Splash Mountain

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 Frontierland 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.

Attraction Plot

Queue

Guest's begin in the queue line which is housed inside Chick-A-Pill Hill. Guests wind there way through caverns, which feature portraits of the ride's main characters. Small houses belonging to various animals can also be seen, and if guets listen closely sounds will emit from some of the homes. While in the queue, guests can also hear Brer Toad begin to tell the story of Brer Rabbit's adventure. After winding through Chick-A-Pill Hill, guests eventually reach the loading area, where they climb into their flumes.

The Ride

After boarding their logs and moving out of the loading area, the first character guests will encounter is Brer Toad. Located on the left hand side of the flumes, Brer Toad gives a warning about Brer Rabbit, "Mark my words, Brer Rabbit's gonna put his foot in Brer Fox's mouth."" As guest continue on an instrumental version the song, "How Do You Do" begins to play. Along the banks of the tracks guests can see various houses including Brer Fox's, and rustic farm equipment. These items were placed there so that guests would feel as if they were on a river in the Southern United States. After taking a right turn into a little cave, guests can see Brer Bear's house on their right hand side. After exiting the cave, the flumes go down the first drop in the attraction, "Slippin Falls".

After going down the falls, the boats enter a swamp, which has Audio Anamatronic animals singing "How Do You Do". The animals, including Brer Frog are fishing in an area clearly marked as no fishing. After traveling foreward, riders see Brer Rabbit outside his house. Brer Fox and Bear are also their, watching intently as Brer Rabbit sings that, "It's time to be moving along". He also states that he's looking for adventure. Although Mr. Blue Bird tells Brer Rabbit this is not a good idea, Brer Rabbit goes anyway.

The logs then turn right, around a corner, where riders see that Brer Bear has fallen into a trap set for Brer Rabbit. Brer Bear is hanging in the trap at the top of the tree, while Brer Fox scoldes him and tries to get him down. Across the ride track, Brer Rabbit can be seen laughing at the situation.

The next scene that guests enter is the Lauging Place scene. Here on the left Brer Rabbit says that his laughing place is where he will be. The scene then progresses to show that Brer Rabbit once again tricked Brer Bear, who stuck his head into a bee hive, thinking it was Brer Rabbit's laughing place. At this point, the logs go down the rides second drop which happens in complete darkness.

After going down the drop, the next scene riders see is Brer Bear with a bee hive on his nose. Once again it looks as if Brer rabbit as outsmarted the antagonists, expect while he lays on the ground laughing Brer Fox sneaks up behind him and catches him. Guests then see Brer Rabbit tied up by Brer fox before going up the rides final hill. As the riders continue to ascend, two vultures taunt them ("Everybody's got a laughing place, maybe this is ones yours.") on the left of the track, Brer Rabbit, still tied up pleads with Brer Fox to do anything but throw him in the Briar Patch. Not realizing hes been tricked, Brer Fox does just that, with guests plummeting 52 feet down into the Briar Patch with him. While going down the drop, a camera takes guests pictures which they can buy in the exit shop.

After reaching the bottom of the drop and going around a bend, guest end up in "Doo Dah Landing". Here various Audio Anamatronic animals are singing "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" in celebration of Brer Rabbit's return. On there left side, guests will see the Zip-a-Dee Lady were the celebration is really taking place. In the final scenes of the attraction, guests see Brer Fox and Brer Bear fighting off an alligator attack, while the other animals sing "Brer Fox and Brer Bear are going to get it today". Finally, the flumes float past Brer Rabbit and Mr. Bluebird. Brer Rabbit claims that he has learned his lesson and will be staying in the Briar Patch ("Home sweet home is the lesson today", before guests reach the unloading area.