Trivia / Splash Mountain

• Acting for Two: Jess Harnell voices Br'er Rabbit, the Geese, and the Vultures. In the Disneyland version, he also voices the scarf-wearing owl on one of the lift hills, Br'er Turtle, and the Hitchhiking Alligator.
• Colbert Bump: Disney's announcement of the American versions of the ride being replaced/rethemed in the future had led to people (especially scalpers) buying Splash Mountain merchandise en masse. Queue times for the Walt Disney World version of the attraction have also gotten relatively longer after the resort's reopening during the COVID-19 Pandemic, with the final day reaching a record queue length of three and a half hours. The Disneyland version followed suit with a similar queue length on its final day.
• Distanced from Current Events: Racial tensions in American society were thought to be quite likely the reason that Disneyland and Disney World are re-theming around The Princess and the Frog. Disney confirmed the re-theme was in development for at least a year prior to the announcement but the timing of said announcement (mere days after the George Floyd protests first broke out) felt like too strong of a coincidence for some.
• The Other Darrin: Owing to the fact that it opened 43 years removed from the movie, every character has a new voice for Splash Mountain, aside from Nick Stewart as Br'er Bear in the Disneyland version who was able to reprise his role. However, the future iterations of the ride such as in Disney World replace him with James Avery, making the entire voice cast completely new. Of particular note, Br'er Rabbit and Mr. Bluebird get recast as Jess Harnell, most well known for his role as Wakko Warner, which can be a little distracting if you're used to hearing him as that.
• Prop Recycling: Part of the reason why the ride was created was so that the extremely large number of animatronics from America Sings could be reused instead of scrapped. If you search online, you'll find lists of which animatronic, specifically, is in which scene. Defunctland's video about America Sings is also worth watching on the subject.
• Role Reprise: Nicodemus Stewart, who provided the voice of Br'er Bear in Song of the South, reprised his role for the Disneyland version.
• Troubled Production: Issues with the design of the ride, specifically the weight of the boats causing guests to be drenched instead of splashed on the iconic drop, caused Splash Mountain to miss its targeted release date by six months. The ride had been in development since 1983, although it really didn't get off the ground until America Sings was nearing closure.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Originally, while development was underway on Splash Mountain, there were plans for an Indiana Jones-themed attraction complex entitled Indiana Jones and the Lost Expedition. However, as both projects competed in development concurrently, then-CEO Michael Eisner had to chose which of those two projects would the green light and chose to go ahead with Splash Mountain due its lower cost.
  • Concept art for the Disneyland version of the attraction depicts a few America Sings characters that were at one point planned to be in the ride but aren't in it today: the Old Gray Mare, the dog from "Who Shot the Hole in My Sombrero?", the Pig Waiter in "Ta-Ra-Ra-Boom-De-Ay" (in the Laughin' Place), and the frog from the Modern Times segment (in the finale).
  • A version was planned for Disneyland Paris, but due to budget concerns plus the cold French winters, that park has yet to get one.
  • The ride was originally going to include more imagery from its controversial source material and would've had the name "Zip-a-Dee River Run". Then-CEO Michael Eisner suggested instead theming the ride to Splash and including characters from that movie, a move that went mostly ignored save for the name change to "Splash Mountain".

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