Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland

Last Updated: July 7, 2022

A colorful open-air train patterned after the gold and silver ore carriers of a century ago. Each of four trains is pulled by a brass-trimmed locomotive. Guests rode aboard mine trains and traveled past a wilderness area populated by 204 lifelike creatures before continuing on through the Painted Desert and Rainbow Caverns.

ID:

TMS-490

Dates Open:

May 1960 -- January 1977

Replaced By:

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

Land:

Frontierland

Photos:

Construction: 3 Onstage: 54 Backstage: 3

Articles:

Ride Layout:

Ride Map

Deaths & Injuries:

Deaths: 0 Injuries: 0

Audio Clips:

Videos:

Video Excerpt:

Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland

Rumble Link:

Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland External Link

Movie Tie-In:

Google Maps:

Not Available

Wikipedia:

Not Available

Patents:

None

Specifications:

Available

Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland Multimedia

Construction Photos

Onstage Photos

Backstage Photos

Videos

Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland Audio Clips:

Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland Secrets:

When Walt Disney was planning this attraction, he was not satisfied with the designers' creations, so he took drawing materials home and drew up the entire ride himself.

Sections of Natures Wonderland: Living Desert, Beaver Valley, Bear Country, Olympic Elk

It cost $2.5 million (in 2022 dollars it would be over $25 million) to build.

In the information for this attraction is the first use of the term Audio Animatronics.

The Bear Country area on the Mine Train and the land called Bear Country existed at the same time from 1972-1977

The cars were painted black, red and yellow

Track was 30 inches wide and a quarter mile long

Engine was electric

The Rainbow Caverns waterfall circulated over 270,000 gallons of water every hour to create the seven multicolored waterfalls

Required a "E" ticket in 1964-1965

From Attractions Report 1965
Lowered to a "C" coupon in order to stimulate attendance and provide an adult appeal attraction in this category. Utilization is low on this attraction and lower price should increase attendance and cash rides. This change would also provide a "C" attraction in this area of Frontierland.

From WED Disneyland Dictionary 1968
Features some 204 animals, birds and reptiles of the American West. They are brought to life in "Beaver Valley," "Bear Country" and the great "Living Desert." Among many highlights of this seven acre area are 75-foot-high "Cascade Peak" with its tumbling waterfalls; "Old Unfaithful Geyser," shooting streams of water 70 feet into the air; and the beautiful "Rainbow Caverns," with seven luminescent waterfalls glistening in many colors amid stalagmites and stalactites. Natures Wonderland is based on highlights of Walt Disney's True-Life Adventure motion picture series. Visitors view the animal population from two modes of transportation, each departing from the quaint little town of "Rainbow Ridge" in Frontierland.
1. Nature's Wonderland Railroad is a colorful open-air train patterned after the gold and silver ore carriers of a century ago. Each of four trains is pulled by a brass-trimmed locomotive.
2. Pack Mules provide a totally different view of Nature's Wonderland. Guests aboard the sturdy mules follow winding hill-top paths. The sure-footed mules climb to the top of "Cascade Peak," past the "Living Desert," and down through the town of "Rainbow Ridge."

Required a "D" ticket in 1970's

Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland Specifications:

THEORETICAL CAPACITY

This figure is what the attraction should yield under ideal conditions utilizing all units in the system with no loss in efficiency at any position. This figure should be seldom or never attained. It is an ideal against which to measure.

Theoretical Capacity:

1190 per hour

DISPATCH INTERVAL

The time interval between the dispatching of units.

Dispatch Interval:

3:34

INSTANTANOUS CAPACITY

Number of guests that can be handled when ride opens

Instantanous Capacity:

222

Trips:

16 per hour:

Audience Control Capacity:

200

DISTANCE

Distance Traveled

Distance:

2200 feet

CAPACITY PER UNIT

Capacity for each vehicle or show

Capacity Per Unit:

SPEED

Average speed vehicles travel

Speed:

2.80

CYCLE TIME

From the time a unit passes any given point in the cycle until it returns to that same point.

Cycle Time:

10:50

QUEUE FACTOR

Average wait time; the number of minutes from the time a guest steps into a line until he actually sets foot on an attraction. 1965

Queue Factor:

Negligible

LOAD TIME

From the time the guest(s) begins to enter the unit until the guest(s) is seated and the unit is safe to dispatch.

Load Time:

1:20

TRIP TIME

From dispatch to unload.

Trip Time:

9:15

ATTENDANCE FACTOR

(Total Guests Carried/Total Main Gate Attendance) * 100 (1964)

Attendance Factor:

25.2

UTILIZATION FACTOR

Capacity Percentage * Attendance Percentage (1964)

Utilization Factor:

9.7

NOTES:
Theoretical Hourly Capacity: 1190 (3 units) 1628 (4 units)

Instantaneous Capacity of Attraction: 222 (3 units) 296 (4 units)

Dispatch Interval: 3:34 (3 units) 2:45 (4 units)

Trips Per Hour: 16 (3 units) 24 (4 units)

Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland Spiel:

Howdy Folks! Welcome to the little minin' town of Rainbow Ridge, the gateway to Nature's Wonderland.

As we head fer the wilderness, a couple of suggestions: Please stay seated at all times and keep yer hands and arms inside the train - the animals get mighty hungry. And uh, no smokin' please, 'cause we don't want to start a forest fire.

Now, beyond these hills lies Nature's Wonderland. Yer apt to see a whole lotta wildlife, so keep a real sharp hunter's eye.

As we come outta this first tunnel, we'll be enterin' Beaver Valley. Looks like the beavers are buildin' another dam. Yes sir, they're really busy as a... well, busy as a beaver.

Them little marmots over the tunnel* must be a-whistlin' to all you pretty gals.

I can't say I blame 'em.

If yuh never gone beneath a waterfall before, then get set... 'cause we're comin' up on Big Thunder... the biggest falls in all these here parts. Yuh don't hafta worry though... unless the wind changes.

Them other two falls, they call the Twin Sisters... I reckon that's 'cause they're always babblin'.

We're comin' into Bear Country now, folks, and while we're crossin' the old trestle yuh gotta sit real still. No tellin' how long she's gonna last. Yuh know, bears are one of the most playful animals there is. Lazy, too. All they wanta do is lay around 'n scratch 'n fish 'n swim... heh, heh, that is, when they ain't sleepin'.

Yuh know, Nature's Wonderland is awful purty, but sometimes she can be a mighty rugged place to live. Out here in the wilderness the struggle fer survival leaves only the strong 'n sometimes the lucky. Say... look on that bank 'cross Bear Creek, there. Now there's a real struggle fer survival - two stags 'r battlin' fer them cow elk. Maybe you folks can tell me, though: Does gittin' two women-folk mean yer the winner or the loser? Never could figure that un out.

As we pass through ol' Natural Arch Bridge yuh kin see the great Livin' Desert down below. Yuh know, the desert's a dry place 'n full of some purty mean varmints. Yuh gotta be careful of sidewinders, wild pigs 'n even mountain lions. But the desert's got her beauty, too. The yellow streaks a-runnin' through them sandstone cliffs are called coconino... the red, we call them supai.

Now, ahead of us, folks, is a giant saguaro cactus forest. The desert heat sometimes gets to yuh, an' makes these here cactus take on strange shapes... like animals... 'n sometimes even people!

Ah-ha! Look down there on yer left... Them wild pigs is caught up with ol' Mr. Bobcat. He's in kind of a sticky situation. Say, uh... ever hear o' the Devil's Paint Pots? Real mystery of the desert... bubblin' pots o' mud in all kinds o' colors. This is geyser country, too... Uh-oh! There she blows! Sure glad you all brought yer raincoats. Look out now... we never know when she's gonna go off... that's why we call her Ol' UNfaithful. Look out now! Heh-heh! You folks in them last cars be ready... she's a-threatenin' agin!

Yuh know, I hear tell a long time ago dinosaurs roamed this area. 'Course all yuh find now is cactus, snakes 'n coyotes... and sometimes the sun-bleached bones of an ancient animal.

There's the voice of the desert... the coyote.

Now folks, we gotta git through Balancin' Rock Canyon... Look out! They're startin' t' tumble!

Watch that wildcat, lady! Oh... heh, heh, glad he stayed up there. We've known these critters to take on a full-growed deer more'n ten times their size and weight.

Yuh know, last trip a mountain lion showed up right over that tunnel... Oh... there's one now, so yuh better all be real quiet.

Now we're goin' deep into the earth to view the dazzlin' Rainbow Caverns.

You'll see giant stalagmites, stalactites, 'n colorful falls on ever' side.

Say, if yuh look real careful, yuh'll see Geyser Grotto,'n even The Witch's Cauldron.

Well...

I see we're comin' back to Rainbow Ridge again. I hope you all enjoyed yer trip into Nature's Wonderland. Uh, please stay in yer seats 'till I get the train stopped, will yuh? And then just lift up the jump seat in the middle and the door'll come right open.

Now to find the exit, folks, just head right fer the front of the train. And if yuh got a mountain lion sittin' next to yuh, don't feed him... just tell 'em to hop out, 'n hightail it back to his own stompin' ground! Heh, heh.

Well, thanks fer ridin' along... 'n come on back again when yer out in these here frontier parts, will yuh?

So long!

Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland Standard Operating Procedure: