When it comes to mountains and Walt Disney World, you have no shortage of peaks to choose from. Whether you like to blast through the galaxy aboard Space Mountain, or brave the icy slopes of Expedition Everest or the Matterhorn…you’ve got a lot of choices. But perhaps the most whimsical…and certainly the wettest…is Frontierland’s Splash Mountain. Let’s take a brief tour of Chickapin Hill and the Laughing Place and see what those critters are up to (but be careful, you MAY get wet!).
Critters Everywhere
From Br’er Rabbit to Br’er Bear, Splash Mountain is filled with some of the most memorable characters at Walt Disney World. You’ll find gophers, turtles, bullfrogs, and lots more…but how many are there exactly? Well, if you count ’em all up, you’ll find a total of 68 Audio-Animatronic figures in Splash Mountain. As impressive a figure as that is, it pales in comparison to the 105 figures found in the Disneyland version (many of those figures had been relocated from the America Sings attraction in Tomorrowland, which closed in April 1988).
Grim Grinning…Frogs?
If the singing bullfrog sounds familiar, you may have just visited Liberty Square. That’s Thurl Ravenscroft, who also sings “Grim Grinning Ghosts” in the graveyard scene at the Haunted Mansion! So now you know, it wasn’t just those vultures that added an air of foreboding to this otherwise whimsical boat ride!
Small But Fast!
Splash Mountain is 87 feet tall, which actually makes it the smallest of the Magic Kingdom mountains (though it sure seems tall as you crest over the final plunge to the briar patch!). It’s even dwarfed by the Tokyo Disneyland version of the attraction, which rises 12 feet higher. But that final plunge is 52 1/2 feet long, and is pitched at an angle of 45º. More impressively, during your drop you’ll hit a top speed of 40 mph, which makes this the fastest attraction in the Magic Kingdom! Incidentally, that twisted tree stump you see at the top of Splash Mountain? That’s not just any old stump, that’s Br’er Rabbit’s hilltop hideout!
Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah
The original name for the attraction (as it was being developed for Disneyland), was Zip-A-Dee-River Run, later changed to Splash Mountain of course. Part of the thinking behind calling it Splash Mountain was to tie in with the Disney film Splash starring Daryl Hannah, which was a current hit in the theaters. Coincidentally, Hannah’s co-star Tom Hanks sang the famous theme song “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah” during the film! Speaking of Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah, the riverboat in the final scene is named the Zip-A-Dee Lady, and is 36 feet wide and 22 feet high. And in case you were wondering, that catchy tune won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1947.
Br’er Mickey
OK, there may not be a Br’er Mickey at Splash Mountain, but you’ll see him hidden about! As you wander through the queue area, look for a weathered yoke on the left wall. You’ll find a three red splotches of paint forming a Hidden Mickey. As you pass Br’er Frog fishing on the back of an alligator, look for a picnic basket with a red and white Mickey-shaped fishing bobber nearby! As you make the final climb toward the thrilling drop into the briar patch, look ahead of you (assuming your eyes aren’t squeezed shut in anticipation of the drop that’s about to come!), and see if you can spot a profile of Mickey Mouse in the hole at the top of the tunnel. Finally, when you enter the Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah scene after the final plunge, look at the sky background to the right of the riverboat to see a cloud shaped like Mickey lying on his back. He sure looks relaxed!
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