Big Thunder Mountain Railroad wait times

What it is

A runaway mine-train roller coaster ("BTM") racing around red-rock buttes and through a gold-mining town. Plenty of quick turns and dips, but no big drops: a good first "real" coaster.

Thrill level: ●●●●● Moderate (3/5) · drops · must be 40 in (102 cm) or taller

Opened: 15 November 1980 (46 years ago)

Best time to ride

Quietest: around 8am (typically ~10 min posted). Busiest: around 12pm (~35 min). In the first 15 minutes after the park opens it typically posts ~20 min.

Typical means the median posted wait across every day in our log at that hour; crowd level, weather and breakdowns move it. For a specific date, the planner adjusts for that day’s forecast crowd.

Typical posted wait by hour

Bar = median; numbers on the right = typical range (middle half of days).

By day of the weekaverage 10am–6pm

Posted vs real wait

Disney’s posted waits run high. For Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, a posted 60 minutes at 2pm has typically meant about 40 minutes in line, and at 8pm about 30 (from timed waits people recorded, 2015–2021 — before today’s Lightning Lane system, so treat it as an estimate). DisneyIQ shows both numbers on the live board.

Did you know?

It is nicknamed "the wildest ride in the wilderness".

The rockwork was inspired by the buttes of Monument Valley in the American Southwest.

Ride facts

About 8 minutes including boarding · Height requirement 40 in (102 cm) · Seating: train rows of 2 · Lightning Lane: Tier 1