Big Thunder Mountain Railroad Past Refurbishment

[Jodi1980]

Acccording to Deb's site, there was a major refurbishment on BTMR during Nov - what did they do?

 

[Princess Michelle]

Didn't notice anything different when I rode on Thursday except that the ride seems a little smoother.

 

[Horizons16]

I think it was one of those paint touch ups and steam bath deals, I bet they pulled all the trains too and gave them a good greasing and all that.

 

[LibertyBelle]

It was mostly paint and track work. They re-painted the entire mountain. I never knew how bad it looked until they painted it It looks great now... They also did some track work and to my understanding installed a new ride computer system (state of the art ). As for the train cars themselves they put the smoke stacks and headlights back on (they were removed a couple of years ago but are now back on the trains).

 

[Grumpy37]

After the Disneyland accident turned out to be maintenance after all (so many had assumed it was the riders fault but it wasn't in this case), I wouldn't ride BTMRR this Thanksgiving. Not for all the tea in the China section of EPCOT...

 

[Geoff_M]

I wouldn't ride BTMRR this Thanksgiving. Not for all the tea in the China section of EPCOT...

I take the reverse approach! I'd say there's no safer time to ride BTMRR than now. You can gaurantee that every inch of that ride has been gone over with a fine tooth comb.

 

[Safari Steve]

The downtime was scheduled for rockwork and cleaning/painting, but safety and maintenance took the time to double and triple-check everything. Keep in mind that the accident occurred on the opposite side of the country from BTMRR at WDW, which is the subject of this thread.
New policies regarding attraction safety have been added to the already extensive WDW safety guidelines.

On a related note, painting was also done on the Briar Patch gift shop adjacent to Splash Mountain, and if the contrast between the mountains wasn't enough, the contrast between sections of the same mountain are striking. Splash should get a major paint-job soon.

 

[LibertyBelle]

Originally posted by Grumpy37
After the Disneyland accident turned out to be maintenance after all (so many had assumed it was the riders fault but it wasn't in this case), I wouldn't ride BTMRR this Thanksgiving. Not for all the tea in the China section of EPCOT...

In my opinion BTMRR is MUCH safer than driving down I-4 anytime of the day or night. Accidents can happen anywhere you go, granted this one was proven to be human error, but...someone in a hurry to get to a dinner reservation plowing through a red light is also human error which can result in injury to you. When it is your time there is nothing you can do to prevent it. If you choose not to ride then that is your choice, but I think that is silly...might as well just hole up in the safety of your house and hope that a metor doesn't fall on it

 

[wdwnutze]

We were in MK last week and went on BTMRR a few times. The last time was on Thursday, 12/4, and while we were in line waiting to get on the ride it broke down. The CM's had to help the passengers out of the cars and off the ride. A lot of the rides seemed to have minor problems last week. Hope its not a sign of things to come.

 

[LibertyBelle]

A ride stop can be caused by many different things, for example, if a guest tries to step out in front of the incoming train at the loading station (yes even with the new air gates this still happens) the CM's in the station will immediatly stop the ride so that person does not get hurt. In that situation all the trains out on the ride will stop at the next brake station, if those trains stop on certain safety brakes the ride can not be restarted without maintenace so they would have to exit everyone from the ride as you (wdwnutze) have stated. Just beacuse they ride stops and has to be evacuated does not mean that it was a glitch in the system... At Space Mountain a simple park map dropping in front of a ride sensor can cause the ride to break down.

I still say there is nothing to worry about. You can get hit by a car getting the mail in front of your own house... if you worry about things to much you will miss out on all the fun things in life...

 

[soreadytogo]

Nov 26 it was scheduled to be closed and we had 2 hrs before our fastpasses so we got in line stood about 30 min and they said that it had been braking down all day off and on. We stood about 10 min and they cleared the ride line. 2 hrs later it was still not open. Sounds like they may have some serious problems. I guess we just were not suppose to ride.

 

[Horizons16]

Originally posted by Grumpy37
After the Disneyland accident turned out to be maintenance after all (so many had assumed it was the riders fault but it wasn't in this case), I wouldn't ride BTMRR this Thanksgiving. Not for all the tea in the China section of EPCOT...

i know im gonna get punched in the face for this one but what happened in DL... i didnt hear of anything... although they keep me in the dark!

 

[threeboysdad]

See here...

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=471574&highlight=accident

 

[Horizons16]

oh wow!


thanks for the link...

 

[seashoreCM]

Rode WDW's Big Thunder Mountain twice late this past November (11/29).

(copied from another post)

I noticed that the center large wheels had been removed from the locomotive sections. According to a report posted in Miceage.com, those wheels were responsible for the accident at Disneyland where on one train they became partly detached and dragged along and then things got all jammed up under the train. Those wheels are for decoration only.

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

 

[Safari Steve]

I rode twice last night, no problems at all. In fact, several people remarked at what a smooth ride it was.

"A sign of things to come!!?!?"
"Serious Problems!?!?!!?"
Stop watching your local news... it will do you a world of good.

"Could YOU be next?!!?!?!??"

 

[April76]

Instead of worrying about what "might" be wrong with attractions....

I wish folks would focus more on the countless built-in safety features that actually cause the "down time" of rides throughout WDW parks .

Unfortunately, the phrase "broke down" seems to be what most people choose to use.