It is a work of art. The greatest ride they’ve ever made, and the best ride they will ever make. I’m just glad I had a chance to experience it on both coasts. It will touch me forever in ways that these new movie rides won’t touch me or anyone else for that matter.
I agree with every word of this. The motivating factors behind this decision in particular speak volumes about how far gone the company’s mindset is and will always have me thinking “What’s next?”.
I go back to the question I posed earlier, (I think in another thread): is Splash Mountain art?Well, after a week and a half, I decided to sign back in to let everyone know I’m okay.
I don’t want to get too into it, as it isn’t really on topic, but I should probably explain myself a bit.
I suffer from depression and heavy insecurities about myself. I have difficulties socializing due to comments on my height and physique growing up. Because of that, all I really have are my family, the Disney Parks, and Nintendo (great things to have, but there’s a lot outside I need to interact with).
I’ve had bad thoughts for around 10 years. Most prominent were in 2011, 2016, 2017, 2019, and 2020. I just wanted to make it clear that my feeling of hopelessness is not because of a ride. It confuses me why the same people who offered me support during my breakdowns in Nov 2019 and Mar 2020 were trivializing my mental state to the result of a ride retheme? They don’t owe it to me to remember, and I realize I wasn’t acting rationally, but the other words I was called or compared to weren’t exactly called for.
Splash Mountain meant a lot to me. It single handledly reinvigorated my love for the company back in 2012. It was a symbol of hope for me. The music inspired me. As stupid as it sounds, as a person with no close personal friends, Brer Rabbit and the gang kind of helped fill the void. Ridiculous, I know.
I know I have a lot to work on as a person. I need to deal with my insecurities. They are making it hard to do anything and they are the main things I fall back on as reasoning for my bad thoughts.
But, I will continue to love the Disney I grew up with, and I will continue to whistle “How Do You Do” to get me through my dark times. Any idiot who wants to label me or anyone else who loves something so good natured in heart can take a hike and go find their Laughing Place.
Brer Oswald is back in his home now, and he’s sure gonna stay. (My home being here, where the name was born. Not going back to Twitter.)
It most certainly is art. But it's art that just isn't appreciated by the public. I know there will be a day when it is appreciated, and people will wish it didn't go away, but it will unfortunately be too late.
Tell me if you can listen to this without having a huge smile on your face!
Forever the best Disney song.
That’s the problem with theme parks in general. While many such as those of us here on these boards can see they objectively qualify as art, the decision makers at Disney certainly don’t and will depend on the indifference of those who are less initiated to get away with literally anything.
The whole issue that the mindset the Iger era ushered in is that the parks are only viewed as a way to advertise their films and boost revenue. They aren’t viewed as the standalone product they were conceived as.
Very true. I do hope there is an effort to preserve elements of the attraction, ie. releasing the audio, archiving animatronics, etc.
I suppose your right, but they let that happen. They bumped up the announcement to capitalize on the outrage that was relatively small.
I’ve become increasingly critical over the past few years as well, but I still had a sense of optimism in there being an acceptable balance between old and new. That optimism has since been shaken by this decision. As far as I’m concerned, most “old” attractions attractions in the parks aren’t likely to be safe long term outside of TDR.
Tell me if you can listen to this without having a huge smile on your face!
Forever the best Disney song.
