Splash Mountain falling apart (literally?)

[The Empress Lilly]

I personally would not mind if they closed Splash for good. If Splash is in the shape many of us think it is in then this might not be that far fetched. TDO might be thinking about tearing Splash down and expanding frontierland a bit to the back and use the land better. During peak times you can't even walk around that area.

Splash was always an ill-fit to begin with. Thematically it is misplaced. Splash is Southern and cartoony. Frontierland is Western and real humans. Splash makes sense where it is in DL, next to NOS, headlining Bear/Critter Country.

Splash is also a planological nightmare. The Train Station / Thunder / Splash area is the most difficult, clogged area to navigate in all of WDW.

If there are structural problems, or structural maintenaince costs that are prohibitive, then why not close it indeed.

[pipedream] Build WRE 2.0, expand FL to the back a bit. Add a log flume ride elsewhere in the MK, or DAK. [/pipedream]

Added to Splash's woes, athough it is a firm plus to me, to Disney Splash also presents the problem that it has un-merchandisable characters. They'd much prefer a marketable modern franchise.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

Does anyone have any idea about how large this chunk of concrete was and exactly where in the queue it fell? Splash was my favorite WDW attraction and I hate to think that the problems have gotten this bad.

Bad Show is one thing. To put guests in danger is another.

Here is a picture of the entire chunck of concrete that fell off.

It is under close investigation to try to establish the exact cause that made it chip off:

 

[KevinYee]

It's not as if highly visible decorations were ripping and fraying in the wind, people.

Oh wait. Maybe it is.

 

[Marc Gil]

I was in the MK from 10/28-11/3 and splash was down or unavailable about 90 percent of that time. One of the days there was actually a guy in the water working on the ride. When you come around the front of the drop and hit the next lift hill. He was in the water in a wetsuit doing something and there was no water coming down the big drop. I saw the tarps over the loading area and didn't really even think anything about them. When I did actually get to ride it it seemed the volume of all of the music was really low or maybe I am just going deaf.

I was there that same weekend. I thought they had the tarps up because of re-painting, but now I know the real reason. I didn't notice the man in the suit, or the music being lowered, but I noticed Brer Frog missing on top of the alligator, the projection wall being filthy, the hopping Brer Rabbit missing, one of the geese weren't working, all the laughing place fountains off, the dripping water, no projection of Brer Fox on the lift, a jam of boats after the final drop, one of the Swamp Boys missing, the sound quality of Brer Bear's snoring was horrible, the second drop was lit up, one of the beehives weren't working properly, and finally the Brer Frog animatronic at the first hill was broken (had one eye open.)

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

The Roger Rabbit silhouette has also fallen apart and been left to decay. It's like Pressler era DL.

 

[KevinYee]

That's just Roger on steroids! (well, one arm is big, anyway)

 

[xdan0920]

I was there that same weekend. I thought they had the tarps up because of re-painting, but now I know the real reason. I didn't notice the man in the suit, or the music being lowered, but I noticed Brer Frog missing on top of the alligator, the projection wall being filthy, the hopping Brer Rabbit missing, one of the geese weren't working, all the laughing place fountains off, the dripping water, no projection of Brer Fox on the lift, a jam of boats after the final drop, one of the Swamp Boys missing, the sound quality of Brer Bear's snoring was horrible, the second drop was lit up, one of the beehives weren't working properly, and finally the Brer Frog animatronic at the first hill was broken (had one eye open.)

File this away with all the other reports about Splash Mountain, when will WDW wake up?

How anyone can come here and defend TDO with reports like this surfacing confounds the heck out of me.

 

[copcarguyp71]

File this away with all the other reports about Splash Mountain, when will WDW wake up?

How anyone can come here and defend TDO with reports like this surfacing confounds the heck out of me.

...and in my mind how can anyone throw their hard earned dollars into DVC and commit to 30-40 years of increasing mediocrity? Although I do not think it is quite as epidemic as some here there is definitely a declining trend. We were seriously on the edge of making the leap into DVC but took some good hard looks around the parks on our last two trips and decided that the ROI for our dollar just was not there.

 

[xdan0920]

...and in my mind how can anyone throw their hard earned dollars into DVC and commit to 30-40 years of increasing mediocrity? Although I do not think it is quite as epidemic as some here there is definitely a declining trend. We were seriously on the edge of making the leap into DVC but took some good hard looks around the parks on our last two trips and decided that the ROI for our dollar just was not there.

Agree completely. If facing the choice today, I would never have bought into DVC. As it stands, I am facing the decision on wether or not to sell off my points. Never would have thought it'd come to that when we first bought in.

 

[Marc Gil]

Another thing, doesn't Splash have the capacity to board 3 boats at once? The last few times I visited MK, they only used 2 of the 3.

 

[alphac2005]

Yep, Splash is in pathetic shape. Problem is TDO won't put it down for the 12 month refurb it needs because you'll have fanboys crying about it ruining their vacation.

It shouldn't be in the state to need a 12 month rehab if it was properly maintained as it should be. That's what we pay for as customers, but apparently management doesn't see understand that we are paying customers, rather we're specs on fiscal spreadsheets.

 

[copcarguyp71]

Agree completely. If facing the choice today, I would never have bought into DVC. As it stands, I am facing the decision on wether or not to sell off my points. Never would have thought it'd come to that when we first bought in.

glad to hear it for our part...sorry to hear it for yours!

With all of the front end money they are bringing in from DVC you would think they would re-invest it in the parks. I have no idea where they are piling all that money unless that is part of what helped buy Marvel and Lucasfilm in which case I could have done without them in lieu of seeing the WDW I remember from the nineties be resurrected.

 

[Clocker84]

It shouldn't be in the state to need a 12 month rehab if it was properly maintained as it should be. That's what we pay for as customers, but apparently management doesn't see understand that we are paying customers, rather we're specs on fiscal spreadsheets.

Oh I agree! When you pay 90 dollars for a one day ticket the rides should be in tip top shape.

 

[alissafalco]

I was there that same weekend. I thought they had the tarps up because of re-painting, but now I know the real reason. I didn't notice the man in the suit, or the music being lowered, but I noticed Brer Frog missing on top of the alligator, the projection wall being filthy, the hopping Brer Rabbit missing, one of the geese weren't working, all the laughing place fountains off, the dripping water, no projection of Brer Fox on the lift, a jam of boats after the final drop, one of the Swamp Boys missing, the sound quality of Brer Bear's snoring was horrible, the second drop was lit up, one of the beehives weren't working properly, and finally the Brer Frog animatronic at the first hill was broken (had one eye open.)

They should be embarrassed!!!

 

[MUTZIE77]

Agree completely. If facing the choice today, I would never have bought into DVC. As it stands, I am facing the decision on wether or not to sell off my points. Never would have thought it'd come to that when we first bought in.

I am in the same boat as you, had things been this bad when we bought DVC, I would not have made the purchase. I have been thinking about renting my points.

 

[Marc Gil]

They should be embarrassed!!!

They should!!! But I must admit, I did have fun.

 

[RSoxNo1]

If repairing the rockwork and/or flume leaks is going to be expensive (ie, they'll need to essentially gut the center of the structure and re-build most of it), they may just need to close the attraction semi-permanently. Disney can't afford to make such costly repairs when they've already got 2 major expansions slated, and I don't think the attraction's connection with such a racially-charged film ever sat right with Disney anyway.

Jim Hill recently hinted that plans to scale back the rockwork of any potential Florida Carsland would be due to Disney's slow learning curve in figuring out that you can't necessarily build in Florida's climate what you build in California and expect it to last.

Maintenance is part of maintaining the park infrastructure. It's the cost of doing business and if maintenance suffers so that new attractions can be built it's bad business.

That's funny. Yep i actually wrote it from 15,000 feet with a broken window.

But seriously what if the interior structure is falling apart and the cost to fix it is ridiculously expensive? I seriously wouldn't rule it out. Is it HIGHLY unlikely? Yes, but we have seen this before with 20,000 and from what I have been reading and hearing it's eerily similar.

I would much rather a year and a half, Space Mountain in Disneyland type refurbishment. When fully functional Splash Mountain is arguably the best attraction on property. I don't think 20K Leagues Under the Sea was ever at that point at the end of it's life.

Speaking of planes I am calling the school tomorrow to set up a date to rent a plane. Aerials are way overdue for me!!!!

I agree, I want to see how Avatar and Carsland are coming along.

Also, the people referring to the "raining lift hill", are you referring to the lift hill right before the final drop?

 

[RSoxNo1]

Spelling. Ought be a bit off (and perhaps the middle name!) but that's about it.

More on the OP (slightly) - has anyone ridden Aerials Undersea Adventures today? And would know if things weren't quite right?

What's wrong with Journey of the Little Mermaid?

 

[HenryMystic]

This is very sad. Time to get it together TDO.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Why doesn't Disneyland's Splash Mountain experience these problems? Why us? What do we do differently?

Disneyland's Splash Mountain has lengthy refurbs every year.