News Splash Mountain retheme to Princess and the Frog - Tiana's Bayou Adventure

[Kirby86]

This keeps being thrown around. Disney has always been in control of the narrative. Always. If they wanted to make a Brer Rabbit movie tomorrow that was more culturally appropriate, and wanted to tie the current ride into that, they could. Disney’s most staunch supporters, the ones that actually care and are excited about the current decision, would support it because they support every new thing the company decides to do.

But Disney won’t. Why? Because Princesses are in their top 4 highest grossing franchises. Brer Rabbit is not even close. Even if they try to make it relevant again, there isn’t a guarantee the project would succeed, nor is it likely that potential merchandise would come close to what the Princesses sell. Disney is very risk averse when it comes to anything outside the core 5 brands.

I was telling my dad that is what made Splash Mountain special in its current form it's a major attraction that's well designed and has nothing to do with the princesses. Magic Kingdom in particular Disney loves to shove the princess brand down your throat and this retheme is no different. If it wasn't Princess and the Frog it would have been Tangled.

 

[UNCgolf]

I was telling my dad that is what made Splash Mountain special in its current form it's a major attraction that's well designed and has nothing to do with the princesses. Magic Kingdom in particular Disney loves to shove the princess brand down your throat and this retheme is no different. If it wasn't Princess and the Frog it would have been Tangled.

There aren't very many princess rides/attractions -- the only really egregious example of what you're suggesting is when they shoehorned Frozen into the Norway pavilion. There are some meet and greets here and there but that's basically it outside of Fantasyland and the aforementioned Frozen. Oh, and the Beauty and the Beast singalong in the France pavilion. That one sucks.

 

[Kirby86]

There aren't very many princess rides/attractions -- the only really egregious example of what you're suggesting is when they shoehorned Frozen into the Norway pavilion. There are some meet and greets here and there but that's basically it outside of Fantasyland and the aforementioned Frozen. Oh, and the Beauty and the Beast singalong in the France pavilion. That one sucks.

I'm not saying all the rides are princess based but Disney does lean heavy into that brand a lot. The Princesses are the focus of a good handful of shows and lot of the marketing. I don't begrudge them for that because that line of Merchandise makes a lot of money.

 

[Brer Oswald]

Which I wouldn't care about aside from a few things - that they insist on princessifying every corner of the parks; and they also negate any progress they make with their princess characters and diversity by continuing to present the same tiny waistlines and furthering the pigeonholing of gender and toys/playing (ie: boys play with cars and trucks, girls play with dolls).

I think trying to pigeonhole every girl that enters that park to feel represented by a princess is pretty antiquated for a company that champions themselves as “progressive” and “modern”. It isn’t like they’ve never created a non Princess Heroine before, and it’s not like they can’t do it today. But they always either get ignored, or they get the Princess label even if it doesn’t make sense.

 

[Brer Oswald]

There aren't very many princess rides/attractions -- the only really egregious example of what you're suggesting is when they shoehorned Frozen into the Norway pavilion. There are some meet and greets here and there but that's basically it outside of Fantasyland and the aforementioned Frozen. Oh, and the Beauty and the Beast singalong in the France pavilion. That one sucks.

- Cinderella Castle
- Enchanted Tales with Belle
- The Carousel
- Mine Train
- Princess Fairytale Hall
- Ariel’s Undersea Adventure
- Frozen Ever After
- Beauty and the Beast Sing a Long
- Voyage of the Little Mermaid
- Beauty and the Beast Live in Stage
- Frozen Sing a Long

Upcoming:
- Tiana’s Log Flume Ride
- Moana’s Water Maze

You’d be hard pressed to find a brand with more attractions, besides maybe Toy Story. Some of these films arguably deserve the attractions (maybe even better attractions). But I think it’s time to move away from pushing the Princesses so hard. The lineup they have is good for now, it’s time to do something else.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

I think trying to pigeonhole every girl that enters that park to feel represented by a princess is pretty antiquated for a company that champions themselves as “progressive” and “modern”. It isn’t like they’ve never created a non Princess Heroine before, and it’s not like they can’t do it today. But they always either get ignored, or they get the Princess label even if it doesn’t make sense.

Another of the things that bothers me is that once a princess gets annexed into the "Princess Brand", she's even more princessified than she was to begin with...more girlish figure and face, fancier dress, etc. etc.

 

[Chester&Hester Enthusiast]

The blurb about the transformation is back on the Splash Mountain page as of this morning.

 

[Brer Oswald]

Another of the things that bothers me is that once a princess gets annexed into the "Princess Brand", she's even more princessified than she was to begin with...more girlish figure, fancier dress, etc. etc.

Yep. Didn’t they do that to Mulan? A character that not only added much needed cultural diversity, but also (organically) added personality and skill diversity. But they homogenized her afterwards to “fit the brand”. Looks like they will be doing the same with the two from last year, Raya and Mirabel.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

Yep. Didn’t they do that to Mulan? A character that not only added much needed cultural diversity, but also (organically) added personality and skill diversity. But they homogenized her afterwards to “fit the brand”. Looks like they will be doing the same with the two from last year, Raya and Mirabel.

Yes, and Merida, although not to the same extent as Mulan.

 

[HauntedPirate]

Yep. Didn’t they do that to Mulan? A character that not only added much needed cultural diversity, but also (organically) added personality and skill diversity. But they homogenized her afterwards to “fit the brand”. Looks like they will be doing the same with the two from last year, Raya and Mirabel.

Much virtue to signal, they have. Just as long as it doesn't interfere with profit margins and PGS.

 

[Brer Oswald]

Yes, and Merida, although not to the same extent as Mulan.

To be fair to them, I believe Merida was a princess in the movie, right?

Mulan wasn’t. There was no need to make her one, and the only reason they did was branding. If it was “Disney Heroines” or something, and they didn’t overtly princess-ify every member, I don’t think it would be as much of an issue.

Better yet, break away from this “5 core brand strategy”, and just market all of your popular characters as their own thing, all under the greater Disney brand.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

Much virtue to signal, they have. Just as long as it doesn't interfere with profit margins and PGS.

They're just as guilty of the same things as Mattel is with Barbie...but at least Mattel lets Barbie be a pilot or an astronaut and she gets to wear pants *gasp*.

 

[UNCgolf]

- Cinderella Castle
- Enchanted Tales with Belle
- The Carousel
- Mine Train
- Princess Fairytale Hall
- Ariel’s Undersea Adventure
- Frozen Ever After
- Beauty and the Beast Sing a Long
- Voyage of the Little Mermaid
- Beauty and the Beast Live in Stage
- Frozen Sing a Long

Upcoming:
- Tiana’s Log Flume Ride
- Moana’s Water Maze

You’d be hard pressed to find a brand with more attractions, besides maybe Toy Story. Some of these films arguably deserve the attractions (maybe even better attractions). But I think it’s time to move away from pushing the Princesses so hard. The lineup they have is good for now, it’s time to do something else.

That's what I said -- they're currently all in Fantasyland except for the two that don't belong in EPCOT. I've never counted the live shows at DHS, but if you want to throw them in, sure, although the Little Mermaid show is closed.

I think it's a bit silly to group them in with something like Toy Story or Star Wars. Beauty and the Beast and Snow White are only the same "brand" because they have characters Disney has chosen to label as a princess. They have no other connection to each other, and those princess movies constitute a significant part of Disney's classic catalog.

Beyond that, some of those attractions aren't really about princesses at all; they are just connected to a movie that features someone Disney has decided to call princess. I wouldn't call the Mine Train a princess ride. If they decided to start calling Nala a Disney princess, that wouldn't make Festival of the Lion King a princess attraction -- just like you didn't include the Magic Carpets of Aladdin as a princess attraction, even though Jasmine actually is a Disney princess.

I'm certainly not arguing that they need to build more princess attractions. I'm just pointing out that there's not some huge glut of princess attractions all over WDW. Most of Disney's great attractions have nothing to do with any princess, even tangentially.

 

[Midwest Elitist]

- Cinderella Castle
- Enchanted Tales with Belle
- The Carousel
- Mine Train
- Princess Fairytale Hall
- Ariel’s Undersea Adventure
- Frozen Ever After
- Beauty and the Beast Sing a Long
- Voyage of the Little Mermaid
- Beauty and the Beast Live in Stage
- Frozen Sing a Long

Upcoming:
- Tiana’s Log Flume Ride
- Moana’s Water Maze

You’d be hard pressed to find a brand with more attractions, besides maybe Toy Story. Some of these films arguably deserve the attractions (maybe even better attractions). But I think it’s time to move away from pushing the Princesses so hard. The lineup they have is good for now, it’s time to do something else.

Don't forget Rapunzel bathrooms!


At this point I'm starting to care less about Disney as a whole with their handling of their parks/IPs which is making me care less about Splash so uh, win/win?

 

[ImperfectPixie]

That's what I said -- they're currently all in Fantasyland except for the two that don't belong in EPCOT. I've never counted the live shows at DHS, but if you want to throw them in, sure, although the Little Mermaid show is closed.

I think it's a bit silly to group them in with something like Toy Story or Star Wars. Beauty and the Beast and Snow White are only the same "brand" because they have characters Disney has chosen to label as a princess. They have no other connection to each other, and those princess movies constitute a significant part of Disney's classic catalog.

Beyond that, some of those attractions aren't really about princesses at all; they are just connected to a movie that features someone Disney has decided to call princess. I wouldn't call the Mine Train a princess ride. If they decided to start calling Nala a Disney princess, that wouldn't make Festival of the Lion King a princess attraction -- just like you didn't include the Magic Carpets of Aladdin as a princess attraction, even though Jasmine actually is a Disney princess.

I'm certainly not arguing that they need to build more princess attractions. I'm just pointing out that there's not some huge glut of princess attractions all over WDW. Most of Disney's great attractions have nothing to do with any princess, even tangentially.

Don't forget about Akershus and the princess dining, or Bibbidy Bobbity Boutique (isn't there a 2nd location that isn't at MK?). And they got rid of the Pirate dress-up thing, didn't they?

 

[Brer Oswald]

That's what I said -- they're currently all in Fantasyland except for the two that don't belong in EPCOT. I've never counted the live shows at DHS, but if you want to throw them in, sure, although the Little Mermaid show is closed.

I think it's a bit silly to group them in with something like Toy Story or Star Wars. Beauty and the Beast and Snow White are only the same "brand" because they have characters Disney has chosen to label as a princess. They have no other connection to each other, and those princess movies constitute a significant part of Disney's classic catalog.

Beyond that, some of those attractions aren't really about princesses at all; they are just connected to a movie that features someone Disney has decided to call princess. I wouldn't call the Mine Train a princess ride. If they decided to start calling Nala a Disney princess, that wouldn't make Festival of the Lion King a princess attraction -- just like you didn't include the Magic Carpets of Aladdin as a princess attraction, even though Jasmine actually is a Disney princess.

I'm certainly not arguing that they need to build more princess attractions. I'm just pointing out that there's not some huge glut of princess attractions all over WDW. Most of Disney's great attractions have nothing to do with any princess, even tangentially.

I will admit, me not counting Carpets was more an oversight as I tend to forget that attraction exists.

I do think the shows count as they take up significant space. Nonetheless, the count they have now is fine I guess. Their over reliance on Princesses is more of an issue with the marketing than it is with the attraction count.

 

[celluloid]

The amount of public backlash that would occur if Disney tried to cancel this project after announcing that they were changing it due to the fact that it was “culturally insensitive” and that rebranding it was part of their new inclusion key, would be tremendous and not even worth canceling it. This isnt a project that can go quietly, like the Mary attraction in the UK or the Main Street Theatre.

Some people keep thinking that.

Most Disney fans will say "oh well" Most of the general public will say "oh well" Even if it gets nasty and stirs hate on the internet...nothing new.

 

[Incomudro]

The amount of public backlash that would occur if Disney tried to cancel this project after announcing that they were changing it due to the fact that it was “culturally insensitive” and that rebranding it was part of their new inclusion key, would be tremendous and not even worth canceling it. This isnt a project that can go quietly, like the Mary attraction in the UK or the Main Street Theatre.

Unfortunately, this is true.

 

[Incomudro]

Some people keep thinking that.

Most Disney fans will say "oh well" Most of the general public will say "oh well" Even if it gets nasty and stirs hate on the internet...nothing new.

It's not about a quantity of people on either side.
It's a matter of who's the most vocal, and who has the current climate on their sidr.

 

[UNCgolf]

I will admit, me not counting Carpets was more an oversight as I tend to forget that attraction exists.

I do think the shows count as they take up significant space. Nonetheless, the count they have now is fine I guess. Their over reliance on Princesses is more of an issue with the marketing than it is with the attraction count.

The reason I wasn't counting the DHS shows is that they've both been there forever and were about celebrating massively successful Disney films (as well as getting them into the parks) rather than any specific princess push. They both predate the creation of the actual Disney Princess brand.

My original point was that Disney hasn't really gone out of their way to shove princesses in the parks recently except for the Norway takeover (also that Splash Mountain isn't an outlier in terms of being a great attraction that doesn't involve princesses) -- which was again more about Frozen itself as a massive hit than about princesses, although they did take the opportunity to add princess dining -- and New Fantasyland, but Fantasyland is exactly where they should go so I have no problem with that.

The Tiana thing is a bit different in that I don't think the goal was ever to get Tiana an attraction -- it's to get the Brers and Song of the South out of the parks. Of course they didn't have to use Tiana or any princess there, but I think Tiana as the choice is understandable considering the overall context behind the retheme. Moana doesn't make sense where it's going, but I also don't think that's going to be much more than a nice landscaped area that has no real connection to Moana beyond having her name slapped on it. I agree that's an example of shoving a princess in where it's completely unnecessary, though.