 |
| (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Twitter | Blog
Want to get splashed on a water ride at Walt Disney World? You'll have to wait for a while. Winter is usually the time of year for the water rides to go through their maintenance routines. Kali River Rapids at Animal Kingdom will be shut down till February 15th for basic maintenance and upgrades.
The longer of the rehabs is with Splash Mountain being closed through March 19th. This extended rehab is rumored to include many fixes to the ride. On the outside of the ride are patches of grass found scattered up the sides of the mountain. The current patches are filled many dead and dying plants as the irrigation system has many leaks. These leaks have also caused section of the faux mountain to fall off creating a hazard to both riders and guests walking near the mountain. The patches of grass will be replaced with fake vegetation and the irrigation system will be forever shut off allowing a safer and more welcoming scene.
Within the mountain itself another issue with the water systems is also rumored to be in refurbishment plans. The ride was designed to have most of the water drain to reserves under and behind the ride while the ride is closed allowing for maintenance to easily access any necessary parts of the ride. This system has seemingly not worked properly for some time now. This has caused major break downs of show scenes in the ride. A video posted in January 2012 by local Disney expert Kevin Yee that showed the final scene of the ride with almost the entire scene not working went viral within the theme park blogs as proof of the many issues with the ride. This improperly working scene was so server that it caused some sites to even encourage guests not to ride Splash Mountain as this scene might ruin the ride for younger guests. Another scene within the ride that has it's own slew of issues is the Laughing Place scene, with issues dating back to at least 2006 with many of the original effects not working since that time. Many expect this extended refurbishment to fix those issues as well.
Also closed until March (16th) is Blizzard Beach. Typhoon Lagoon opened on January 5th after a three month rehab of its own. No major improvements are expected during this seasonal rehab though.
