Difference between revisions of "Splash Mountain"

Revision as of 18:26, 10 January 2012

Splash Mountain is an attraction located in Frontierland

Attraction History

Splash Mountain was originally developed as an attraction for Disneyland. In the summer of 1983, Imagineer Tony Baxter was trying to figure out a way to attract guests to the scarcely visited Bear Country land in Disneyland. Also on his mind was the fact that the America Sings attraction in Tommorowland was about to close, in with its 114 animal Audio Anamatronics. To add to all of that, Dick Norris who oversaw Disneyland wanted his Imagineer to create a log flume for the park. Finally while stuck in rush hour traffic Tony Baxter thought of a solution.

The attraction he came up with was to be a log flume ride called Zip-a-Dee River Run. The ride would be based on the 1946 Disney film Song of the South. The movie was chosen, because its main characters, Brer Fox, Brer Bear and Brer Rabbit had been popular walk-around characters since the parks opening. By choosing Song of the South Baxter knew that he would also be able to reuse the Audio Anamatronic animals located in America Sings, thus solving two problems with one attraction. Although Dick Norris had demanded a log flume ride, Imageneers were not sold on the idea. Many felt that log flume rides were beneath Disney since they were in every average amusement park. Eventually however, it was decided that Disney would be different, because of the story they would tell.

In 1984, the name of the attraction was changed to Splash Mountain. Michael Eisner suggested the change, in order to promote the new Disney-Touchstone film Splash. Although Eisner's other suggestion of adding a mermaid to the ride to further tie in with the film was rejected, the new name stuck. On July 17, 1989 Splash Mountain opened in Disneyland. The attraction proved so popular that Michael Eisner decided to add it to the other Disney theme parks, including Walt Disney World.

Construction in Disney World

Construction began on the Walt Disney World version of the attraction in 1990. In order to build Chick-A-Pill Hill, which would eventually house Splash Mountain, the Fronteirland train station on the [{Walt Disney World Railroad]] had to be removed. After the hill was built, the train station reopened and guests could now see the Zip-A-Dee-Lady scene of the attraction. The rock formations on Chick-A-Pill Hill were first sculpted and then reinforced with rebar, wire mesh and sprayable concrete. When completed the hill stood 87 feet tall and housed caves, swamps and bayous. Also built was a 950,000 gallon water reservoir which supplies water for the attraction. Four pumps, pump the water from the reservoir into the Splash Mountain.

Splash Mountain, like Thunder Mountain before it, is controlled by computers. There are two main ride control computers. If the two computers don't both agree on the millions of the commands being sent to the ride, they will stop the ride. The attraction was also built with an infra-red intrusion system that alerts cast members if somebody steps outside of their log. When completed Splash Mountain took up 9.2 acres of land, including 2,600 feet of track. Splash Mountain began with soft openings on July 27, 1992 and it was officially dedicated October 2nd.