This post is part of a series that tours the Magic Kingdom from A to Z. For other posts in this series, click here.
The obvious choice for the second stop in our tour of the Magic Kingdom from A to Z was Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. However, when possible, I want to avoid popular attractions and choose aspects of the Magic Kingdom that guests may not be as familiar with.
Located in Mickey’s Toontown Fair, The Barnstormer at Goofy’s Wiseacre Farm opened October 1, 1996 on the same site as Grandma Duck’s Farm, a petting zoo attraction that opened on June 18, 1988. Grandma Duck’s Farm was home to Minnie Moo, a holstein cow famous for the Mickey silhouette on her side (Minnie Moo moved to the petting zoo at Fort Wilderness’s Tri-Circle-D Ranch where she later died in the summer of 2001). The barn that guests go through while riding The Barnstormer is the same one that held the animals at the petting zoo.
The ride’s queue begins in Goofy’s garden, where a variety of fruits and vegetables are growing, then moves through Goofy’s workshop and later a barn full of Audio-Animatronic chickens. Epcot fans will be happy to know that these chickens were part of the World of Motion attraction that operated from October 1, 1982 to January 2, 1996. The Barnstormer is a 65 second long, kid-sized, chain lift roller coaster designed to look like a crop duster from the 1920s and holds 16 passengers (two passengers in each of eight cars). Guests fly in Goofy’s homemade airplane as it makes twists and turns before getting up to full speed and crashing into a barn (the same one guests walked through as part of the ride’s queue).
The theme song for The Barnstormer is Solo Pilot Blues. Sung by Goofy, the song tells the story of Goofy taking a girlfriend up in his plane. Goofy flies his plane through his barn, performs loopty loops and eventually crashes into a water tower, at which point Goofy’s girlfriend decides that she’s leaving him. The song is track 13 on the CD The Official Album of the Walt Disney World Resort (Happiest Celebration on Earth).
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I love that the World of Motion chickens are re-used! Thanks for the breakdown; I’d never known that Goofy’s girlfriend was the backstory! (Has Goofy ever had a girlfriend besides the occassional Clarabelle Cow pairing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarabelle_Cow?)