Splash Mountain and Wikipedia

September 10, 2012

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Splash Mountain

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Splash Mountain

Splash Mountain at Disneyland

[hide]Disneyland
Area	Critter Country
Status	Operating
Opening date	July 17, 1989

[hide]Magic Kingdom
Area	Frontierland
Status	Operating
Soft opening date	July 17, 1992
Opening date	October 2, 1992

[hide]Tokyo Disneyland
Area	Critter Country
Status	Operating
Opening date	October 1, 1992

General Statistics

Designer

Walt Disney Imagineering

Duration

9:18 (Disneyland)
10:41 (Magic Kingdom)
10:00 (Tokyo Disneyland)

Manufacturer

Hopkins Rides^[1] (Disneyland)

Audio-animatronics

about 103

Number of drops

3 (Disneyland)
4 (Magic Kingdom)

Length

2640 feet (Disneyland)
2600 feet (Magic Kingdom)
2800 feet (Tokyo Disneyland)

Fastpass available at all three parks

Single rider line available at Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland only

Must transfer from wheelchair

Splash Mountain is a themed log flume attraction at Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland, and the Magic Kingdom at the Walt Disney World Resort, based on the characters, stories, and songs from the 1946 Disney film Song of the South. Although there are variations in the story and features between the three locations, each installation begins with a peaceful outdoor float-through that leads to indoor dark ride segments, with a climactic steep drop into a “briar patch” followed by an indoor finale. The drop is 53 feet.

Theme

The different versions of Splash Mountain feature similar stories, albeit with small differences. Each ride presents scenes taken from the animated segments of Song of the South. It tells the story of the adventures of Br’er Rabbit, a mischievous rabbit that leaves his home in the briar patch to look for his “laughing place.” Unfortunately for him, Br’er Fox and Br’er Bear, the antagonists of this story, are determined to catch and eat him.

History

The idea for Splash Mountain was originally conceived in the summer of 1983 by Imagineer Tony Baxter while stuck in rush hour traffic on his way to work. He wanted to attract guests to the often-empty Bear Country land and make use of the Audio-Animatronics from America Sings, which was also receiving poor attendance. It was Dick Nunis who insisted that the Imagineers create a log flume for Disneyland, but the Imagineers were initially unenthusiastic about it, insisting that log flumes were too ordinary a theme park attraction to include in a park like Disneyland. While trying to solve the problems of including a log flume, bringing people into Bear Country and reusing the America Sings characters, Baxter then thought of Song of the South.

At the time it was built, Splash Mountain was one of the most expensive projects created by Walt Disney Imagineering at a cost of $75 million. According to Alice Davis (wife of the late Marc Davis), when America Sings closed in April 1988, production of Disneyland’s Splash Mountain had gone far over budget. The only way to recover was to close down America Sings and use the characters from that attraction.^[2]

Baxter and his team developed the concept of Zip-a-Dee River Run, which would incorporate scenes from Song of the South. The name was later changed to Splash Mountain after then-CEO Michael Eisner‘s mostly-ignored suggestion that the attraction be used to help market the film Splash.^[3] The characters from America Sings were used in many scenes, though all of the main characters were specifically designed for Splash Mountain. Coincidentally, the two vultures seen just before the final drop at the Disneyland version are the same vultures used as the Boothill Boys in America Sings.

Dave Feiten was then brought in to animate and fix story and staging problems. Feiten then moved nearly all of the animatronics to new locations and then took out 10 animatronic figures and removed them from the ride completely to improve the show.^{[citation needed]} A version of the popular attraction was planned for Disneyland Paris, but was scrapped due to budget reasons and the cold weather in Europe.

Attraction

Disneyland

One of the logs descending the final drop on the ride at Disneyland

Guests enter the queue in front the main drop viewing area. The queue winds past the Critter Country sign into the main entrance where a number of machines with cogs and gears dominate. Various thoughts and sayings from Uncle Remus are featured on signs throughout the queue, which winds around a barn structure and reaches the loading area.

Passengers ride aboard six-to-seven-seater logs with six single-file seats. The last seat in each log is larger and allows room for larger guests or an adult and a small child, thus allowing the capacity to be seven in each log. The log departs the loading area and ascends two conveyor-type lifts before floating gently through scenery designed to evoke the feeling of a river in the southern state of Georgia. The homes of the three main characters and aged farm equipment are incorporated into the landscape, along with an instrumental version of “How Do You Do?” emanating from hidden speakers along the waterway.

Before the logs enter the indoor portion, snoring is heard emanating from Brer Bear’s cave. The snoring is a tribute to the original entrance to Bear Country (the former name of Critter Country) where a bear named Rufus was heard snoring from a cave.

After a short drop down “Slippin’ Falls”, guests enter the indoor portion of the attraction, where various Audio-Animatronic animals, such as geese, frogs, and opossums sing the attraction’s first musical number, “How Do You Do?”. Most of the animals on Splash Mountain were reused from the closed attraction America Sings. Brer Rabbit (voiced by Jess Harnell) is seen laughing at Brer Bear’s misfortunes, preceding a “dip-drop” into the surreal Rainbow Caverns, where characters sing “Everybody’s Got a Laughin’ Place.”

Brer Fox then manages to trap Brer Rabbit in a beehive. The mood turns ominous as two mother characters sing the “Burrow’s Lament.” The logs begin climbing up the final and longer lift hill, passing beneath two vultures that taunt guests and tell of foreboding danger. Shortly before the attraction’s climactic drop, Brer Rabbit is seen alongside the hill, about to be eaten by Brer Fox.

But Brer Rabbit outsmarts Brer Fox and Brer Bear by tricking them into throwing him into the briar patch (where he was born and raised). Riders are sent down the final drop into the briar patch, mimicking his fall. The top half of the drop is highly visible from the adjacent areas of the park. A photo is taken as the log begins to fall, and it can be purchased after disembarking from the ride. From the top of the hill, riders looking toward the splashdown point will notice a full pond of water ahead of them.

The log then ‘dives’ under the water into an underground runout. The collective weight of the riders generally determines the degree to which they get wet here. An indoor segment follows the drop, after which the logs make a final entrance into a section of the mountain named “Doo-Dah Landing”, where a full cast of Audio-Animatronic figures sing “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah” and the respective fates of Brer Rabbit (reclined happily at home) and the antagonists (fending off a hungry alligator) are seen.

Before the return to the loading area, riders are given a preview of their picture that was taken on the final drop via an overhead screen. Professor Barnaby Owl, an overhead Audio-Animatronic, calls the riders’ attention to the screen with various phrases describing the looks on their faces. After disembarking from the log, riders enter a “dark room,” where they preview their on-ride photograph before exiting to Critter Country.

Magic Kingdom

Splash Mountain at Magic Kingdom

Without a Critter Country in Walt Disney World, Splash Mountain is located in Frontierland, across the way from Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Construction of Splash Mountain necessitated the demolition of the existing railroad station and temporarily turning the railroad into a shuttle between Main Street, U.S.A. and Mickey’s Toontown Fair.

Riders board eight-passenger logs, seated two by two. Logs are now equipped with lap bars for safety reasons following a January 2011 renovation. The log departs the loading area, where Br’er Frog provides introductory narration. The log ascends two dual-chain lifts before floating gently through scenery designed to evoke the feeling of a river in the Southern United States, particularly Georgia, where Song of the South was based. The homes of the three main characters and aged farm equipment are incorporated into the landscape, along with an instrumental version of “How Do You Do?” emanating from hidden speakers along the waterway.

After a short drop down “Slippin’ Falls”, guests enter the indoor portion of the attraction, where various Audio-Animatronic animals, such as geese and frogs sing the attraction’s first musical number, “How Do You Do?”. Several vignettes establish the story of a restless Br’er Rabbit leaving home and being pursued by Br’er Fox and Br’er Bear.

“Everybody’s Got a Laughing Place” begins to play after Br’er Bear springs Br’er Fox’s rabbit trap. The logs continue onward past a number of hitchhiking critters, while opossums sing the song from overhead. The logs reach a dark tunnel followed by a “dip-drop” into the Laughin’ Place. Bees attack Br’er Bear while Br’er Rabbit watches with joy. The logs then go over another short drop, and head further into the cavern scenes. There, singing turtles and dancing water fountains guide the log to a dark area in which Br’er Rabbit has been caught by Br’er Fox in a cave of stalactites and stalagmites. Two vultures taunt riders as they begin their ascent up the final lift. A scene to the side shows Brer Fox menacing Brer Rabbit, with Brer Rabbit pleading not to be thrown into the briar patch.

At the top of this third lift hill, the log descends the 52-foot (16 m) drop at a 45 degree angle, reaching a maximum speed of 40 mph.^[4] After another outdoor flume segment, the log returns to the mountain, where critters at “Doo Dah Landing” are singing “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah” in celebration of Br’er Rabbit’s return, while Br’er Fox and Br’er Bear attempt to fend off an alligator. At the end, Br’er Rabbit sings with Mr. Blue Bird, telling guests that he learned his lesson. After exiting the log, riders may purchase a picture of their log falling at the final drop.

Tokyo Disneyland

Splash Mountain at Tokyo Disneyland

Splash Mountain at Tokyo Disneyland is very similar to the Florida version of the ride, with a few exceptions. The ride’s layout is a mirror-image of Florida’s owing to the attraction’s location on the opposite side of the river. The secondary characters are altogether different and the show scenes are in different orders. The Tokyo version also lacks a mill or barn-like structure on the second lift (although it is used as the main entrance to the ride queue). Instead, the logs venture into a cave-like opening to begin the second ascent. Another exception to the Florida version, is that the small drop down “Slippin Falls’, takes place in a cave, thus making it a dark drop.