[Chat] Splash Mountain Storyline

[TheGr8K8]

I was inspired by the Splash Mountain soundtrack post to post something that has been plaguing the minds of myself and my friends.

What is the storyline of Splash Mountain, the ride, and what is a "laughing place"? I just can't seem to figure this out... what is the moral?

Why is it that Brer Rabbit wants to go to this place and why is it so terrible? What, exactly, does the drop mean to the story line and why is it that the drop itself brings you to the happy ending?

I've come up with a few different ideas but I could be totally wrong.

Thoughts?

[TheMagicKing]

Re: Splash Mountain Storyline

I just went to Disneyland 2 weeks ago..and I"ll be back in Cali in another two weeks but...

In a nut shell....Brer rabbit thinks that running away from his problems is the key to his happiness...he sets off on a quest to find his "laughing place"

but in the end he realizes that your "laughing place" can be anywhere you want it to be....and in his case it was home sweet home

lol hope that helped a bit

I know I didn't go in depth

[Mr. Bungle]

Re: Splash Mountain Storyline

If Song of the South was actually on home video, this would be easier to answer!

[disneyjedi1]

Re: Splash Mountain Storyline

Well, the storyline to the ride itself combines all of the animated segments from Song of the South into one. It starts out with Brer Rabbit wanting to leave his home.

A laughing place is... what makes you happy, I guess. Everybody has one. the thing is "where it tis for one, might'nt be where it tis for another." Which is why the vultures tell you that the laughing place is connected to the drop, that might be their laughing place. It's not that the laughing place is terrible, it's just different for everyone. I see the drop as Brer Rabbit's escape from Brer Fox. After all, Brer Rabbit was "born 'n' raised in the Briar Patch." Which would also explain why everyone is so happy at the end. Brer Rabbit evaded Brer Fox and discovered that he didn't want to leave his home anymore.

I hope that helps.

[mycroft16]

Re: Splash Mountain Storyline

Splash Mountain doesn't have a real storyline. It is a sequence of scenes from the Song of the South's animated segments. The story lies in the Song of the South and in the old Harriet Beecher Stowe novel Uncle Tom's Cabin as well as in the even older trickster tales from Africa of Brer Rabbit that were told by slaves on plantations.

To sum up:
Brer Rabbit is always playing pranks on Brer Fox and Brer Bear. They are set on catching him and giving him a lesson. Brer Rabbit is setting out from his home to see the world and have some fun. He gets caught by Fox and Bear in a tar baby (doll made of tar that looks like a person. dressed up in clothes by Fox and Bear). Rabbit tries to talk to it but when it doesn't respond he gets mad and hits it, his paws getting stuck in the tar. Brer Fox ties him up and is debating what to do with him and Rabbit basically says to do whatever they want with him, "but don't throw me in that briar patch!" Of course Fox decides to do what Rabbit doesn't want and throws him in the briar patch, not knowing that Brer Rabbit was born and raised in the briar patch all along.

A laughing place is some place that makes you happy. It is more of a mental thing than a physical place. "Go to your happy place" is an equivalent phrase.

So for the ride, we float through the initial outside portion and see the briars sticking up as we hear a friendly song of Brer Rabbit saying howdy to and asking how we are. We enter the show building and see Brer Bear caught up a tree in one of the traps they had set for Brer Rabbit. After floating around a bit more we enter the laughing place by ducking under a tree. It is a psychadelic location full of black lights and colored water dancing around. It's not a real place. However, Brer Rabbit gets caught (and you can see an animatronic of him all stuck) and tied up by Brer Fox. We enter the lament section where we hear the possum?? family lamenting his capture. We pass the vultures and head up the final lift hill and pass Brer Rabbit telling Brer Fox (shadow of his jaws on the wall) to not throw him in the briar patch. We then get thrown in with Brer Rabbit as we fall down the drop into the briars. But we escape unharmed, just as Brer Rabbit does. In the final show scene the lyrics are "it's where he's born, and breded, " really bad grammar for "it's where he was born and bred."

I highly recommend getting the book and reading it. Even the Disney version of the book. The stories are really good and there are some great lessons to be learned.

[Mr. Bungle]

Re: Splash Mountain Storyline

Oh yeah, I guess Youtube would help too. Here's the "Laughing Place" Brer Rabbit segment.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjFd3ekLXVI]YouTube - Br'er Rabbit's Laughing Place - Song of the South clip[/ame]

[Ron W]

Re: Splash Mountain Storyline

It's actually 3 storylines from "Song of the South" blended together.

In the first story, Brer Rabbit leaves home but gets caught in a snare set by Brer Fox. He escapes by tricking Brer Bear into taking his place (the scene where Brer Bear is hanging in the snare and Brer Fox is yelling at him).

In the second story, they catch Brer Rabbit and are about to cook him when he starts laughing and says it's because he had just been to his "laughing place". They want to see this "laughing place", so he leads them into the woods to the beehive where they are attacked by bees. He says something along the lines of "I said this was my laughing place, not yours."

In the third story, Brer Fox makes a doll out of tar (the Tar Baby) to trap Brer Rabbit. When the Tar Baby doesn't respond to his greeting, Brer Rabbit gets angry and punches the Tar Baby and get stuck (in the ride they substituted honey for the Tar Baby to avoid racial implications). When Brer Fox is considering the ways he can kill Brer Rabbit, Brer Rabbit just keeps saying he can do whatever he wants but to please just not throw him in the briar patch. So Brer Fox goes ahead and throws him in the briar patch which is actually where Brer Rabbit was born and raised and where his home is. On the ride drop you go into the briar patch ( all those thorns around the tunnel at the bottom ) and escape with Brer Rabbit.

[RocknGuitar]

Re: Splash Mountain Storyline

Splash Mountain doesn't have a real storyline. It is a sequence of scenes from the Song of the South's animated segments. The story lies in the Song of the South and in the old Harriet Beecher Stowe novel Uncle Tom's Cabin as well as in the even older trickster tales from Africa of Brer Rabbit that were told by slaves on plantations.

To sum up:
Brer Rabbit is always playing pranks on Brer Fox and Brer Bear. They are set on catching him and giving him a lesson. Brer Rabbit is setting out from his home to see the world and have some fun. He gets caught by Fox and Bear in a tar baby (doll made of tar that looks like a person. dressed up in clothes by Fox and Bear). Rabbit tries to talk to it but when it doesn't respond he gets mad and hits it, his paws getting stuck in the tar. Brer Fox ties him up and is debating what to do with him and Rabbit basically says to do whatever they want with him, "but don't throw me in that briar patch!" Of course Fox decides to do what Rabbit doesn't want and throws him in the briar patch, not knowing that Brer Rabbit was born and raised in the briar patch all along.

A laughing place is some place that makes you happy. It is more of a mental thing than a physical place. "Go to your happy place" is an equivalent phrase.

So for the ride, we float through the initial outside portion and see the briars sticking up as we hear a friendly song of Brer Rabbit saying howdy to and asking how we are. We enter the show building and see Brer Bear caught up a tree in one of the traps they had set for Brer Rabbit. After floating around a bit more we enter the laughing place by ducking under a tree. It is a psychadelic location full of black lights and colored water dancing around. It's not a real place. However, Brer Rabbit gets caught (and you can see an animatronic of him all stuck) and tied up by Brer Fox. We enter the lament section where we hear the possum?? family lamenting his capture. We pass the vultures and head up the final lift hill and pass Brer Rabbit telling Brer Fox (shadow of his jaws on the wall) to not throw him in the briar patch. We then get thrown in with Brer Rabbit as we fall down the drop into the briars. But we escape unharmed, just as Brer Rabbit does. In the final show scene the lyrics are "it's where he's born, and breded, " really bad grammar for "it's where he was born and bred."

I highly recommend getting the book and reading it. Even the Disney version of the book. The stories are really good and there are some great lessons to be learned.

This sums it up pretty well. It is basically a broken up version of the cartoon. I watched the cartoon then rode the ride and some scenes were there, some were not.

I would also like to add that I love how, after Brer Rabbit tells them to not throw him into the briar patch, Brer Fox yells to Brer Rabbit as you crest the hill, "Okay, here you go!" Even though it rarely is on (don't know why, it is very simple) it really ties in why you are going down a hill.

[Mr. Bungle]

Re: Splash Mountain Storyline

I recall sometimes hearing Brer Fox's line as well. It definitely helps setup.

[Imagineer Scott]

Re: Splash Mountain Storyline

One of the reason's SotS is banned and not well know here is because of Uncle Remus being "racist", which is total BS. So you mightwant to buy the DVD on Ebay if you really wanted to see where this marvelous ride came from, and I suggest you do. It's a Disney classic!

[Mr. Bungle]

Re: Splash Mountain Storyline

I saw the movie in its 1980s re-release. I enjoyed it, the Brer Rabbit cartoons the most.

[Gandalf75]

Re: Splash Mountain Storyline

I really like the story book. You can buy it on Amazon or Barnes and Noble or places like that.

[BoogaFrito]

Re: Splash Mountain Storyline

One of the reason's SotS is banned and not well know here is because of Uncle Remus being "racist", which is total BS. So you mightwant to buy the DVD on Ebay if you really wanted to see where this marvelous ride came from, and I suggest you do. It's a Disney classic!

It's not banned. Disney is just spinelessly afraid of any controversy which might result from rereleasing the movie on home video.

[Datameister]

Re: Splash Mountain Storyline

The above information is pretty much dead on. FWIW, here's another thread on the same topic from about a year ago.

[TheGr8K8]

Re: Splash Mountain Storyline

Oh wow, I knew you guys would be able to explain! It makes perfect sense now. Just listening to the ride song by itself though makes ones brain go WHAAAAAAAAAT? haha Awesome. I will have to get the movie and the book to be honest, it's worth it.

[aimster]

Re: Splash Mountain Storyline

FYI, the several of the scenes in Disneyland's version of Splash are a little different than WDW's. They're in a slightly different order for the most part.

And if you look on YouTube, sometimes you can find the movie Song of the South in its entirety (usually broken into several parts).

[Karalora]

Re: Splash Mountain Storyline

I think the lyrics are actually:

It's where he's born and bred in;
The briar patch is where he's headin'

Still not terrific grammar, but better than the other possibility.

[Datameister]

Re: Splash Mountain Storyline

I hear a d at the end of "bred'ed/bred in." However, I could hear the next line ending in "headin'."

[Karalora]

Re: Splash Mountain Storyline

According to these people, I'm right. Nyah nyah.

[Datameister]

Re: Splash Mountain Storyline

I still hear a d.