Welcome to this month’s Blogorail Red Loop. Today we are sharing some of the secrets you’ll find at Disney attractions.
Splash Mountain is one of my favorite rides in all of Disney World. It’s an incredibly well themed log flume ride with catchy tunes and an exciting drop at the end. Today I’ve got some lesser known secrets about Splash Mountain to share!
1. A lot of people don’t realize this, but Splash Mountain is in fact based on a Disney movie – a film called Song of the South. The reason why this isn’t made obvious is because the film has been quite controversial and Disney generally prefers to pretend it doesn’t exist. The movie has been called racist and is said to portray black slaves in a very unrealistic way. I’ve actually seen the movie myself and you can check out my thoughts on it here, back on my super old blog. It’s been about 6 years since I’ve watched it so I’d like to give it a rewatch and share more updated information on this blog.
2. Back before 2011, the log flumes didn’t have any safety restraints. And they weren’t added because of safety concerns in the logs, but because people were getting up out of the boats and trying to wander around the attraction! The safety bars now help prevent that, and make people feel a little safer too when going down that big drop!
3. The name of the mountain itself that makes up Splash Mountain is “Chick-a-pin Hill.” I wouldn’t exactly consider that a “hill”!
4. Even though Splash Mountain technically has its roots in the deep south and should be colored and themed more to an area like Georgia, the way it’s decorated and themed gives it more of a feel of the Old West. This is to fit in with the rest of Frontierland and to match Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.
5. You might have walked right by it if you don’t have kids, but just outside of Splash Mountain is a playground area called The Laughin’ Place. It’s a good place if you have some little ones who aren’t tall enough (or brave enough) to ride yet!
6. Right as you are going up the final climb of Splash Mountain, a gopher up top pops its head out and says “FSU!” This was done by an imagineer who was a big Florida State University fan, to give a nod to his team.
7. If Splash Mountain is running at full capacity, there are about 50-54 logs in the water. It’s a big, long ride!
8. Three versions of Splash Mountain were being worked on at roughly the same time around the world. Splash Mountain at Disneyland opened first on July 17th, 1989, followed by Disney World in October 1st, 1992, and Tokyo Disneyland on October 2nd, 1992.
9. The original name for Splash Mountain was going to be “Zip-a-dee River Run.” Part of the reason why the name was changed was because Michael Eisner wanted to try and tie-in marketing for the upcoming film Splash with Tom Hanks.
10. There are a number of differences between the attraction in Disney World and Disneyland – the most obvious one being the set-up of the logs. In Disneyland you are seated single file, while Disney World allows you to sit next to another passenger. For more of the comparisons between the two attractions, check out my post on Splash Mountain: Disney World vs. Disneyland.
Did you learn anything new about Splash Mountain? What’s your favorite fun fact?
check out the other great posts from the Blogorail!
Here is the map of our Magical Blogorail Red | Disney Ride Secrets Loop:
- 1st Stop – Frontierland Station | Disney Ride Secrets: it’s a small world
- 2nd Stop – Adventureland Pam | 10 Ride Secrets of Disney’s Haunted Mansion
- 3rd Stop – Cool Nouns | Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
- 4th Stop – Distalgic | Excerpt from A Historical Tour of Walt Disney World Vol 1: “An Architecture Lesson from Pirates of the Caribbean”
- 5th Stop – Disney in Your Day | Things You May Not Know About Splash Mountain
The movie was great! So glad we at least have a ride to remember it by.
I agree, I’m glad we have Splash Mountain at least!
Wow, that’s really an old blog of yours, lol! What made you decide to leave that for a WordPress blog?
I feel they could probably change the name of Splash Mountain back to Zip a Dee River Run; it sounds cooler and nobody connects the mountain with the film, Splash at all.
Well I had kind of abandoned that blog for a few years, so when I decided to start writing again I had a friend who used WordPress and highly recommended it, so I decided to give that a go.
Yeah, I don’t think the name did anything to promote that film, lol!
I love Song of The South! I’m patiently waiting for Disney to re-release it…sadly, I’m not sure it’s ever going to happen.
Yeah, I would be surprised if they ever re-released it.
I’m confused about the tie in with the movie, Splash. That movie came out in 1984, five years before the attraction.
Yeah, I can make that a little clearer. The name was discussed when they were first developing the ride, and apparently Michael Eisner was a huge fan of the movie Splash. He thought it was going to be a super big hit and they should have an attraction based on it. He wanted it to be much more about that movie, Splash, but no one else was really on board. They kind of gave him the name Splash Mountain as one concession to what he wanted, being the CEO and all.
Still remember the first time I rode this attraction. My brother and I were terrified (even though I was in high school lol) and argued over who got to sit next to my dad (as though it would keep us safer). Instead, my dad forced us to sit together while he sat behind us and talked Portuguese with a woman from Brazil.
Haha, I hope you weren’t too terrified of the drop! 😉 I was too scared to ride it the first time I went when I was 9, so I didn’t get on it myself til I was 16… and I was definitely a little nervous at that point too!
I love Splash Mountain, it’s one of my absolute favorites. I still haven’t seen Song of the South, it’s on my list.
It’s one of my favorites too. Song of the South is definitely an interesting one to watch.
Splash Mountain is definitely one of my favorite rides! That last drop is so fun!! I remember Song of the South being banned so I’ve never seen it so I’ll have to watch it some day.
I love that last drop – and still get just a tiny bit nervous right before it every time! Song of the South is hard to get your hands on, but if you get the chance to watch it I do think it’s interesting.