Despite the fact that it is advertised as “The happiest place on Earth,” some families are unhappy with certain changes that Disneyworld and Disneyland are making. It will be nothing more than a rebranding of Splash Mountain. While some fans have been talking loudly for months about the end of the attraction as the attraction prepares to say goodbye at Disneyland on January 23, fans have actually helped “Save Splash Mountain” become a trend.
At the time of writing this article on Sunday, Splash Mountain was in a whopping 200-minute wait. Waiting for more than a couple of hours is usually reserved for new high-octane rides. (Like, for example, what happened when Rise of the Resistance opened.) Although Splash Mountain can be very popular in parks on warm days, waiting more than three hours for a ride is not very common.
In fact, Splash Mountain is not among the ten longest waits at Disneyland. But this is certainly a big number today before the official closing of the attraction on January 23.
I suppose the waiting time shouldn’t come as a surprise, since people seem to be really attached to nostalgia for an attraction that Disney World and then Disneyland are planning to rethink rather than demolish. The new theme will be based on the movie “The Princess and the Frog” and will be called “Tiana’s Adventure in Bayou”. Although we have some questions about the redesign of Splash Mountain, given the nature of the drop ride, it will presumably have all the basic aspects of riding that its previous iteration had, but that hasn’t stopped this trend of “Save Splash Mountain”.
On Twitter, some people (and one in particular) are pleading with Disney Parks in a last-ditch attempt to save the attraction, one of them using the aforementioned long wait time as proof that Splash Mountain needs to be saved.
145 minute wait. Oh yeah, people really hate #SplashMountain. 🙄. This is ridiculous. Leave Splash alone.#SaveSplashMountain @WDWGuestService @Disneyland @WaltDisneyCo @WaltDisneyWorld @DisneyParks @RobertIger @GovRonDeSantis @peopleneed2know @Disney pic.twitter.com/tmbWWJvtvq
— Michael Tardi (@MTARDI32) January 22, 2023
It should be noted that when failing restaurants announce an impending closure, reservations before closing are usually made very quickly. Splash Mountain is actually still popular, so the analogy is inaccurate, but the bottom line is that demand is high because there is not enough supply. And a few people on Twitter are making a lot of noise, hoping that this won’t happen at all.
I’m a WDW annual pass-holder for many years. Wish I kept count of how many times I rode #SplashMountain. It’s going to be hard going there in a couple of weeks seeing it closed off, knowing what’s to become if it. Now I’m wishing for a Disney miracle. #SaveSplashMountain #Disney pic.twitter.com/2J9QmcBaPB
— Karen Mauro (@iamKarenMauro) January 22, 2023
The impending closure has not prevented people from getting rid of nostalgia for the last time, as long queues really support people saying goodbye to the long-standing attraction, which originally opened in 1989 at Disneyland. The Disney World iteration opened in 1992.
Tomorrow is Splash Mountain's last day of operation and everyone is here to give Br'er Rabbit a proper goodbye 👋🐰 pic.twitter.com/XyKuKd3Fst
— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) January 21, 2023
One group is allegedly even staging a peaceful protest outside the park so that their voices can be heard before Splash Mountain is officially closed.
https://twitter.com/fannylyn/status/1617012229785747456
Meanwhile, others on Twitter are ready to implement new plans. The Disney world gives way to Tiana’s adventure on the Bayou when the attraction closes on January 23, 2023. Disneyland will follow suit later, possibly associated with Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye, also in need of renovation.
The change in the theme occurred due to increased attention to the Song of the South attraction, in particular, after a petition asking to change the attraction was circulated in 2020. Disney agreed with the new Splash Mountain theme and moved forward quickly. Switching to a theme related to the princess and the frog will allow the trip to increase diversity in the parks, and the storyline of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure sounds pretty cool. It could also give the trip an opportunity to fix issues like Disney World’s log trays, which often sink, who knows?
Of course, the transition will take some time, and in the meantime, it seems that people will continue to express their opinion about the change.
