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| Splash Mountain in 2017 | |||||||||||||||
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| Designer / calculations | Walt Disney Imagineering | ||||||||||||||
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| Height | 50 feet | ||||||||||||||
| Drop | 52 feet | ||||||||||||||
| Speed | 40 mph | ||||||||||||||
| Track length | 2600 feet | ||||||||||||||
| Animatronics | 103 | ||||||||||||||
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Tiana's Bayou Adventure is a Log Flume located at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom theme park in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, USA. Opening on October 2, 1992 as Splash Mountain, the ride was built as a larger version of Disneyland's Splash Mountain.[1] In 2023 the ride closed for re-theming to reopen as Tiana's Bayou Adventure in 2024.
History
After the success of Disneyland's Splash Mountain, it was announced in January 1990 that Splash Mountain would be coming to the Magic Kingdom in Florida.[1] Shortly after announcement, construction on the new ride would commence. In order to construct the ride, the original Frontierland station for the Walt Disney World Railroad would have to be completely renovated and demolished alongside new track that passes over the ending scene of the ride. Construction of the facade and ride system were completed in mid 1992. Residents of the Florida state were able to get early preview rides of the new attraction's opening in July.[2]
Splash Mountain officially opened to the public on October 2, 1992. Being a similar ride to its Californian counterpart, the ride also follows the story of Brer Rabbit going into the laughing place, with Brer Fox and Brer Bear following closely behind in an attempt to catch the rabbit and throw him into the briar patch. The ride was biggest addition to the park since Big Thunder Mountain Railroad in terms of attractions. New animatronics were built to emulate the ones found in Disneyland's ride, since they were imported from the America Sings show that closed down a few years prior to both rides' openings.
Outside of the occasional refurbishment and a few things being removed, like new restraints for the ride being added in 2011, the ride received little changes during its time as Splash Mountain. The ride would stand as one of the key attractions at Magic Kingdom and served its purpose as the only outdoor water ride in the park, as well as giving Frontierland more to do outside of Big Thunder Mountain and Country Bear Jamboree. In 2018, Ziploc was brought into the ride as a sponsor, with the company creating custom bags for the attraction for protecting guest belongings.
Closure and Retheming
In June 2020, the Walt Disney Company announced that Splash Mountain was going to be rethemed to Tiana's Bayou Adventure, a ride based off the 2009 film "The Princess and the Frog".[3] In late 2022 Disney announced that Splash Mountain was to be closed permanently by January 23.[4][5] Tiana's Bayou Adventure is set to open at Magic Kingdom by Summer 2024.[6]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Fireworks light up Disney World's Labor Day events". Florida Today. 1992-09-04. p. 71. Retrieved 2024-01-12.
- ↑ "Make a big splash". The Bradenton Herald. 1992-09-04. p. 42. Retrieved 2024-01-12.
- ↑ "Splash Mountain to be rethemed to The Princess and the Frog". www.wdwmagic.com. Retrieved 2024-01-23.
- ↑ "Splash Mountain closing at Disneyland: Why it shut down and what Disney plans next". USA TODAY (in English). Retrieved 2024-01-12.
- ↑ "Splash Mountain Officially Closed at Disney World". Peoplemag (in English). Retrieved 2024-01-23.
- ↑ "Tiana's Bayou Adventure to Open Summer 2024". Disney World. 2024-02-13. Retrieved 2024-02-15.
