A New Thunder Trail

About two weeks ago, Disneyland quietly reopened Big Thunder Trail, the pathway linking Frontierland and Fantasyland, after over a year of redesign and partial re-routing to make way for the upcoming "Star Wars" Land.  The new trail takes on the rich, warm sandstone hues of the Southwest to parallel the tones of Big Thunder Mountain, and the mining motif is ever-present.  It's a pretty desert landscape that will actually transition nicely into the mysterious wilderness of the unknown planet that serves as "Star Wars" Land's setting, and I think the Imagineers and construction folks have done a tremendous job!

Old battered retaining walls and mining artifacts dot the trail.

This gives way to some lovely red rock formations.

You can see the reference to Big Thunder across the way.

These lamps skewered into the rock are a lovely touch.

The rocks jut out to provide shade too.