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

retr0gate

retr0gate

Well-Known Member
Brer Oswald said:
It’s merely a different way of telling the same story. It’s revelation after the event, rather than prior. It’s a common type of storytelling, and I think it’s more effective for first timers because there’s an inherent sense of danger and thrill going down the drop. By the end of the ride, you get the full extent of the story, the motives of the protagonist, and the failure of the overconfident antagonist. Unless you closed your eyes and plugged up ears, but you would miss any story elements regardless of the ride.

It is also not cut and dry the same story as the films or the stories. The rope trap, the Laughing Place, and the Briar Patch are typically separate stories, not sequential. They orchestrate the segments into one continuous unique telling of the story, but they still preserve the main morale of the Briar Patch story as the crux of the plot.
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Adding onto this because I agree- not only is it revealed after the fact but if you're paying attention early on in the ride it's fairly obvious as well. The entire plot is that Brer' Rabbit wants to leave home AKA the Briar Patch. "I've had enough of this old Briar Patch" is part of the song lyrics. You also literally see his house lol
 
Brer Oswald

Brer Oswald

Well-Known Member
largealbert said:
Adding onto this because I agree- not only is it revealed after the fact but if you're paying attention early on in the ride it's fairly obvious as well. The entire plot is that Brer' Rabbit wants to leave home AKA the Briar Patch. "I've had enough of this old Briar Patch" is part of the song lyrics. You also literally see his house lol
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Yeah, that’s true haha 😂
 
N

Neaunderhill

Member
Personal Opinion here.

Quickly on the discussion above. Personally I've ridden Splash Mountain several times and have never seen SOTS. And I'll freely admit to not fully understanding the plot of the ride or realizing Br'er rabbit wanted to be thrown into the patch. A lot of times I found it difficult to hear a lot of what's being said. Whether from guests talking, screaming or water effects etc. I have the same problem sometimes on Pirates. No sarcasm here I was wondering about the plot a little but didn't want to ask or look it up for fear of being called racist. So thank you for some of the explanation above. Again no sarcasm.
However not understanding some of the plot has never taken away my enjoyment of the ride. It's in my personal top 3 attractions at MK. I always ride it because I enjoy the ride. Now again I'm afraid to admit such things 😔 because people may react badly.

In terms of the Retheme. If people like me are even afraid to admit they like the ride for fear of negative reactions from people then something eventually will have to change. Either the ride eventually will need to be Rethemed or a lot of new effort put into explaining why the theme should stay. Something along the lines of not erasing history but learning from it would work, like what they do before some movies.

As for the Retheme itself. I don't personally love the idea of a swamp mountain breaking up Frontierland. But if they go this route at least do it right. Don't skimp on animations like at gaurdians. Also Retheme the area behind it to a mini new Orleans sq. Type situation maybe even some sort of mickey beginet QS or something.
 
D

doctornick

Well-Known Member
Dear Prudence said:
I am not trying to be disrespectful at all, and I didn't read it as any kind of pro-retheme criticism. I just think that the narratives of the attraction (even in the Tokyo version) isn't too hard to follow.
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Yeah. I had ridden the ride multiple times prior to ever seeing the film and I definitely recognized that Rabbit was tricking Fox into throwing him into the briar patch so he could escape. Maybe it’s not obvious on a single ride but the narrative seems pretty straightforward especially with multiple rides. As others have indicated, Rabbit states the briar patch is his home.

Also I’d suggest that the concept of a “trickster” especially a rabbit (eg Buggs Bunny) who outwits the bad guys is a common trope that is easy to pick up as park of this story. Like most things at Disney, it draws upon a shared experience that many Americans/Westerners have.
 
Dear Prudence

Dear Prudence

Well-Known Member
Neaunderhill said:
Personal Opinion here.

Quickly on the discussion above. Personally I've ridden Splash Mountain several times and have never seen SOTS. And I'll freely admit to not fully understanding the plot of the ride or realizing Br'er rabbit wanted to be thrown into the patch. A lot of times I found it difficult to hear a lot of what's being said. Whether from guests talking, screaming or water effects etc. I have the same problem sometimes on Pirates. No sarcasm here I was wondering about the plot a little but didn't want to ask or look it up for fear of being called racist. So thank you for some of the explanation above. Again no sarcasm.
However not understanding some of the plot has never taken away my enjoyment of the ride. It's in my personal top 3 attractions at MK. I always ride it because I enjoy the ride. Now again I'm afraid to admit such things 😔 because people may react badly.

In terms of the Retheme. If people like me are even afraid to admit they like the ride for fear of negative reactions from people then something eventually will have to change. Either the ride eventually will need to be Rethemed or a lot of new effort put into explaining why the theme should stay. Something along the lines of not erasing history but learning from it would work, like what they do before some movies.

As for the Retheme itself. I don't personally love the idea of a swamp mountain breaking up Frontierland. But if they go this route at least do it right. Don't skimp on animations like at gaurdians. Also Retheme the area behind it to a mini new Orleans sq. Type situation maybe even some sort of mickey beginet QS or something.
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I think not being able to make out what's being said is an incredibly valid point to bring up. They have been times when the characters at Disneyland were completely indiscernible, and it was just a wall of noise. I think they've fixed the sound since 2017 (which was the worst state I had heard it in), and it seems to be much better now. The Disney World audio, even in recent videos, sounds pretty garbled in places.

Splash Mountain is my favourite attraction of all-time because of Brer Rabbit. He's part of my culture and my DNA, and, especially now, you have folks who don't know what they're talking about trying to "explain" things to you. It's a cute, sweet attraction that has great storytelling, that is also unfortunately attached to something problematic. It doesn't make you a bad person for loving Splash Mountain. You're not glorifying the thing it's attached to which has problems. Again, I think a lot of folks have problems with understanding that more than one thing can be true at the same time, because real life has complication and nuance.
 
Dear Prudence

Dear Prudence

Well-Known Member
doctornick said:
Yeah. I had ridden the ride multiple times prior to ever seeing the film and I definitely recognized that Rabbit was tricking Fox into throwing him into the briar patch so he could escape. Maybe it’s not obvious on a single ride but the narrative seems pretty straightforward especially with multiple rides. As others have indicated, Rabbit states the briar patch is his home.

Also I’d suggest that the concept of a “trickster” especially a rabbit (eg Buggs Bunny) who outwits the bad guys is a common trope that is easy to pick up as park of this story. Like most things at Disney, it draws upon a shared experience that many Americans/Westerners have.
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Bugs Bunny is a direct rip off of the original Brer Rabbit oral literature.
 
Ghost93

Ghost93

Well-Known Member
LittleBuford said:
There is nothing in the dialogue or mannerisms of the animatronic to suggest that Br’er Rabbit wants to be thrown down. That’s not a criticism; there’s only so much an attraction can (or should attempt to) convey. And again, this observation holds true for any ride based on a movie.
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I think Splash Mountain is a great attraction but I stand by my assessment that it probably is more coherent if you've seen Song of the South or were already familiar with the Brer Rabbit stories.
 
LittleBuford

LittleBuford

Well-Known Member
Neaunderhill said:
Quickly on the discussion above. Personally I've ridden Splash Mountain several times and have never seen SOTS. And I'll freely admit to not fully understanding the plot of the ride or realizing Br'er rabbit wanted to be thrown into the patch. A lot of times I found it difficult to hear a lot of what's being said. Whether from guests talking, screaming or water effects etc. I have the same problem sometimes on Pirates.
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Pirates of the Caribbean is another ride that some claim has a very obvious plot (in this case involving travelling back in time to see the past misdeeds of now-dead pirates). Most people experiencing the ride, however, never pick up on the intricacies of the narrative and don't need to in order to follow and gain something from what they're seeing. As with Splash Mountain and other well-designed attractions, full comprehension of the story isn't necessary (or even assumed) for a guest's enjoyment of the experience.
 
RSoxNo1

RSoxNo1

Well-Known Member
At this point, I think the only options are to go forward with the re-theme, or to build a substantial Princess and the Frog attraction elsewhere in the park.
 
imagineer97

imagineer97

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
RSoxNo1 said:
At this point, I think the only options are to go forward with the re-theme, or to build a substantial Princess and the Frog attraction elsewhere in the park.
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I would love it if they built something new. Outside the berm there's gotta be some room somewhere. It would be the perfect way to upgrade the plan to include Tiana!
 
Poseidon Quest

Poseidon Quest

Well-Known Member
To throw myself thoughts into the conversation from the last few pages, the story of Splash was never clear to me until I looked it up (somewhere around 2012-2013). In my opinion, a large component of this is because the audio is often unclear as others have also mentioned. At the time, I only went to the Magic Kingdom once every few years, but I really only think that the story can be picked up on with purposeful analysis or frequent exposure. Like most people, it was a sensory overload for me at the time and while I enjoyed the varied scenes, strong atmosphere and thrills of the ride layout, I can't say that I feel the story is conveyed well. Watching SotS would definitely help people understand the attraction, though it's obviously difficult to view legally and isn't necessary to enjoy what the attraction still offers.
 
Dear Prudence

Dear Prudence

Well-Known Member
Poseidon Quest said:
To throw myself thoughts into the conversation from the last few pages, the story of Splash was never clear to me until I looked it up (somewhere around 2012-2013). In my opinion, a large component of this is because the audio is often unclear as others have also mentioned. At the time, I only went to the Magic Kingdom once every few years, but I really only think that the story can be picked up on with purposeful analysis or frequent exposure. Like most people, it was a sensory overload for me at the time and while I enjoyed the varied scenes, strong atmosphere and thrills of the ride layout, I can't say that I feel the story is conveyed well. Watching SotS would definitely help people understand the attraction, though it's obviously difficult to view legally and isn't necessary to enjoy what the attraction still offers.
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I appreciate that you specified that this was the case for you, personally, and not sacrosanct canonical law.
 

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