| Watch the on-ride POV |
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| The ride's front after refurbishment | |||||||||||||||
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| Statistics | |||||||||||||||
| Manufacturer | Hopkins | ||||||||||||||
| Product | Log Flume | ||||||||||||||
| Designer / calculations | Walt Disney Imagineering | ||||||||||||||
| Type | |||||||||||||||
| Drop | 50 feet | ||||||||||||||
| Speed | 40 mph | ||||||||||||||
| Animatronics | 48 | ||||||||||||||
Tiana's Bayou Adventure, previously known as Splash Mountain, is a Log Flume at Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California, USA. The ride originally opened on July 17, 1989 and was the first of three log flumes installed at the Disney parks, with later installations being Splash Mountain at Magic Kingdom in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, USA and Splash Mountain at Tokyo Disneyland in Urayasu, Chiba, Japan.
History
The idea of Splash Mountain originally started in 1983, when Imagineer Tony Baxter had been thinking of a way to the Bear Country area of the park, which was home to the Country Bear Jamboree show, a clone of the show of the same name at Magic Kingdom. Baxter wanted to bring a log flume to the area and re-purpose animatronics from the park's America Sings show.
The ride was to also include the animal characters from the 1946 film, Song of the South, and was to be named Zip-A-Dee River Run, which was a name spun off of the song, Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah. However, Tony Baxter was insisted to change the name to Splash Mountain.[1]
Splash Mountain was officially revealed to the public in January of 1987.[2] Construction had also started around that time, and had wrapped up by 1989, in which during that time the Railroad was shuttered up and closed so that it could pass through the attraction. The budget for the attraction was $75 million, and required America Sings to close in 1989 to cover costs for figure building.[3]
Eventually, on July 17, 1989, after months of testing, Splash Mountain opened to the public. To celebrate, a television special was made featuring the attraction and the park.[4]
In late 1990, plans were unveiled to add an on-ride camera system.[5] It was added for the 1991 season, and became infamous as guests did many comedic acts while going down the first drop, with many becoming memes online.
In 2002, the ride vehicles were converted from a seven-passenger to a five-passenger arrangement when personal backrests were added,[6] and in 2005, the ride was refurbished with new paint and animatronics. The logs also had an extra seat added in the back for "larger riders," seating a maximum of six per log.[6]
In June of 2020, it was announced that both Disneyland and Magic Kingdom would have their Splash Mountain rides rethemed into Tiana's Bayou Adventure.[7] The ride's retheme would be based on the 2009 animated film The Princess and The Frog. [8] The attractions remained open for a couple of more years, until Disney World's Splash Mountain was announced to be closing on January 23, 2023.[9] Disneyland's would follow later, closing on May 31, 2023.[10] Only Tokyo Disneyland's attraction would remain as Splash Mountain.
The ride was announced to re-open as Tiana's Bayou Adventure on November 15, 2024, and the ride has been operating since.[11]
Images
References
- ↑ Splash Mountain Archive (2022-12-23), Tony Baxter Explains Splash Mountains History, retrieved 2024-12-15
- ↑ Galante, Mary Ann (1987-01-30). "Disneyland to Offer Ride With Lots of Zip (a-Dee-Doo-Dah)". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2024-12-15.
- ↑ "Song of the South.net - Splash Mountain: History". web.archive.org. 2012-02-06. Retrieved 2024-12-15.
- ↑ "Ernest Goes to Splash Mountain (television)". D23. Retrieved 2024-12-15.
- ↑ Woodyard, Chris (1990-11-14). "Smile-e-e : Disneyland to Take Instant Pictures of Breathless Riders on Splash Mountain". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2024-12-15.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Splash Mountain History".
- ↑ Taylor (2024-08-11). "Tiana's Bayou Adventure Disneyland Opening Announced". Disney Parks Blog. Retrieved 2024-12-15.
- ↑ "Disney's Splash Mountain to Drop 'Song of the South' Depictions (Published 2020)". 2020-06-25. Retrieved 2024-12-15.
- ↑ "BREAKING: Splash Mountain Closing Forever on January 23 at Walt Disney World - WDW News Today". wdwnt.com. 2022-12-02. Retrieved 2024-12-15.
- ↑ "The End Is HERE — Splash Mountain Has PERMANENTLY CLOSED in Disneyland". AllEars.Net. 2023-05-30. Retrieved 2024-12-15.
- ↑ Taylor (2024-08-11). "Tiana's Bayou Adventure Disneyland Opening Announced". Disney Parks Blog. Retrieved 2024-12-15.
