let's start from the beginning.
as a child, i loved theme parks. i still do, but as a homeschooled kid who did nothing but watch TV 24/7
i became attached to certain disney VHS tapes.
my favorite was one called Mickey's Fun Songs: Beach Party at Walt Disney World.
there was a specific scene shot at Blizzard Beach that i would watch and rewind over and over due to this one particular ride. the theming was great but it looked incredibly fun - i had never seen a waterpark attraction like it.
visited walt disney world on a family vacation in october 2006. we went to the park and asked for the directions but
no one knew what we were talking about. walked around all day and it was never found.
https://youtu.be/4cwjgmSiENM?t=40
as it stands, this video clip is the only photographic evidence of the slide.
there is no mention of it online or in physical books. not in forums. not on historical disney websites.
it's like it never existed.
so i started to think that it was a defunct attraction. disney has closed many rides and waterparks over the years,
it's likely that they just replaced it with something else later on. started to research the park
and i found that beyond annual maintenance, blizzard beach has not changed since opening day.
no new rides. no expansions. it has been frozen in time for decades.
judging by the area and the surrounding clips it was likely part of ski patrol training camp.
compared it to the map and all of the other structures still exist in place.
my only theory is that it was built where cool runners is now, seems to match up with the area + borders + shape.
here's one more thing. blizzard beach opened on april 1, 1995.
the Beach Party at Walt Disney World edition of Mickey's Fun Songs was released on june 30, 1995.
in order to film the scene, they likely would have recorded months before opening, but still within the same year as the park wouldn't have been developed enough to film in otherwise. in that case - how were they able to tear down the existing structure and complete construction in such a short time span? what might have happened in order to cause such a dramatic change? why has it been a tight secret for 25 years?
we may never know the true answer, but what are your theories?