-
Welcome to the WDWMAGIC.COM Forums!
Please take a look around, and feel free to sign up and join the community.
Splash Mountain refurb
- Thread starter jed012788
- Start date
MerlinTheGoat
Well-Known Member
Splash Mountain has been in deplorable condition since I first started going to WDW again in 2010 (since my last visit in '97), I don't even know how long its been since it had a proper refurb but it's been way too long. Massive amount of work that needs to be done. Last time it went down for a refurb was in early 2011 and this was ONLY to install lap bars in the boats (almost no show elements were addressed besides a broken bit of rockwork after the big drop). I visited it earlier this year, it's arguably the attraction in the worst shape in all of WDW. Expedition Everest of course has a completely non-working centerpiece, but Splash probably has the largest concentration of broken effects due to its sheer size and amount of things that can and have gone wrong. It's going to take some serious attention to get it back up and running to acceptable quality of show. I'm skeptical that 3 months will be enough given Disney's recent record...
Most of the animatronic figures do have motion, at least from the last time I rode in February anyways (which is a long time for things to go wrong). The problem is that almost all of them are only functioning at a fraction of their intended animation range. It varies from figure to figure but parts of their bodies that should move are either broken or switched off (whether it be arms, legs, or eyes). And to make matters worse most of the figure's skin/feathers/fur/etc are very dirty or in bad condition overall (a number of the figures are very moldy looking).
From the second drop the attraction gets worse and worse (the room with the spinning hives and onward). It's a real mess. Last time I rode it there were a lot of beehives missing their spinning bees, the Brer Bear figure with the hive on his nose was almost completely motionless, and nearly all the water features in the laughing place were either broken or switched off.
I am glad to hear there's going to be a repainting. I hope it's not just the outside, it's needed inside as well. But it also needs much more than just paint and i'm extremely worried 3 months just isn't going to cut it for everything that has to be done in order to get it show ready. Big Thunder received a much longer 5 month closure and STILL reopened missing important show elements (the falling and shaking rock effects in the third lift). I'd say Splash Mountain has far more elements that need addressing than Big Thunder did, and yet it's receiving far less time to fix said elements. This troubles me.
To be fair, I did hear that workers on Big Thunder ended up finding major structural issues with the internals of the mountain itself that they didn't expect to find, they needed addressing ASAP (potential safety risks? I dunno). This may have eaten into the time and budget of its rehab, I'm really not sure. But for all we know, Splash Mountain may have unforeseen structural issues of its own that will cause issues. Sometimes you canl't tell until you look past the surface and inside. This is inevitably what happens when you run a park in the ignorant and shortsighted way WDW has been run during the past decade or so (however long it has been now). Splash should never have been left to operate in its current condition.
It's a real shame too. I say without hesitation that in its fully working form, Splash Mountain remains one of my favorite rides on earth. It's a really great ride that doesn't deserve the poor treatment it's been given lately and is one of the few examples of WDW getting a superior version of a Disneyland attraction.
Most of the animatronic figures do have motion, at least from the last time I rode in February anyways (which is a long time for things to go wrong). The problem is that almost all of them are only functioning at a fraction of their intended animation range. It varies from figure to figure but parts of their bodies that should move are either broken or switched off (whether it be arms, legs, or eyes). And to make matters worse most of the figure's skin/feathers/fur/etc are very dirty or in bad condition overall (a number of the figures are very moldy looking).
From the second drop the attraction gets worse and worse (the room with the spinning hives and onward). It's a real mess. Last time I rode it there were a lot of beehives missing their spinning bees, the Brer Bear figure with the hive on his nose was almost completely motionless, and nearly all the water features in the laughing place were either broken or switched off.
I am glad to hear there's going to be a repainting. I hope it's not just the outside, it's needed inside as well. But it also needs much more than just paint and i'm extremely worried 3 months just isn't going to cut it for everything that has to be done in order to get it show ready. Big Thunder received a much longer 5 month closure and STILL reopened missing important show elements (the falling and shaking rock effects in the third lift). I'd say Splash Mountain has far more elements that need addressing than Big Thunder did, and yet it's receiving far less time to fix said elements. This troubles me.
To be fair, I did hear that workers on Big Thunder ended up finding major structural issues with the internals of the mountain itself that they didn't expect to find, they needed addressing ASAP (potential safety risks? I dunno). This may have eaten into the time and budget of its rehab, I'm really not sure. But for all we know, Splash Mountain may have unforeseen structural issues of its own that will cause issues. Sometimes you canl't tell until you look past the surface and inside. This is inevitably what happens when you run a park in the ignorant and shortsighted way WDW has been run during the past decade or so (however long it has been now). Splash should never have been left to operate in its current condition.
It's a real shame too. I say without hesitation that in its fully working form, Splash Mountain remains one of my favorite rides on earth. It's a really great ride that doesn't deserve the poor treatment it's been given lately and is one of the few examples of WDW getting a superior version of a Disneyland attraction.
sgtmgd
Well-Known Member
Its closing 2 JAn 2013-through March 19 2013....glad to see this happening...more so as I wont be there during that time period
Mickey_777
Well-Known Member
This is absolutely "splashing" news...
bubbles1812
Well-Known Member
HA! ... I see what you did there.
Rescue Ranger
Well-Known Member
I will miss this on my trip, but am SOOOOOOOO happy to finally see this get attention. I would rather see it closed and being worked on than operational and falling apart. And I use the term operational of late, very loosely. They better bring this attraction back to tip top shape again 
WDWYankee15
Well-Known Member
PurpleRose
Active Member
I'll miss this ride in Jan but I hope it'll be worth it. When I rode in May, the ride kept breaking down for long periods of time. The laughing place is very creepy when the animatronics are moving but NO sound comes out.
GoofGoof
Premium Member
I hope you are half right
They need to fix it. No excuses if they take it down for almost 3 months. This better not be just adding an interactive queue and normal annual maintenance. What worries me a little is BTMRR was down longer last year for it's major refurb. Can they update the queue, fix the AAs and do the normal maintenance in time?
tracyandalex
Well-Known Member
Ours was 39" in April and is dying to ride SM when we go to the world in a couple of weeks. She has her yearly Dr. appt on the 23rd and I hope she'll be 40". She will be so disappointed if she doesn't get to ride SM again. If she does get to ride it will be interesting to see if she notices any changes.
DocMcHulk
Well-Known Member
thick sole gym shoes
JustInTime
Well-Known Member
It's been long rumored that it would be getting one. If I am not mistaken, it was one of the first planned.
Goofnut1980
Well-Known Member
I hope they fix the jumping fountains!!
VoiceInTheCrowd
Member
I have this funny feeling that Splash Mountain well reopen looking worse then it did prior to closure. Sorry but after Big Thunders recent refurbishment I've truly lost hope. Have the rainbow spirals or water at the top of the lift hill been turned on yet? Basically when the current regime announces an attraction refurbishment you unfortunately have to ask yourself, gee I wonder which effects they'll deactivate?
Krystle Snow
Member
I was just on SM a couple weeks ago, and I couldn't believe how many things weren't working. My father hadn't been in 15 years and after the ride pointed out almost all of the things missing (which means they weren't minor)
Brer Rabbit wasn't even popping up and hopping (and the worst was that he was stuck in position where you could see him behind the grass)
And the jumping water, which has been on and off for years.
It was pretty disappointing especially after just returning from Disneyland for the first time and seeing how wonderful that ride was!
I really hope the refurb fixes all these issues!
Brer Rabbit wasn't even popping up and hopping (and the worst was that he was stuck in position where you could see him behind the grass)
And the jumping water, which has been on and off for years.
It was pretty disappointing especially after just returning from Disneyland for the first time and seeing how wonderful that ride was!
I really hope the refurb fixes all these issues!
GoofGoof
Premium Member
Really? BTMRR looks pretty good to me. What's the problem with it?
RSoxNo1
Well-Known Member
They removed the falling rocks, and when I rode in early September the on ride geysers weren't working. They also turned off the burning fort on TSI several years ago as well.
Captain Chaos
Well-Known Member
MerlinTheGoat
Well-Known Member
He mentioned one effect that is still not working after the refurb already. Other examples are the effects in the third lift hill. The sides of the walls used to shake and at the top there were some small rocks that were set up to "fall" (they'd reset after every train). These effects have been missing for years and their absence really dulls down the experience that you're in an unstable part of a mine that could collapse at any second (this is IMO a very important element of suspense that adds yet more charm to an already great ride).
For reference, here is what the original third lift was supposed to look like (courtesy of Martin, thanks for nostlagic videos as usual man)-
Some people have said the removal was due to an accident at Disneyland Paris where some of the rocks ended up falling on visitors during a ride. At least one person was injured and sent to the hospital. Problem is that the effect worked for over 40 years without incident and raven24 told me back in May that the falling and shaking rock effects were still functioning fine at Disneyland and hadn't been removed. No excuses but poor management and laziness here.
The shaking rocks on the sides of the lift remain stationary. Prior to the refurb a projector was installed to simulate the falling rocks at the top of the lift. The effect doesn't look good at all (and i'm one that actually likes digitally mapped projections usually). Worse though is the projection is actually playing backwards (or maybe the projector was installed upside down), so the rocks appear to fall upwards instead of down. This wasn't even addressed during the refurb.
The original town scene also had rushing water that ran through it so it was more flood-like. I'm not entirely sure when they toned down the water there. But I do very much remember the rock effects in the third lift working in the 90's when I used to visit all the time.
I'm mot entirely sure whether these effects still work on all other versions of Big Thunder. I was told by raven24 that Disneyland CA still has the effects fully working. Highly plausible that Tokyo does at least. Dunno about Paris after that accident, but they've apparently been doing a maintenance overhaul on the entire park and getting it all fixed up.