Although it no longer exists, a new study says Splash Mountain is still Disney World’s most popular ride.
New research conducted by Disney travel planning experts MagicGuides reveals the most popular Disney rides at the theme park, with the ghost of Splash Mountain taking first place.
MagicGuides compiled data for every ride from all four theme parks at Disney— Magic Kingdom Park, Epcot, Disney’s Animal Kingdom and Disney’s Hollywood Studios — to determine the winners. Three key factors were taken into account: Instagram hashtags, Tripadvisor ratings and average monthly search volume.
The fan-favorite Splash Mountain received an average of 205,193 monthly searches, 323,813 Instagram hashtags and a rating of 4.5 out of 5 on Tripadvisor.
The ride is currently undergoing a complete transformation to become Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, inspired by Disney’s The Princess and the Frog.
Splash Mountain, opened in 1992, was themed after 1946’s Song of the South — a film dubbed by historians and critics as racially offensive and full of harmful Reconstruction-era stereotypes about African Americans. Disney World announced its closure in January, although some fans tried really hard to hold onto it, going as far as selling bottles of its water for hundreds of dollars on eBay.
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure could be open in late 2024.
Among the other rides analyzed, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror received the highest number of hashtags out of any ride on Instagram, with 465,274 hashtags. Space Mountain is the second most Googled Disney World ride, receiving 128,593 average monthly searches. Yet Animal Kingdom’s 200-foot-tall rollercoaster, Expedition Everest, is the only ride from the top 10 to have a 5 out of 5 rating on Tripadvisor.
The study revealed that Magic Kingdom is the most recognized area of Walt Disney World and was the clear leader in popular rides, with six out of the top 10 rides located in Magic Kingdom Park.