In his Mice Age update yesterday Andy Castro posted pictures of Disneyland Big Thunder Mountain which is now in a long refurbishment. And Andy added about Rainbow Ridge - the little mining town that guests can see in the ride and which was part before of the now extinct Mine Train Thru nature's Wonderland: "What Disney didn’t confirm, however, are rumors that the mining town that riders pass at the end of the attraction will be mostly removed during the refurbishment... I hope the old Rainbow Ridge can be saved, but rumors continue to suggest it will become a permanent part of Yesterland when the attraction closes for refurbishment in January."
Well, Andy, i have a news that should make you happy as well as all Disneyland fans as, yes, the Rainbow Ridge buildings will be removed...but it's to rebuild them and then DL Imagineers will put them back in place, and it seems they will rebuild them fully new. Back in 1978 when WDI Imagineers moved them from their old location in Nature's Wonderland they had to partially rebuild the ones they wanted to save and the ones in worst condition went away. Sitting in the dirt since then they probably got some wood rot by now. Maybe now they will put Concrete foundations down for them, or we can only hope.
Back in 1978 the Rainbow Ridge buildings never had props or interiors as guests did not get that close to them in Nature's Wonderland. So for DL BTM Imagineers installed props, curtains, wallpaper and lighting inside and outside of them, as well as some audio effects from "X" Atencio and the WED Gang. For instance, in the Saloon you can hear Imagineers "X" Atencio and Scott Hennesy and other WED Imagineers singing along in Rainbow Ridge. By the way, talking about Big Thunder did you knew that the BTM Trains were first designed in 1969 by Imagineer George McGinnis for Marc Davis for his planned train ride and were later adapted to Big Thunder for Tony Baxter BTM concept.
You can see more pictures of DL BTM Rainbow Ridge in Andy's article on Mice Chat HERE.
Pictures: copyright Andy Castro - Mice Chat
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