Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

A Big Thunder morning ride isn’t for everyone but, for some, it’s the perfect start to a day. The same could be said for a 24 hour Disney event. With the recent announcement of another party to kick off the 60th anniversary of Disneyland over Memorial Day weekend, I decided to revisit my collection of shots from 2012’s One More Disney Day. This was from the first morning when everything was fresh and palpable energy filled the park. It was a completely different story 24 hours later. Michaela and I haven’t attended the subsequent parties but it feels like time to give it a try again.

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It is no secret that the Frontierland bridge on the West side of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is one of our favorite places to shoot photos and to relax. It’s one of the places in Disneyland that immerses you, unable to see outside it to another land that might give cause for disbelief.

For me personally, part of the reason I am so fond of Big Thunder Mountain in general is that it taps into some of my favorite childhood memories. Not memories of Disneyland, however. Memories of Utah.

My grandpa lived in St. George for several years when I was in grade school and my family would visit when we could. The rich red soil stained my white tennis shoes beyond repair. The brilliant blue sky made me wonder if I’d ever really seen the sky before. It was there that I learned to ride a bike (after crashing into a cactus patch).

We always made sure to take in some of the incredible geologic wonders to be found nearby. Zion National Park wasn’t far and Bryce Canyon National Park wasn’t much farther than that. That state and those places were the beginning of a lifelong love affair with our National Parks and as John Muir might put it, anywhere that is wild.

Bryce Canyon, of course, with its amazing hoodoos is a primary inspiration for Big Thunder Mountain (National Geographic has a great article on it featuring Tony Baxter). The first time I saw a sweeping vista of the Bryce Amphitheater, I was floored. There really aren’t words to describe it. Big Thunder, while certainly not as grand, is much the same.

I’m eternally grateful for that time I spent with my parents and my grandpa. You don’t always realize how formative some experiences and the people you share them with can be until you reflect on them. A trip to Utah with Michaela might be in order.

It really never ceases to amaze, watching the transition from day to night at Disneyland. Michaela and I enjoyed an afternoon in Frontierland a few weeks ago and I kept coming back to Big Thunder Mountain. I really had been wanting to do a panoramic picture, something I don’t attempt very often. To be honest, I’ve had a pretty rough go of them, despite countless Google queries… Fortunately for me, yet again, I am blessed with a wife who spurs me on to achieve bigger and greater things. She’s also really good at panoramic pictures, so she was a great help. It felt great to put this together in Photoshop. I love this view of Big Thunder. For me, it’s the moment when I am most in awe of it and immersed by it. The Frontierland bridge off to your left. The old mining town off to your right just over the ridge where riders come screaming through, held captive by a runaway train. Behind you the amazing and complex sound of people both exhilarated and exasperated from the ride, making their way to their next adventure. If you’re lucky, strollers won’t obscure what’s in front of you. Amidst the trial and error, the advice and enjoying the scene, afternoon quickly became night. And let me tell you, night falls like thunder when the glow on that peak strikes into the night sky like lightning.

Walking through Frontierland one evening I noticed smoke billowing from the stack atop Big Thunder Mountain Railroad’s queue. The sun was setting and hitting the side of the mountain, creating a beautiful vibrant backdrop. The sky was full of amazing colors and interesting clouds catching the last light of a long day. It’s not hard to picture yourself out on the frontier in a moment like that.

I grew up in the desert. My childhood was filled with searching out interesting rocks, watching sunsets in the big, open sky and make believe that I was a rootin’ tootin’ cowboy. One of my most frequent imaginings was finding a mine with all sorts of rich stuff and valuables, not realizing that all along, what was truly valuable was the incredible beauty that surrounded me. There’s nothing quite like a desert sunset or the way sand glows around dusk and dawn. It’s as if the earth was made of gold.

These are the kinds of rabbit hole thoughts I find myself diving into at Disneyland. Sights and sounds ignite memories in a meaningful, tangible way. This is the treasure we constantly find at the Park, to be grateful for good things.