Splash Mountain Flunks Wet Test so Disneyland to Delay Opening

Disneyland’s newest thrill ride, Splash Mountain, has more than lived up to its pre-opening billing as the theme park’s wettest ride. It’s too wet, Disney officials said Friday.

So the opening of Splash Mountain, already delayed from Jan. 12 to mid-February, will be delayed to sometime during the summer, park spokesman Bob Roth said.

Engineers must redesign the boat that will take riders on an 8-minute, half-mile water ride through scenes from Disney’s “Song of the South” and down several drops, the steepest of which is the last--a 5-story, 47-degree fall.

“We want to make sure it’s 100% right,” Roth said. “We want to make it worthy of Disneyland, in line with such popular attractions as Pirates of the Caribbean and Star Tours.”

He said workers in test rides simply got too wet on that final drop. The new boat will be designed to deflect more water away from riders, he said. The mountain itself has been completed and will remain unchanged, he said.