Splash Rapids is a water park featured in the 2021 Disney+ original film Flora & Ulysses.
Background[]
Splash Rapids was a water park that Flora and her family enjoyed throughout her childhood. At a young age, Flora would ride her tricycle to the water park every Saturday and have fun with her family. The water park is home to certain attractions such as a water slide, which Flora and her family enjoyed the most and that she spent her life within their moments at the park. Visitors who attempt to enjoy their moments at Splash Rapids must follow the height sign to make sure they are well enough to ride as part of the park's policies. However, by the time Flora turned ten, Splash Rapids closed at an unknown date, resulting the park to be abandoned with no staff working in it as well as having no plans about the park's fate in the aftermath.
The main mascot for Splash Rapids is a cartoony axolotl named "Axl", whose iconography appears throughout the park, making him one of the most recognizable characters in the park such as stickers, postcards, or signs.
Role in the film[]
Splash Rapids primarily appears in flashbacks of Flora and her family enjoying her moments at the park. Most of the scenes in the flashback sequence show a six-year-old Flora enjoying her moments at the park with her family, where she is seen sliding into a pool, as they happily enjoy their moments at the park while the present Flora's narration is heard in the background, making it the only time where Splash Rapids is seen in operation. Additionally, a photo souvenir of Flora and her family at Splash Rapids was also located within the Buckman family's house at well, showing that these were the moments that Flora had at the park before its closure. However, at an unknown date in the present, Splash Rapids permanently closed, following the park itself being abandoned.
Furthermore in the climax of the film, Flora and William are on their way to approach Phyllis, but suddenly find their way at the remains of the Splash Rapids from the distance, which they think it would be a safe place, due to the storm occurring within the town. As they arrive at the remains of the park, Flora shares her story with William that she used to enjoy her moments at the park with her family, explaining to him that she rode her tricycle to the park every Saturday to visit the park where she used to spend the day with her family within the park prior to its closure. William replies to Flora and shares his story with her, telling her that he was taking revenge on his mother's new husband after his original father died where Jacob wouldn't stop calling him "Billy" and that William was his father's name, recapping that he played the piano and knew about astronomy and the universe.
Phyllis later approaches her daughter who is at the park's remains, showing Ulysses to her who is safe and sound. She then recaps to Flora that she was going to send Ulysses back to the wild, but became compassionate to him just before she shows a paper that Ulysses wrote for her, saying that nothing would be easier without her such as cheese puffs, corks, and giant donuts, making Flora the universe for everything, forgiving her for her actions and to Ulysses, only for Miller to approach and fire a tranquilizer dart at Ulysses just as Flora protests to Miller not to take away the squirrel, which Miller denies, telling her that the only way to take care of Ulysses is to quarantine and euthanize the squirrel. Feeling hopeless, George tells his daughter to put faith in herself, just as he drives his car with his family and William inside, planning to rescue Ulysses from the animal facility, which they were able to do so. The remains of Splash Rapids does not appear again throughout the rest of the film.
Trivia[]
- The character of Axl, one of Splash Rapids' mascots, is a pun on the given name "Axel" and "axolotl", his species.
- It is unknown of how the park exactly closed during the events of the film.
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