Splash Mountain 1989 ride-through including rare “Sooner or Later” footage

Take a new and improved ride on what the original Disneyland Splash Mountain was like back when it first opened in 1989! This is an improved video of my first ride-through I posted a year ago! This one has higher quality footage, new edits for an even better ride experience, and RARE footage of what the song “Sooner or Later” sounded like before it was removed! All of this, without having to time travel! Pretty great, right? So sit back, enjoy, and have a Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah day!
Subscribe or else Br’er Fox will trap ya for sure!
Music credit: 91J Loves Disney- / 91jlovesdisney
Footage credit:
sodapopmustache- / @sodapopmustache5415
Brian Moss- / lsramoss
Mark Raymond- / @markraymond3886
Disney Dave- / disneydave
MrDisneyfanman- / mrdisneyfanman
Petr Cervinka- / petrcervinka
Audio credit:
TigerMoth- / digdugtriothepootislord

[@Stoneysilence]

I'm surprised somebody took a video camera on a water ride back in 1989! Way before water resistant phones/cameras.

[@RetroVintageDisneyDev1971]

I have always loved this attraction. Best water ride I have ever been on!

[@LJC123]

I wish they'd leave this ride alone, it's so great! Does not need a re-do!

[@janellecooper6160]

the animatronics need retiring tho

[@theregenedmoogles741]

They just need to put a PSA Warning at the beginning or end of ride: "although yes these earlier depictions of other cultures and ethnicities was wrong then is still wrong now we will keep the ride as is"

[@FrappeInsider]

@@janellecooper6160 no they don't lol! there's things like maintenance that keep these singing marvels going! Second, getting rid of the animatronics means getting rid of the america sings animatronics too! Hopefully they get relocated...

[@janellecooper6160]

@@FrappeInsider does it look like i gaf if they're america sings animatronics? besides, they have two of them in the star tours queue. also, maintenence has been doing a shit job or no job at all lmao

[@FrappeInsider]

@@janellecooper6160 you should

[@PrimeStone]

As much as I love The Song Sooner Or Later. For an Amusement Park Ride It doesn't Really Prep You for the Big Drop. And it's very relaxing and Soothing.

[@zacharyvandyke2003]

RIP to my favorite ride. 😞

[@BigBox678]

WOAH. I never knew sooner or later was actually on the ride once! This is such a cool discovery! Keep it up, Man!

[@judydenver5362]

Thank you! A thousand times Thank you!! for having and preserving this footage, of my All-time favorite ride!! I was there back then, working with Tony Baxter, and Dave Feiten, at Disneyland, and I spent nearly every day, inside that mountain, with them and the crew, watching them build it, install the animals, animating the animals, painstakingly, and I was climbing around, all over the place, having the time of my life!!! I am DEVASTATED, that the world's most favorite Disney ride of all-time, yep, even more favorite than Pirates, should be destroyed by a bunch of new, you-know whats, at the Disney Organization! I am an Animator, also. I have been a complete mess, since yesterday, watching that horrible Tiana disgusting fiasco! no story, no adventure, no nothing...replace this MASTERPIECE- that was, Splash Mountain. After watching that miserable Tiana thing, I had to go, be sick! I hope to God, that someone STOPS the madness at Anaheim Disneyland, and puts Splash back, before it's too late!!! Thank God, to the Oriental Trading Company, that owns Tokyo Disneyland, who flat-out REFUSES to take out or endanger their priceless Splash Mountain. So, still safe in Japan!! They even just refurbbed their Country Bear Jamboree, and reopened it to a mob!!! Thank you again, for this film, and your Channel. I have to go cry, again, as this is just so emotional, it's a death.

[@machineryman7197]

Just rode it two days ago! Gonna miss it when it changes 😡

[@B-rad_Games]

Bro… I love this ride so frickin much so this is really cool!

[@charliebrown3842]

Happy 34th Anniversary Splash Mountain 🥳🎊🎂🎈🎁🎉🌊⛰🐻🦊🐰🪵

[@Misscouchpotato-]

6:44 Omg I never knew this part was in the version of the ride!

[@RetroVintageDisneyDev1971]

Thank you for making these videos, they are great!

[@Mauryjerry]

So surprised about the this ride is based on the movie Song of the South. It seem like a Silly Symphony Cartoon short characters.

[@drmariobros4369]

That was the only year brer fox had orange hair

[@Brer-Bear1]

Yeah I always wonder why they changed it

[@ChuckE.CheesesIllinois]

Wow! So amazing you found this!

[@alexemiliogb]

Thank you very much for giving me some much needed happiness!!

[@drewstorey7430]

Such a cool discovery! I was at Disney this week and I'm from Canada. Rode this ride 10 times and they announced today that it's closing in May. So great to have found a channel that shares lost footage!

[@think2086]

Back when Facilities actually gave two poops--and had a budget and staffing--to care about show. Back before everything show-wise was broken all the time at Disneyland. Sigh. Wish we could get back to those days. The fact that one of the best parts of Rise of the Resistance--the room where you're supposed to dodge the moving guns, broke already and they just don't fix it, is.... extremely disheartening.

[@October_JennJenn]

😂 Splash mountain frequently broke down in 1989.

[@fifthrider]

Well that is nothing short of amazing. I listen to Disney music loops at work and the Critter Country one is amongst them. I hear "Sooner or Later" all the time but assumed that it had never actually appeared in the ride. I'm sorry they didn't keep it. I wonder why it was removed? Not enough time to transition to the next scene without keeping the same track?

[@TheSplashMountainChannel]

It was removed because it didn’t really fit. Playing a happy song ruined the suspenseful moment and it didn’t work because we knew Br’er Rabbit would end up getting away. It’s a very good song, it just didn’t really fit in with the scene.

[@fifthrider]

@@TheSplashMountainChannel Is that why?! Okay, thank you. I get it, they needed a transition to something darker.

[@benjsmithproductions]

I always assumed Splash Mountain was crazy old, like opening day attraction..... mostly because of how quickly Disney dropped Song of the South after release, so it's kind of wild they made a whole ride around it in 1989.... Controversey aside, it just seems so long after and random. Like if Disneyland announced tomorrow that in 2026, a new ride based around Treasure Planet or The Rescuers was going to be created. Excellent footage though, history indeed.

[@October_JennJenn]

Song of the south was re-released in the 80’s in the movie theatre. I saw it as a kid.

[@SplashMountainArchive]

this is such a great edit good job

[@hayley8754]

Absolutely AMAZING!

[@JavaCake]

Wow, I never knew this was in the ride at all! I thought it was removed late in development. I have to ask this though, and it’s ok if you are unable to share, but how ON EARTH did you find this??!

[@TheSplashMountainChannel]

Yep, pretty crazy! One of my friends found a video with the footage in it, and I figured I had to repost it because it was such a rare discovery! Sometimes these things are hard to find without help!

[@Rachel-zc4ih]

I find it very interesting that the outdoor section before the first waterfall doesn't have any of the main trio's houses yet - no Rabbit's house with briars, no miniature Fox's house on top of the hill, and on another video you can see that the cave of the snoring bear still belongs to "Rufus" instead of Brer Bear. I wonder when that idea came about

[@pierceojeda1770]

I loved this video more like this please

[@animatroniccrazy5460]

before the slippin falls drop, we’re the brer’s houses always not there for awhile? I remember seeing footage of them not there but idk if it was just during testing

[@user-pj7pc8oo4u]

Time to watch all your videos lol

[@jonathanmason8681]

So at one point the song sooner or later was actually on splash mountain I thought it was just a concept

[@sealy1]

This is surprisingly similar to what it looked like in march of 2023, wow

[@GiantSquid2319]

6:38 I can't believe the sooner or later song was added to splash mountain

[@legoman7695]

Do you know what year they changed out the logs?

[@PrimeStone]

Yay

[@mvasnightmare]

Hi! Can someone please point out where the Sooner or Later song is in the video. I was born in 2004, so I had never heard of this before. It was quite fascinating to watch, thank you for uploading. I love Splash Mountain✨

[@thebriarpatch1989]

Hi, Sooner or Later is featured in 6:42-6:56

[@CASmerk]

I wonder if the hidden Mickey is still at the top of the drop🤔

[@user-pj7pc8oo4u]

Zippe do dahhhh

[@BKDBrian2]

This must have been filmed in October of 1989 or something, seeing as how they have the pumpkins and everything.

[@ryanridder4576]

Is it still hard to say when this is going to close? I would hope it’s still here in September 2022 because I may be going then

[@TheSplashMountainChannel]

It’s probably still going to be open during that time. My guess is that it will close in early 2023

[@Reecetrex]

You were right…

[@RollbackMedia]

How long was sooner or later in the ride for?

[@TheSplashMountainChannel]

The footage was taken during a soft opening. It was changed before the ride officially opened I believe

[@RollbackMedia]

@@TheSplashMountainChannel seeing that I didn’t think footage of this existed, it makes me wonder if there’s even a slight chance of footage or pictures exist of the ride scenes before they were reworked and animatronics were removed.

[@CoastersAndWater]

@@RollbackMediaI was thinking the same thing, would be cool

[@VFKAdventureRabbit]

Is there an uncut/unaltered version of the Sooner or Later section of the ride? The cut-to-comparison cuts off the Sooner or Later footage before the log has properly passed the scene and I'd like to see it in its completest form.

[@TheSplashMountainChannel]

Sorry, if I had more footage, I would’ve shown it. That’s where it cuts off in the video I got it from, too.

[@VFKAdventureRabbit]

@@TheSplashMountainChannel Agh, that's a darn shame, of all the places for them to cut it off.. lol.

[@hellhound_haunt]

What was different about this ride through? I'm not familiar with the history of the ride, so I'm curious what part of it was rare

[@TheSplashMountainChannel]

Sooner or Later was a song that all Splash fans thought was removed from the ride during development. Recently, though, someone found footage of Sooner or Later actually in the ride, while it was operating in 1989. It is very rare to hear this music in the ride, and this will probably be the only full POV where you do hear it, hence the rarity.

[@hellhound_haunt]

@@TheSplashMountainChannel that's super interesting. I'm curious as to why it was removed.

[@Spacemountaineer92]

too bad they never fixed the briar patch splash down sprayers 😢

[@thekbarn7932]

The replacement is very pretty but it’s too dark, boring, has a handful of animatronics, and the music is just ok. They cheaped out with screens too ☹️

[@darkridearts]

I can’t believe they destroyed this iconic attraction for a boring forgettable overlay. Tiana and Splash deserved better.

[@AlexandraWilliams-lp6qc]

#SaveSplashMountain #protectheprotesttosavesplashmountain at @Disneyland #ProtectTheProtest #savesongofthesouth