- “Look, you're smiling. Hurry up and show me the land of laughter.”
- ―Hitchhiking Alligator's quote
The Hitchhiking Alligator is a character at the Disney Parks.
History[]
Development[]
The Hitchhiking Alligator animatronic in Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland versions of the attraction is actually a reused model of the animatronic alligator character from the former "America Sings", which ran from 1974 to 1988, where the alligator from the attraction is seen during the "See 'Ya Later, Alligator" sequence in Act IV of the attraction. After the attraction closed down in 1988, Splash Mountain opened in Disneyland in 1989, where a different alligator figure was placed to represent the Hitchhiking Alligator character into the Disneyland version of the attraction. The alligator animatronic from America Sings was replicated into the Tokyo Disneyland versions of the attraction, converting the America Sings character into the Hitchhiking Alligator character at the Splash Mountain attraction.
As of 2020, Splash Mountain was announced for closure to be completely reimagined into a Princess and the Frog-themed attraction due to controversy surrounding the film that inspired the attraction, it is unknown of what will replace the Hitchhiking Alligator in the California version of Splash Mountain while The Oriental Land Company has not decided whether to retheme the Tokyo version of the attraction or not. The Disneyland version of Splash Mountain permanently closed on May 31, 2023. The Oriental Land Company, however, has not yet decided whether to retheme its version of Splash Mountain yet in Tokyo Disneyland.
Role in the attraction[]
In the Disneyland version, The Hitchhiking Alligator can be seen in Rainbow Ponds, during the "How Do You Do?" sequence (in his version "Why don't you take me along?"), he can be heard singing to guests as they would pass by him, before they would go down on the second drop.
In the Tokyo version of Splash Mountain, The Hitchhiking Alligator can be seen in the "Everybody's Got a Laughing Place" sequence, where he is holding a bindle and moving his right arm of pointing to a direction, alongside with some other hitchhikers like a turtle, and turkey.
Gallery[]
.png "Hitchhiking Alligator (Mickey's Great Adventure in Tokyo Disneyland).png (1.22 MB)")
Trivia[]
- The Hitchhiking Alligator is one of the characters from Splash Mountain who does not appear in the original Uncle Remus stories nor does he appear in animation form in Song of the South.
