Got your starbucks? This is gonna be a long one and worth taking the time to actually read, at least, I think it is.
It's amazing, we get older and forget the lessons of our youth-- tiny drops in an ocean of knowledge. But as the tired out saying goes, "everything I ever needed to learn in life I learned in kindergarten." Well, on my recent trip to Disneyland I discovered some lessons-- now, I was going to say rediscovered, but the lessons never hit me until this point in my life-- from a surprising source. And so, I offer this version of the saying: "everything I ever needed to learn in life I learned on Splash Mountain." Okay, maybe not everything, but some things that the post-college me is finally able to hear.
Speaking of hearing, if you're not familiar with the songs you can listen along while you read the lyrics here: http://www.disneythemes.com/splash_mountain_music_video.htm Just select your browser (IE or Netscape / Firefox).
Let's start with a step by step journey of the ride, seen through 23-year-old eyes. The queue is themed to the old south, aged timber and such, with old wooden signs that say things like:
"Everybody has a laughing place-- trouble is, most don't bother to find it."
and just below it another sign: "...and where it is for one it mightn't be for another."
Later in the line, you meet our protagonist, Brer Rabbit, sitting in his home singing a song to himself. Shortly there after you load onto the "log" and begin the ride. It starts off as a merry journey through picturesque hills, and after a short flume you're presented with many animatronic figures singing the first of three main themes:
How do you do?
Mighty pleasant greetin'
How do you do?
Say it when you're meetin'
How do you do?
With every one repeatin'
Pretty good sure as you're born.
What goes up is sure to come down.
A penny lost is a penny found.
How do you do? And here's a hearty back
A little bit of this and a little bit of that.
How do you do? Fine.
How are you? How you come on?
Pretty good sure as you're born.
Stop jumpin' around,
You'll run out of breath!
Why don't you sit back
And calm yourself?
You can hurry on now if you must.
We'll do what we like, 'cause...
That suits us.
Its then that we round the corner to see Brer Rabbit, getting ready to leave home with a friend, singing his own version of the song:
I'm lookin for a little more adventure.
I'm headed for a little bit of fun
I'm hopin for a little more excitement.
Time to be movin' along.
This is where I first realized that there is much more to this ride than a jolly romp through gentile south. Our hero is content, but not excited, and is searching out for something bigger. The identification I currently have with that-- or maybe had with that not all that long ago-- is stifling. But, as with real life, danger lurks around the corner.
Next we meet Brer Bear and Brer Fox who want to eat our lovable little friend (that books title is "How to Catch a Rabbit"). Through several failed attempts to catch him we see the oblivious Brer Rabbit having a great time, not knowing the danger that lies stalking him:
Everybody's got a Laughing Place
A Laughing Place to go-ho-ho.
Take your frown
Turn it upside-down
And you'll find yours
We know-ho-ho!
Honey and rainbows on our way.
We laugh because our work is play.
Boy are we in luck!
We're visiting our Laughing Place
Yuk Yuk Yuk Yuk Yuk! Ho Ho Ho,
Everybody's got a Laughing Place
A Laughing Place to go-ho-ho.
Take a smile there
For a while and
You'll find yours we know-ho-ho!
But eventually the Fox and the Bear through sheer force overtake our bunny friend. Two vultures inform us that the laughing times are over:
Time to be turning around,
If only you could,
If you finally found your laughing place,
How come you aren't laughing?
So your looking for a laughing place, eh?
We'll show you a laughing place.
We then go up the lift hill and see Brer Rabbit on a skewer with the shadow of Brer Fox's teeth about to clamp down on him, when in a moment of cleverness Brer Rabbit, in the finest tradition of Huck Finn, says "You can eat me Brer Fox, but whatever you do PLEASE don't throw me into that briar patch." Which of course, he does, as we in the log take the plummet down. Once we round the corner and re-enter the show building, we, as Brer Rabbit's POV are welcomed back with a huge celebration, and the classic Zip-A-Dee-Do-Dah song.
Zip-Ah-Dee-Doo-DahZip-Ah-Dee-AyMy oh my what a wonderful day Welcoming back Brer Rabbit todayWe always knew that he'd get away He's had enough of moving on now It's where he's gone and regretted The briar patch is where he's headedBrer Fox and Bear get whats comin to them in the form of an alligator, and we are reintroduced to Brer Rabbit, now singing a different tune:
Zip-Ah-Dee-Doo-Dah
Zip-Ah-Dee-AyHome Sweet Home is the Lesson TodayZip-Ah-Dee-Doo-Dah
Zip-Ah-Dee-AyI'm glad to be here and I'm sure gonna stayI'm through with moving on now...So, at 23, I learned that Splash Mountain is a ride about contentment, and whether you really do need to always be looking for the next adventure.
The final sign, not prominent but not hidden, at the exit reads:
"You can't run away from trouble.... ain't no place that far."Wow. Words could not be spoken that relate more to me right now. I don't even yet know how to emotionally resolve all this. Seriously. I've lost a lot to hopefully gain something in the future which may never materialize and may suck once I get there. The people closest to me are also on their own trek, so its not like I'm the one who 'went away,' but it still makes me miss them a lot. It gets tougher and tougher each time through to find a place, settle there, and then just when you get to know it pull the plug and start all over again. Oh, in a related note, we never discover what happens to Brer Rabbits friend Brer Turtle... the one who started the journey with him. Sigh.
Last year this was a 'non-place' for me that I simply wanted to get out of. That's much less true now, but ultimately there's nothing for me in Pittsburgh. So at least one more "adventure" remains... and I'm certainly going to think a lot harder about the coming one than I did the current one.
In our tale Brer Rabbit makes it out, and I will to, both of us a little older, wiser, and maybe wearier for the experience but hopefully a little more prepared for the future.
