Jack Spence has a great blog post on the history and some secrets on Splash Mountain.
The article is very long and split into two parts. I will highlight a few of the secrets here, but to get the full story and pictures, please visit Jack's blog:
http://land.allears.net/blogs/jackspence/
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The Audio Animatronics inside Splash Mtn. came from a now nonexistant ride at DL called America Sings.
Two of the Audio-Animatronics geese removed from the attraction had their feathers and skin stripped from their frames, leaving a robotic skeleton. With new heads attached, these frames were placed in the queue for the soon to open Star Tours attraction at
Disneyland as G2 droids. To add to the irony, one of the geese/droids now sings a modified version of Ive Been Working on the Railroad (which he sang in America Sings). The new song being titled Ive Been Working on the Same Droid.
Michael Eisner suggested that the Imagineers add a mermaid to the attraction so they could tie it into the recent Disney hit Splash that had starred Daryl Hannah and Tom Hanks. The Imagineers convinced Eisner that this wasnt a good idea. When someone suggested they add the word Mountain after Splash everyone knew they had hit upon the perfect name as this would add a new peak to the Disney chain that already included the Matterhorn, Space Mountain, and Thunder Mountain.
Splash Mountain marked the first time that an attraction based on an animated film would be built outside of Fantasyland. To that end, it was important that the exterior structure blend in with its surroundings. Guests would only see the cartoon world inside the attractions interior. In addition, the foundation for the ride was sunk deep in the ground so the mountain did not overpower its neighbors.
The official story of the creation of Splash Mountain maintains that the inclusion of the America Sings Audio-Animatronics figures was part of the initial plans. As the story goes, Marc Davis had created characters and designs for Song of the South that were never used in the film. Then, almost 30 years later, they were reborn in the America Sings attraction, a project Marc Davis also worked on. Moving the AA figures to the new Splash Mountain attraction would be a perfect fit as they were already themed appropriately.
Legend Thurl Ravenscroft, who voice characters in the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean (among others), lends his voice to one of the croakers (i.e., frogs) inside the S.M. ride.
For you trivia buffs, the three possums hanging overhead in this area are named Pansy, Poppy, and Petunia.
At the beginning of the ride, the colors used in the attraction are bright and well saturated. But when you fall into the cave the colors become darker, signifying danger ahead for Brer Rabbit and us.
A note of clarification. Many people think that the weasel that pokes his head out from the ceiling is saying FSU (Florida State University) as an inside joke the Imagineers added to the attraction. This is not true. The weasel is sneezing and says Ah ah choo!
(Hmmm....not sure I'm going to go along with Jack on that one! I like the FSU story better!)
The plunge down Chick-A-Pin Hill is 52 ½ feet long on a 45 degree incline.
Guests descend at a speed of approximately 40 miles per hour. The ride is approximately eleven minutes in duration.
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MANY, MANY MORE SECRETS AND BITS OF INFORMATION ON JACK'S BLOG! Enjoy!
but he decided to call his boss over and see if it was true. Good news for us it was
. We spent about 5 minutes trying to figure out which one was which (scared to death that we would get it wrong). After much debating we got it correct and were escorted to the VERY FRONT of the line
. nedless to say we felt like celebrities. I jus wanted to share this little secret with people and see if anyone else has tried or heard of it or even give people the chance to try it if they haven't heard of it.
