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DJ Dave remembers...It's my fave attraction at Walt Disney World, and 2nd all-time fave only to "Who Wants to be a Millionaire ... More »
Posted on 06/15/08
CATCH PHRASE:
Chickapin Hill looms over the Northwest corner of Disneyland, just beyond New Orleans Square’s Haunted Mansion. The steep slope, topped by a crooked hollow tree, looks out over Critter Country, an especially rustic part of Disneyland’s geography. (That tree, by the way, is a hideout for Brer Bear.) A waterfall runs down the eastern side of the hill, and from time to time, hollowed out logs filled with screaming people come tumbling down, headed straight for the thorny briar patch below.
This dramatic tableau is just a hint of the adventure in store on Splash Mountain, the fourth in a range of Disneyland mountains. (The Matterhorn was first, followed by Space Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.) Those bold enough will first enter through a barn, (part of the human world with its bales of hay and farm implements) and into the colorful realm of the animal folk.
Onboard the log, the adventure begins: a long climb up a steep hill, and then a short drop into a brightly colored world of croaking frogs, happy storks with fishing poles, musical turtles, porcupines, alligators and many other cartoonish friends, singing a jaunty tune, “How Do You Do?” Before long, we meet our hero, Brer Rabbit, who has packed his bag and is leaving his briar patch home to find a little adventure and excitement.
The wily Brer Fox and the enormous, dim-witted Brer Bear are on Brer Rabbit’s trail, ready to trap and eat the little guy. Brer Rabbit leads the two villains to a special spot, as the animals sing “Everybody’s Got a Laughing Place.” Brer Rabbit has a trick up his sleeve, (involving bees) but finds himself in a sticky situation (involving honey) and in the clutches of the hungry fox and bear.
The only means of escape, for Brer Rabbit and for you, is a fifty-two (and a half) foot drop, at a forty-seven degree angle, straight down into the Briar Patch. If you make it, you will arrive, a little wetter but wiser, to a welcome home celebration, and a happy rendition of “Zip-a-Dee Doo Dah.”
Splash Mountain was the brainchild of Imagineer Tony Baxter. While caught in traffic on his way to work in Glendale, Baxter used the gridlock downtime to brainstorm. The Tomorrowland attraction America Sings was slated to close, but it seemed a shame to let its huge cast of Audio-Animatronic animals go to waste. Tony pictured them in a new home, in what was then called Bear Country. The folk tales of Uncle Remus would provide a world into which all those disparate critters could fit.
The idea met with the approval of then-new CEO Michael Eisner, who suggested the name Splash Mountain, hoping people would link it to the recent motion picture hit Splash. (Bemused Imagineers wondered if Michael wanted them to include a mermaid in the attraction.) The Disneyland version opened on July 17, 1989. Walt Disney World and Tokyo Disneyland welcomed their own editions in 1992.
The movie that inspired the attraction, Song of the South, was controversial before it was even completed. Its portrayal of a post Civil War plantation, and its community of contented black sharecroppers, was often deemed insensitive and patronizing. References to Uncle Remus were left out of the attraction, and the “Tar Baby’ episode was discreetly dropped. (In the Florida and Tokyo editions, a deep-voiced Brer Frog takes on the storyteller role in Uncle Remus’ place.)Nicodemus Stewart, the voice actor for Brer Bear, was hired to revoice the character for Splash Mountain, an occasion which he relished.
