Who Built Splash Mountain

Did Arrow make this for Disney or did O.D. Hopkins do it?
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Just wait till next year!

A good question, I think.

I was always under the impression that the ride system was developed in-house by Disney, but it's conceivable that it was contracted out.

Do you have evidence that points to one or the other, or did you just discount that Disney could've done this one on their own?

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~~~ M ~~~
Official Driver for the Long Island Regional.

I'm sure Disney designed it, and did the theming for it but I get the feeling that it was contracted out.  Like Space Mountain was.

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Just wait till next year!

It's an O.D. Hopkins ride Im sure of that part. I belive that Disney did the rest with help from the funding they got from Mc Donalds.

Disney did the ride layout and design themselves, i have an imagineering book that i got from there and it talks about how they designed it. There is even little models of what it looked like during conception (all the models have been destroyed due to lack of space). I believe that it said that outside contractors were hired for the building part though.

Yeah, Disney, of course did all the design work and ride layout. O.D. Hopkins was the company who did the actual flume construction. The conveyer belt system that is used in the station is a big give away as to who did the work. It's a hopkins log flume trait.
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America was targeted for attack because we're the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world. And no one will keep that light from shining. - President Bush

Ah, the beauty of the Coasterbuzz forums.  I knew I'd have this question answered before the night was out.  Thanks good friends.  (Or at the least nice people who I've never met who took their time to answer my question.) Now I can go on my road trip to Disney tommorow in peace.
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Just wait till next year!

I sure hope that road trip is to Disney World. Since Spash Mountain at Disneyland is closed for rehab.

I am Going to Vegas road trip, stop off at Buffys, than to my other baby besides goliath Manhatten Express.
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Hart High. Indian Pride.

I'm Disneyworld bound in four mour hours
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Just wait till next year!

*** This post was edited by Valleyfair Fan on 1/19/2002. ***

Oh ok good. Would hate to see you go to DL when half the park is down for rehab. Have fun at WDW dude!

Sorry to say this, but Splash Mountain in WDW is also down at the moment

It is scheduled to reopen the 9th of February

*** This post was edited by Mr Hippo on 1/19/2002. ***

Mm, interesting.

To take this one step further, for those of you who're suggesting O.D. Hopkins was the contractor . . .

Did O.D. Hopkins simply install it, or where they responsible for ride system itself (the engineering part of it, rather than the layout)?  If it's a Disney-designed system, I don't know that I'd give O.D. Hopkins credit for it - that is, if they're only responsible for physical installation - that doesn't mean much to me.

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Disney doesn't really take a hands-off approach on ANY of their rides.  If you're working on a ride for them, you'd better be prepared for PLENTY of interaction with the customer.

Kinida reminds me of the sign at the mechanic's shop:

Labor Rates:  $30./hr.

If you watch, $50./hr.

If you HELP, $75./hr.

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PoTP acolyte - remove fear to reply
Son of Drop Zone - PKI CoasterCamp I Champions!!!

I built it.
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Out of the coasters i've ridden here is wat i rank them overall:(ive been to canobie lake and SFNE)
1. S:RoS 2. Yankee Cannonball 3. Riverside Cyclone 4. Canobie Corkscrew 5. Thunderbolt 6. Galaxy 7. Mind Eraser 8. Dragon coaster 9. poison ivy's tangled

Splash Mountain was concieved and designed before Micheal Eisner came to Disney. They were trying to do a new attraction without a massive expentiture of funds. The flume ride portion is for all intents is a stock O.D.Hopkins design. The theming was done by what was left of WED at the time. They reused animatronic figures from the old"America Sings" attraction.Then came the big mangement change. The story goes that on the first test run Micheal Eisner got absolutely drenched. Needless to say he was not a happy camper. It took a fair amount of tinkering to reduce the "splash" in Splash Mountain to satisfy him.