Current state of Splash Mountain?

Splash is listed on the Disneyland website as being refurbed Oct. 3- Nov. 3

That's good to know! I'm lucky to be there 10 days after that refurb is finished, so we should be in the clear. Hopefully this means that it won't be down this winter and it'll be open for my Early March trip.

Dang it. We will be there for the first time ever Oct. 3-6. This was one of the rides I was looking forward to.

Feeling your pain. This is my favorite ride. When it's down, I'm not too pleased. It's been down on both my WDW and DL trips in the past. It just isn't the same without Splash.
 
Thank goodness we decided to add an extra day to our tickets to make our first day in the park Sunday October 2 instead of Monday the 3rd! We'll be taking a few trips down Splash that night for sure!
 
Thank goodness we decided to add an extra day to our tickets to make our first day in the park Sunday October 2 instead of Monday the 3rd! We'll be taking a few trips down Splash that night for sure!

Be sure to report back on what you see -- you'll be one of the last people to see it before the refurb, so we can compare and see what gets fixed.

I'm just afraid that the ride is such a mess right now that a month-long refurb just won't do it, unless they have all the parts ready to go.
 
Why would they close a mountain for that long during Halloween time???!!! why not close it in November when there is wayyy less people. It doesn't make any sense. I am going at the end of October and will now not be able to ride my favorite ride. ANd it is my first birthday trip too!! Thanks for ruining the magic Disney with your poor scheduling choices. Is there any chance this date can change?
 
Why would they close a mountain for that long during Halloween time???!!! why not close it in November when there is wayyy less people. It doesn't make any sense. I am going at the end of October and will now not be able to ride my favorite ride. ANd it is my first birthday trip too!! Thanks for ruining the magic Disney with your poor scheduling choices. Is there any chance this date can change?

First, the scheduling is more complicated than simply "close popular rides during slow period." They have to do these things when crews are available, and there are not enough slow periods these days to slot all refurbs of popular rides in the slow period. Second, there are many other "extras" during Halloween to make up for the closure. Third, they probably didn't know it was your birthday when they scheduled it, though I'm not sure it would have changed their minds even if they did know. Fourth, seeing the ride in the state it is in would do more to disrupt the Disney magic than not riding at all.

As for whether it could change, it probably could change, but it is unlikely this close to the start of the refurb. Even more unlikely given that there is probably not a single ride in either park that needs a refurb more than Splash Mountain.
 
there really isn't too much extra during Halloween time to make up for one of the most popular rides closing lets be honest. Of course with an extra Party ticket you would get some extras like the parade and fireworks but that already came with a price. I know my birthday doesn't matter...i was just venting because had I known this fact I would have rescheduled the entire trip. The least disney could do when one of the mountains has to go under refurbishment is give more advance notice. You honestly cannot tell me that they knew about this only within the last couple weeks. A 3-5 month advance announcement would not be impossible. You can defend Disney all you want but some of us spend good hard earned dollars to take a trip out there and when your favorite ride is down the entire week you get there, it just takes away the magic. And BTW how many times did they try to fix Splash Mountain in the past few years. It has gone down multiple times and the ride still has its issues. So this time will probably be the same.
 
some of us spend good hard earned dollars to take a trip out there

Pretty sure most of us spend good hard earned dollars to get there. That part is totally irrelevant.

And if one ride being down is going to take away all the magic, well...just not sure what to say there.


If they'd taken it down during November and my BFF was going, then it would have been HER first birthday trip there, too. 12 months of birthday trips for people...someone at some point is going to get affected negatively.
 
I disagree. I think it is revelant. A lot of disneyland's attendance is from AP's or California locals and well they don't need to worry about refurbishments too much as they can just come back when it is done, no airfare required! And November is a much slower month so less people means less birthdays affected...but again this is besides the point. The point is Disney needs to release their refurbishment dates sooner so people can plan their trips accordingly to get the best experience. And I know Disney has their refurbishment schedule at least a year in advance aside from emergency closures/fixes.
 
Oh and Fantasmic! was another of my absolute favorite experiences and guess what....that is down too. But I knew about Fantasmic being closed before i planned the trip and so it was expected. But now with Splash mountain down I wish I could change the trip entirely. but I can't.
 
Last edited:
Oh and Fantasmic! was another of my absolute favorite experiences and guess what....that is down too. But I knew about Fantasmic being closed before i planned the trip and so it was expected. But now with Splash mountain down I wish I could change the trip entirely. but I can't.

Well, sorry to hear that. I hope you are able to find something else fun to do while you are there.
 
If October this year is anything like 2015, then it's insane that they are closing Splash then. It was crazy hot!!! Why not stick with January/February, like in the past? Out of our last three trips, it will have been closed two times. Twice in less than two years. Very frustrating for sure....
 
I got lucky. I get in Sunday 10/2. I added an extra day to my ticket so I could go to the parks Sunday afternoon and evening just so I can hit SM. With all the negative comments about the condition of the attraction I kinda want to see it my self.
 
I'm floored that the attraction sounds like it's in the same sorry state it was in during our previous visit last Oct.
After a year of these defects, I don't believe it's anybodys fault but Disneys.
 
I'm floored that the attraction sounds like it's in the same sorry state it was in during our previous visit last Oct.
After a year of these defects, I don't believe it's anybodys fault but Disneys.

This is definitely Disney's fault. For all the talk about how Disney is better than a traveling parking lot carnival, the condition of Splash Mountain would indicate there are more similarities than we like to admit.
 
If you look at the Disneyland website in park hours under October it say "splash mountain closed for refurbishment" I hope it's not closed when I'm there in November :crazy2:
Exactly, I read that as well, I don't see projected finish date for this anywhere. We will be there in mid December. One of my favorites! I want to be safe, but work quickly:)
 
We were there last week - my wife had not read this thread, and I hadn't told her about it.... I had read the thread before our visit. We had not previously ridden DL's Splash, but had ridden WDW's splash 2 or 3 times back in 2007. That's a long time ago, so I don't know how valid our observations are.

When I pressed her for observations, I think her words were: "It seemed darker and not as much going on" as in WDW.

Having read the thread, I was on the lookout, and noticed several sections that appeared dark, but on closer inspection realized that the lights were off because there were animatronics that weren't working. In general, I felt that it was pretty dingy, even in places where everything was working and the lights were on. It seems to me that the entire ride could be brightened up and some significant refurb.
 
When I pressed her for observations, I think her words were: "It seemed darker and not as much going on" as in WDW.

I'm sure it was some of both. Even when working perfectly, the DL Splash Mountain is darker with less going on than the WDW version. Admittedly the WDW version is superior.

But you are right, the DL Splash Mountain became so broken down it was intolerable, but rather than close the ride and repair it, they just turned off some lights and sounds and hoped nobody would notice. And it's been that way for over a year. Appalling. I hope they get it working again after this October refurb.
 
Alas, if you look at the history of the Disneyland/Disney Parks maintenance/engineering over the last couple of decades, a main focus has been to reduce labor costs, two main things, the switch from a large overnight crew to a much smaller one, and having the main group work during operating hours, where they are more focused on repairing rides that break down that day, instead of prevent maintenance. And also why you see more painting and other work being done during the day.

Also, shifting away from hiring temporary crews to work during ride closures, though they are using outside companies to repair things off property. Such as AA characters. They found it is easier to either ship them to Florida or an outside company, and “hide” the fact the specific item is missing during the longer time repair length.

Ironic that Splash Mountain, along with Pirates and “iasw” have to close on a much regular basis to allow the ride vehicles to dry out and the flumes to get repairs due to the wear and tear of water damage. In the past, they did bring in the extra staffing to do things like scene repairs.

Such is life, but the “execs” have decided it really is only the locals that notice, and the main focus is now on visitors who won’t miss the Pirate or the Crane or a different AA, and trying to maximize profits. So it is a decision of cost vs benefit, but then again, that is what every company does.

Even after the Cal/OSHA fixes were implemented three years ago, after which TDA was finally able to allow maintenance workers to clean and repair show areas that had sat ignored for up to a year, Splash Mountain didn't have all of its audio-animatronics returned to full working order. Or in some cases, returned at all. I remember riding in the early 2000s when the bayou scene was actually working. In all the times I've ridden since then, it's never, ever been the same. Last week we got back from WDW. Splash is revelatory there, because everything's working. Even with a longer bayou scene, it's noticeable throughout the ride, from beginning to end. I remember when DLR vets used to be able to claim the better show maintenance was in Anaheim, not Orlando. Then Disneyland got Colgazier and lost Kalogridis to WDW. I guess George took good maintenance with him.
 
Why would they close a mountain for that long during Halloween time???!!! why not close it in November when there is wayyy less people. It doesn't make any sense. I am going at the end of October and will now not be able to ride my favorite ride. ANd it is my first birthday trip too!! Thanks for ruining the magic Disney with your poor scheduling choices. Is there any chance this date can change?

DLR guests are mostly locals who don't mind if they visit during a ride refurb because they can come back whenever they want to. So Team Disney Anaheim has a lot of leeway in terms of scheduling down time for major attractions. The needs of guests visiting from afar are not taken into account because there are fewer of us. It's the total opposite at WDW, but that's alway why the Florida parks usually don't get holiday or other overlays for major attractions.
 
  • We are at Disneyland now, we travel from Australia so we haven't been on the ride since 2013. However, we can confirm it is in serious need of maintenance. Some scenes have no light at all. We wouldn't mind if it was closed (and we travel a very long way), because honestly the attraction is unbelievably worn out.
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!











facebook twitter
Top