Big Thunder Ranch is a small petting zoo housing farm animals and a recreation of an old-fashioned homestead. In the area you and your children can interact with some non-animatronic animals such as cows, goats, and pigs. Sometimes you can even see one of Disneyland's working draft horses taking a break from pulling streetcars down Main Street.
Get up close with some friendly critters at Big Thunder Ranch, a charming little petting zoo located alongside Big Thunder Ranch Barbecue. Inspired by the western ranches of the 1880s, Big Thunder Ranch features a small wooden ranch house and petting barnyard where young cowpokes can meet and pet barnyard animals, such as cows, goats, sheep, donkeys and pigs. From time to time, the ranch has even served as home to the Thanksgiving turkeys pardoned by the President of the United States.
It includes an outdoor petting zoo, a walk-through cabin, and a variety of scenery meant to create the atmosphere of a Western ranch. It is located in Frontierland, close to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Inside you can find sheep, goats, cows, and other farm animals. Among these animals are the two turkeys who received presidential pardons in honor of Thanksgiving in 2008. The attraction is hosted by Brawny.
Big Thunder Ranch has an eating area, once called the Big Thunder Barbecue, as well as an outdoor stage that once served as a home for the Hunchback of Notre Dame dinner show. The show ended in the late 1990s, with Big Thunder Barbecue closing soon after. After being used on occasion for special events and seasonal attractions for several years, the dining area reopened in spring 2009 serving an all-you-can-eat barbecue menu.
Touring Tips
- This is a self-guided walkthrough attraction located at the far back end of Frontierland, beyond Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Right before the entrance to Fantasyland.
- Big Thunder Ranch generally does not open until noon and will close before dusk so that the animals can be put away for the night. Frequently on low attendance days Big Thunder Ranch will not open at all.
- The attraction is lightly visited, even on pretty crowded days so generally there is no problem with lines for the individual pens.
- Unless your child is uncomfortable with certain animals there should be none. Parents should keep in mind that while these are domesticated animals they can still react in unexpected ways to the abuses young children tend to heap on animals. Sanitizing hand wash is provided at the exit to Big Thunder Ranch and you should wash your children's hands (and your own) thoroughly if you've been in contact with any of the animals.
Facts
- The log cabin is called "Miss Chris's Cabin" and has two large tables stocked with baskets of crayons and coloring pages.
- The entire ranch often hosts holiday-themed shows, including "Woody's Halloween Roundup" during Halloween and "Santa's Reindeer Roundup" at Christmas.
- When the holiday season rolls around, Big Thunder Ranch is transformed into Santa's Reindeer Round-up, complete with real reindeer, crafts and the merriest couple of all - Santa and Mrs. Claus.
- The front entryway of Big Thunder Ranch has been used as a chance to show off some Disney history since it reopened. Initially there was an stagecoach out there that had been used in the stagecoach rides available during the earliest days of Frontierland. Recently, there has been an old surrey parked there instead. This surrey was one of the originals pulled down Main Street by horses back in the 1950s and 1960s.
History
This patch of land has been in use at Disneyland as far back as 1960 when it was part of Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland (which itself was an expansion of Rainbow Caverns Mine Train). When that attraction closed on January 2, 1977, to make way for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad it began almost a decade of disuse for the area.
Big Thunder Ranch opened on July 27, 1986, as part of a larger complex containing not only the petting zoo but also Big Thunder Ranch BBQ and a stage for performances. Big Thunder Ranch housed pretty much the same types of farm animals as you find there now but the most famous resident was Mickey Moo, a cow with a "hidden Mickey" on her side. In February 1996, construction began on Festival Arena in the area behind Big Thunder Ranch (the arena was being built to house "Festival of Fools" a stage show based on the Disney movie Hunchback of Notre Dame. The petting zoo area was needed as an entrance/exit for the theater and closed, though Big Thunder Ranch BBQ would continue operation for several more years. After the Festival of Fools show concluded its run the area was closed off and unused until 2004 when the petting zoo was quickly revived as a promotional tie-in to that year's animated movie, Home on the Range. Initially the area was labelled as "Little Patch of Heaven" after the farm in the movie, the homestead was made up to look like the farmhouse, and posters of the movie's characters were on display. Eventually that tie-in was removed and the area returned to being just "Big Thunder Ranch," a petting zoo.
In November 2005, Big Thunder Ranch became the home of two new semi-famous residents. Every year at Thanksgiving, the President of the United States "pardons" a turkey from the dinner table. Normally the turkey then lives out its life at an East Coast farm but in 2005 both Yam, the pardoned turkey, and a backup by the name of Marshmallow were shipped off to Disneyland to live out their lives at Big Thunder Ranch. Unfortunately, in the spring of 2006, Marshmallow took ill and passed away and Yam had passed away as well by September.
Hidden Mickeys
- here is a giant pile of used horseshoes, found just outside Frontierland's Big Thunder Ranch House. A carefully placed horseshoe Mickey is hidden somewhere in that huge pile.
- Hidden up in the loft, inside the Big Thunder Ranch House; there are bridles, reigns & saddle straps that feature Classic Mickeys logos.
- On the petting zoo's wooden sink counter, there is a Classic Mickey hidden under one of the soap dispensers. It's hard to tell if the Mickey was cut into the counter or if its a natural knot-hole.
- The Halloween Time decorations cover every inch of the Big Thunder Ranch in Frontierland. In part of the Halloween display, there is a Hidden Mickey place setting just outside of the Ranch House. The plate and cups have also been screwed into the table top, to make sure nobody can change the Hidden Mickey.