The Rise and Fall of Splash Mountain

One day in the early 1980s, while driving on the L.A. freeways, Disney Imagineer Tony Baxter had a dilemma. The America Sings attraction in Tomorrowland with it's cast of dozens of Audio-Animatronic figures was set to close at Disneyland. On the opposite end of the park, the "Bear Country" section featuring the Country Bear Jamboree was failing to attract guests. At the same time Walt Disney Attractions, President Dick Nunis was lobbying WED Enterprises (Now Walt Disney Imagineering) to build a log flume attraction arguing that every amusement park had one. suddenly Baxter came up with an idea put a flume ride in Bear Country based on the Disney film "Song Of The South" in which the design aesthetic would allow them to use the America Sings AA's since Marc Davis the designer of America Sings had also worked on "Song Of The South".

Walt Disney's Song Of The South released in 1946 was a live action/animation hybrid film that had been controversial since it's very beginning. Based on the controversial "Uncle Remus" stories of Joel Chandler Harris. The live-action portion features happy singing African-American sharecroppers whom the audience incorrectly assumed were supposed to be slaves due to the fact that Disney stupidly did not specify that the movie took place AFTER the Civil War in the movie. He also ignored requests for advisors from the NAACP to review the script. The NAACP picketed the movie upon it's release. Nevertheless the film was re-released in 1956, 1972,1973, 1980 and 1986.

Once Baxter shared his idea with WED's management, the greenlight for what was initially called Zip-A-Dee River Run. Tony and Show Producer Bruce Gordon created an outline combining the various animated segments of Song Of The South into one coherent story leaving out all the problematic elements of the film. In 1984 Disney Chairman Ron Miller was ousted from Walt Disney Productions. His replacements were Michael Eisner as Chief Executive Officer and Frank Wells as President. Eisner toured WED at the time to see what Imagineers were designing for the parks. He was shown mock-ups of what became Star Tours and Zip-A Dee River Run. convinced that teenage audiences would be turned off by the name and since the movie "Splash" had recently been a surprise hit for Disney's "Touchstone" imprint he suggested renaming the attraction Splash Mountain and inserting Daryl Hannah's mermaid character into the ride. They were able to convince Eisner that incorporating the mermaid would not be appropriate for the ride but agreed to re-name the attraction Splash Mountain. The finished attraction opened on July 17th 1989 and was a massive success. The land the ride resided in was changed from Bear Country to Critter Country.

Versions of the attraction opened at Tokyo Disneyland on October 1st 1992 and the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World on October 2nd 1992.

Meanwhile Disney was understandably reluctant to release the attractions source material on video cassette or DVD. For nearly 30 years the attraction entertained guests while the movie it was based on was never seen by a wide audience.

On May 25th 2020 in Minneapolis Minnesota, a black man named George Floyd was murdered by members of the Minneapolis Police force. This led to protests in major US cities protesting racism and police brutality. This led to a nationwide reckoning with America's history of racial discrimination. Less than a month later, Disney announced that Splash Mountain would be turned into an attraction based on 2009's "The Princess And The Frog" film which featured Disney's first black princess. While considered a financial disappointment at the time of it's release. It had gained some traction in blu-ray sales and later Disney+ streams. It seemed the perfect replacement.

What Disney did not expect was the outrage expressed by fans around the world. Splash Mountain had been beloved by fans for thirty years and was considered a milestone in the art of Imagineering. Disney realized that they would have to pour much more money than they initially planned to make the attraction comparable to what it replaced. Fierce debates were held on Disney-themed message boards. Tony Baxter, the original creator of Splash Mountain was brought on board to advise the development of Tiana's Bayou Adventure but soon left the project because of creative differences with the project leads. In August 2021 a model of the revised attraction was unveiled at that years D23 Expo.

The attraction closed at the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World on January 23rd 2023 and the attraction at Disneyland closed five months later on May 31st 2023. Many fans came out to take their final rides.

A confusing backstory for the new attraction was posted on the Disney Parks Blog. The Attraction would take place after the events of the film. Tiana has established a employee-owned Food co-op and the majority of the attraction would take place in a salt dome. The backstory was broadly panned on Disney forums.

Many fans worried that the revised attraction would lack the high number of Audio-Animatronics that Splash had. Sources close to the project said that there would in fact be many animatronics including several of the main characters. Many people (myself included) took this as a good sign.

The Disney Parks blog started highlighting the numerous critters who would appear in the ride.

Imagineers took several research trips to make sure they captured the authenticity of New Orleans culture. The entrance features a new mural by Louisiana artist Matalika Favorite. The music for the attraction would be provided by New Orleans Native PJ Morton who wrote the song "Special Spice" for the attractions Finale and Terrance Blanchard.

Many people were hoping that this would be a worthy replacement to Splash Mountain.

It was announced that the attraction at Walt Disney World would open on June 28th 2024.

On May 31st 2024, The song "Special Spice" was released on streaming services.

On June 1st Disney released a full ride-through video of the attraction at Walt Disney World to overwhelmingly negative reviews. The confusing plot, dead spaces, over-reliance on screens and lack of any real drama really hurt the attraction. What the general public will think is yet to be determined.

I really wanted to like this ride but it appears Disney has dropped the ball again.