Splash Mountain History/Interesting Facts?

In CA, the ride monitoring computer is named FRED.

^^Wow awesome article, thanks for that! In the picture below, I'm guessing the building that's blocked off in pink is where most of the ride is like others mentioned?

I've always been amazed by Disney rides, although there's usually so many rumors and secrets that's its actually hard to find out whats true and what's not.

The building you highlighted in pink is actually the Haunted Mansion show building. The Splash Mountain show building is more to the right. They hadn't yet connected the mountain with the building. You can actually see the openings where the logs will enter on the second floor and exit on the first floor.

Neat article. Thanks for posting. Anymore? Post here!

More cool facts! Check this out!:

http://www.hiddenmickeys.org/Disneyland/Secrets/Critter/Splash.html

& more!

http://www.songofthesouth.net/splashmtn/facts/index.html

The "Laughing Place" area of the ride is actually haunted by actor James Baskett (aka Uncle Remus)

Before going down a drop, a squirrel pops up and says FSU for Florida State University, were one of the imagineers graduated.

Before going down a drop, a squirrel pops up and says FSU for Florida State University, were one of the imagineers graduated.

Isn't that at Splash Mountain in WDW because I have a book, 101 Things You Never Knew About Walt Disney World, and it says that it is a gopher that loudly exclaims "FSU" before the final drop.

You can get a good view of the building from behind Splash Mountain on Windows Live Search Maps (live local). It also shows how it compares in size to the actual mountain.

Is it true that there's a basketball court up inside Splash Mountain???

-Derek

Is it true that there's a basketball court up inside Splash Mountain???

 

-Derek

That's inside the Matterhorn Mountain Mountain at Disneyland.

-Tatum

They should of had the All Star Game in there.

Matterhorn Mountain Mountain

My friend was trained on spash mountain and one of the first things they tell u is one time a while back there was an E-stop on the 3rd drop (after the dark roller coaster style drop) where a man decided to get out of the log! When the log started to go down the drop, the man tried to jump back in but fell down the chute and got ran over by the second log! And now the drop is haunted!

Also, at the top of the big drop, where the rocks jut out, on the of rocks looks like Mickey's nose...

Look to the right of the top of the track, its mickey's nose!

A long time ago, Ernest P. Worrell hosted "Count Down to Splash Mountain" which aired back on the Disney channel.

My friend was trained on spash mountain and one of the first things they tell u is one time a while back there was an E-stop on the 3rd drop (after the dark roller coaster style drop) where a man decided to get out of the log! When the log started to go down the drop, the man tried to jump back in but fell down the chute and got ran over by the second log! And now the drop is haunted!

I was a CP on Splash Mountain (WDW) last year, and I was told this too. It supposedly happened on Drop 3 (right when you go into the "Laughin' Place"), and since that room is known for being colder than the rest of the Mountain, that's why they claim it's haunted.

Anyway, here's some things I was taught during my training. Don't read if you don't want the magic spoiled.

-The window above the logs in the station is where the "Tower" is (the porch to the left of the window is the break room). That's where the computer system (PHRED-A) is and all the monitors where we watch all ya'lls enjoy the ride.

-There are sensors all over the mountain. If you stand up or get out (or if a bee flies by), the sensor is triggered, an alarm goes off in Tower. The Tower Op stops the ride, turns on the lights in the Mountain (and the lights get brighter in the station and the queue in the tunnel and the barn, so if the lights come on while you're waiting, chances are you'll be waiting a few extra minutes), and sends the CM in the Unload position into the mountain to run the intrusion.

-There are three staircases in the mountain, 15 doors (they're in numerical order from the outside of the building, but inside, they're all mixed up inside that crazy labyrinth), and (I think) 9 phones; and if you're running intrusions or running a reset, that's how you get around and stay in contact with Tower.

-In Tower, there are 27 individual monitors (and two larger screens, for close-ups), but 40ish cameras on the ride. 5 of the 27 monitors are blank, and you can use them to put up any of the other cameras that aren't normally already up.

-I forget how many sensors there actually are around the mountain, but there aren't any in most of the Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah-Day room (where the showboat is). I'm not suggesting that you do anything stupid though! If any of you try jumping out of the log and swimming around in the flume, well, you'll still probably die a painful, horrible death (if the logs don't get you, the amoebiasis in the water will - I kid, I kid). Still, there's no walkways in that room within reach of the log, so there's not all that much you can do even if you wanted.

-People get out of the logs ALL THE TIME. I never knew this before I worked there. I didn't think people in the world were actually THAT clueless, but you know what? I seriously underestimated the stupidity of humanity. It took me about a week of working at Disney to learn that. Really, though, people get out probably 3-4 times a week on average (and at least ONE person stands up in the log during the course of the day). Most CMs like it though - intrusions are actually quite fun what with the running around in the Mountain and yelling guests. CMs don't usually get to tell guests what's really on their minds most of the time, unless they plan on getting fired.

-When you're in the station, watch the lights in the lamps. Two of them are in sync with each other, and they're either off, blinking, or on. When the lamps blink, as long as the guests are seated in the logs, the person(s) at Unload (we sometimes have two people depending on how many logs we're dispatching at once) hits their dispatch button, which causes the lamps to stay on. When the lamps are on, it let's Dispatch know that it's clear to actually dispatch the logs, and he/she hits her button and off they go. The lights go off, and they won't start blinking again for 11.5 seconds (PHRED-A won't allow otherwise - keeps the logs safely spaced). Also, if the logs are stopped in station for too long, the ride automatically stops, and Tower has to do a quick reset (nothing major, it takes only a few seconds, it's just annoying).

-If the line reaches the bottom of the staircase, the line is roughly 10-20 minutes (if the FASTPASS line is empty, it COULD be as little as 5 minutes). From the barn doors in the queue, the line is roughly 30 minutes (15 if no FASTPASS). If the line is longer than that, it's hard to judge, but if FASTPASS is stretching past the barn, you may be standing in one place for a long time. I always suggest getting a FASTPASS for Splash and riding BTTM while you wait. It seems to work better than the other way around.

-Operational Hourly Ride Capacity is 1800.

-Total ride length is 11 minutes and 24 seconds.

-The maximum number of logs that can be on the flume at any given time is 56.

-An empty log weighs 1 ton.

I've got a few other trivia bits (show scene names, CM position names, etc.), but I don't know how much info is too much info, since Disney is so secretive about backstage things. Having said that, I've got some photos over at my myspace that you can check out here:

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewAlbums&friendID=14892200

I just have to keep my fingers crossed that Disney doesn't sue me or send a hit man after me or something.

....now those are cool pics! I think I have discovered my geek fetish or something .... amusement park operator booths.

Anyway, awesome pictures and I bet that's one of the better rides to work at in WDW!

 

A long time ago, Ernest P. Worrell hosted "Count Down to Splash Mountain" which aired back on the Disney channel.

 

 

Gotta love Youtube.

Speaking of Mr. Varney, here is a small coaster related piece of info about him:

The first commercial as Ernest, filmed in 1980, was to advertise an appearance by the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders at Beech Bend Park, an amusement park located near Bowling Green, Kentucky. The character was franchised for use in markets all over the country, and was often used by dairies to advertise milk products. For example, the Midwestern dairy bar chain Braum's ran several advertisements using Ernest's catch phrase, "KnoWhutImean, Vern?" (as it was spelled in his registered trademark).

Natatomic, those are great pictures. Thanks for sharing. I love the technical aspects of rides.

Natatomic, we have the same "lamp system" at Indy here in California. When all guests are sitting down, the load CM holds down his advance button triggering a lamp to go brighter, the other CM at the advance console sees it and pushes his advance button which sends the vehicle to the seatbelt check.

At seatbelt check, where we actually dispatch the EMVs into the ride zones, there's a cobra head for each side of the station, when the snake's eyes light up, that means our side is clear for dispatch. If we get red snake eyes on our side of the station and the other side isn't ready to send their EMV for whatever reason, we can "steal" the dispatch and send two in a row.

For those of you wondering what the fastest ride at DL is, it's not Splash, it's Space Mountain which hits about 38 mph. The monorails ARE capable of going faster but never do so.

^ Interesting about the snake lights at Indy, I figured those were your station stop recover sequence lights like all the FL dark rides have their hidden lights for. Small World is pretty similar except you can actually send boats insanely fast and there's no sequence- as long as both buttons are down at the same time it'll dispatch, so the lights are pointless. Even with the conveyor belts right before the station sides join you can't send two boats without a ~6 second stagger just for general safety.

Yeah, now that I know about the lights on Splash, I look around in the stations at all the other dispatched rides to try to figure out what signal is used. It's usually some sort of light. BTTM is very similar to Splash, too.

^What does PHRED-A stand for?

^What does PHRED-A stand for?

I think Photosensitve High-Resolution Electronic Display. As for the "A," um...Appliance? Apparatus? Ashtray? Axe-Murderer? Yeah...I don't remember.

It's funny how people believe every rumor and urban legend about a death at a Disney park. There have been several, but they are all well documented. However, the WDW Splash Mountain one is true. If you are unsure if the story you've heard or not is true, just check: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deaths_at_Disney_parks