The Experience: Having Guests Exit with a Smile

The Trick: The best musical earworms at Magic Kingdom

Image: Disney

For all its flaws, Song of the South has a tremendous strength. Did you know that it's an Academy Award-winning film? It's true. Song of the South won in the category of Best Song for Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah, a true Disney classic. That's not the only masterpiece from the soundtrack, though. Disney's Imagineers culled the nine tracks played in the movie, eventually picking the ones they felt would embody the theme of the ride: happiness.

In addition to Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah, the obvious inclusion, Disney added Ev'rybody's Got a Laughin' Place, Burrow's Lament (known as Sooner or Later in Song of the South), and How Do You Do to the attraction. Disney sagely chose to end the ride with the signature song, Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah. I would argue that it's How Do You Do that provides the most lasting impact from Splash Mountain, though. You can listen to it here to understand how potent an earworm this is.

Imagineers again trigger your emotions through subtle manipulation. The goal here is to keep you smiling throughout the ride. That's why the attraction emphasizes the goofy banjo music in the scene following How Do You Do. Your flume is about to take you to The Laughing Place...which isn't as funny a place as you might expect. The surreal aspects of it are palatable since you're still smiling from the prior scene. Then, once it's over, you finally reach the mountain's titular splash. Even that's a false finish, though. The ride isn't quite over. After getting soaked, you've earned your reward: a rambunctious performace of Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah. Disney artfully uses music to control your emotions from the start to finish of the ride.

Miscellany

Image: Disney

Have you ever wondered why the attraction bears the name of Splash Mountain? After all, the movie includes no mention of such a place. The explanation is a shamelessly commercial one. An Imagineer named Tony Baxter coaxed two of his peers, Bruce Gordon and John Stone, into helping him storyboard an attraction he envisioned as Zip-a-Dee River Run. This occurred in 1983, and Disney’s executives loved the idea since the new ride would reinvigorate Bear Country, a largely ignored part of Disneyland.

Unfortunately, the project lacked the momentum to begin immediately. Then-CEO Michael Eisner tossed in his support for the ride, albeit with a caveat. He had a new movie to promote, a 1984 release you should know, Splash. The Tom Hanks/Daryl Hannah film told the story of a man following in love with a mermaid. Eisner suggested (well, demanded) a name change to Splash Mountain to add synergy to the film. He also requested the inclusion of a mermaid in the attraction. You’ve never noticed this since attraction wouldn’t debut for another five years after the film’s release. By that time, a Splash tie-in didn’t seem relevant, not that it ever was. Still, the name of Splash Mountain stuck.

Also, if you’ve ever wondered about the presence of the log flume itself, Disney’s storytellers have an answer for you. Helpful beavers with especially long teeth carved the boats so that you can enjoy your trip through the bayou. How they glued the wood together is less settled.

Finally, Splash Mountain was one of the most expensive attractions Disney had built up until that point. The detailed set pieces combined with the accompanying man-made mountain caused construction costs to soar. The eventual price tag was $75 million, which is the equivalent of almost $145 million today.