Brer Oswald
Well-Known Member
Oh, getting rid of the AAs is definitely a primary reason for this. Splash goes down for what, 2-3 months a year for this very reason? Animatronics and a water ride is a costly mix. And people still complain to high heavens about how poorly maintained it is.I still think the primary justification for the retheme has honestly been the high cost to maintain many of these aging AAs for what many consider to be primarily a “thrill ride first, story ride second”. At DL in particular, these AAs date back to the 70s and given the damp/intimate environment makes it challenging for the maintainance teams to access.
Combine that with OSHA and years of deferred maintenance (since the infamous Pressler era) and I’m not shocked TDA and WDI thought up the idea of a more “marketable” retheme. I still have hope some of the AAs will remain to be redressed (in Mardi Gras attire for the finale) or reskinned (Brer Bear to Louis) but I wouldn’t be shocked if up to 2/3rds of them aren’t dumped entirely.
Meanwhile, TDL has seemingly no issues maintaining there’s. That’s probably why they aren’t too keen on changing it. That and the fact that fuzzy animals top Princesses over there.
Meanwhile, the only thing separating Six Flags from Disney to your average American is Mickey Mouse and the Castle. Splash is just a thrill ride to most of them. The story is just a nice bonus.