Chapter 6:The Wildest Ride in the Wilderness!

After a great ride on the all new POTC, we made our way out of Adventureland and over to Frontierland. As soon as we crossed the border, we saw that Frontierland was a lot busier than Adventureland was, but we would find out later why. The first thing we saw as we after Frontierland was one of the best log flumes in the world, Splash Mountain. This was planned to be next on our hit list. The massive drop in the Briar Patch, as seen from the Frontierland midway, really gets you excited to ride this thing. So, we made our way over to Splash's entrance to see how long the wait was. Once we got in clear view of the Stand-By wait time, I just started to walk away. The wait was long than an hour, and I didn't plan on waiting. However, what other ride is very close to Splash? That's right, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad! When I was at the park in 2003, the ride was closed down because of A. Down for rehab or B. Down because the one at Disneyland recently had an accident. Anyway, this was ride 2 of 2 I wanted to hit in Frontierland, so it was up next, wait time pending. We approached the area of the ride's entrance, and noticed the wait time of only 20 minutes. Perfect. Considering this was a relatively short waiting time, and I really wanted to ride this, we decided to make this the 2nd ride of the trip!

We boarded the queue, which is highly themed, just like everything else at Disney. I love the first part of the queue line on this line, it really makes you feel like you're in the wild west. One of my favorite features is the water trough system was have overhead. The outdoors part of the queue, as I said has an awesome wild west theme to it. After taking in the awesome theming, we entered the queue building, where we stopped shortly after getting inside. It really was a scorcher out, so I was happy to be inside. Anyway, while waiting, I pulled out a park map and looked at how much it had changed since I last was there. One thing I'll note is that map the maps a lot smaller than the last time, but they seem to be fine this way. We waited in that one spot for about 5 minutes in the shade, and then we were moving. We continuously walked through the queue, only making short stops along the way. Since I hadn't been in the queue since 2000, I didn't know where it would be going, but I knew it ended in an underground station. After walking through the first room of switchbacks, we moved into the next. This is where we really started to fly. Everyone just kept going and going and going...and it didn't stop at all. We were in and out of the 2nd switchback room in no time, and now we were on our way down into the underground caverns station. We finally stopped on the downwards ramp leading to the loading area. We paused here for a few minutes, waiting in the almost complete darkness. Soon we were moving though, and were inches away from loading. Once I had a view of the loading area, I saw that rows 1, 2, and 3 were roped off. What? This simply made no sense to me, until it was our turn to board. A few people went in front of us, but then the operator asked us how many, and we told him. he then directed us to rows 3 and 4. Then, I understood. They don't want a bunch of people waiting for the row car, of course, making this an excellent system. I was very happy with my row 3 ride, considering many people wouldn't be as lucky as I. Anyway, since we were the first to be the only people in rows 3 and 4, we would be on the next train! With mere seconds of waiting, our train pulled up, and the air gates opened. It was time for the first coaster of the trip.

We all boarded our runaway train and pulled down our restraint, making sure it wasn't too tight. After that, we were ready to roll. As I waited for everyone's restraint to be checked, I looked around. The station itself is almost pitch black, aside from a few shining lights overhead. Along with the darkness of the mine shaft, the extremely realistic steam engine at the front of the train adds more to the great theming of the ride. While I was looking around, taking in all of the amazing theming, I realized it was now go time. Our steam engine's whistle blowed, and we soon crawled out of the station. The ride starts off by plummeting you through a dark cavern, full of sights and sounds. As soon as we got off the transfer track, we made a quick left and plunged into the dark cavern, full of sound effects and some little bunny hops. You hear screaming bats, and rushing water...soon we will see where that is coming from. Anyway, this part of the ride is nothing special, but this is only the beginning. After this relatively short segment, we begin to climb the first of many lift hills. This one has a surprise at the top, however...a huge waterfall separated into two by a rock in the ceiling! When I first saw this, I thought it was an awesome theming piece, and not meant for you to get wet. Once we got to the top of the lift hill, I noticed it was for both. This thing can give you quite a soaking if you sit right up against the edge of the car. Anyway, after going under the waterfall, it was time for the ride to begin. We soon found ourselves at the top of the mountain, and were given a view of the lake in which surrounds Tom Sawyer's Island. Before long, however, we were on our way into the ride's first of many turns. The ride starts off by throwing you through some wild turns, each of which were relaxing, not thrilling, mainly because we hadn't gained much speed yet. After some nice curves, it was time for the first helix, in which we gain some nice speed. Once again, this helix is more relaxing breeze-giving than thrilling. Racing through the rocky mountain terrain, we glide up a small ascent and enter one crazy put of this ride. The track in this segment is crazy, and just throws you around all over as we cross a small stream. The ride then throws us into another turn, and then we encounter the ride's main lift hill. This is where you can receive some excellent views of the mountain range, and all the theming it has to offer. Unfortunately, the views are short lived, as it's not long before you're charging into the 2nd part of the ride. We hit a sharp left-hand turn, and went back down to canyon below. Coming up is my personal favorite part of the ride. We climbed a small ascent, which leads us to, as I said, my favorite part, which starts off with a strong double helix. Around and around we went, diving in and out of the rock work, gaining more and more speed as we went. Once this thing lets you go, you've gained a very nice amount of speed, and the next element gives my favorite part of the ride a two-part punch. Right after the helix, you get thrown into a bunny hill, which looks innocent, but it's going to give you some of the only air time found on this ride. Once you crest the top, you get some sweet, sweet floater air, before heading back down under the rock work. You just have to love the sensation floater air creates. Anyway, after another little turn, we encountered the last lift hill of the ride, which is held in the dark and in another "mine shaft". As we made our last upwards climb, boulders at the sides of the shaft come out of the rock, which look like they are going to fall right down you! it was time to make a quick exit before those boulders came right down on us. Finally, we saw the light at the end of the tunnel. The brighter it got the closer we were to getting out of that mine shaft. Finally the light surrounded us, and we were back out on the mountain range. After a small hill to get us moving, we went into another sharp curve. Coming up next is the nice, swooping curve over the picturesque lake. Ah, what a nice breeze this turn creates, as well as an excellent view of the water. After that nice, sharp turn, we went up into a completely pointless part of this ride, a small block brake that holds us for a few seconds. Once it finally lets us go, it's time for the ride's finale. We went into another sharp turn in the rock work, which fed us into a tunnel created by dinosaur bones! The track in this section is a little bumpy, giving you the sensation of just narrowly avoiding the bones of a dinosaur's rib cage. After one more final turn, we hit the final brake run over a small spring, which had geysers shooting off everywhere!

KKR05's Expert Advice-Overall, the combination of a wild coaster ride along with some awesome theming (especially the rock work/canyon, it is extremely realistic) makes this a must hit. If you're looking for a thrilling coaster ride, then you'll be disappointed, but this ride without a doubt offers one fun-filled experience, and is a great starting coaster for the younger ones. Also, along with the theming and some thrilling parts (double helix), this ride will also be a favorite of the older ones. It's definitely a must ride in Frontierland, right up there with Splash Mountain. On a last note, with fast loading times and moving lines, this attraction could be hit about anytime throughout the day. Our wait time ended up being only around 15-20 minutes, for what seemed to be a very long line.

After enjoying the sights and sounds of the little themed stream that we were stuck on, the brakes released us and we flew back into the almost pitch black station. Once we did, we threw up our lap bars and headed for the exit. Everyone seemed to enjoy the ride, and it was a lot more of a ride than I thought it was (in other words, the ride is longer than you think) We quickly exited and found our way out back to a very crowded Frontierland. Since Splash was still an extremely long wait, we decided to move on in our loop around the park. As we walked toward the next section, Liberty Square, we discovered that the crowdedness of the section was mainly due to a huge meet and greet session going on near the Country Bears. Since the pathway was completely blocked, we followed the dock which goes along the banks of Frontierland's lake, and headed our next attraction, which was just dead ahead...