While the Splash Mountain attraction debuted in 1989 at Disneyland Park, its story actually began years earlier with a man stuck in the heat and traffic of California's Santa Ana Freeway.
Fortunately, the man was Imagineer Tony Baxter, who spent that time pondering some of the challenges facing Disneyland Park. Theme Park leaders wanted an attraction to cool off Guests in the summer heat, and they also were looking for ways to attract more Guests to the Park's Bear Country area, which only featured one attraction (the Country Bear Jamboree, which has since closed to make way for The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh). Furthermore, the Tomorrowland® attraction America Sings was destined to close, effectively retiring a diverse cast of Audio-Animatronics® characters.
In a burst of inspiration, Tony came up with solution to all of the challenges. Put a log-flume ride in Bear Country and incorporate the characters from America Sings to help the new attraction tell the story of Disney's film Song of the South. This was an ideal solution since Imagineer Marc Davis, who was an animator for Song of the South, had based many of the characters in America Sings on characters he had created, but never used, in that film.
Inspired by the possibilities of bringing Marc's characters full circle, Imagineers pinned character sketches on a wall next to a list of scenes they envisioned for the attraction. Artists divided Marc's America Sings characters into various categories–happy, lazy, silly–and then matched those categories to the appropriate attraction scenes. To complete the story, Imagineers simply had to add Brer Rabbit, Brer Bear and Brer Fox to the mix. (It's interesting to note that one of the unused America Sings geese lost all of his feathers and became a repair droid in the pre-show queue of the Star Tours attraction.)
While this team of Imagineers moved forward with building a Splash Mountain scale model, others continued work on different concepts to utilize the America Sings characters, including an Epcot pavilion celebrating the magic of the movies. (That concept later evolved into an entire Walt Disney World Theme Park–the Disney-MGM Studios.)
One Saturday afternoon in 1984, just weeks after Michael Eisner and Frank Wells had joined The Walt Disney Company (as Chief Executive Officer and President, respectively), the two men visited the Imagineering warehouse to review the various proposals. Michael brought along his 15-year-old son, Breck (who grew up to direct the 2005 film Sahara). Breck reportedly was fascinated by the Splash Mountain model, and his enthusiasm encouraged his father to approve that project.
The attraction went on to have various working names, including The Zip A Dee Doo Dah River Run and The Song of the South Log Flume Ride. It was Michael Eisner who pointed out that Disneyland Park already had a Space Mountain® attraction and a Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and that this new attraction was another mountain, "with a big splash at the end. It's Splash Mountain."
Beyond the name, Michael also influenced a key experience within the attraction. As the story goes, someone snapped a photo of Michael enjoying that final drop during a test ride, and he was so excited about that photo that he wanted every Guest to have that opportunity. "Splash Down" photos continue to be a popular part of the attraction.
The new Disneyland attraction opened on July 17, 1989 (coincidentally, the anniversary of the Theme Park's opening day). Three years later to the day, a second Splash Mountain opened at Florida's Magic Kingdom Park. A third version opened at Tokyo Disneyland Park in October 1992.
One unique fact about each of these attractions is that most of the sets and props are made of concrete instead of wood to withstand the moisture of the log flume. (The Zip-A-Dee Lady showboat and a small mule cart are the only two major props not sculpted out of concrete.) The attraction's concrete is a mixture Imagineers nicknamed "mud." Constructing the flume entirely of this "mud" allowed for easier maintenance and let designers build the rockwork into the flume to create the naturalistic look of a river.
Here are a few more secrets:
In the Disneyland version of the attraction, Brer Bear's cave duplicates the cave of Rufus Bear, who once lived at the entrance of the Theme Park's Bear Country area. The snoring you hear coming from the cave is the same snoring Rufus used to do before the area got its new name, Critter Country.
Before the final drop in the Walt Disney World version, many Guests notice that a little weasel pops up to shout, "FSU," a little tribute to Florida State University, the alma mater of one of the Imagineers who worked on the attraction.
The voice of Brer Bear in both attractions is that of Nick Stewart, who voiced the character in the original Song of the South film.
Alrighty, I'll go watch it now while I figure out what snack I'm craving.
