• The new WDWMAGIC iOS app is here!
    Stay up to date with the latest Disney news, photos, and discussions right from your iPhone. The app is free to download and gives you quick access to news articles, forums, photo galleries, park hours, weather and Lightning Lane pricing. Learn More
  • Welcome to the WDWMAGIC.COM Forums!
    Please take a look around, and feel free to sign up and join the community.

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

Status
Not open for further replies.

cslafferty

Well-Known Member
I think it is so popular because it is a water ride with a big drop and lasts a decent amount of time. I would argue the IP associated with it has never really been that big of a reason why people love Splash Mountain. A lot of people like the song at the end, but otherwise I don’t know if the IP really had ever had much to do with it. I love the ride and I could care less about it. I certainly don’t want to watch Song of the South.
Exactly. I’m 61 and I’ve never seen all of SotS. My kids are in their 30’s and have never seen any of it and don’t know the characters. But they loved the ride because it was a water ride with a big drop. It is visually iconic, but that his very little, if anything, to do with the movie. Time for a re-theme with a movie and characters that kids can actually recognize.
 

owlsandcoffee

Well-Known Member
Have members of Disney’s Black fanbase said they feel insulted, or is that just an assumption on your part?

And how can you condemn it as “a shoddily-done rush-job” when they haven’t even started work on it yet?
I have specifically heard that opinion stated. Can I find an example right now...no.

And...yeah. Fair.
You said it more pithily and effectively than I did.
It was very pithy. @James Alucobond 1, Me 0.

I'm gonna leave the comment up because it's a bit jerky to make a polemical post and then just delete it at the smallest rebuttal. But I definitely did not come out of this interaction looking good.
 

DisneyHead123

Well-Known Member
The quality of show in Splash is truly fantastic as good as any of the elite Disney ride. I don't think modern Disney would be able to build a HM or POTC equivalent nowadays either. I'm sure that the PatF Splash will be decent, but it's a tough lightening in a bottle thing to get a ride like Splash.

Slightly off topic, but this made me realize that Disney has a serious deficit in the "atmospheric rides" department recently (recently, in ride building time, as in about the past 15 years). They've had some great stuff in fast moving action rides, but their slow rides have gotten much more 'meh', to my mind.

Maybe I'm overly optimistic, but I actually do see them realizing this and turning it around - if only because atmosphere doesn't cost any extra and probably costs less than "Let's Try To Wow You With Lots Of Flashiness And / Or IP In Rapid Succession!" type rides. They're all about immersive entertainment - you can't be truly immersive unless you create a mood or subjective state for people to step into. Movie creators have known this for eons, right? And Disney is a movie production company. I think that paradigm shift is coming - towards rides with a compelling emotional arc and away from "Nonstop And Vaguely Random Flashy IP Comin' Atcha!" experiences. When I think of many of the somewhat recent non-thrill rides - Nemo, Little Mermaid, Frozen, Runaway Railway, even the Pooh ride to a lesser extent - it seems to me that all are really missing the "Wow" factor that comes with creating a mood and an emotional payoff. And again, as mood and emotional payoff are at least theoretically cheap, ha ha, I do see Disney slowly moving more in this direction over the next decade or so.
 

erasure fan1

Well-Known Member
but… Which ride makeover would you point to as an example of WDWs proven ability to satisfactorily complete a project of this scale and type?
Ding, ding ding! There is zero evidence that points to this being as good as what it's replacing. If I had any confidence they could pull this off, I would be OK with this. But as it stands, I see this as a mediocre overlay at best. I've said it before, I really hope I'm wrong. But I wouldn't put money on it.
 

UNCgolf

Well-Known Member
Slightly off topic, but this made me realize that Disney has a serious deficit in the "atmospheric rides" department recently (recently, in ride building time, as in about the past 15 years). They've had some great stuff in fast moving action rides, but their slow rides have gotten much more 'meh', to my mind.

Maybe I'm overly optimistic, but I actually do see them realizing this and turning it around - if only because atmosphere doesn't cost any extra and probably costs less than "Let's Try To Wow You With Lots Of Flashiness And / Or IP In Rapid Succession!" type rides. They're all about immersive entertainment - you can't be truly immersive unless you create a mood or subjective state for people to step into. Movie creators have known this for eons, right? And Disney is a movie production company. I think that paradigm shift is coming - towards rides with a compelling emotional arc and away from "Nonstop And Vaguely Random Flashy IP Comin' Atcha!" experiences. When I think of many of the somewhat recent non-thrill rides - Nemo, Little Mermaid, Frozen, Runaway Railway, even the Pooh ride to a lesser extent - it seems to me that all are really missing the "Wow" factor that comes with creating a mood and an emotional payoff. And again, as mood and emotional payoff are at least theoretically cheap, ha ha, I do see Disney slowly moving more in this direction over the next decade or so.

This is why I like Na'vi River Journey a lot more than most people here. It's incredibly atmospheric. Yes, there are other problems with it, but that's one of the most important parts of a dark ride and it's easily the best they've done in the last 15+ years.
 

James Alucobond

Well-Known Member
I don’t fundamentally disagree that it would be appropriate to change the subject matter of SM, but… Which ride makeover would you point to as an example of WDWs proven ability to satisfactorily complete a project of this scale and type?
The makeover is almost certainly years off and will probably re-use 70% of what's already there. I have no assurances they'll refurbish it competently, but neither am I certain they'll do it incompetently as I don't have easy access to a wormhole.
 

LittleBuford

Well-Known Member
I have specifically heard that opinion stated. Can I find an example right now...no.

And...yeah. Fair.

It was very pithy. @James Alucobond 1, Me 0.

I'm gonna leave the comment up because it's a bit jerky to make a polemical post and then just delete it at the smallest rebuttal. But I definitely did not come out of this interaction looking good.
Hat's off for the gracious response.
 

Casper Gutman

Well-Known Member
The makeover is almost certainly years off and will probably re-use 70% of what's already there. I have no assurances they'll refurbish it competently, but neither am I certain they'll do it incompetently as I don't have easy access to a wormhole.
I mean, you understand that it is rational to use past experience to predict future behavior, right? And keeping 70% of the existing sets and figures and sticking in a few new AA would be the definition of a bad makeover.
 

James Alucobond

Well-Known Member
I mean, you understand that it is rational to use past experience to predict future behavior, right? And keeping 70% of the existing sets and figures and sticking in a few new AA would be the definition of a bad makeover.
If people like most of what's there, it's quality, and it fits thematically with whatever they weave together, I don't see why re-use automatically makes it bad. Also, I enjoy many of the newer attractions, but there's really very little point in arguing about it as opinions are opinions. My only point was that definitively stating that it will be shoddy, insulting, and wholly destructive of the original experience is somewhat premature when we're still at the point at which we haven't even seen legitimate concept art. Expressing concern over the final product is not the same as pre-judging it wholesale, and I haven't commented on anyone simply doing the former.
 

erasure fan1

Well-Known Member
My only point was that definitively stating that it will be shoddy, insulting, and wholly destructive of the original experience is somewhat premature when we're still at the point at which we haven't even seen legitimate concept art. Expressing concern over the final product is not the same as pre-judging it wholesale, and I haven't commented on anyone simply doing the former.
While no one can say for sure if this will be good or bad. Disney have turned a lot of people from, in Disney we trust. To I'll believe it when I see it. Also, Splash is one of the most loved rides in history. So couple that with Disney and their track record of updates, and I can see why people think this will be an instant fail. Personally I don't think they can out do Splash, or even match it, with a re-skin. I would rather they rip it down and start from scratch. But we all know that Disney isn't serious enough to do it properly. Because that would cost too much money.
 

DisneyDean97

Well-Known Member
Other than losing Splash Mountain to political correctness, I think the biggest lost in all of this will never being able to hear Zip-a-Dee-Do-Dah again in the parks, as that is apparently going away too. Absolutely ridiculous. If they're canceling the song because of the association with the ride and movie... here's a thought, why don't we just cancel the entire Walt Disney Company... after all, they're the company behind this movie
 

Model3 McQueen

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
This is why I like Na'vi River Journey a lot more than most people here. It's incredibly atmospheric. Yes, there are other problems with it, but that's one of the most important parts of a dark ride and it's easily the best they've done in the last 15+ years.

Agreed! And I'll go even further and say I enjoyed Na'vi River Journey more than Flight of Passage.

FoP has a much better queue, but that's it IMO.
 

MerlinTheGoat

Well-Known Member
If people like most of what's there, it's quality, and it fits thematically with whatever they weave together, I don't see why re-use automatically makes it bad. Also, I enjoy many of the newer attractions, but there's really very little point in arguing about it as opinions are opinions. My only point was that definitively stating that it will be shoddy, insulting, and wholly destructive of the original experience is somewhat premature when we're still at the point at which we haven't even seen legitimate concept art. Expressing concern over the final product is not the same as pre-judging it wholesale, and I haven't commented on anyone simply doing the former.
The problem is that except for the riverboat finale, the scenery used for WDW doesn't fit thematically at all with what they're doing. Disneyland's environment is at least already set in a darker bayou-like setting. WDW is not a clone of the Disneyland ride and uses completely different settings. The environments are rolling grassy hills and farmland with brightly lit sunny blue skies. Even the type of trees and foliage used are completely different, using non-wetland types such as oaks or elms instead of Disneyland's weeping willows. Almost every room in the entire ride will have to be gutted and redesigned from scratch to fit PATF's bayou setting.

splash-mountain-gallery04.jpg


95% of the animal designs from the PATF movie also don't fit the current cast of animatronics whatsoever. Louis is the only potential exception, I could possibly see some of the Brer Bear working as reskins. But the shapes and sizes of pretty much all of the other real animals in PATF don't fit with any of the others. The main animals used in Splash Mountain (foxes, geese, chickens etc) are mostly large bipedal anthropomorphic designs with more human-like shapes and proportions. Basically comparable to the character designs used in Great Mouse Detective, Robin Hood, Zootopia etc. The PATF animals however are much smaller and shaped more like actual animals. Essentially the types of animal designs used in Bambi, 101 Dalmations, Lion King etc.

The more they keep from the existing versions of Splash Mountain, the more inappropriate and unfitting it will look with the new theme/setting. But on the flipside, if they gut everything and rebuild from scratch, it's pretty much guaranteed that the new scenes will be comparably far less detailed and have nowhere near the same amount of animatronics as before.
 

DisneyDodo

Well-Known Member
95% of the animal designs from the PATF movie also don't fit the current cast of animatronics whatsoever. Louis is the only potential exception, I could possibly see some of the Brer Bear working as reskins. But the shapes and sizes of pretty much all of the other real animals in PATF don't fit with any of the others. The main animals used in Splash Mountain (foxes, geese, chickens etc) are mostly large bipedal anthropomorphic designs with more human-like shapes and proportions. Basically comparable to the character designs used in Great Mouse Detective, Robin Hood, Zootopia etc. The PATF animals however are much smaller and shaped more like actual animals. Essentially the types of animal designs used in Bambi, 101 Dalmations, Lion King etc.
One of the new pieces of concept art (or “inspiration art” if you will), definitely shows animals more in line with the former design.
1629893978293.jpeg
 

Sir_Cliff

Well-Known Member
That round table was so awkwardly forced and felt wrong that they were publicly bragging on the donation aspect.
I actually thought the video was fine, but I must say that the donation seemed a little puny to make that big of a deal about. I mean, how long does it take Bob Chapek to earn $50,000?
 

Sir_Cliff

Well-Known Member
I thought Tiana lived to cook...now she also does swamp tours? How does she have time while running her Palace restaurant? This plotline doesn't make any sense at all from the start. It's Mardi Gras in the swamp? New characters? Bleh
So, ahh, you're saying she should get back in the kitchen?

I'm sure people won't be stressed about who's running the restaurant while she's leading them through the bayou and Mardi Gras. Presumably she has some life outside of the business!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom