Splash Mountain is open again at Magic Kingdom following a refurbishment that saw Disney do the “bear” minimum in terms of maintenance on the aging mountain in Frontierland. As a matter of fact, the work completed on the facade of the attraction only affected a small portion and there is a stark difference between what was refreshed and what was ignored.
As you can see in our photos below, the current look for Splash Mountain shows an attraction that received some work, but not enough to affect the whole mountain. A difference in color highlights what was done during the refurbishment and what was untouched. The more vibrant grass and leaves reveal what crews refurbished during the month of downtime, while the faded sections are old. Refreshed sections can be seen on the left side of the attraction.
In the briar patch, it looks like crews repainted what they could reach, while more difficult to paint leaves remain a faded blue.
It’s possible that Disney only devoted a limited budget to this refresh due to the fact that Splash Mountain will eventually be replaced by a Princess and the Frog attraction. Cast Members said that more work was done inside the attraction, but we can’t help but notice the stark differences on the exterior of the ride.
Splash Mountain will eventually close permanently as an attraction themed to Disney’s controversial Song of the South movie, and be rethemed to a Princess and the Frog attraction. Despite Disney’s original claims that a Princess and the Frog ride has been in the works since 2019, Magic Kingdom’s Vice President more recently said that the redesign is “going to take us a bit of time”.
For more on the Splash Mountain retheme, check out our articles below.
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!
Could Chapek be any cheaper???
Let’s stop blaming just Chapek. This is at the feet of Josh D’Amaro.
Chapek hasn’t run the parks since February 2020. Just because Chapek started the cheapness culture doesn’t mean D’Amaro is somehow dissolved of responsibility because he’s pretty.
D’Amaro perpetuating the cheapness and it’s gotten even worse since he has taken over. If that was even possible!
Wow just wow… there are no words to describe how this is accepted by a multi billion dollar company. Who green lights this and stands there saying yup this is ok. This reminds me of the early 2000’s when the “bear” minimum was done all the time. Just so sad
I’m shocked that anything other than standard ride maintenance was done; if Splash is on borrowed time, then why would anyone expect a substantial investment into anything other than “the br’er minimum” (the better pun, lol)? Disney should have closed it for good in the winter; stop dragging this out.