I have a question for someone with a good knowledge of the Splash Mountain rides at Disneyland and WDW. We were at Disneyland about 3 years ago and rode Splash Mountain a couple of times and really enjoyed it. None of us remembered getting very wet in the process. Just a little bit at the bottom of the hill like most log rides. Last week we rode the one at the MK and got completely soaked - not on the big hill, but shortly after getting on when you pass by that drop and get splashed by another boat going down. That seemed like an unnecessary effect - forcing you to sit there defenseless while getting sprayed with a big plume of water caused by another boat. It ruined the ride for my wife and DD's (we did this on e-night and it was very cold for the rest of the ride) and they did not want to ride it again at any time during our vacation. My question is this, does the one at Disneyland have the same effect and we just don't remember it, or is that ride structured differently so that you don't pass so closely to the big drop? Or were we just unlucky at WDW and had bad timing in getting caught in the middle of the other boat's big splash? In what other ways are the two versions different?
<font face="Comic Sans MS"><font color=navy>I've ridden on both, and, of course, more often at the one at Disneyland. The most we've ever got wet at that point on the ride was a few drops, maybe. I usually only get a little wet, but I enjoy the memory of our trip in February when our log was extremely loaded, and Tink33 and TLK were in the front .... wet doesn't begin to describe it. Normally, though... a little wet, not really soaked. As a precaution, though, you might get one of those cheap little ponchos. You can put them on for the water rides and not get wet at all - that's what we did for the Grizzly Rapid ride at DCA.
I've had the same thing happen to me at DL -- it's basically if you get stopped at the ramp up where you're next to the big drop and a boat goes over the drop, you can get wet there, too. It does seem to get you worse at WDW than at DL, but I've gotten wet in that same spot at Dl as well. Of course, I wear a poncho at both anyway and that's what I recommend you do if you don't want to get too wet
The Splash Mountain logs at WDW are doubles -- two riders sit side by side for a few rows. At DL, they're singles. That might change how weight is distributed (I sorta suspect the logs at DL are lighter, since they have less people in them) and the amount of "splash" in the "mountain." Secondly -- and this has nothing to do with water -- the one at WDW is just MUCH better as an attraction. There is a story being told (sort of) and more characters and scenes...it just seems to have been more thought-out. The one at DL is - to my eye and ear - confusing, with no discernible dramatic point. Except, of course, to get you splashed!
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'd swear that the ride at WDW actually has water that sprays out to enhance the splashing effect seen by onlookers. We rode it several times on E-Night 19 months ago, and we'd get soaked at the exact same point, by the exact same huge "splash", even when the boats coming down were completely empty. I wonder if that's a difference between the two?
