First the Tower of Terror, now Big Thunder?!?

I read on a MiceAge thread that some sources that claim about a retheme of Big Thunder Mountain. According to the rumor, given what's happening to the back half of Frontierland, some execs are pondering whether to keep Frontierland at all. Now the current rumor is not to do a Fantasyland expansion, but to retheme Big Thunder to a snowy mountain with Elsa's castle resting on high and the trains being rethemed as sleds. The trains will be re-themed to sleds that will enter the ice cavern, meet a Marshmallow AA and be sent racing through the slippery slopes of Arendelle. Many of the effects will be easily updated with bursts of snow and an avalanche replacing the TNT finale and wolves will add a tension to the 2nd lift hill.

This sounds absolutely bogus and a cruel joke, but we probably felt the same about all those rumors about that Guardians of the Galaxy overlay of the Tower of Terror, and now look at that rumor - it has been starting to gain steam now.

I sincerely hope this is not true. Otherwise, my days of going to Disneyland may very well be numbered, as Big Thunder is one of my most absolute favorites in the park.

 

Oh lord...

 

I hope this is just a bad joke!

 

I hope it's not true either. They just did that big refurb a year or so ago, right?

 

They're also going to all the trouble and expense of truncating and re-routing the river, and adding the new scenery on the north end. I don't think Frontierland is going anywhere.

Also, sleds running through a snowy mountain with a growling mythical creature inside? Doesn't that sound awfully familiar with something they've already got?

 

Perhaps it's the Matterhorn that's changing. Rolling down the track with 'Let it Go!' blaring over on-sled speakers.

Switch out the Yedi for an Olaf AA. Done!

 

To answer both questions simultaneously...

The person who brought up the Big Thunder replacement rumor also apparently took the Matterhorn into account: namely, the Matterhorn is quite rough, which is true. It also apparently has too little space and is quite difficult, maybe even impossible, to reskin for Frozen. And then there's the Matterhorn's proximity to the parade route.

Without bringing up the way the company does things financially too much, the person who brought this all up said that the Big Thunder rumor was right in step with Disney's alleged current thinking, which is do new rides for relatively cheap and easy and based on current Disney properties.

 

Judging by how "Frozenized" the Studio park in Orlando has become, this rumor is plausible.

 

I think it unlikely they'll remake the Matterhorn into anything Frozen.

I think it extraordinarily unlikely they'll remake Big Thunder into anything Frozen.

 

Like I said, it also seemed unlikely that they would remake the Tower of Terror into anything Marvel related - or anything else at all, for that matter. But that's what's apparently going down.

 

"I heard a rumor" and "apparently going down" are two different things. That said, I can believe TOT more than BT becoming Frozen. That just doesn't make sense on multiple levels.

 

Well, in fairness, for a lot of people, very little that Disney does makes a lot of sense anymore.

 

This definitely has to be some sort of sick, twisted joke. To completely destroy the one last unspoiled area of Frontierland would be to just give a big f--- off to anyone who's ever been a fan. Although, they've been doing that way too often over the past decade.....

 

Oh, joy - new board software, same LiceRat sewage being spread

 

Except the Star-Wars-as-its-own-land-and-not-Tomorrowland thing that MiceChat promoted proved to be true and did close off parts of the park for expansion. The only difference is WHAT it closed. It wasn't Toontown, as the rumor had persisted for a long time, but the Rivers of America and the Railroad. Granted, they will reopen when it's all over, but things will never be the same. Whether Toontown or the ROA/Railroad combo, the Big Thunder Ranch and the surrounding backstage area were factored into the closure, as per the rumor, and they, too, were proven true.

The point is, MiceChat's rumor mill is not always something to be sneezed at.

 

It's nothing to take as gospel, either, though.

Dude, I do remember how worked up you got over rumors of Toontown closing, and it didn't happen. Please try to remember that rumors are only rumors until Disney releases actual plans.

You saw the artwork for the northern part of the river, right? Even released-by-Disney artwork doesn't always mean "done deal," but it's a whole lot more concrete than rumors. And that artwork shows an intact river, which means Frontierland as a whole isn't going anywhere, despite some rumor. And that makes a Frozen-remake of BT awfully unlikely, I'd think.

Rumors are just rumors and not worth getting worked up about.

 

Well, in the case of the Guardians-as-TOT-replacement, the MiceChat article argues that Cast Members have already confirmed this, and the powers that be were not happy about their thunder being stolen:

"WDI had been testing and experimenting with the new show in the elevators for months and the Tower of Terror hourly CMs were all aware of what WDI had been cooking up since this winter. But when the plan finally leaked online in April, the TDA executive suite hit the roof in anger.

And what does an angry executive team do in this modern age when a juicy rumor, that just happens to be true, leaks online? They issue Talking Points, of course! TDA's Cast Communications team was instructed to send out vague and pointless Talking Points to the CMs that instructed them to not believe everything they see online until it is confirmed by the Disney Parks Blog. Except many hourly CMs who work the Tower of Terror attraction and its gift shop had known about this evolving plan for months prior to its online leak, as Imagineers and TDA executives spent plenty of early mornings and late nights inside the ride building testing out the new show proposals in the elevators and tinkering around the pre-show hallways and queue.

[...]

Assuming this gets the green light by August, and a disastrous Shanghai opening summer is about the only thing that could derail it at this point, the CMs will be treated to another round of approved Talking Points that will somehow explain that they can now believe what they read online about Guardians of the Galaxy taking over Tower of Terror. The hourly CMs, of course, are already several steps ahead of TDA."

So just because TDA is not ready to say anything yet, does not mean it's not true. After all, there's more than one way for information to get out.

 

And just because MiceAge says something IS true, doesn't mean it is. So why get worked up about it?

Also, this is about TOT. That may or may not happen. The Big Thunder thing is REALLY in the "just a rumor" stage at this point, doesn't make a lick of sense, and would necessitate such a large physical change that you'd have plenty of time to fret and stew about it in the highly unlikely event it ever happened.

Why start before then?

Relax.

 

Well, this is in the rumors section.
All I have to say is enough is enough. letLetitGogo!!!!
I take everything as rumor until I see it happen. Like those characters in Small World. It already had a theme.