Splash Mountain / Splash Mountain Memories

Splash Mountain

If we can’t see “Song of the South”, at least we can ride Splash Mountain, right? It just isn’t quite the same, though. Besides that, I do love Splash Mountain. Although sometimes I don’t actually ride it, if it is really cold when we are there. But that is rare, because we usually are there in the summer.

The first time I saw Splash Mountain, I was surprised how long the runout after the last drop was. And I like this view of it here with the mountain in the background.

Photo location: Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World, Florida
A three-exposure (-2, 0, +2) HDR tonemapped in Photomatix, edited in GIMP

Splash Mountain Memories

The first time I went to Walt Disney World after Splash Mountain opened, I was there in April. Which usually is an unusual time for me to go, but I was there with my high school band. I was out of high school at the time, but I still went on the band trip that year. Sort of as a chaperon, sort of as moral support, sort of just to go to Walt Disney World when I should have been in college classes. But if you think missing some college classes to go to Walt Disney World is bad, I would like to point out that in the semesters that I did that, my grades were actually higher. Go figure. And I had made arrangements with all of my professors beforehand, and I had even taken some tests early, too. So it was all good.

Anyway, back to that first Splash Mountain visit. Because it was April, the crowds weren’t all that heavy. And even though Splash Mountain was a brand new ride, it didn’t have a very long line. So because of that, I rode it several times. Over and over again. I liked all the Song of the South characters, all the songs, all the effects, all the little details. So much more than you can pick up in just one ride. And fortunately, I didn’t have to wait very long each time.

On that trip, there was one guy in the band who wanted to wander around with me. He hadn’t been to Walt Disney World before, so he figured I could help him through things without having to wait in long lines. And I was glad to have him along, because otherwise I probably would have just been by myself most of the time. Even though we were about five years apart, we got along pretty well.

All of that went well. Until we got to Splash Mountain, that is. He took one look at the big drop, and he wouldn’t budge. So I went and rode it by myself. After the ride, I told him it really wasn’t that bad. The drop went by so quickly that you didn’t hardly notice it. Nothing to be afraid of at all. But he still wouldn’t go. I told him that the drop was just a small part of the ride. Approximately 30 seconds out of a 10 minute ride. That still didn’t work. I told him about all the songs, all the characters, all the cool scenery. I told him that it really wasn’t all that different from Pirates of the Caribbean, which he had already enjoyed. He was always checking out all the girls, so I told him there was a cute Cast Member girl inside who had asked me if I had any friends with me. But he didn’t buy that either, which is fine because it hadn’t happened, anyway.

Despite all my best efforts, he didn’t ride Splash Mountain. Even though I rode it at least six or seven times, maybe even more. Not right in a row, but just several times throughout the day. I suppose I should have been a bit more sympathetic instead of leaving him there each time I rode it, moving on to something else instead. But I knew that on my next trip in the summer, the line wouldn’t be anywhere near that short. And after my last ride, he had gone on to something else, anyway.

Oh well. Some people don’t know what they are missing sometimes.

Words from the Bible

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. – Ephesians 2:10