We’ve known for over two years that Splash Mountain’s days were numbered at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World. Time was finally up for the Magic Kingdom version of the attraction this past weekend, as Sunday marked the last day of operation. As expected, it was a very busy day as fans wanted to ride Splash Mountain one more time. There were likely brisk sales on Splash Mountain-related merchandise as well, but things may be getting slightly out of hand as a number of people are using eBay to sell water taken from the attraction. And people are paying surprising amounts.
At least one sale of alleged Splash Mountain water went for nearly $150 and many other auctions are currently running. At least one at the time of writing has a “Buy It Now” option of $350. Most current auctions are running in the tens of dollars, but one has exceeded $200. Clearly, there are people who are such fans of Splash Mountain that they want to own a piece of it.
Of course, there are a couple of significant problems with this whole affair. The first is that people are willing to spend money on water. Wherever the water once was, it’s still just water with bromine in it. The other, potentially bigger, problem is that none of this water was obtained through any sort of official formal process. And therefore it’s impossible to verify the validity of the item for sale. This could be tap water and the buyer won’t know it until they receive the item. If the seller has the ability and the foresight to put bromine in the water, which is what Disney Parks use to continually clean the water in attractions, giving it a distinctive odor, people will never be able to tell.
But even if every seller on eBay is completely legit in what they’re offering, it’s mildly troubling that things have reached this point. Splash Mountain has become the center of a theme park culture war. The initial call to re-theme the ride came because many fans felt that Splash Mountain’s connection to Song of the South, a movie from the 1940s with some serious issues regarding race relations, wasn’t appropriate for a family theme park attraction.
Disney eventually agreed and announced that both versions of the ride in North America would be re-themed. The log flume ride would stay, but with a new story attached to Disney’s The Princess and the Frog. Since then, there has been a vocal contingent of fans who have called on Disney to reverse its decision and keep Splash Mountain as is. At this point, by 2025 the only remaining Splash Mountain will be found at Tokyo Disneyland, which has not announced plans to change that version of the ride.
The Disneyland version of Splash Mountain is still in operation though expectations are that ride will be closing in fairly short order itself. Indiana Jones Adventure, another popular attraction close to Splash Mountain, is currently undergoing a major refurbishment of its own, and the Haunted Mansion will be closing in just a couple of days to transition out of its Haunted Mansion Holiday form back into the standard version of the ride. Odds are Splash Mountain is being kept open until those rides are back up and running.
