Today, something very rare is happening in Disney World — a ride is permanently closing.
Splash Mountain
Splash Mountain has been in Magic Kingdom for years now, but it will be closing down to make way for a brand new attraction — Tiana’a Bayou Adventure. Although the ride itself will be similar to Splash Mountain, the storyline will pick up where The Princess and the Frog movie left off. The new ride isn’t set to open until late 2024, so let’s see what the crowds are like with guests trying to get one last ride on Splash Mountain!
On Saturday, January 21st, Splash Mountain already had the longest wait time in the park and the line was LONG. So we were not surprised to see massive crowds around the ride on its closing day! It started back when we entered the park — the crowds have decreased overall since the holidays but the park felt busier than the past few days.
Entrance to Magic Kingdom
However, when we started making our way to Splash Mountain, things got WAY busier. It’s very people-y in Frontierland.
A sea of people
Needless to say, Frontierland is pretty crowded right now. It really is just a sea of people.
SO many people
We also saw some pretty hefty wait times for Splash Mountain — at one point, it was at 150 minutes. That’s 2-1/2 hours!!!
2-1/2 hours!
The “line starts here” sign for the ride is almost at the edge of Frontierland.
Line starts WAY back here
Just LOOK at this line!
HUGE line
If you’re planning on riding it today, we hope you brought your patience (and something to keep you occupied while you’re in line!).
Good morning from Magic Kingdom where it’s the last day of operations for Splash Mountain 💦 pic.twitter.com/Zb7ylTnmQG
— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) January 22, 2023
For those hoping to use Genie+ to access the ride’s Lightning Lane, they were out of luck about an hour after the park opened — Lightning Lane times for Splash Mountain are unavailable.
©Disney
As we mentioned above, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is set to open in late 2024. We’ll continue to keep an eye on the Splash Mountain area once it closes and bring you construction updates on the new The Princess and the Frog-themed ride!
If you want to say “farewell” to Splash Mountain, we’ve got a new Briar Patch Band Tee now online.
Briar Patch Tee
Or if you’re looking to celebrate Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, there is also the Tiana Tee online now!
Tiana Shirt
Want to learn more about Tiana’s Bayou Adventure? Click here!
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