How often does Big Thunder Mountain Railroad break down?

Over the last 90 days we recorded 91 real breakdown episodes for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad — about 7.1 per week, spread across 54 different days. These are observed status changes from live park data, not estimates.

How long is Big Thunder Mountain Railroad usually down when it breaks down?

The median recorded outage for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad lasted 60 minutes (average 65 minutes). The longest outage we observed in the last 90 days lasted 280 minutes, on 2026-08-16.

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad Reliability & Wait Patterns

Disneyland Park · Based on 16185 wait-time samples

0.35

Volatility Index (coefficient of variation)

Stable — waits stay close to the average throughout the day.

40m

Typical (p50) wait

55m

Busy (p90) wait

75m

Worst-case (p99)

85m

All-time max

Weekend vs Weekday

40m

Weekday average

40m

Weekend average

1.01×

Weekend multiplier

Real breakdown history (last 90 days)

Actual downtime episodes recorded by our live status tracker — every time Big Thunder Mountain Railroad flipped to DOWN and came back. Observed data, not estimates.

Recorded breakdowns

60m

Typical (median) outage

4h 40m

Longest outage (2026-08-16)

7.1

Breakdowns per week

Most recent outages

Date	Down for
2026-08-31	1h 14m
2026-08-31	2h 37m
2026-08-31	45m
2026-08-31	1h 40m
2026-08-29	58m
2026-08-28	6m
2026-08-27	2h 39m
2026-08-27	2h 44m

Episodes under 5 minutes are excluded as status flicker; the typical-outage figure also excludes rare multi-hour artifacts (>8h). Breakdowns hit 54 different days in this window.

Downtime by hour

Rate of DOWN/CLOSED status per hour of the day (ET).

0
14%

1
14%

2
78%

3
97%

4
100%

5
100%

6
100%

7
100%

8
100%

9
100%

10
100%

11
15%

12
15%

13
13%

14
18%

15
16%

16
13%

17
13%

18
14%

19
12%

20
13%

21
8%

22
10%

23
15%

Best & worst hours by day of week

Average standby wait (minutes). Green = lowest of day, red = highest.

DOW	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22
Mon	–	–	–	15	30	40	46	48	44	47	45	44	46	47	42
Tue	–	–	–	18	32	44	46	48	47	45	44	47	47	50	44
Wed	–	–	–	22	32	39	44	45	47	43	43	46	45	45	42
Thu	–	–	–	24	36	40	43	41	44	43	38	42	47	42	44
Fri	–	–	–	19	32	39	43	42	38	43	45	49	47	49	50
Sat	–	–	–	25	34	42	42	40	45	48	51	46	47	47	50
Sun	–	–	–	19	29	37	40	38	39	41	41	39	40	36	35

Weather effect on waits

Average wait (minutes) in different weather conditions:

41m

Clear

41m

Cloudy

36m

Drizzle

38m

Partly Cloudy

What causes this ride to spike

Waits for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad go up the most when these rides are DOWN:

Star Tours - The Adventures Continue

+8m (20%)

Peter Pan's Flight

+5m (12%)

Storybook Land Canal Boats

+-5m (-12%)

Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room

+-5m (-13%)

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DOW	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22
Mon	–	–	–	15	30	40	46	48	44	47	45	44	46	47	42
Tue	–	–	–	18	32	44	46	48	47	45	44	47	47	50	44
Wed	–	–	–	22	32	39	44	45	47	43	43	46	45	45	42
Thu	–	–	–	24	36	40	43	41	44	43	38	42	47	42	44
Fri	–	–	–	19	32	39	43	42	38	43	45	49	47	49	50
Sat	–	–	–	25	34	42	42	40	45	48	51	46	47	47	50
Sun	–	–	–	19	29	37	40	38	39	41	41	39	40	36	35

DOW	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22
Mon	–	–	–	15	30	40	46	48	44	47	45	44	46	47	42
Tue	–	–	–	18	32	44	46	48	47	45	44	47	47	50	44
Wed	–	–	–	22	32	39	44	45	47	43	43	46	45	45	42
Thu	–	–	–	24	36	40	43	41	44	43	38	42	47	42	44
Fri	–	–	–	19	32	39	43	42	38	43	45	49	47	49	50
Sat	–	–	–	25	34	42	42	40	45	48	51	46	47	47	50
Sun	–	–	–	19	29	37	40	38	39	41	41	39	40	36	35

DOW	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22
Mon	–	–	–	15	30	40	46	48	44	47	45	44	46	47	42
Tue	–	–	–	18	32	44	46	48	47	45	44	47	47	50	44
Wed	–	–	–	22	32	39	44	45	47	43	43	46	45	45	42
Thu	–	–	–	24	36	40	43	41	44	43	38	42	47	42	44
Fri	–	–	–	19	32	39	43	42	38	43	45	49	47	49	50
Sat	–	–	–	25	34	42	42	40	45	48	51	46	47	47	50
Sun	–	–	–	19	29	37	40	38	39	41	41	39	40	36	35