Now there is only one.
Beginning Jan. 23, North America’s only Splash Mountain will reside most days at the Fiserv Forum, the sound effect of water echoing through the arena whenever Milwaukee Bucks center Brook Lopez drops a three-pointer.
Lopez knew change was coming at his favorite ride – lifeless Splash Mountain – at Walt Disney World in Orlando and Disneyland in California, but the closures after his last day on Jan. 22 hit him hard.
“It’s hard. Yeah, because as a kid, you remember the rides, the attractions you used to do as a kid and some of them aren’t here anymore,” he told the Journal Sentinel. “That’s one thing. And then to have a ride that’s just iconic, timeless, my favorite ride…both versions, LA and Orlando pretty much opened around the time I was born. And it’s been there almost as long as I have and it’s a big attraction and you don’t think it can close or anything, so seeing it close is really weird.
“It makes me, I think, definitely make me think about how old I am.”
The 34-year-old laughed at this.
“It’s definitely tough for me. I’m disappointed.”
Brook Lopez and twin brother Robin once rode Splash Mountain ‘some 18 times’ over a two-hour period during a Disney event
Lopez loved the ride so much that he used it as inspiration for a Bucks hat he designed for a fan giveaway on March 22 and estimated that he and his twin brother, Robin, wore it “about 18 times” in a row from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. morning during a 24-hour “Days of Disneyland” event in Anaheim.
A reinterpretation of the attraction was announced by the company in 2020 and will be called Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, a new attraction inspired by the animated film “The Princess and the Frog”.
The mountain structure will be transformed into a salt dome at Bayou Adventure.
The original theme for Splash Mountain was met with protests, as it is based on the animated parts of the controversial 1946 film, “Song of the South”.
Lopez spoke about the themed change to his favorite ride last year after bringing the Larry O’Brien Trophy to Disney World after the Bucks’ championship. He had his picture taken with the trophy in front of the ride after he was told he couldn’t bring it.
“They closed it down,” he said with a laugh, noting that he promised to hold the trophy tight. “They didn’t believe me! I don’t know why they didn’t believe I would hold him. It is so precious to me that we fought and won. They didn’t trust me.”
Brook Lopez has thoughts on the Splash Mountain reimagining
But he was more serious about his idea of what should have happened to Splash Mountain and its characters.
“Here’s my two cents on the whole thing,” Lopez began. “I think Splash Mountain is a classic attraction, I don’t think there’s something inherently (wrong) with the creatures and all. Of course, the film has some very dodgy non-PC aspects. But I think the Uncle Remus stories themselves and the Br’er Rabbit stories have a lot of value.
“I think it would have been a good opportunity to create the Princess and the Frog, give Tiana the spotlight in her own attraction and then you kind of get these great characters and great stories that have good meaning and great morals and everything like and are woven into the story and kind of recontextualize them. Maybe give these Br’er Rabbit, Br’er Fox characters a TV series or something to take these great stories, a great opportunity to turn around and use the good stuff and create a positive image of it.
“So you can still use those characters on that attraction. This is obviously my opinion. They took a different path, which is great, which is good. That’s what they want to do. I think these characters still have their spotlight, their platform in a positive new spin, a positive light, they still give Tiana her attraction which is also positive and everything she deserves.
Lopez’s Splash Mountain nickname created when he arrived in Milwaukee
Lopez was nicknamed “Splash Mountain” by Bucks fans early in the 2018-19 season as the 7-footer began dropping three points at a career rate in his first season in Milwaukee.
Tour-wise, Lopez can still visit Splash Mountain at Tokyo Disney Resort, as that won’t change (it’s a licensed property not operated by Disney). Lopez said that Japan is one of his favorite places to go in the world, and he thought he might propose to his fiancée Hailee Strickland there (or in France). But he ran into tourist visa issues due to the island nation’s ongoing COVID restrictions, so Lopez ended up proposing last summer, where the couple met at Animal Kingdom in Orlando.
But now Tokyo is back on the bucket list.
“That is! I’ll have to do it now!” he chuckled. “Tokyo for the foreseeable future.”
As for what happens to some of the original Splash Mountain theme items, Lopez welcomes any opportunity to help preserve its history.
“If I heard about it or they reached out, I would definitely try to (get) some souvenirs or something,” he said. “It would mean a lot. I would love to. Because it’s something very special to me. It means a lot to me.”
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