News, announcements and information about Disney

An e-mail was sent to Disneyland Resort managers last Thursday, telling them to watch their mailboxes for an important update about Splash Mountain. When the park opened Friday morning, the update had still not been distributed, but the subject matter became obvious - Splash Mountain was open for business.

In fact, much of Critter Country has come back to life for the busy summer season. Along with Splash Mountain, the Pooh Corner shop, Teddi Barra's Swinging Arcade, Hungry Bear restaurant and the Splash Mountain Photo shop have all reopened. The Briar Patch shop has been shuttered. The Pooh and Friends meet-and-greet photo location has been temporarily relocated closer to Pooh Corner, due to the continuing construction of the new Pooh ride.

New decor elements have been introduced to the area, including this Pooh-themed street light. Unfortunately, the temporary location of the character photo area makes the area very crowded and difficult to navigate. A wandering "Splash Mountain Minstrel" entertains the crowds as they wait to ride.

The height requirement remains unchanged

There has been a lot of speculation about the operation of the new-and-improved Splash Mountain. Despite concerns raised during testing of the new logs, the height requirement has remained at the previous 40-inch mark. Cast Members stationed at the Fastpass distribution line measure children and issue rider-swap passes where applicable.

As previously discussed on this site, most of the new logs hold 5 people, in individual seats. While no weight limit has been set for the ride, CMs say that people over 350 lbs, who are extremely tall or large, or who have difficulty getting into the smaller seating well, should ask to wait for one of the four, 4-person logs. These logs provide more body and leg room, and are easier to get in and out of for people with mobility impairments.

As Disney learned from the Rocket Rods, the 5-person configuration of the redesigned Splash Mountain logs can result in logs being sent out with empty seats. which decreases the capacity of the ride. To help fill these seats, "single rider" passes are available. The single rider line is adjacent to the special assistance line at the exit of the ride. CMs at the loading station radio to a CM at the single rider line, and request that certain numbers of single riders be sent up to wait for an available spot.

At noon on Friday, when Fastpass return times were already stretching to 6:30 pm and the standby line was 75 minutes long, the single rider wait was only about 15 minutes. In an effort to get more people into the single rider line, managers were walking the length of the standby queue, offering single rider passes to anyone who wanted them.

Pooh and friends are back to greet visitors

Current schedules call for Splash Mountain to operate until Labor Day, when all of Critter Country goes back into hibernation until grand opening of the new Pooh ride in Spring 2003. As with all Disney plans, everything is subject to change without notice - stay tuned.

Adrienne Vincent-Phoenix can be reached at this link

While Adrienne had the opportunity to check on the opening of Splash Mountain this past week (as I was just returning from a trip) I did get some e-mail after she filed this report that indicated there may still be some problems with the loading cycles at the ride.

I want to thank reader Laura for the following which pretty much encapsulates many of the other e-mails I got:

My husband and I went out to the park yesterday, as for some reason, my job has instituted a 4 day Memorial Day weekend. (I'm NOT complaining!) We found that Splash Mountain was up and running, much to our blatant shock! So, we go and get in line.

First thing we notice, is that there is a SINGLE RIDER LINE available through the exit, where the guests in wheelchairs or with some sort of disability enter as well. We were told it was a 15-20 minute wait. Standby line was 60 minutes.

We opted for Fastpass because we wanted to ride together. Our Fastpass time comes up and we go up through the line. You could tell it was the nightmare from hell for the Cast Members as they had to tell parties of six that they would have to be broken up into two logs, because the logs only sat five.

There were many instances where single riders could have ridden, but were not pulled from the line. For example, on my log, there was one empty seat, but no one was pulled from the line to fill that seat. Most logs were leaving the station with one empty seat. Hey... think Rocket Rods! (shudder)

The seats are not as bad as you would think. My husband who is 6' 2" was easily in and out... but one of the main problems is people with limited maneuverability. They take longer to get in and out, as it's now a well you need to step down into. The other thing is they have added non skid tape to the bottom of each log. Nice touch.

On the ride, they've added Spanish Safety Spiels and they go off right after you leave the station. Otherwise, it's pretty much the same.

I was disappointed that they didn't do much to the show. It was still EXTREMELY muddled and some of the sound was unintelligible. It was quite the interesting factor. PLUS, the camera was not working in some spots, so when you got to the end where you can view your photo, it said, on most screens, "Sorry, your photo was washed away!" There were several pictures of the flume itself, and a few of empty logs.

Just thought you'd want to know.... especially since we were on the ride in the first 2 hours it was open! (I asked the CM at the load / unload area how long they had been back up... she said "2 hours.... first day back today...")

I'll have more on what is going on as time permits, hopefully this coming week.

Before I forget, a big thank you to all who wrote asking where I was and when I would return. It was a much more hectic (and problematic) trip than I had originally planned, but one benefit from all the headaches was the ability to finally visit the Paris Disneyland resort, which I will be writing about in a future update.

- Al

Go to: Top | Section Contents | MousePlanet Main Page

Copyright © MousePlanet® Inc. | Legal Information & Privacy Policy | About/Contact MousePlanet | Link to us

MousePlanet® is not associated in any official way with the Walt Disney Company, its subsidiaries, or its affiliates. The official Disney site is available at www.disney.com. This MousePlanet Web site provides independent news articles, commentary, editorials, reviews, and guides primarily about the theme park resorts of the Walt Disney Co. All information on this site is subject to change. Please call destinations in advance to confirm the most up-to-date information.