Splash Mountain re-theme announced

[The_Jobu]

If there is any case to be made for optimism, I think it's quite possible that Disney makes this announcement now, drags their heels and doesn't bring it up again till after the 50th, and then just quietly say the budget wont allow it and move on when no one cares.

I'm a glass half full kinda guy

 

[Father Robinson]

Really? You don't see how this ride is infinitely more promotable after a change?

Father: Want to ride Splash Mountain?
Daughter: What's it about?
Father: Oh Brer Rabbit, he has to escape a bear and fox!
Daughter: Who the heck is Brer Rabbit? Maybe.

After Ride Change

Father: Want to Ride (Whatever the name it...maybe it will still be Splash Mountain)
Daugher: What's it about?
Father: Its about the Princess and the Frog
Daughter: Lets do it!

Do you have kids? Mine have been riding it since they were on Kindergarten and guess what, they never questioned it.

 

[PeoplemoverTTA]

The issue is that there will ALWAYS be people who are offended by something. Be it a legitimate reason or because this is how they feel morally superior to the rest of us. Just because you yell the loudest does not make you right.

Not directed at you specifically, but just about everyone else in this thread...

 

[networkpro]

I'm shocked...that people on this forum were somehow blindsided by the fact that a company that actively promotes and encourages diversity, equity, and inclusion would not do something like this eventually. Then again, knowing the average attitude of a lot of people here I'm kind of equally not surprised? As if the thinly-veiled dog whistling this thread disguised as outrage for the change of an iconic attraction wasn't all I needed to know that.

Thank you for your virtue signaling, my day wouldn't have been complete without it.

 

[SoupBone]

I guess mama didn't whip little Buford enough so Country Bears will be next.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Disney needs new management. I didn't even know what song of the south was or how it was related to Splash. Am I missing the racist parts of the ride or should I hate it because it takes characters from an old movie that nobody has seen today?

I think you're missing reading the thread you're posting in which has addressed that already.

 

[Riverrafter21]

Is there a place to get all the emails for the corporate level of the parks?

 

[brb1006]

There's a user on Twitter called "The Monorail Times" (a "reliable Disney news source") that's currently posting screenshots from this thread. He's been doing this for 2 hours now.

 

[_caleb]

You've never seen Song of the South, have you?

I have seen it.

 

[NateD1226]

There's a user on Twitter called "The Monorail Times" (a "reliable Disney news source") that's currently posting screenshots from this thread.

 

[BigDlover]

Do you have kids? Mine have been riding it since they were on Kindergarten and guess what, they never questioned it.

They're kids though, who probably don't know the history of the movie. A lot of adults know better.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Re-tooling the ride from a racist movie to a movie where the "Blacks are poor because they don't work hard" trope is played straight isn't a good look.....

Funny, it seems to me that PatP makes the exact opposite point with Tiana working hard to become her own boss.

 

[Tony Perkis]

I bet the Tiki Room will be rethemed soon.

Country Bear Jamboree will stay, because appropriating rural white culture is the only form of mockery that is still okay.

They’re finally putting Iago and Zazu in Tiki Room?!

 

[bryanfze55]

Do you have kids? Mine have been riding it since they were on Kindergarten and guess what, they never questioned it.

After our last visit, Splash became my 6-year-old’s favorite ride. We rode it over and over again one chilly evening when we visited last December.

She likes PatF, but I doubt the new ride will match the wit and charm of the original.

 

[lebeau]

The issue is that there will ALWAYS be people who are offended by something. Be it a legitimate reason or because this is how they feel morally superior to the rest of us. Just because you yell the loudest does not make you right.

I am curious about your argument. Because you claim some people will always be offended, what, we should never pay attention?

At the end of the day, Disney is a business and they will make a business decision. A long time ago, they made a decision to ban the movie Splash Mountain is based on. Today's announcement isn't surprising.

 

[brb1006]

I said this in another thread, but as someone who has seen Song of the South and has studied American History it has always been baffling to me that that film is still represented at the Disney parks.

Disney won't release the film, and for good reason. Here is what Walter Francis White (NAACP president 1929-1955) had to say about it when the film was released:

"The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People recognizes in Song of the South remarkable artistic merit in the music and in the combination of living actors and the cartoon technique. It regrets, however, that in an effort neither to offend audiences in the north or south, the production helps to perpetuate a dangerously glorified picture of slavery. Making use of the beautiful Uncle Remus folklore, Song of the South unfortunately gives the impression of an idyllic master-slave relationship which is a distortion of the facts."

Also, Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah is based on a song called Zip C--N (derogatory word for a black person).

Jim Hill made a podcast actually made an episode discussing how Splash Mountain came to be.

 

[Bairstow]

If there is any case to be made for optimism, I think it's quite possible that Disney makes this announcement now, drags their heels and doesn't bring it up again till after the 50th, and then just quietly say the budget wont allow it and move on when no one cares.

I'm a glass half full kinda guy

If you want to be really cynical, Disney has announced this with the expectation that a lot of people will be motivated to visit their parks right now in order to have a chance to see Splash Mountain one last time.

If you want to be really, really cynical, Disney did that knowing that the demographic that would be most brokenhearted about losing Splash Mountain is also the demographic that is least likely to be intimidated by the idea of traveling to a crowded theme park in the middle of a deadly pandemic.

 

[Yert3]

If only we had them back in 2007.... the Yeti might've actually gotten fixed.

ps... @joe_rhode will likely ban me from mentioning the big hairy guy in a reply twit.

Why would he? Hasn’t he been one of the biggest supporters of trying to get Disney to fix it? I thought he had a quote saying he’ll get it fixed “if it’s the last thing I do” ?

 

[rle4lunch]

It's called kowtowing. But whatev's, right? Just go with the flow...

I like how the 'over a year' is forcefully tacked into the opening sentence. It's okay to tell the truth Bob's. We can take it. We can also tell when we're being lied to.

Personally, I couldn't care less what it's themed to, just as long as it's quality. The current ride is cute, and my kids like the quickening pace of music and kinetic energy that builds before the big drop.

Zippity do da is the only thing I'll miss. The storyline is so shallow at this point it's barely cohesive as it stands. It's just a bunch of animals chasing each other and getting in a tangle with a gator. Whooptie doo..

 

[the-reason14]

Respectfully, yes it would be....but it wasn't told by an enslaved black man. Uncle Remus was not an enslaved man.

That notion is inferred by people who want to create a racial issue, where none exists. Now, if the Disney movie said illustrated he was...it would be a different story of course.

Ok, seems there is a debate about whether he was enslaved or not. I should probably removed the “enslaved” part from my original post. However, it is a story being told by a black man during slavery. And there are a lot of real life examples that creep into the animated stories. Just look at the “rabbit trap” that trapped brer bear instead of brer rabbit. Now with the dialect of the animals and what that “trap” looks like, it makes even more sense to me now why they are retheming it.