Mountains of Magic Kingdom – 17 Facts & Secrets

Walt Disney World’s mountains of Magic Kingdom, Big Thunder Mountain, and Space Mountain are amazing attractions, each thrilling in their own way. Big Thunder Mountain is definitely the most “rootinest, tootinest ride” found in all of Walt Disney World.  The attraction lives in Frontierland at the Magic Kingdom.  During the ride, you take off in a train on the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad through the mine, with many amazing thrills and surprises along the way.  Space Mountain is a beloved attraction at Walt Disney World for so many guests.  The attraction has been around for over 45 years and appears to be unwavering for guests in terms of popularity and their love and enjoyment of this roller coaster.  It is a really unique and interesting attraction, too!

These rides also hold various hidden secrets and extras that you may not have noticed, even if you have ridden the ride several times.  You may not know these facts and secrets about Big Thunder Mountain and Space Mountain.

17 – Big Thunder Mountain isn’t actually just made of rock.

It might look like a huge rock mountain, but there is so much more that makes up the structure and foundation for the “rock” mountain.  Big Thunder Mountain was actually created with 6,500 tons of steel, 90,000 gallons of water, 4,675 tons of mud that was created to coat the structure, and 4,000 gallons of paint that gives it the brownish, orange color that we see today with perfect details in the painting job.

16 – Barnabas T. Bullion or Tony Baxter?

During the Big Thunder Mountain ride queue, you will see the portrait of Barnabas T. Bullion.  He is noted as the founder and president of the Big Thunder Mining Company.   The image in the portrait is actually an image depicted after Tony Baxter, who was one of the main Imagineers who is responsible for the creation of this amazing attraction.  We love this amazing nod to Tony Baxter, and we are so glad that it helped ensure that we have this amazing attraction to enjoy year after year.

15 – You can trigger explosives on the mountain.

Yep, you can actually trigger “explosives” to go off on Big Thunder Mountain.  When you are in the queue, pay attention to when you are in the Explosives Magazine room.  There will be instructions on how to use the cranks and plungers to set off the explosions.  Follow all directions and watch to see what happens.

14 – The crate meant to be shipped to Fire Chief Richard Le Pere Jr.

Have you noticed the crate that sits next to the drinking fountain at the front of Big Thunder Mountain?  The crate states that it is to be shipped to Fire Chief Richard Le Pere Jr.  Fire Chief Richard Le Pere Jr. is actually a real person and a real fire chief.  He is the fire chief at Reedy Creek Fire Department, the fire department that services all of Walt Disney World Resort.

13 – A replica to Disneyland’s version of the attraction.

The ride experience on Big Thunder Mountain at Disneyland and Walt Disney World are very similar but a bit different, with new features recently being added to Disneyland. The actual mountain is larger at the Magic Kingdom as opposed to the mountain that lives at Disneyland.  It still isn’t anywhere near as tall as Cinderella’s Castle, the tallest building in the Magic Kingdom.

Editors Note: With the different ride features, we feel the ride at Disneyland is much better than the one at Disney World. ~ Chad & Cindy

12 – Antique mining equipment.

Again, with the amazing details.  The mining equipment that you see within the site and around Big Thunder Mountain is actually real antique equipment that was purchased to ensure that the area looked like a real working mine that you might have seen in history books.

11 – The ride operates with 6 trains.

There are actually six total trains that make up the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad family. Their names are I.M. Brave, I.B. Hearty, I.M. Fearless., U.B. Bold, U.R. Courageous, and U.R. Daring.  These fun names set the expectation of what will occur once your train leaves the station.

10 – What does the flashing street lantern in the loading area of Splash Mountain mean?

You may have noticed that there is a lantern that flashes from time to time in the area where you are boarding your log vehicle.  Well, the big secret is…. It lets cast members know that the logs are about to move in the station so that they are prepared for guests to move out and the next guests to disembark.  You will actually notice this in place on many attractions if you keep an eye out in the loading area.

9 – Space Mountain Attraction facts:

• Reaches speeds up to 28 miles per hour
• 44” height requirement
• Ride duration is 2 minutes and 38 seconds
• There are two different ride tracks

8 – World’s first indoor roller coaster.

Space Mountain was the first roller coaster to be enclosed entirely indoors.  That was an impressive feat for the time when this roller coaster was constructed.  This created a new way to look at roller coasters and now we see other indoor roller coasters around the world.  Also, there are Space Mountain attractions at every Disney Park around the globe, too.

7 – PhotoPass Space Mountain.  

The ride is a PhotoPass attraction, which means that photos are taken while on the ride.  This is great for folks with Memory Maker since they get all ride photos added to their account with unlimited downloads at no extra charge.  If you don’t have Memory Maker, you can still purchase the individual ride photos.  Ride photos (and photos in general) are some of the best souvenirs that you can have, so it is amazing when you can capture a moment of the Disney magic in time.

6 – Structural beams are outside instead of inside.

You will notice when you approach the massive building the contains Space Mountain that there are concrete structural beams on the outside of the building.  This isn’t a usual practice in most construction plans because builders want to conceal the structural components inside the design so that the outside is more appealing.  So this made the design very unique.  One of the main reasons for doing this when constructing Space Mountain was so that stars and lighting could be displayed on the ceilings and walls as part of your space-like transportation. You need smooth surfaces in order to really pull off the effect, and the supports would have taken up space on the inside and prevented a smooth surface.

5 – Intentional height of Space Mountain.

The height from the top peak of the building is 183 feet tall.  It was built to this height so that it didn’t rival the height and level of impressiveness of Cinderella’s Castle since that was meant to be the most impressive focal point for the park. The building that contains the attraction is also 300 feet around, which is a huge and impressive building to contain this beloved attraction.

4 – First roller coaster to be controlled by computers.

The technology that was put into place for Space Mountain was new and completely cutting-edge for its time.  The computer systems put into place allowed the system to determine the weight within the vehicles and control the speed at which the ride vehicles moved through drops and different points within the ride.  This is a common practice in place for almost every roller coaster that is constructed today, but that was unheard of during the time Space Mountain was built, making the attraction a real trendsetter and piece of roller-coaster history.

3 – Imagineers consulted astronauts when creating Space Mountain.

We know that Disney is known for the level of detail that the imagineers go through in order to conduct research and create perfect experiences for guests with every detail considered.  This is one of the reasons why the attractions have been so immersive and beloved for years and years. Gordon Cooper was consulted when it came to building and constructing the Space Mountain experience.  He is a real astronaut that has gone out in space, and provided a consultative role to help make the best experience possible.  We can see that paid off with how popular the attraction continues to be after all of these years.

2 – The steepest slope of the drops within the attraction is 39 degrees.

I was shocked to learn this fact.  When you are speeding through the dark into “space,” the drops definitely feel much steeper.  I think this goes to show how much of an impact all of your senses play into enjoying an experience and the perception of the experience.  It is so much more than just the drops and ride path alone.

1 – Parents tried to carry a baby on the ride in a duffel bag.

This is still one of the most appalling and sad stories that I have ever heard in regard to the crazy things that parents have been caught doing at a Disney park.  There was a couple that were in line for Space Mountain with a duffel bag.  They were questioned about the bag, and a cast member noticed the bag moving.  They were asked to open the bag and come to find out their young baby was inside it.  The couple intended to get around the ride height requirements so they could both ride by smuggling the baby on in a duffel bag.  They definitely won’t be winning any Parent of the Year awards, and let us hope that this child is safe and sound today.  It goes to show that there are reasons for every rule and reasons, why cast members, pay such close attention to guest actions, and thankfully they do.