Man, Big Thunder is Bussin'

We have no shortage of pictures and videos of the Big Thunder Railroad.  Sometimes I wonder if this is actually my favorite ride.  It is great fun!

Now, let's talk kidney stones.  That's right, kidney stones. Here's how Kramer described a kidney stone: "It's a stony, mineral concretion, formed abnormally in the kidney.  This jagged shard of calcium pushes its way through the ureter into the bladder.  It's forced out through the urine." Why would a post about Big Thunder mention kidney stones?  Here's why. In October 2016, in the Journal of the American Osteopathic Association, a paper called "Validation of a Functional Pyelocalyceal Renal Model for the Evaluation of Renal Calculi Passage While Riding a Roller Coaster" was published.  The author found that his patients had passed kidney stones after riding Big Thunder!  He tested this result using a 3D model of a kidney and rode Big Thunder (at Disney World-still counts) over 20 times. He found that nearly 70% of the time the kidney stone was passed, with results varying depending on which row they were in.  The study also found that Space Mountain did NOT have the same result.  The guy should have tried the Matterhorn-that thing will shake a kidney stone loose, even if you don't have one!