Thunder Mountain

Description

Thunder Mountain is a roller-coaster that is set on a mountain with mines throughout, and you ride on a run-away mining car pulled by a steam locomotive.

Entrance

The entrance to Thunder Mountain is next to the entrance to Splash Mountain and across from the ferry that takes you to Tom Sawyer Island. There are two different lines at the entrance, one for normal passengers and one for those with FastPass tickets.

Line

The line first zig-zags its way up into the rustic looking mining facility, where you get to look at different kinds of cactus and then old mining and farming implements. Once inside the mining shack, there are more twisty lines until the top of a ramp where the normal line and the FastPass lines merge. From there, two lines go down into the area where you get on the ride.

Riding the Ride

There are two loading areas for the track, but there is only one actual track outside of this, and a switch gear is used to switch between the two loading areas. The train is eight cars in length, and each car seats two people. The front of the train is fronted by a fake steam locomotive, so getting the front seat is not as glamourous as it could be. For the best ride effects, the back of the train is the best place to be in order to take advantage of the Roller Coaster Whip Effect. The ride takes you through a twisty run of high speed turns and sudden drops, culminating in a downward corkscrew prior to the end.

Exiting the Ride

When you exit the ride, you are sent to the far end of the path-way from which you entered. This is a cul-de-sac, and the only option is to return to the front of the ride where the line begins.

Opinion

This is my least favorite of the mountain trilogy of rides (the other two are Space Mountain and Splash Mountain). While the ride itself is thrilling, I found that this ride was a bit too loud during the climbs. They have purpusfully made the climbs with a very loud clanking noise to simulate the sound that might occur with a real mining car facility, but I found it was actually too loud to the point of hurting to some extent.