Our Disney Trip (Day Three): The Little Engine That Could

If I was to name the most memorable part of our time at Magic Kingdom, I would point to the first roller coaster ride for our entire family. Elise was tall enough--and brave enough--to ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. It reminded me a lot of Six Flag's first roller coaster, the Mine Train. Only the Disney one had a little more kick to it.

As it turned out, we sat in the last two cars of our train. Tony sat with Elise for protection. I think we were both a little apprehensive of how she would do on it. Up to this point, the only ride that packed a punch was Splash Mountain, which she loved. But, nonetheless, there are a lot of people who cannot handle roller coasters and Elise is only 5.....

But off we go. I glance behind me and while she is wide eyed and tense, she's smiling, too. Yet, we make the final incline inside a mini-tunnel, only to come to a slow crawl, and then after inching forward, to a stop. The animated voice coming from the tunnel for "special effects" repeats his phrase three or four times. Then it stopped. It occurs to me then that maybe something is wrong. The ride has broken down while we're on it.

Making the most of the situation, I am thinking "This is cool. How often do you get to break down on a roller coaster. What a story to add to our Disney adventure. And for Elise, what a great story to tell about her first roller coaster."

After sitting on the track for at least five or ten minutes, I decide it's a good time to break out the camera and snap some pictures from our eagle eye's view. After all, how often to you get to take pictures on the track? Tony broke out the video camera and filmed, too.

                                                                     Waiting. Waiting....

Waiting some more....

We were in the final turn of the track and before it stopped completely, we had leveled out on the track. Once I realized the train was going nowhere and we'd be making an "emergency exit" , I did glance to the side to see our walking path, which included steps leading to the exit. The back end of the train tracks was up higher than the front end, and it was going to require someone hoisting me and the kids out of our seats and down to safety. When the workers came seat by seat to release us, they most likely breathed a sigh of relief I wasn't 300 pounds as they lifted me over. It occurred to me that had we been only four people behind in line, we would have missed the ride altogether and instead, been turned away from riding at all.

Much to the chagrin of the frazzled teenager in charge, I snapped one more picture exiting the ride. At least we were all handed fast passes for any ride in the park for our time and trouble.  What did we use it on? Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Once it was up and running, of course!!