-visit Walt Disney World in the future.

  When planning the new Magic Kingdom, the Disney executive leadership, and in particular Dick Irvine, the executive vice president and chief operations officer of WED Enterprises, w
anted to mix popular attractions from Disneyland with new and exciting attractions unique to Disney World. Of course, the decision of which Disneyland concepts to bring to central Florida was extremely difficult. A delicate balance needed to be struck between capitalizing on the vast goodwill created by Disneyland while also providing enough unique offerings to entice guests to make the trip to Florida. Irvine and the rest of the Disney decision-makers did incorporate many familiar attractions from Disneyland into the new park’s opening day roster, including what would become known as Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room, Jungle Cruise and Peter Pan’s Flight.

  One noticeable omission was Pirates of the Caribbean, the immensely popular attraction from Disneyland. Thousands of guests were not happy, and began asking the same question over and over again: “Where are the pirates?!?”

  Because of this overwhelming guest demand, Disney quickly moved to add Pirates of the Caribbean to the Magic Kingdom. Pirates opened in the Adventureland section of Disney World on December 15, 1973, quickly becoming one of the most beloved and popular attractions in the entire park.

  There is no doubt that the decision to build Pirates of the Caribbean was a tremendous blow to Thunder Mesa. The area reserved for Thunder Mesa was right next door to Pirates, and its key component, the Western River Expedition, was a Western version of Pirates. Given these issues, the thought of expending the significant amount of money and resources necessary to build Thunder Mesa caused many Disney executives to question the feasibility of moving forward with the project.

  In addition, on December 20, 1971, less than three months after the Magic Kingdom’s opening day, Roy Disney died. As one of the biggest supporters for the Western River Expedition, his death not only robbed the company of an amazing man, it also robbed the Western River Expedition of a strong advocate.

  The massive projected costs of Thunder Mesa, which initially led to it being placed on the “Phase One” schedule, continued to play a critical role in preventing the project from becoming a reality. By 1972, there were multiple projects on the horizon for Walt Disney World, including much-needed work to Tomorrowland with the addition of Space Mountain, the WEDway PeopleMover, the Starjets, and Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress.

  Another economic roadblock to Thunder Mesa came in the form of the energy crisis of the early 1970s. When the OPEC restricted sales of oil to the West, gas prices in the United States skyrocketed. Since thousands of guests travelled to Walt Disney World by car, these restrictions on oil sales had a tremendous negative impact on the number of people willing to incur that increased expense to make the trip to Florida. As a result, theme park attendance plummeted. Card Walker responded by tightening the Disney belt even further and projects like Thunder Mesa were again postponed.

  In addition, the depiction of Native Americans in the concept drawings for Western River Expedition included a number of politically incorrect stereotypes, such as large noses, beady eyes, and alcohol consumption for the male Native American characters, and vivacious and buxom body types for the female Native American characters. Disney fans may recognize some of these same characteristics in the portrayal of Native Americans in the Disney classic film Peter Pan. However, the difference in the scrutiny between Peter Pan and the renderings for Thunder Mesa were obvious. Pan was released in 1953, while Davis’ Thunder Mesa depictions were produced in the 1970s, a much different time in terms of political correctness and sensitivity. This put Thunder Mesa on life support. (For a complete discussion of Thunder Mesa and the Western River Expedition, see my other book, The Walt Disney World That Never Was: Stories Behind the Amazing Imagineering Dreams that Never Came True.)

  Tony Baxter and

  Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

  With construction of Pirates of the Caribbean complete, and Marc Davis’ hopes to salvage some portion of Thunder Mesa quickly dwindling, another Disney Imagineer, Tony Baxter, delivered the final nail in its coffin.

  Baxter was much younger than Marc Davis, and perhaps the most famous of the so-called “second generation” of Disney Imagineers. He grew up in California, and worked his way from literally sweeping the floors in Disneyland, to selling ice cream, to working at WED Enterprises following his graduation from California State University. Baxter’s numerous creative contributions to Disney include, in addition to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Splash Mountain, Star Tours, Journey Into Imagination with Figment, and the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage.

  Baxter spent considerable time working in the WED model shop and, in particular, on a massive model for Thunder Mesa. This model sat in WED’s model shop until the spring of 1974, when Card Walker, Dick Irvine, and John Hench made a visit to assess the projects currently in progress. All were impressed with both the Western River Expedition and the runaway mine-train designs. However, it was Baxter himself who voiced criticism, particularly in regard to the mine-train component: “It has no story, no theme.” As Jason Surrell described in The Disney Mountains, Imagineering at Its Peak (2007):

  The rookie Imagineer then began to describe for the veterans how he would approach a runaway mine-train ride, from an early journey through a bat cave to a climactic earthquake in a gold mine deep within the mountain. Like any good story, Tony’s tale of high adventure on the frontier captivated his executive audience.

  After a discussion with Baxter about his comments and criticisms of the Thunder Mesa plans, Card Walker instructed him to draw up plans for a separate mine-train attraction, an “E” ticket attraction, separate and apart from the plans for Thunder Mesa. The rationale was simple. First, it would solve the guest demand for a much-needed thrill attraction in the Magic Kingdom. Second, and perhaps more importantly, a stand-alone mine-train coaster would cost substantially less than that of the massive Thunder Mesa project. Baxter’s concept was eventually green-lit by Disney executives for inclusion in Disneyland, and in Walt Disney World as well.

  Groundbreaking for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad in Disney World took place on January 15, 1979, while the Disneyland version was still being developed. The construction cost was approximately $17 million, including $300,000 worth of authentic mining equipment used to adorn the Big Thunder Mountain queue. Interestingly enough, the approximate cost to construct Disneyland as a whole was also $17 million. The end result was a Magic Kingdom “wienie” that stands 197 feet tall with 2,780 feet of track, towering over the landscape of Frontierland on a 2.5-acre plot of land.

  The attraction opened on November 15, 1980 (though it was in operation for soft openings on September 23, 1980), over a year after Disneyland’s version opened on September 2, 1979.

  As was the case with Pirates of the Caribbean, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was an immediate success and remains one of the most popular attractions in the Magic Kingdom today.

  chapter eleven

  Splash Mountain

  There’s other ways of learning about the behind feet of a mule than getting kicked by them, sure as I’m named Remus. And just because these here tales is about critters like Br’er Rabbit an’ Br’er Fox, that don’t mean they ain’t the same like can happen to folks! So them who can’t learn from a tale about critters, just ain’t got the ears tuned for listening.

  —Uncle Remus, Song of the South (1946)

  Splash Mountain is a combination outdoor log flume thrill attraction and indoor family dark ride located in the Frontierland section of the Magic Kingdom. The attraction is a great example of extraordinary storytelling by Imagineers on a multitude of different levels, and represents what an attraction can be when Disney hits a homerun. Splash Mountain combines lovable characters, fun show scenes, numerous audio-animatronic figures, fantastic music, a good “bang-for-your-buck” twelve-minute ride duration, and a heart-pounding fifty-two foot drop to create what is in my opinion the best attraction in all of Walt Disney World.

  The story behind Splash Mountain is an amazing one, and includes the most controversial film ever created by the Disney company, a sudden burst of Imagineering ins
piration during an otherwise mundane traffic jam, and the 1984 comedy film Splash starring Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah. The beginning of that story, however, dates back to the time of the Civil War.

  Backstory

  Joel Chandler Harris, Uncle Remus, and Song of the South

  Joel Chandler Harris was an American writer and journalist who spent several years as a young man working at Turnwold Plantation in Georgia from 1862 to 1866. Harris was a printer’s apprentice for The Countryman, a weekly newspaper edited and published by Joseph Addison Turner, the owner of Turnwold. The Countryman was a newspaper of relatively large circulation during the Civil War, and perhaps the only newspaper ever published form a Southern plantation. During his time at Turnwold, Harris spent many hours listening to stories and folktales told by slaves who worked on the plantation.

  Harris was hired by the Atlanta Constitution in 1876 and began writing his African-American / folklore-inspired Uncle Remus stories as a serial piece shortly thereafter. The stories became popular across the country, and a compilation of thirty-four of the fables was published in 1880 as Uncle Remus: His Songs and His Sayings.

  In the Remus stories, Harris introduced readers to many characters, including the cunning and intelligent, although sometimes troublesome, Br’er (brother) Rabbit, and his antagonists, the cunning Br’er Fox and the strong but slow-witted Br’er Bear. Chandler’s writings provided laughable stories with life-lesson morals and advice hidden amongst the adventures. Uncle Remus, a very kind and gentle former slave, served as narrator for those stories.

  The Disney connection to the Uncle Remus tales began in the late 1930s when Walt Disney began negotiations with the Harris family to acquire rights to the stories and characters. Eventually, Walt did acquire those rights and filming for what would become known as Song of the South began in late 1944.