In the 1980s Disneyland designers were eager to put a high-profile thrill ride in Bear Country, which had become Bore Country for many guests something new and dramatic was needed to reinvigorate and perhaps even redefine the northwestern corner of the park. That something turned out to be Splash Mountain.The last and shortest of the four peaks in the Disneyland mountain range the 87-foot high Splash Mountain covers 2 acres of what was originally the Indian Village in Frontierland.Though it's in the same thrill ride category as the other Disneyland mountains Splash Mountain is different from the rest in that its thrills aren't apparent until the very end of the ride. While the other mountain attractions are fast-moving roller coasters with rapid twist turns and dips Splash Mountain is for the first 75% of the experience a gentle musical cruise more akin to It's A Small World.
Actually Splash Mountain's heritage most likely dates back to the early 1900s where the Old Mill water ride on Coney Island took visitors on a winding scenic trip.On Splash Mountain guests group in hollow log boats for about half a mile through caverns with settings reminiscent of the 1946 Disney film Song of the South with the movies Oscar-winning hit Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah playing in the background near the end of the ride, one of the names originally considered for the attraction was Zippity Doo Dah River Run.Cute critters ranging from possum families to croaking frogs sing the happy How Do You Do song while a simple plot unfolds about Brer Rabbit eluding the bumbling villains Briar Fox and Brer Bear.
About 7 minutes into the 10 minute cruise however, the mood begins to darken the singing creatures faces grow worrisome, ominous vulchers appear and the river leaves its cozy interior and seems to point upward to the distant Fantasyland sky. Only in the rides last moments do guests fully understand what puts the splash in Splash Mountain a thrilling water plunge reminiscent of another historic Coney Island favorite the thrilling Shoot-The-Chutes ride diving down a 52 foot slope at a 47 degree angle Splash Mountain logs hit 40 miles per hour as they zoom beneath an overhang of thorny briars and ram into a pool of water that sends waves splashing across the bow and usually all over the guests.
The logs travel so rapidly that few guests see the sign at the bottom that reads Drop-in Again Sometime.The souvenir books of the late 80s and early 1990s proudly touted Splash Mountain as a record-setter world's steepest highest scariest wildest adventure. Signs along the queue warn guests that they may get wet understating the potential soak factor of a heavily front-loaded log nose-diving hard into a splash pool.Attentive guests might notice that some of that splash isn't actually the result of the logs plummeting down but from water cannons shooting water up into the air. Inside the log the thrill is perhaps most intense in Disneyland.From the walkway out front the screams five-story nosedive explosions of water and sudden disappearance of the guests and logs create as much concern as fascination.
Fortunately a happy ending built around an enormous set-piece the jubilant Zip-a-dee Lady Showboat brings damp guests and laughing Briar Rabbit home safely.When it was first dedicated on Disneyland's 34th birthday after 5 years of planning and construction Splash Mountain brought with it Critter Country a successful update of the Bear Country theme that had existed since 1972. Lines for the new attraction immediately became some of the longest in Disneyland's history, but just as robust where the glowing reviews from guests.Among the many satisfactual surprises along the way are the audio animatronic characters themselves over 100 of them populate the caves most of them recognizable as recycle entertainers from the America Sings attraction that once spun inside Tomorrowland Carousel Theater from 1974 to 1988.
There is a "Roller Coaster" like hill that you go down, then up then down again this is a first for any ride of this type.The voice of Brer Bear in Splash Mountain is the same person Nick Stewart who voiced him in the 1946 film, Song Of The South.Voices:Brer Rabbit - Jess Harnell Brer Bear - Nick Stewart Brer Frog - James Avery.Guest Previews: Started June 29, 1989 Grand Opening: July 17, 1989 (Disneyland's 34th Anniversary)
Specs: Capacity 2100 per hour -- Capacity per log 7 -- TRip Time 9:00 -- Dispatch Interval :24 -- Distance Traveled 2500 feet -- Top Speed 40 MPH
Click Here To Gain Access
