Splash Mountain re-theme announced

[UNCgolf]

We can agree to disagree. I enjoy the classics like Space Mountain as much as the next person but if Disney said it was being replaced with something new, I'd be fine with it. I enjoy all rides - old & new.

Sure we can.

I honestly think that if you didn't experience WDW in the late 80s/early 90s, though, you just don't realize what you're missing and how much lesser the experience currently is (beyond the addition of Animal Kingdom, which is fantastic). The Magic Kingdom and (especially) EPCOT were superior parks back then because they had far more to do than they do now. Again, I'm not talking about the rides (although that's certainly a major issue with EPCOT) -- I'm talking about everything else beyond the rides. There was significantly more going on back then than now, despite it costing far more money now.

 

[Dan Deesnee]

Let's just keep giving in to cancel culture, small angry mobs, and getting upset over everything.

Worst decision Disney has made in years and sets a precedent that they are more than willing to destroy their heritage and rides so to as not offend a single soul on this planet.

Wake up Disney. People who demand and shout for stuff like this retheme will NEVER be happy. Not that they actually cared about the ride anyway. They've already moved onto the next thing they can get upset over. It's in their rear view mirror and Disney fell for it.

Disney has become a joke.

Anyone looking to buy at Bay Lake Tower? 160 points, feb use year, most points coming next year.

 

[Parker in NYC]

It may not be everyone's cup of tea and there are more than a few questionable facts. But if you can also get over the quirks of the narration, this is a pretty interesting series all about Song of the South.

Disney’s Most Controversial Film (Six Degrees of Song of the South, Episode 1) — You Must Remember This

Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts . Disney Plus is launching with the stated intention of streaming the entire Disney library...except for Song of the South , the 1946 animation/live-action hybrid film set on a post-Civil War plantation, which was theatrically re-released as recently as 19

www.youmustrememberthispodcast.com

 

[Horizons1]

As someone who has ridden the ride with multiple people who are of various races, I can say that others have found the vocal stereotypes in the ride offensive. These people have also never seen the movie and still found it somewhat problematic. If you have seen the movie, I feel like those feelings become even more pronounced.
When I heard this news today, I was extremely sad. I have such a sentimental attachment to what is probably my absolute favorite ride in all of Disney World. If they announce an end date and it’s safe to visit, I will probably come down just to ride it one last time. However, I can’t say I disagree with the decision. As someone who is white and can’t fully understand what it feels like to be black and experience this ride as such, I can’t help but feel like if this is offending people (and there is a legitimate amount offended apparently) then I don’t have the right to argue with that.

There is so much cringe here. So you’re saying these people who rode this with you spent their time focusing on race because of the inflection of a voice rather than on the cartoon animals? They spent their time on the ride searching for racism? That’s a sad way to ride a ride.

And your comment because you’re white you can’t ride the ride the same as a black person? So you’re segregating everyone? As far as I’m aware black, white, and purple all ride the ride the same way. I would love to hear more about this different way of riding the ride if you’re a different color. Please tell me more.

 

[DfromATX]

I'm shocked, sad, but excited? Princess and the frog needed some love. It's such an underrated movie. There's a ton of potential for this. I hope they keep the ride length because that's one of my favorite things about it.

I haven’t seen it, but I just wish it could have been a new ride. I love Splash the way it is. It’s my favorite ride of them all.

 

[Rescue Ranger]

I woder if they will incorporate Zip-a-dee-do-dah into the attraction? I can't see them doing away with that song completely. Even if they just continue to play it in the parks as just classic park music.

 

[PrincessNelly_NJ]

They were freed from slavery. Of course they were still oppressed. That took decades to correct. So by your dopey definition, should every single literary work that had black Americans in it prior to the 1960's be banned, because blacks prior to that time weren't "free" by your definition?

Its still being "corrected".

 

[WillWrambles]

It's hard keeping track with all the outrage. Seriously, how can one complain that some people are just overly sensitive then lose your own"excrement" over a corporation changing a ride(which they have a plenty long history of doing for lesser reasons(see TOT in Disneyland).

My thoughts exactly. Certain people in this thread are being GIANT hypocrites.

 

[Tony Perkis]

Princess and the Frog is set in a segregated city in the Jim Crow south. Everything people claim about Song of the South painting a rosy picture of slavery and/or reconstruction is also true in Princess and the Frog regarding segregation and racism.

If one of them is racist, they both are.

(Spoiler alert: Neither one is.)

Saying Song of the South isn’t racist because there aren’t any slaves and it takes place in post Civil War times ignores the reconstruction period of US history. It’s tone deaf and ignorant.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I woder if they will incorporate Zip-a-dee-do-dah into the attraction? I can't see them doing away with that song completely. Even if they just continue to play it in the parks as just classic park music.

Zip-A-Dee-Do-Dah is the most "problematic" part of the whole thing. That's the #1 thing people point to when they say that SotS is racist. A former slave singing about how "everything is satisfactual."

 

[threvester]

catering to the few

 

[SaveDinosaur]

Not true. There were protests against the film beginning in 1946.

A minority of political protesters that didn't have any good reasons, so the movie kept on and did really well after, even in the re-screenings...

 

[The Rocketeer]

So torn on this. Splash Mountain is one of my favorite attractions, I have defended so many of the projects that have taken place over the past decade, but I am genuinely upset at the thought of this one. I think the imagineers will do amazing things IF Iger, Chapek and co. just let them do their jobs without breathing down their necks, but I have a feeling the end product could very easily be lackluster and we trade a great ride for a mediocre shell of what it once was.

 

[xdan0920]

Forget the motivation behind the replacement for a moment.

What bothers me is that what's being put in its place is being done quickly and cheaply. If recent Disney projects have been a guide, the quality and immersion of the original attraction will almost certainly be lost. If Disney can improve and build something that takes what Splash was to the next level, then I will have no problem. But if we're using Mickey's RR as an example of Disney excellence, you're going to get grade A garbage.

Oh, it’s gonna be garbage. There’s 0.0% chance the AAs are coming back. It’s gonna be screens as far as the eye can see.

 

[invader]

I'm honestly pretty sad about this. After all they have done recently I don't trust them to create a better story/ride than what is there now.

But they'll sell more Tiana merch than they are Splash so who cares!

 

[Disneyfan1981]

I believe (but I'm not positive) that it has the highest guest feedback scores of anything besides Kilimanjaro Safaris.

That doesn't surprise me. I've never seen Song of the South - I've read about it and it comes up all the time as one of the biggest racist things Disney has done and I'm aware that the company has tossed it into a vault and thrown away the key but for generations of fans the movie and the ride do not have a strong connection. Since I've never seen the film, for me the characters are unique to the ride, they sort of only exist there. I'm aware of the controversy but never really made the connection because there isn't a reference for me. I'm not shocked that people are upset because it's kind of had its own identity for a long time now.

 

[RSoxNo1]

How can people say they "understand" this decision?

The ride is very, VERY loosely tied to a film that Disney has no reason whatsoever to feel sensitive about to the degree that it does, given the context. Splash Mountain isn't racist. The song isn't racist. They're classics - and classics that work. How can you come off the ride upset about it?

Not to mention, there are more pressing park matters for Disney to deal with... and of course, they redirect back to DL/MK...

It has NOT been in the works for a year. The adamant support this is getting confuses me to no end. I'm all for Princess and the Frog... elsewhere. And a NEW build. We just loved what they did with Frozen, don't we?

I recorded a podcast where we talked about this Tuesday night. People go to Disney to be happy, not to be offended. If this ride offended guests and prevented them from being happy than that has to be recognized. I imagine the Change.org petition accelerated the timeframe here but I'm sure they have received enough other complaints that fueled action on this in recent years.

I will say that the Change.org petition comments largely pushed the need for representation of Black characters in the park moreso than than the removal of Splash Mountain. My preference would have been to give Tiana her own attraction in Fantasyland, remove Splash and replace it with a variant of Western River Expedition (although not the original incarnation for a multitude of reasons).

Tiana in Disneyland makes a TON of sense thematically. It makes significantly less sense in Frontierland but probably isn't any worse from a theming standpoint as Splash Mountain was in the first place.

 

[tirian]

How is the storyline racist?

I’ve seen SOTS many times — it’s easily accessed on the Internet — and the live-action parts are incredibly boring, corny, and embarrassing to anyone involved.

 

[Magenta Panther]

In what way is this any less "problematic" than Song of the South, exactly?

Exactly. Tiana's a poor black working girl who lived in a slum. Waited on white people. Her mother worked for white people also. And then there's the problematic issue about Dr. Facilier.

THE VILLAIN OF THE MOVIE IS A BLACK MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All those whites in the movie and the villain is a BLACK MAN? What kind of racist move is that?

CANCEL IT IMMEDIATELY!!!!

 

[Yert3]

The past is not irrelevant when the topic is the ongoing treatment of minorities though. Thats why disney is changing it.

And Splash Mountain has nothing to do with that. SM doesn’t subliminally mind alter someone is not racist to all of a sudden start hating and mistreating minorities. All of the problematic parts of Song of the South weren’t included in SM, but I guess that wasn’t good enough. Uncle Remus was replaced by Br’er Frog. This is simply guilt by association.