Mount St. Yell'ns... or, The Only Good Thing From The 80's

Howdy Dorks!

Hey, it is almost your last chance to follow me by email, and get entered into the contest to win Lots To Do In Line: Disneyland. It is a great way to pass the time while you are waiting in those long summer queues.

Heading to the parks in a couple of days. I will try to take a couple awesome pictures... a few good pictures and a crap ton of mediocre pictures.

When I finished the guide to Critter Country, I left out the biggest and most fun part, Splash Mountain-tian-tian-ian-ian-an-an-n-n!(That last part was echoes, so if you didn't get that before, go back and re-read it like you are the announcer of a monster truck rally that is rolling in to town Sunday SUNDAY SUNDAY and seats are only TEN DOLLARS!)

In 1983 Imagineer Tony Baxter was sitting traffic on the Santa Anna Freeway. Yep, I said '83, so he was probably looking at his Swatch Watch wishing traffic was moving faster so he could stop at the store and pick up some Pac-Man Cereal and a Cabbage Patch Kid then get home and try to figure out his Rubix Cube. All around him cars with Baby On Board signs are bumper to bumper. Then brilliance struck. He reached into his parachute pants for his pad of paper.

See, Bear Country had horrible attendance. That part of the park was practically a barren wasteland(I may be overstating that a bit.) The Chairman of Disney Theme Parks, Dick Nunis was hoping for a log flume ride. He was facing some opposition because most flume rides at other amusement parks were a little... boring. And, The America Sings attraction that was built for the Bicentennial was also dealing with poor attendance.
Baxter put two and two... and two... together and came up with awesome!

I assume the phone call the next day went something like this.

"I totally came up with this gnarly idea that has me stoked to the max, dudes and dudettes! I was sitting in grodie traffic and I was all like gag me with a spoon, this traffic is bogus. If only we had a bodacious log ride that could cool off all the barneys in the park. I thought it would be totally awesome if we made in on Main Street... Psych! Take a chill pill dweebs. Fer sure, let's build it in Bear Country and use those rad characters from Song of the South! It will be, like, majorly trippendicular!"

Splash Mountain was born.

The articles I read all varied slightly in time line, so I will just pull a little from each and stitch together my own time line. 1983, the idea was born. The building of Splash went way over budget, luckily using the idea of using the audio-animatronic characters from America Sings made it feasible to get it done. With about 100 characters from the defunct attraction, Imagineers would only have to design the main characters from Song of the South in order to make it work. July 17, 1989 the ride opens to the public.

The story goes that Micheal Eisner brought his son in on a Saturday for a pitch meeting. His son loved the model and idea of Splash so much Eisner greenlit it right then and there with the caveat that there could be no reference to Uncle Remus on the ride, it is after all Critter Country... In your face Christopher Robin.

It was originally called Zip A Dee River Run and then it was The Song of the South Log Flume Ride, finally Eisner said, "It's a mountain and there is a big splash at the end. It's Splash Mountain"

The story takes bits and pieces from the stories in Song of the South and weaves them into an adventure where we follow Br'er Rabbit on a search for adventure while all the while being chased by Br'er Fox and Br'er Bear. In the end Br'er Rabbit gets caught by Br'er Fox in a family friendly version of the films Tar Baby scene(later it was turned white and called Glue Baby, on the ride Fox catches him in honey(hunny to the Pooh fans) but there is no reference to a Honey Baby). In the end, Br'er Rabbit tricks Fox into throwing him(and us) into the briar patch which is home for the rascally rabbit. Moral of the story... Best place to find adventure is in your own back yard...

On to the ride! I tried to take pictures of each section of the ride, but since you are moving quickly and in the dark in some places... some of the pictures didn't pass my stringent quality standards!

Genius Fun Fact: Splash Mountain's real name is Chickapin Hill

The queue starts about 10 feet from the Haunted Mansion exit. It winds into Critter Country past a great view of the final drop into the brair patch. Oh wait! I have a GIF of that! I may have already used it, but I am throwing it up there again!

They are totally screaming right now

I think it's time for less talking and more pictures! Whoot!

The logs have room for six single file riders. FSL and I always try to sit in the back.The last seat has some extra room as well as a place to put your feet, the perfect spot for an Evil Genius. Here is a piece of info for you. if heavier riders are in the front, the nose rides low and people get soaked. Heavier riders in the back you tend to stay more dry.

As you are riding through, you will pass in front of the last drop on your way to the sawmill section. If a log is making the drop a water cannon will shoot water over the briar patch and give you an early drenching(I will be posting a picture of this soon).

Watching other suckers take the first drop

People dropping the final drop. Fun to watch them BUT if you take your ride at night don't watch! The flashes from the cameras will blind you... permanently! I get sucked into it every time... I am like... super blind now!

The snoring bear sound is a nod to Bear Country. Rufus the Snoring who used to run the slide show at the Country Bear Jamboree. His cave was up on a hill with a sign that said Sleeping Bear - Quiet and you could hear him snoring. Since Splash Mountain is built right where his cave was, they left him in.

This is the climb to the final drop! The drop is about 50 feet at 40 mph. The "splash" at the end is mostly from jets that shoot water at you. Just after the drop your log actually enters the Rivers of America before you make a right turn. The turn is what gets you. water floods in over the side of the log. If you are in the very back seat all the water collects on your left leg and butt cheek. Genius Tip: scoot to the right to avoid some of the wave, and if you are in the very back... Lift your butt off the seat!

 Splash has a smidge over 100 animatronic animals singing and dancing as you cruise by.

The Zip-a-Dee Lady

Foiled again!

Br'er Rabbit in his Laughing Place

Penny smashers!

Br'er Bear, Br'er Fox and Br'er Rabbit

This is a long post. I tried to avoid describing every aspect of the ride because we would be here for ever...  I left out a lot... but that is on purpose. I want you to discover some of the magic on your own. Haha!

Fun fact: At 87 feet, Splash Mountain is the tallest of the Mountains at Disneyland. The Matterhorn, the Parks signature mountain, is only 80 feet tall. 

That fun fact it also a lie! Thanks to The Disney Project's keen eye I need to make a correction. The Matterhorn is a perfect 1/100th scale version of the real Matterhorn which is roughly 14,700 feet tall making the ride 147 feet tall. Let's just blame the error on whiskey...

The real Fun Fact should look like this...

FUN FACT: At 87 feet, Splash Mountain is the 4th tallest(I wasn't even close!) of the Mountains at Disneyland. The Matterhorn, the Parks signature mountain, is a 1/100th scale version of the real Matterhorn which is 14,700 feet tall. Space Mountians spires reach up to 118 feet coming in second and Big Thunder Mountain slides into third at 107 feet

Not so fun fact: Splash Mountain breaks down a lot!

Stay Dorky!

-J

P.S. I keep thinking of things I left out!

P.P.S. I will add more pictures soon...

P.P.P.S. The ride is about 10 minutes long

P.P.P.P.S. They say 12 cameras on the ride... They will yell at you if you screw around. Also, 120 sensors making sure the logs are not jamming...