The Good, the Bad, and the CROWDED – What Magic Kingdom Is Like on Splash Mountain's Closing Day

Well, today is the day. The last day we’ll sing along to “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” and enjoy the antics of Br’er Rabbit.

Splash Mountain

That’s right — today is the day that Magic Kingdom’s Splash Mountain closes forever. We’ve already seen quite a few crowds in Disney World this weekend headed to ride the attraction one last time before it closes to be reimagined as Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. But we’re live at Magic Kingdom RIGHT NOW on Splash Mountain’s final day.

Crowds

We got to Magic Kingdom just after opening and the morning crowds were ready to get into the parks.

Magic Kingdom crowds

But the crowds didn’t really hit until we made our way over to Frontierland.

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

There was a massive group of people waiting to get on the ride one last time.

Here are the REAL crowds

Here’s a look at the line stretching all the way to the other side of Frontierland.

A look at the line

When we hopped in line, the queue stretched all the way out past Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn and Cafe. If you’re looking for the end of the line, a Cast Member was holding a “line starts here” sign!

Line starts here

Here’s another look at the line.

The line for Splash Mountain currently extends well into Frontierland 💦 pic.twitter.com/aM6w43opu3

— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) January 22, 2023

Later on, the line actually stretched alllll the way into Liberty Square. Yep, the end of the line was right by Liberty Tree Tavern!

Wow!

We spoke with a Cast Member who said that the walkway right by Splash Mountain is currently blocked off to make room for this line of guests — the only way to get over to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at the time is to take the boardwalk path over, which is where the line was stopped in the picture below.

This walkway will take you to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

We’ll be updating this post throughout the day to monitor the crowds and wait times, so keep checking back.

See more crowd updates here!

Wait Times

The first thing we did when Magic Kingdom opened this morning was check the My Disney Experience app to see the wait times. At park opening, the wait time was only listed as 5 minutes.

At 9AM park opening

That did NOT hold up long, because just 20 minutes later Splash Mountain had a posted 90 minute wait time. At this point, we were in line and the line was moving slowly. We mostly inched forward through the line, but every once in a while we would move for a bit.

9:20AM wait time

Around 10AM when we finally made our way to the entrance of the Splash Mountain queue, the posted wait time was 145 minutes.

The wait time at Splash Mountain continues to climb this morning 💦 pic.twitter.com/V57lczLzZr

— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) January 22, 2023

We also noticed that the Genie+ times for Splash Mountain were sold out within the first hour that Magic Kingdom was open. Genie+ is $18 per person today and for some, that may be worth it to skip the wait times like this!

©Disney

Eventually, we made it to the front of the line where we got to have one last ride on Splash Mountain.

One last drop on Splash Mountain! 💦

The next time we see that view it'll be on Tiana's Bayou Adventure ✨ pic.twitter.com/GeWAjARrAV

— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) January 22, 2023

At 3PM, the wait time was at 220 minutes!!! That’s over 3 hours!

A little Splash Mountain wait time update for you 👀 pic.twitter.com/HgWSAhrefh

— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) January 22, 2023

Special Happenings

While we were waiting in line, we noticed that a Cast Member was taking a photo of each and every family who wanted one with the Splash Mountain sign in the queue. How sweet!

Cast members truly make the magic and this cast member is taking the time to snap pictures in front of the Splash Mountain sign for ✨ every guest ✨!! pic.twitter.com/7Y7qVOUoue

— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) January 22, 2023

So, goodbye Splash Mountain — it’s been fun! Now we just have to wait patiently for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure to open in 2024. We’ll keep you updated about any construction we see over in Frontierland, so stay tuned to DFB for more!

Have you checked out the latest Disney-themed t-shirts in our store? Click here – you’ll want to pick some up before your next Disney trip! We’ve got a fun Briar Patch Band Tee.

Briar Patch Band Tee

You’ll find a new Tiana Tee, too!

Check out our new Tiana-inspired merch!

You’ll find loads of other merch, too, so be sure to check it out!

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