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Splash Mountain refurb?
- Thread starter CheekBoys
- Start date
MerlinTheGoat
Well-Known Member
I haven't personally ridden Splash since before its previous refurb, but from videos I saw the ride still looked like it was in decent show condition recently. Everything still seemed clean, paint was still bright and most if not all animatronics still seemed to work properly. Only thing that seemed hit or miss were some of the fountain effects in the laughing place scene. Though I haven't ridden the ride since before its last cleanup and more issues may have cropped up.
From a comment made by @wdw71fan in another thread a few months back, he mentioned these points a while back were going to be addressed in the refurb-
Granted i'm unsure if this is still accurate, but that's the only info I've heard about specifics for this refurb. So it may be dedicated more to underlying ride mechanics instead of show elements visible to guests. For safety and/or efficiency reasons (all of the above would probably help to alleviate the frequent stops and breakdowns Splash Mountain has generally always suffered from). They certainly had a lot of scaffolding around the front of the mountain from pictures i've seen recently, they may be working on the track, sensors and pumps there. I suppose it's possible though that they'll take this time to inspect the show elements as well, don't know.
While the previous refurb did an excellent job at making the ride look good again, it was surprisingly short. I doubt they got to EVERYTHING during that time, and rides still need to be refurbed even when nothing LOOKS wrong with it from the guest perspective. No telling what's going on underneath the show elements.
From a comment made by @wdw71fan in another thread a few months back, he mentioned these points a while back were going to be addressed in the refurb-
Granted i'm unsure if this is still accurate, but that's the only info I've heard about specifics for this refurb. So it may be dedicated more to underlying ride mechanics instead of show elements visible to guests. For safety and/or efficiency reasons (all of the above would probably help to alleviate the frequent stops and breakdowns Splash Mountain has generally always suffered from). They certainly had a lot of scaffolding around the front of the mountain from pictures i've seen recently, they may be working on the track, sensors and pumps there. I suppose it's possible though that they'll take this time to inspect the show elements as well, don't know.
While the previous refurb did an excellent job at making the ride look good again, it was surprisingly short. I doubt they got to EVERYTHING during that time, and rides still need to be refurbed even when nothing LOOKS wrong with it from the guest perspective. No telling what's going on underneath the show elements.
dreamfinder
Well-Known Member
No reason not too. Haven't most of the attractions at DLR gone down for 2-4 week refurbs yearly for a few years now? Figure even if for nothing else but a fresh coat of paint, an opportunity to get into all the nooks and crannies to get out the cobwebs, etc. Or even if its an opportunity to dissemble, clean, and rebuild the ride mechanics to help keep things moving smoothly.
MickeyisMyBestFriend
Active Member
I don't really get why they keep having to refurb. Maybe they just want to make sure it's looking good when it is running.
Because it takes a pounding from constantly being wet and hummid. It requires annual refurbs.
AllydoesDisney
Well-Known Member
I was so sad I couldn't go on when I was down. 
MerlinTheGoat
Well-Known Member
It needs constant annual attention in the first place as Steve said. But a huge problem that hasn't helped things at all is that prior to last year the ride had not received a decent refurbishment or proper nightly maintenance in years, having been in an abysmal state of very noticeable neglect (one can only imagine what the underlying problems were guest don't even see). The last time they took it down prior to last year was just to install lap bars on the boats. Little to nothing else was done during that downtime, it was a huge amount of wasted time while they were doing that. I'm guessing that the 2013 refurb was to address the show elements (they got everything painted and the animatronics were spruced up nicely), this round looks like they were focusing on more mechanical issues with the ride system (it looked like they were working heavily on the lift hills, drops, water jets, and likely sensors and computer equipment).
When you go so long without a proper refurb for such a maintenance heavy attraction, issues pile up and you have more work to do to fix things (it ends up costing more in the long term as well). If they took it down for a few weeks to a month per year and did all that needed to be done to keep it working properly like they used to do, they'd not have to take it down for as long. Not to mention conduct better third shift maintenance to prevent things from breaking in the first place. The management running WDW prior to the late 90's did exactly that, and as such it was far more rare to see broken show elements and the refurbs commonly lasted a shorter period of time.
When you go so long without a proper refurb for such a maintenance heavy attraction, issues pile up and you have more work to do to fix things (it ends up costing more in the long term as well). If they took it down for a few weeks to a month per year and did all that needed to be done to keep it working properly like they used to do, they'd not have to take it down for as long. Not to mention conduct better third shift maintenance to prevent things from breaking in the first place. The management running WDW prior to the late 90's did exactly that, and as such it was far more rare to see broken show elements and the refurbs commonly lasted a shorter period of time.
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Goofyernmost
Well-Known Member
It was shut down for a lengthy refurb in January this year. Is this the same shut down or is it another one?
Clamman73
Well-Known Member
Same...this was a little more lengthy refurb than last year, or seems like it.
Nope, about the same as last year...
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I don't know why it took this long though for a video to appear.
AllydoesDisney
Well-Known Member
I cannot wait to get on it!