The ride shouldn't have been called 'Splash Mountain' to begin with... if there were going to be any thematic integration of the ride mechanics and build with the story.
The story has a rather low hill, not a mountain. The story doesn't have a river journey or a waterfall, just a throw into a briar patch of which the flume is merely symbolic of. Then in MK, the briars look a lot like red sandstone, obviously to make it look 'frontierish' on the outside to blend with BTMR, even though it's set in the South and abutting the Mississippi.
The story has a rather low hill, not a mountain. The story doesn't have a river journey or a waterfall, just a throw into a briar patch of which the flume is merely symbolic of. Then in MK, the briars look a lot like red sandstone, obviously to make it look 'frontierish' on the outside to blend with BTMR, even though it's set in the South and abutting the Mississippi.