Saturday was a big day in our family, so we spent the day at the Magic Kingdom. One of the things we had not video taped was Splash Mountain, so we got a FastPass and whisked past the long lines for a wet, wet, wet ride.
The ride
httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lv3tjLbvUE
Splash Mountain, located in Frontierland, is a water propelled ride based on the folk tale of Br’er Rabbit and the story of the little mischevioous rabbit told in Song of the South. There are multiple drops throughout the ride, but the big finish is the most exhilirating. Throughout the ride, you watch the story of Br’er Rabbit and the duo of Br’er Fox and Br’er Bear who go to great lengths to catch the little bunny.
The ride’s soundtrack is a variation of 3 songs found in the animated sequences from Song of the South and features appropriate Western-styled instrumentation of banjos, harmonicas and fiddles. The songs you hear are:
- 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
There are some dark parts to the ride, but overall it is a great ride and one not to be missed at the Magic Kingdom. As such it is one of the more popular rides and wait times can become excessive as the weather turns warm. I would advise getting a FastPass for the tide and bypass the long wait times that can happen during these times of the year.
Construction
When it was built, in 1992, at the Magic Kingdom, it was the most expensive attraction ever built by the Imagineers. According to the Imagineer Field Guide to the Magic Kingdom, the idea for the attraction came during a freeway commute. Tony Baxter, currently Senior Vice President at the Imagineers, came up with the idea as a way to make use of some audio-animatronic figures from the recently closed, America Sings show.
The Showboat finale was the largest set ever constructed for a ride at the parks and can also be seen from the Walt Disney World Railroad as it makes its way through Frontierland.
The height of the big drop at the end of the ride is 52.5 feet at 45-degrees – propelling you down at speeds of up to 40 miles per hour. Be sure to look for the Hidden Mickey’s throughout the attraction; there are at least 2 that I have personally seen, but I know there are supposedly quite a few more.
Wrapping it up
Splash Mountain is one of the great mountains of the Disney Range and simply a must when you are at the Magic Kingdom. The story is a wondeful tale brought to life from the great minds of the Walt Disney Imagineers.
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