Splash Mountain at Walt Disney World only has a few days left of life. It is set to close down for good in only a couple more days. When the ride “reopens” in 2024 it will be the same ride, but with a completely different theme, returning as Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. However, while the ride does technically still have a few days left, it did hit a bit of a snag as the ride was closed for a good portion of yesterday, and ended up completely drained.
While yesterday’s little snafu wasn’t, as far as we know, directly connected to the closure of Splash Mountain, which will see its final day of operation on January 22, it did lead to a state for the attraction that we don’t usually see. As shown on Twitter. the ride was drained of water, so anybody that was in the park yesterday looking for one last ride before it shuts down was largely out of luck.
Something tells me Splash Mountain is not going to open today at Magic Kingdom… pic.twitter.com/TcpbJmcOV2January 18, 2023
As of this morning, Splash Mountain was functioning normally, and as of this writing has about a one-hour wait time. Outside of its controversial theme, Splash Mountain is popular simply for being a fun log flume ride, and the loss of that for more than a year will be a significant loss to Magic Kingdom. The only other water ride at Walt Disney World is Kali River Rapids at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, which is also currently down for its normal winter refurbishment.
As far as the loss of a major E-ticket attraction, Magic Kingdom will be able to fill the void left by Splash Mountain fairly soon. The long-awaited Tron: Lightcycle Run roller coaster is set to open on April 4, 2023. While one expects that ride will use a Virtual Queue and off Individual Lightning Lane to guests willing to pay for it, as all recent new attractions have done, there will surely be a shortage of guests looking to ride it.
As far as Splash Mountain goes, while we don’t usually see it drained like this, that will likely be its normal state very soon. Starting Monday the ride will be closed and work will begin on transitioning it into its new theme. Most of that work we’ll never see, as it will all be on the inside of the ride. The exterior of the attraction is expected to look mostly the same based on models we’ve seen, though a new water tower advertising Tiana’s Foods will be added.
Considering that the core ride of Splash Mountain is not changing, this should really just be seen as an extensive refurbishment. It’s just one that will take a long time, as Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is not expected to open until “late 2024.” Disneyland’s version of the ride is set for the same transformation, with the same reopening window, but the closing date for that ride has yet to be announced. Disneyland has already seen other Princess and the Frog-related changes as a new gift shop opened last year and Tiana's Place restaurant is set to open later this year.
