Changes

The concept of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad goes back {{Quotation| "What if we were to incorporate a thrill ride into the Thunder Mesa expansion 'Western River' project? Maybe have a runaway mine train that was going to be added to Frontierland in rolled across the early 1970s. When Walt Disney World opened, it did not include a [[Pirates top of the Caribbean]] attraction, because Disney thought that people in Florida would not be interested in pirates, because there was already much pirate lore in mesa as well as down along the Florida culture. Instead, it was assumed that sides of the American West would be a more interesting subject, and show building?" <ref name= "hill1"/>}} Although the concept of the Thunder Mesa expansion Western River Expedition was born. Designed by Imagineer announced as "coming soon" in 1973 <ref name= "dated"/>, Marc Davis over the course of many years, the Thunder Mesa expansion ' masterpiece would have taken place in Frontierlandnever come to fruition. Contrary to Disney's beliefs, in the form of a mountain called Thunder Mesa Mountain. The Thunder Mesa expansion would have included a dark boat ride (like Pirates one of the Caribbean) called most common questions that visitors to the Western River ExpeditionMagic Kingdom had was "where are the pirates?" <ref> http://jimhillmedia.com/editor_in_chief1/b/jim_hill/archive/2001/01/01/274. The new aspx </ref>After seeing the attraction would have taken showcased on Walt Disney's Disneyland TV show, guests through various Old West scenes, and featured an astonishing 150 Audio Animatronic. Also included in Florida had expected to be able to ride the expansion, were plans for hiking trails, a mule ride, and a runaway train famed attraction. Due to high the amount of guest demand however, Disney decided that it needed to build a Pirates of the Caribbean attraction in Disney World in 1973. With the addition of built Pirates, and plans for the Western River Expedition was no longer neededwere put on hold. Even as Although Marc Davis tried to keep his project alive, it was clear that the project would be too expensive. Disney was already using its funds to build [[Space Mountain]], the [[Carousel of Progress]], the [[WEDway People Mover]] and the [[Star Jets]] in [[Tomorrowland]] and there was not enough money to construct another large expansion<ref name= "dated"/>.  The final strike against the construction of Thunder Mesa the Western River Expedition came in 1973 when Imagineer Tony Baxter (who had been tasked with fleshing out the Western River Expedition) showed his plans for a standalone mine train, thrill ride, called Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. The new attraction took some the best elements of the Thunder Mesa mine train ride, but without the expensive show building<ref> https://www.mouseplanet.com/guide/251/Walt-Disney-World/Magic-Kingdom/Frontierland/Big-Thunder-Mountain-Railroad </ref>. Although Baxter suggested that the ride could be built next to the Western River Expansion building, only Big Thunder Mountain Railroad ever saw the light of day. Although Disney liked After seeing the idea, the planned proposal Disney green lit Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was put on hold until the completion of [[Tomorrowland]]for both Disneyland and Walt Disney World.  Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was the first attraction in Disney World to be designed by a computer, which allowed Imagineers to create a much smoother ride. Imagineers however had a different problem. Although they knew how to make the attraction look appealing, the computer did not. In fact, it took Imagineers nine different designs before the computer accepted one without making changes. Construction eventually began on the attraction in 1979 and it opened to the public on September 23, 1980.  On January 9, 2012, Big Thunder Mountain was closed for its first refurbishment. During the refurbishment, every single piece of track was redone and the entire attraction was repainted. Furthermore, many of the attraction’s special effects that had become non-operational were fixed. Disney also announced that in 2013, Thunder Mountain would be getting a new “interactive” queue.