Splash Mountain re-theme announced

[Bill in Atlanta]

Hear me out... for you its a small group because it may not come up often in your circles but I know many people who were uncomfortable.

Sometimes, we should step back and realize that sometimes these changes aren't for you or your circles.

We have a habit of surrounding our self with like minded people which can give us a false sense that our similar opinions are the loudest opinions.

At some point, though, complaints have to be evaluated, no? We can't just say "welp, some people said they were offended, we have to give in."

If one person is incapable of evaluating another's complaint because they've never walked in their shoes, then all complaints are therefore equal in merit. Obviously this is not true. To illustrate this, imagine that I conjured up a hypothetical absurd complaint about something at WDW. You would rightly say "oh come on, that's not offensive".

So, yes, it is possible to use logic and reason to determine whether complaints of others have merit.

 

[Brer Oswald]

I'm both sad and angry, since Splash Mountain is one of the last surviving projects by Marc Davis (Country Bears and Pirates). You can tell he was invovled since the AAs had a certain style that's missing from modern attractions. Something that not many people bring up in this thread.

Only at a surface level. The animatronics transferred over from America Sings were his. I hope they keep them, but they’ll probably just trash them.

 

[The March Hare]

Honestly, I think you might be pleasantly surprised. If you can list the things you loved about Splash, you might find those thing overlap with PATF and as they release more concept art, you might still feel all the charm you once loved.

The problem is it's not an either or we splash fans care about. It will never be about PATF. They could build an entire land expansion in MK for PATF and I'd be thrilled. But taking away Splash to get it, that's the heart breaker. The music immersion, the classic animatronic anchored scenes, the weaving of the story from the moment you get into the queue to when you zip past those smelly bathrooms to get in line again, the sense of pure theme park satisfaction when coming through the final show scene singing along with Mr. Blue Bird. There's nothing PATF or any retheme can do to fill that void.

 

[Bill in Atlanta]

Not everybody feels the way you do. Instead of dismissing other points of view as "tiny groups of online complainers" how about hearing them out?

I have, and have found those complaints lacking.

 

[Oskar]

I'm both sad and angry, since Splash Mountain is one of the last surviving projects by Marc Davis (Country Bears and Pirates). You can tell he was invovled since the AAs had a certain style that's missing from modern attractions. Something that not many people bring up in this thread.

The animal AA’s were taken from America Sings in Disneyland, which was a Marc Davis creation; I don’t see why they couldn’t be repurpose in a Princess and the Frog re-theme either, maybe in a Mama Odie scene.

I don’t know whether he had any involvement in Splash Mountain beyond that, maybe in a consultancy role. But his contributions could potentially stick around; the more Marc Davis ideas and creations in the parks, the better.

 

[Brer Oswald]

So what you're saying is you would be happy to see Hauntes Mansion and Pirates to go?

I really really want to see Mansion go, because I know these “morally righteous” individuals would absolutely lose it.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

Like?

The statue of Lincoln in Boston that was paid for by freed slaves. People are clamoring to remove it because they aren't looking at it or learning about it.

 

[getdislove]

I'm both sad and angry, since Splash Mountain is one of the last surviving projects by Marc Davis (Country Bears and Pirates). You can tell he was invovled since the AAs had a certain style that's missing from modern attractions. Something that not many people bring up in this thread.

You’ll be okay. i’m sad and angry bc people are dying in my community at rapid rates and there are people showing more outrage over a ride than that.

 

[SteamboatJoe]

So if those rides stem from movies with racial undertones, maybe a change needs to be made for those as well. or maybe People of Color should just start building their own theme parks so we don’t have to continue to convince this community that some of these things were never okay to portray to begin with.

I think the bigger point that is trying to be made is that almost every facet of the parks and Disney movie empire is problematic if viewed through certain lenses. Many other cultures/countries have long taken issue with Disney appropriating their stories for films and profit. The Disney parks are largely a celebration of Americana whose history, as we know, contains both triumphs and failures. I think many are just struggling to understand where the line between OK and not OK is. It seems subjective and maybe that's just because it is. I dont know myself. These are complicated issues to be sure.

 

[Brer Oswald]

You’ll be okay. i’m sad and angry bc people are dying in my community at rapid rates and there are people showing more outrage over a ride than that.

“Look at me, I’m taking the moral high ground”.

 

[erasure fan1]

I hope against hope they don't gut the thing and make it another video screen ride. But that unfortunately is the trend, and i'm fully expecting something like that.

I would also expect that this will end up well below splash mountain. If trends hold true, in my opinion, this will be a severe drop in quality over what was there. I hope I'm wrong but unfortunately Disney has put me on a I'll believe it when I see it, prove it mentality.

While I'm not a huge fan of Frozen, I thought it deserved something better than the half baked reskin it got. Now Princess and the frog on the other hand. It's my favorite modern Disney animated film. So this better be spectacular. Because as much as I wanted a PatF attraction, I wanted the doors to be wide open for the Imagineers. Not be restricted by existing infrastructure.

 

[Bartattack]

Somebody added some PATF music to Splash Mountain...

 

[getdislove]

“Look at me, I’m taking the moral high ground”.

The shoe fit like cindy.

 

[lebeau]

Cancel culture only exists because too many people have stopped finding meaning in their lives in the traditional places. What’s left to do at that point? Worship at the altar of social media and virtue signaling.

The good ol' days weren't good for everybody.

 

[21stamps]

But why can't you have these conversations on your own? You don't need a disney theme park ride to have these talks with your family.

Correct. We don’t need it. We don’t really need anything to link to the past, in theme parks or anywhere outside of museums.. One option would be to just level it, start from scratch, all robots, then we can’t possibly offend anyone.

I know that sounds extreme.. the thing is, time evolves, history is complicated, and if we look for everything to be 100% perfect and innocent at every single level, even as far as when not depicted in a ride, then we’re setting an impossible bar.

 

[SteamboatJoe]

You’ll be okay. i’m sad and angry bc people are dying in my community at rapid rates and there are people showing more outrage over a ride than that.

These two items are not mutually exclusive. You can be angry at police brutality and mourn the loss of a favorite Disney attraction. This is a Disney fan forum so naturally the conversation will focus on the latter but that doesn't mean that the former is not important.

 

[Brer Oswald]

The shoe fit like cindy.

If you’re so concerned with the current world issues, and you think they’re way more important than this (which they are), why did you create a new account just to discuss this topic?

 

[lebeau]

I have, and have found those complaints lacking.

Good thing you're not in charge, I guess.

 

[orlandogal22]

You’ll be okay. i’m sad and angry bc people are dying in my community at rapid rates and there are people showing more outrage over a ride than that.

People can be compassionate, upset, and worrisome about COVID and concurrently discuss ride transformations at Disney.

 

[Oskar]

Somebody added some PATF music to Splash Mountain...

That's a bit of a reach.

Let's give the re-theme a chance, but all we've got so far in terms of details is one piece of concept art. It's impossible to argue anything is better or worse from a quality or theming standpoint until Disney gives us a lot more to judge it on, never mind a "huge improvement".