I'll add a touch of seriousness to the thread. Here's my personal rambling on Splash Mountain, partially copied from an older post...
Splash probably holds the most sentimental value for me of any attraction. It was one of the first "thrill" rides I ever experienced. I remember being fascinated and trying to peak behind the walls when it was under construction in early 89. When we went back about a year later it was up and running, but I was initially too scared to ride it.
Sometime during the trip my dad basically forced me on. He dragged me through the 45ish minute queue (which seemed insanely long at that time) with me resisting and crying the whole time. But, father knows best. Once I survived my first time on the "big drop" I was hooked. I never missed a chance to go on it again. Our family was big enough to fill up a whole log by ourselves, and our Splash rides together were the highlight of all trips that followed.
In 2016 my oldest son was finally tall enough to go on it for the first time. He's much more adventurous than I was and didn't need any convincing. He loved it, and insisted that we always hit it at rope drop so we could do it twice in a row without waiting. His little brother, on the other hand, is a little more like me. He hit the magical 40 inches about a year later, but wanted nothing to do with the "big drop." I took a page from my dad's book and dragged him reluctantly through the queue. Just like me, he was on pins and needles until we got to the bottom of the briar patch, and then he realized how much fun it was. Back at the loading area he hopped off, sprinted through the exit and right back in line to go again, only slowing down to make sure I was following him.
I'm not sure which is more meaningful for me. Memories of going on it with my dad, who's gone now, or riding it with my own kids.
We went on it together one last time in October. We knew this would be our last chance and I tried my best to soak it in. My boys laughed and shouted all the way through. During the Steamboat scene they rocked our log back and forth in rhythm to the music, then jumped up, happily showed off how drenched they got, and skipped down the exit ramp to find our last "big drop" picture.
I'm going to miss it. I sure hope the successor is a worthy one.
