Splash Mountain Closure at Disneyland
Michael Minella
Everybody’s got a laughing place. Splash Mountain. A ride with great a great story, a great view at the top, and a fun drop at the end. This is one of the few shots I planned to take when getting to Disney World. Each park, I have a shot that I plan to take during sunset. I run from where ever we are in the park to take that shot for a few minutes while the sun goes down while the family does something else.
“The Happiest Place of Earth,” Disneyland in Anaheim, CA, will be closing the doors to an iconic ride known as Splash Mountain on May 31. Disneyland fans will have the opportunity to say their last good-byes to the ride up until May 30.
Ever since the opening of Splash Mountain on July 17, 1989, the ride has been a fan favorite over the years, with an iconic drop at the end that lands with a splash. Especially during the summer months, people wait in 70+ minute lines for a fun and refreshing ride that you’re almost guaranteed to get wet.
Touring Plans’ article gives insight on the ride’s experience: “It is almost a certainty that you will get wet, and possibly drenched, riding Splash Mountain. During the summer months, the water jets are cranked up to 11, practically guaranteeing that you’ll get soaked. If you visit on a cool day, you may want to carry a plastic garbage bag.”
The ride is based on the controversial 1946 Disney film, “Song of the South,” in which a boy named Johnny goes to visit his mother’s plantation during a post Civil War era. Forbes Magazine goes into further detail on how exactly we got to this point of shutting the ride down, writing, “The decision to shut down the ride arose after a Change.org petition received more than 21,000 signatures in an effort to push Disney to rework the ride.”
Although many will miss the iconic “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” song, and the animatronic characters that you meet throughout the ride, Disney is set to redesign and reopen the ride as “Tiana’s Bayou Adventure,” in the near future of 2024. This redesign is based off of Disney’s 2009 animated movie, “The Princess and the Frog.”
But, do not worry! According to an article by the Los Angeles Times, “The twisting log ride will follow Princess Tiana, now a famed New Orleans entrepreneur, and Louis, the plump, trumpet-playing alligator, as they head to a Mardi Gras concert and seek a missing ingredient. The nine-minute journey will take guests through winding caverns and elaborate show scenes before arriving at a post-drop grand musical finale.”
What do you think about the closing of Splash Mountain and the opening of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure? Overall, Disneyland enthusiasts will still have a fun ride that ends with a refreshing splash!
Angelica Nava is a new staff writer for Canyon High School’s newspaper, The Pony Express. Her writing doesn’t fall into just one category, she’s...
