Splash Mountain

Splash Mountain
File:Splash Mountain.png Poster of Splash Mountain
Ride statistics
Attraction type	Flume and Dark Ride
Designer	Walt Disney Imagineering
Theme	Animated parts of Song of the South
Music	From Song of the South Soundtrack
Vehicle type	Log
Duration	9:21
Water Flow	20,000 Gallons per Minute
Must transfer from wheelchair

Splash Mountain
Ride statistics
Drop Angle	47 Degrees
Single rider line yes

Splash Mountain
Ride statistics
Drop Angle	45 Degrees

Splash Mountain
Ride statistics
Duration	10
Drop Angle	45 Degrees

Splash Mountain is a log flume attraction at three Walt Disney Parks, based on characters, stories, and songs from the 1946 Disney film Song of the South. Each Splash Mountain 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.

Story

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 him.

Disneyland version

Passengers ride aboard seven-seater logs with five single-file, individual seats and a wide back seat that can accommodate two riders sitting side-by-side. The log departs the loading area, winding peacefully through scenery designed to evoke the feeling of a river in the Southern United States. Models of small riverside shacks and aged equipment are incorporated into the landscape, along with music emanating from hidden speakers along the waterway. There are several lifts that raise the log up to higher levels in the mountain, using friction on rubber-like conveyor belts to lift the logs.

After a short drop, guests enter the indoor portion of the attraction, where various audio-animatronic animals sing the attraction's first musical number, "How Do You Do?". Br'er Rabbit (voiced by Jess Harnell) is seen laughing at Br'er Bear's misfortunes in several scenes preceding a drop (unique for its roller-coaster-like hills at the base) into the surreal Laughing Place, where "Ev'rybody's Got a Laughing Place" can be heard. Br'er Fox then manages to trap Br'er Rabbit in a beehive (originally planned, as in the original stories, as a depiction of the Tar Baby sequence, and altered to avoid the negative connotations associated with the image). The mood rapidly turns ominous as a mother rabbit sings the "Burrows Lament." The logs begin climbing up the final and longest lift hill, passing beneath two vultures that taunt the guests. Shortly before the attraction's climactic drop, Br'er Rabbit is seen alongside the hill, about to be cooked into a stew.

But Br'er Rabbit outsmarts Br'er Fox and Br'er Bear into throwing him into the briar patch where he was raised. Riders are sent down the big 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. into a long splashdown that sends variable amounts of water into the logs. (The collective weight of the riders can have some impact on whether they are drenched.)

A long splashdown and outdoor segment follow the drop, after which the logs make a final entrance into the mountain, where a full cast of audio-animatronic figures sing "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" and the respective fates of Br'er Rabbit (reclined happily at home) and the antagonists (fending off a hungry alligator) are seen before the return to the loading area.

Walt Disney World and Tokyo Disneyland versions

These two versions are almost identical. Passengers board a log that seats four rows of two abreast. The story starts off with an intro from Br'er Frog (replacing Uncle Remus), who warns of the troubles ahead. An additional difference between these versions and the Disneyland version is the music - whereas Disneyland's Splash Mountain uses primarily orchestral backing for the songs, these two versions use background tracks that mimic the sounds of the South.

Production

At the time it was built, Splash Mountain was one of the most expensive projects created by Walt Disney Imagineering ($75 million). Imagineer Tony Baxter wanted to attract guests to the often empty Bear Country land and make use of the audio-animatronics from America Sings, which was receiving poor attendance. 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 way over budget. The only way to recover was to close down America Sings and use the characters from that attraction. 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. The characters from America Sings were used in many scenes, though all of the main characters were specifically designed for Splash Mountain.

When the ride was first put together, nearly all the animatronics were wired and put in place. 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.

Like a number of Disney attractions, much of Splash Mountain takes place outside of park boundaries. Guests are kept oblivious to the transition between the visible Chickapin Hill and the warehouse-like show building that houses most of the experience, and clever landscaping within the park prevents guests from glimpsing the behind-the-scenes structures.

In the Walt Disney World version, there is a "Hidden Mickey" during the showboat scene toward the end of the ride. Mickey can be seen lying on his back in the clouds. Also, there is a Hidden Mickey in the room with jumping water, the hole in which Chickapin Hill flows is a side profile of Mickey's head and there is a birdhouse with an icon cut out of it in the garden scene. Furthermore, there is one near Br'er Frog when he is fishing on the alligator, visible as you pass him, and one composed of three barrels half-way up the second hill. There is also a hidden Dumbo in the first part of the cave.

Soundtrack

The ride features variations of the three songs found in the animated segments from Song of the South though not in the same order. In the order heard in the attraction;

• "How Do You Do?"
• "Ev'rybody's Got a Laughin' Place"
• "Burrow's Lament" ("Laughin' Place" in a minor key)
• "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah"

The soundtracks for all three Splash Mountains are unique. In Disneyland, the score uses an orchestra, playing whimsical arrangements similar to those found in cartoons. This suits the attraction's fantastic Critter Country location. This version is the only one where "Burrow's Lament" is sung. Not an actual song from the movie, it is a version of "Ev'rybody Has a Laughin' Place" played in a minor key.

The mountains in Florida and Japan (located in the more realistic Frontierland and Westernland park areas, respectively) share an identical underscore. It is in a setting-appropriate country-western style, featuring instruments like banjos, fiddles and harmonicas. The vocals, however, are completely different between the two parks. The secondary characters are altogether different, the show scenes (and the specific verses sung in them) are in dramatically different orders, and choruses and back-up vocals arranged with different harmonies. Additionally, dialogue and lyrics in Tokyo are Japanese for "How Do You Do?" and "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah", but English for "Ev'rybody's Got a Laughin' Place". In both instances, "Burrow's Lament" is heard as an instrumental track.

Releases

Despite being released on CDs attributed to the Magic Kingdom or Walt Disney World in general, as well as often bearing specific track attribution (such as "from Walt Disney World's Splash Mountain"), the country-western style soundtrack actually found at the Florida and Tokyo parks has never been released on CD. All of the tracks listed below represent arrangements or medleys of the Disneyland score.

• The Official Album of Disneyland and Walt Disney World (1991 CD): "Ev'rybody Has a Laughing Place" & "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah"
• Disneyland/Walt Disney World: The Official Album (1997 CD): "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" & "Ev'rybody Has a Laughing Place"
• Walt Disney World Resort: The Official Album (1999 CD): "Ev'rybody Has a Laughing Place"
• Walt Disney World Resort: Official Album (2000 CD): 7-minute medley. Attributed to Magic Kingdom.
• Official Album: Walt Disney World Resort Celebrating 100 Years of Magic (2001 CD): 8-minute medley. Attributed to Magic Kingdom.
• Disneyland Park: The Official Album (2001 CD): 8-minute medley.
• A Musical History of Disneyland (2005): 12-minute medley.
• Disney's Happiest Celebration on Earth (2005): 8 minute medley.

In popular culture

In the sing along songs video Disneyland Fun, during "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah", Splash Mountain was one of the rides the kids rode on. In 1989, Ernest Goes to Camp aired during The Magical World of Disney. Prior to the movie a special called "Ernest at Splash Mountain" aired in it Ernest was seen training for, and finally riding, the newly opened Splash Mountain. The end result had Ernest bewildered and collapsing to the ground, leaving guests to step on him while boarding the attraction.

In scary movie 4 as Cindy is looking at pictures of the man and the woman, there is a brief photograph of them going down the drop of Splash Mountain.

Roger Rabbit's animated short Trail Mix Up makes several visual references to Splash Mountain. At one point the log Roger and Baby Herman are riding has a bumper sticker that reads "We Visited Splash Mountain".

Despite Disney's great attention to detail and audience management, the monitoring represented by both security cameras and the strobe cameras have not proven wholly successful at eliminating one of the most salacious phenomena of the "Splash Mountain" experience. Hoping to make illicit use of the in-ride photographs that Disney later sells to ride patrons, some riders briefly expose themselves (e.g., a woman baring her breasts) during a particular descent.[[1]] Collected on a website called "Flash Mountain" in the mid to late 1990s, the shots continue to circulate online.

See also

• List of current Disneyland attractions
• Magic Kingdom attraction and entertainment history
• Tokyo Disneyland attraction and entertainment history

External links

• Disneyland Park - Splash Mountain
• Walt Disney World Resort - Splash Mountain
• Splash Mountain at IMDb
• L.A. Times article about "Flash Mountain"
• The Unofficial Song of the South website: Splash Mountain page
• Walt Disney World Magic
• "Amusement ride for traveling down a water chute with reduced splash - Patent #5,613,443". US Patent & Trademark Office. Retrieved November 17. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help) - Patent for reduced splash logs used in Tokyo.
• Disneyland Splash Mountain construction photos