Splash Mountain Ride Vehicle Sinks at Magic Kingdom, Guests Evacuated

    UPDATE: Disney has issued an official statement. Our original story continues below.

    It’s been a rough couple of weeks for Splash Mountain since the attraction reopened at Magic Kingdom. The ride has experienced extensive downtimes, even closing for a couple of days while the ride was drained as crews worked on an unspecified problem.

    At about 5:30pm yesterday, the attraction closed for the rest of the day and guests were evacuated. The first report that this could be more than a “typical” evacuation came in to us shortly after the ride closed, courtesy of @EscAuthority on twitter.

    It wasn’t until late last night that subsequent reports were posted to Twitter, confirming the original report that a ride vehicle was fully submerged in the finale scene.

    Guests exited the boat before any Cast Members instructed them to. The boat continued to sink past what is shown in the video above. This particular part of the attraction is reportedly 6 feet deep, according to sources.

    Splash Mountain is going to be rethemed to a Princess and the Frog attraction at some point in the future, but it appears it will be limping across the finish line. Disney has not announced a closure date for Splash Mountain.

    BlogMickey.com has reached out to Disney for comment, but has not received a reply.


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    11 COMMENTS

    1. If only they had an extended period of time without guests where they could make sure their rides were fixed up to par

    2. Very suspicious that this favorite ride has all of a sudden experienced major problems as we hear that Disney is buckling to pressure to those who are “offended” by the theme of this fun, classic ride. Disney is skating on thin ice…they run the risk of alienating their most loyal followers if they continue down this path. I for one am selling my Disney stock.

    3. My family has been to Disney so many times I can’t even count. There has also been times where my husband has pulled the boat on Small world up the final ramp manually as well as pulled the boat in pirates of the Caribbean. I think something should not be changed maybe this is a sign they should just pair some of the things rather than change them I am sad that Disney’s regular rides are becoming old. I have no problem going on the same old rides they make me feel happy as well as remember when my children were little heck I’ve even been on the cruise in December when there was a hurricane and we couldn’t even go to the island things happen the Disney should step back and really consider whether changes always the right thing

    4. Most boats have a “drain plug” in them to let excess water drain out for cleaning, etc. I’m sure this particular boat was in the “service bay” and a cast member forgot to put the plug back into it. In other words, not a disastrous issue but whoever last serviced that boat should definitely pay more attention.

    5. They should have done maintenance on the existing rides before shelling out the ridiculous amount they have to build new things everywhere. I personally am losing interest in going to any Disney parks and that use to be our go to vacations every year.

    6. We’ve had to get out of the boats and walk across the cat walks over the reservoirs to exit this ride when it’s broken before.

    7. Disney is so incredibly safe. People have NO idea. Compared to the vehicle bumps, injuries and other incidents that happen in a typical city of comparable size, Disney is a safety inspector’s paradise.
      I’m sorry that this injury-free problem happened, and I’m sorry that the Cast Member followed their training even though it didn’t make sense. But compared to an average week in any medium-sized town, Disney’s STILL way safer and better-run.

    8. I worked for a non Disney park in my teens…. rides malfunction… they just do… they malfunction right after full maintenance, just after a safety Inspection, and pretty much at random. With that said I am a major Disney nut have been to Disneyland countless times and I have never experienced a walk off or an extended wait. Disney does an excellent job of maintaining their park and their rides.

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