The only 10 minutes when TBA looks perfect
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News Splash Mountain retheme to Princess and the Frog - Tiana's Bayou Adventure
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MerlinTheGoat
Well-Known Member
The maintenance aspect is a different situation. The ride will certainly reopen in good condition. Almost any new/rebuilt ride does. I don't necessarily expect it to remain that way over time though. Nothing to stop them neglecting it again after a few months or years of the initial "honeymoon" period passes.
There's a common idea that Splash Mountain is being left to die by maintenance crews due to it being on its last legs. In actuality, i'd say this is only partially true (again I have actually seen it in FAR worse condition 10 years ago). My perspective is that its poor condition is somewhat consistent with how the parks as a whole are being operated right now. Maintenance around the entire WDW property is pretty poor currently. Splash Mountain is definitely not the only ride with issues. I rode Big Thunder today, i'd argue it's in even worse shape than Splash (the track has never been replaced and keeps getting worse, the paint on the mountain is fading fast and literally nothing in the flooded town scene is functioning). Buzz Lightyear is absolutely caked in mold and water damage, has been for many many years now. Even Rise of the Resistance has frequent issues with malfunctioning or missing AA's and other practical effects. I also don't need to remind a lot of people of the condition Space Mountain's track has been in for literal decades now. I even noticed multiple broken effects on Ratatouille yesterday (the spinning wheels under the giant cart were static and all scent machines were off). Small World got a nice touchup refurb not all that long ago, but i'm already beginning to see a number of malfunctions and missing dolls.
Imagineering and management are completely different divisions of the company. The Tiana ride will likely open in excellent condition, but it won't take much time at all for the attraction to fall back into disrepair if management neglects proper maintenance.
Animaniac93-98
Well-Known Member
Indeed. Splash's current condition is not really an outlier when it comes to MK attractions, unfortunately.
I don't think it's inaccurate to say that MK has the worst show quality of the 6 castle parks.
MerlinTheGoat
Well-Known Member
I gather Disneyland's version of Splash is also in really poor condition right now (from what it sounds like, it's even worse than WDW). I'd be curious to know if its condition is also reflective of a more park-wide management decline as well. Common consensus is that Disneyland's management has been far better than WDW's for nearly 20 years now. But at the same time, I wonder if Chapek's toxic influence has begun to infect even Disneyland.
Centauri Space Station
Well-Known Member
It was DLP til recently
Animaniac93-98
Well-Known Member
Animaniac93-98
Well-Known Member
Disneyland wasn't that much better in 2021 and Indiana Jones in particular continues to be plagued with issues.
Centauri Space Station
Well-Known Member
Seemed more like til 5 or so years
Kirby86
Well-Known Member
It'll open in immaculate condition I'm sure. What I'm worried about is what it looks like in a year after the TV cameras are turned off.
_caleb
Well-Known Member
Oh, come on- modern Disney would never build a brand-new, multi-million dollar attraction and then just leave it to (looks at the now stationary cannons on RotR)... nevermind.
MerlinTheGoat
Well-Known Member
Based on my ride from earlier today, I didn't spot any AA's that are completely motionless. But there are a number that are operating without full range of motion (i noticed a couple that had stuck eyes or mouths), or are a bit misaligned. The only major one that was missing most of its movement was Brer Fox right past the riverboat, it barely moves and is almost static (this is also only one of two places I noticed audio missing). There are a couple of figures that have been removed from the ride outright. One being the hopping rabbit (you can usually still see the figure behind the bush when deactivated/broken, but I think he's missing outright, so is the audio). Another being one of the three alligators in the finale. There may also be a small frog or two as well. But again, i've seen it FAR worse.
The worst areas for show problems are in the Laughing Place, starting at the spinning beehives which aren't spinning anymore. Most if not all of the black lights are out here as well, so it's very dark. Brer Bear here is also missing quite a bit of motion too. The fountain effects in the following scene before the final lift are also missing, save for a solitary jet underneath one of the turtles. The soaker jets on the big drop have also been switched off for a long time now, even during the summer (i've personally always hated these myself, so i don't complain about these).
With the exception of that aforementioned alligator, every figure in the finale was present and appeared to have full range of motion (to my eyes at least). Though the riverboat itself was not swaying and the wheel was not rotating. To put it in perspective, i've been on the ride where every single figure on the boat was stationary or barely twitching and with some of the chickens with their heads bent so far backwards they looked headless.
The lighting is actually probably the biggest issue with the ride currently. There's a lot of spotlights missing that are used to illuminate characters or scenes, so things are much darker than they should be. Including some of the aforementioned dark light lamps in the Laughing Place. And in the scenes just before the final lift, there's the opposite problem where it appears the work lights are being kept on. I also think the two shadow projections were not working.
_caleb
Well-Known Member
Thanks for sharing! I appreciate your keen eye.
If the AAs are in bad shape (they are old!), how are they going to reuse them in the retheme?
MerlinTheGoat
Well-Known Member
Old age is not the problem here, negligent maintenance is (the corporate/money side of things here btw, not the people doing the work). If proper routine inspections and repairs were conducted in a preventative and proactive manner, the ride could be kept in a condition pretty much 100% consistent with how it looked on opening day.
And i'm entirely serious about that statement. Tokyo Disneyland is evidence of this. Their version of Splash is just as old as ours and has the same exact AA's, except they're all in perfect condition and function flawlessly with their full range of motion. That level of care reflects on Tokyo Disneyland as a whole (including even older attractions that have remained largely unchanged since 1983 yet still look as pristine as the day they opened).
AA's can last a VERY long time when properly taken care of. Heck Disney took them from even worse condition than they're in currently and restored them to opening day condition again during the 2013 refurb. With new exterior skins as well. And that only took about two months. This overhaul will take at least 1-2 years, plenty of time to make any necessary repairs and get them working perfectly again.
The question to me is not whether they can fix the AA's. The question is whether they will continue to properly maintain following the initial honeymoon period after the attention dies down. I highly doubt it. Again, Splash's condition is a symptom of an ongoing resort-wide ailment.
That scene actually looks quite better than it did a few weeks ago. Br'er Fox was completely slumped over lifeless over a barely shaking Br'er Rabbit, and the lights were off on Br'er Bear, who wasn't moving at all.
Dead Br'er Fox:
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Elijah Abrams
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
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Now that Bob Iger is back at Disney, is there hope for Splash Mountain to stay the same?
Disney Analyst
Well-Known Member
MerlinTheGoat
Well-Known Member
The replacement started life well before Chapek became CEO. It also isn't a secret that Iger is even more against Splash Mountain than Chapek is.
The best that can be hoped for at this point is that the recent claims i've heard about the replacement are accurate. Because again, aside from the salt mine backstory, it sounds much more promising than the initial concept discussed by Jim Hill. Hopefully they don't cut the budget during construction either.
The best that can be hoped for at this point is that the recent claims i've heard about the replacement are accurate. Because again, aside from the salt mine backstory, it sounds much more promising than the initial concept discussed by Jim Hill. Hopefully they don't cut the budget during construction either.
Nland316
Well-Known Member
If anything, I think the news just secures a pretty healthy budget for the project. Something that would be far less concerning for us fans.
MerlinTheGoat
Well-Known Member
Not likely. The budget is already approved and the project is going to begin very shortly (not sure if they're going to wait until Tron opens or start in January). Budget cuts can still happen during the construction process though. And that is no less likely to happen under Iger as it is under Chapek, he's every bit as cut-happy as Chapek, especially if there's monetary concerns at the top. He cares about the optics of the ride's IP, not the quality of the ride experience itself.
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