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

[BuddyThomas]

That's the problem. They aren't sacred. They're human constructs made with a particular bias. Where's Aunt Jemimah serving her breakfast? Why is Splash being rethemed?

Saying "The Frontier" is as biased as saying that America, an already inhabited continent "was discovered."

What was the "Frontier" the frontier of? Civilization? There were already civilizations living there. It was the frontier of displacement and subjugation.

I tried to be delicate in pointing out the problematic nature of using "Frontier," so I'm spelling it out.

History and reality and sensitivity to peoples who've suffered is certainly a higher priority than the nostalgia of theme park guests.

I couldn’t believe it when I found out there used to be an Aunt Jemimah restaurant in Disneyland.

 

[Ghost93]

I couldn’t believe it when I found out there used to be an Aunt Jemimah restaurant in Disneyland.

I mean, the company was okay with Uncle Remus until the mid-80s (and even briefly had him in the parks) so an Aunt Jemimah restaurant isn't too shocking for a company with a very problematic history.

Remus is featured at around the 20 minute mark in this 1980 Christmas parade.

Fortunately, those days are long gone.

 

[MisterPenguin]

My only reason for suggesting a new name other than "Frontier" is that the majority of attractions in "Fontierland" aren't from the time and place of the Frontier.

Several people have suggested a new name for Tommorowland, because the majority of attractions are no longer about retro-futurism.

 

[GimpYancIent]

That's the problem. They aren't sacred. They're human constructs made with a particular bias. Where's Aunt Jemimah serving her breakfast? Why is Splash being rethemed?

Saying "The Frontier" is as biased as saying that America, an already inhabited continent "was discovered."

What was the "Frontier" the frontier of? Civilization? There were already civilizations living there. It was the frontier of displacement and subjugation.

I tried to be delicate in pointing out the problematic nature of using "Frontier," so I'm spelling it out.

History and reality and sensitivity to peoples who've suffered is certainly a higher priority than the nostalgia of theme park guests.

Interesting view and presentation, but, nah. No problem with the ride as it was however a refresh to an IP something younger people can identify with is a good thing if properly done. All the rest is noise. The past is not being corrected or changed because it is past. What is being developed now and projected for the future that is new and inclusive not as some alleged historic correction to appease some sensitivities.

 

[ᗩLᘿᑕ ✨ ᗩζᗩᗰ]

My only reason for suggesting a new name other than "Frontier" is that the majority of attractions in "Fontierland" aren't from the time and place of the Frontier.

Several people have suggested a new name for Tommorowland, because the majority of attractions are no longer about retro-futurism.

The trick is finding the right name that works in the context of the existing nomenclature. Somethingland.

 

[ᗩLᘿᑕ ✨ ᗩζᗩᗰ]

Why not just annex Tiana to Adventureland since she's doing her best Dora the Explorer trope. Fits right in with the S.E.A. Could Imagineering take inspiration from French Pirate Jean Lafitte and have that visual transition to a French Quarter aesthetic as we approach Tiana Mountain? Would it be any more or less egregious than overlaying Nawlins decor in West World?

 

[MisterPenguin]

The trick is finding the right name that works in the context of the existing nomenclature. Somethingland.

Ameriland
Big River Land
Main Street Land, Part 2
Mississilland
Chronological Disorderland
Tianaland
Midland
Princess and the Land
Old Deep South Western Land
Appalarockies Land
Country Swamp Plains Land
Continental Basinland
Deeply Accented Land
Central North Americaland

 

[ᗩLᘿᑕ ✨ ᗩζᗩᗰ]

Ameriland
Big River Land
Main Street Land, Part 2
Mississilland
Chronological Disorderland
Tianaland
Midland
Princess and the Land
Old Deep South Western Land
Appalarockies Land
Country Swamp Plains Land
Continental Basinland

Midland! lol

 

[Sir_Cliff]

Splash Mountain Log Sinks at Magic Kingdom for Third Time

Walt Disney World news, photos, and reviews! We provide you with daily news from the Walt Disney World theme parks and beyond

blogmickey.com

There seem to be issues with this ride beyond the show quality being bad. If this is accurate, they really do need to figure out why these logs keep sinking before someone gets seriously hurt.

 

[Artemicon]

Splash Mountain Log Sinks at Magic Kingdom for Third Time

Walt Disney World news, photos, and reviews! We provide you with daily news from the Walt Disney World theme parks and beyond

blogmickey.com

There seem to be issues with this ride beyond the show quality being bad. If this is accurate, they really do need to figure out why these logs keep sinking before someone gets seriously hurt.

They're probably not maintaining the ride vehicles since it's on its way out.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

They're probably not maintaining the ride vehicles since it's on its way out.

Well.... they are still going to need those logs to float when they are “going down the bayou.”

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

They're probably not maintaining the ride vehicles since it's on its way out.

That's not how things work at all. If the attraction is still running, it still has to meet safety standards.

Heck, Ellen's Energy Adventure had all of its carpeting replaced less than a month before its already-announced permanent closure. They don't just stop maintenance because something's on its way out.

 

[Ghost93]

Hopefully, with the ride being shut down for almost two years, they can get to the root of the problem causing the logs to sink and make improvements when necessary. Otherwise, they'll have to rename the attraction "Tiana's Underwater Adventure."

 

[solidyne]

[...] Ellen's Energy Adventure had all of its carpeting replaced less than a month before its already-announced permanent closure. They don't just stop maintenance because something's on its way out.

Oh, but that was way, way, way back in 2017, when Epcot was in its absolute prime! Those were the days when Imagineers were really smart, the CEO really cared about the guest experience, and CMs picked every last cigarette butt off of the ground! In 2018 they started intentionally trashing all attractions, everything fell apart, and I stopped going to the parks forever.

 

[MisterPenguin]

So, to visualize my armchair imagineering of reconfiguring the lands. Here's what it is now:

Yes, MK maps put Diamond Horseshoe in Liberty Square. And if it's suppose to be set in St. Louis, then it's not Wild West. St. Louis was pretty metropolitan by the early 1800s. Also Haunted Mansion is Gothic upstate NY, not Colonial. And there's a Riverboat in Colonial Philadelphia.

And Country Bears are deep south singing mid-20th century songs, not Wild West. And Splash Mountain is supposed to be Deep South as per the source material, but a veneer of Western decoration was fused onto it to make it fit.

So, what if the Rivers of America really was a tour of the rivers of America (like Jungle Cruise jumps around to the big jungle rivers of the world) -- which is what they do in Disneyland. Then you can match the attraction to the river as thus...

So, Haunted Mansion is there because the river next to it is the Hudson River. The Liberty Square port is on the Delaware at Philadelphia. Then we jump to St. Louis and head down the Mississippi. Diamond Horseshoe can lose its thinly veiled Wild West facade and be a more urbane crossroads of the mid-1800s, thematically supporting what is on the other side of the river: Tom Sawyer's Island.

Heading South on the M., we meet the Country Bears. Then when we get to the New Orleans delta, there's Tiana's Restaurant (formerly Pecos Bill) and Tiana's Bayou Adventure. Just beyond New Orleans Square is the Caribbean Gulf where there are Caribbean restaurants (Tortuga) and Pirates.

Continuing on the river, we jump to the Colorado River and see the BTMR. And then we jump to other big rivers of The West such as the Missouri, Yellowstone, Snake, and Columbia and see the Indian Nations along the way.

 

[BrerFoxesBayouAdventure]

Been lurking this thread for well over two years at this point and I figured I'd give my two cents on the whole retheme debacle:

I am upset with how Disney has handled the extremely questionable but undeniable legacy Song of the South has had on the company in terms of its history. Prefacing this by saying I am also a person of color (latino to be exact) but not sure what that'd do to change anything. Ah well.

I've seen Song of the South a few times and while I don't think it's anywhere near as bad as its detractors say, its still a very flawed film full of questionable elements that did not age well at all. Not a huge fan of the stereotypical dialect coming from the plantation workers but it's what it is and I don't think Disney was being insidiously evil when they made it. The ambiguity of the time period also doesn't do any favors, detractors say it portrays happy slaves but I don't think Remus would be able to freely leave the plantation if this were the case. I know most find the live-action segments boring but I feel like they lay some needed framework for the stories so that it doesn't feel like yet another 40s Disney package film. The kid played by Bobby Driscoll is upset by all the changes in his life and he finds solace in the Br'er Rabbit stories told by Uncle Remus, which just so happen to correlate with whatever conflict he's going through. The first story is told when he's considering leaving the plantation to go back to his father in Atlanta, the second one is told when he tries hiding a puppy from his mom, and the third is told when him and the girl played by Luanna Pattern are feeling down after the boy's party is ruined by the two kids that tried drowning his dog.

When I initially heard the announcement, I was heartbroken. I love the Br'er characters and believe they're some of the best in the Disney library. It felt like Disney was capitalizing off the tragedy of the Floyd protests in a way that looked like they just wanted to boost their public image. According to Disney themselves, there were internal discussions to replace the ride for well over five years but I don't know how serious these ideas were entertained as brand new merchandise featuring the characters was still being produced well into 2020. The amount of feet dragging they did when it came to actually announcing the time-frame for the retheme makes me believe it wasn't taken seriously until they were backed into a corner (the "research trip" happening like a week after Anika Noni Rose gave a 2024 date makes me believe this) and had no way out.

Something I'm not a huge fan of is that the Twitter crowd believes the characters were created specifically for the movie when they've existed for centuries prior and had their origins in oral folk stories. Honestly Splash Mountain is so far divorced from Song of the South it might as well be an original I.P or an adaption of the folk tales. This is how I used to interpert it, I thought it was just another park original like Haunted Mansion or Tiki Room. SotS's last rerelease in America was 1986 and while it was still fresh in the mind of those who initially rode it, it's been long enough that the Br'ers can peacefully co-exist with their cartoon brethren problem-free. But of course that's not what was gonna happen, people made a big stink out of it and Disney took the opportunity and ran with it.

I am genuinely furious at the conservative idiots on sites like Twitter and Facebook throwing moronic words like "woke" around whilst mass-purchasing every single piece of merchandise leaving actual fans like myself with nothing but hilariously expensive plush dolls and tumble cups. I don't give a about politics at all, get your gooberish nonsense out of here I just want to enjoy my singing animals in peace. Also not happy with those kissing Disney's feet for being "diverse" when they literally don't care at all. The censored same-sex kisses, shrunken down John Boyega on movie posters, and continued usage of Pocahontas (which I consider to be even worse than SotS) should give you enough of an idea. People won't watch the damn thing even though it's freely available on sites like archive.org and form their own opinions instead of blindly parroting others'.

While I am not by any means a fan of the retheme, I can see why it's happening. We're evaluating where our stories come from and second guessing ourselves on whether or not its right to have an attraction themed after Disney's most controversial work even if that means losing one of the only things these wonderful characters still have to their name. I saw PaTF a while ago and I genuinely loved it. Dr. Facilier, Louis, Mama Odie, and Ray the Firefly are my personal favorites. I wish they would leave the mountain alone and commit to giving Tiana an experience worthy of having her own attraction. A repainting of a beloved attraction just doesn't feel right for a character with a huge fan following. Splash is also a massive attraction and you can't just paint the Laughin' Place cave to white so it looks like a salt mine. Disney hijacking a festival meant to celebrate Black culture to promote their BS just felt wrong and I wished they waited for their own convention to show off details for the ride. It just comes off as dishonest and predatory, let people of color have their own festival without you showing up to shill your projects.

Tiana's outfit for the ride is adorable though and I love it. Still not a good trade-off for Br'er Fox but I'll do my best to live with it.

TL;DR Splash Mountain retheme will either be really good or really really bad and no one will be satisfied. At least we still have Tokyo and it's inferior track layout!

 

[Tha Realest]

Why not just annex Tiana to Adventureland since she's doing her best Dora the Explorer trope. Fits right in with the S.E.A. Could Imagineering take inspiration from French Pirate Jean Lafitte and have that visual transition to a French Quarter aesthetic as we approach Tiana Mountain? Would it be any more or less egregious than overlaying Nawlins decor in West World?

oMg. They’re going to shoehorn Tiana into SEA, aren’t they?

 

[Phicinfan]

Hopefully, with the ride being shut down for almost two years, they can get to the root of the problem causing the logs to sink and make improvements when necessary. Otherwise, they'll have to rename the attraction "Tiana's Underwater Adventure."

Careful, they will bring the nautilus back and we will have the Bayou submarine adventure....

 

[Amidala]

Do we think it would be possible to build a New Orleans mini-land around the attraction? I'm familiar with Frontierland backstage and I'm having a hard time believing they could stand to sacrifice any of that area, since a) It's where the runoff from Splash is located and b) It's where the floats in active use are stored, since Splash is the parade step-off point. Seems like the only possible way to retheme even a tiny patch of land into NOLA would be to get rid of Big Thunder.

Kind of disappointing since I think a mini-land would really help to clear up that feeling of aesthetic inconsistency w/ the WDW version of the retheme.

 

[BuddyThomas]

So, to visualize my armchair imagineering of reconfiguring the lands. Here's what it is now:

View attachment 652782

Yes, MK maps put Diamond Horseshoe in Liberty Square. And if it's suppose to be set in St. Louis, then it's not Wild West. St. Louis was pretty metropolitan by the early 1800s. Also Haunted Mansion is Gothic upstate NY, not Colonial. And there's a Riverboat in Colonial Philadelphia.

And Country Bears are deep south singing mid-20th century songs, not Wild West. And Splash Mountain is supposed to be Deep South as per the source material, but a veneer of Western decoration was fused onto it to make it fit.

So, what if the Rivers of America really was a tour of the rivers of America (like Jungle Cruise jumps around to the big jungle rivers of the world) -- which is what they do in Disneyland. Then you can match the attraction to the river as thus...

View attachment 652783

So, Haunted Mansion is there because the river next to it is the Hudson River. The Liberty Square port is on the Delaware at Philadelphia. Then we jump to St. Louis and head down the Mississippi. Diamond Horseshoe can lose its thinly veiled Wild West facade and be a more urbane crossroads of the mid-1800s, thematically supporting what is on the other side of the river: Tom Sawyer's Island.

Heading South on the M., we meet the Country Bears. Then when we get to the New Orleans delta, there's Tiana's Restaurant (formerly Pecos Bill) and Tiana's Bayou Adventure. Just beyond New Orleans Square is the Caribbean Gulf where there are Caribbean restaurants (Tortuga) and Pirates.

Continuing on the river, we jump to the Colorado River and see the BTMR. And then we jump to other big rivers of The West such as the Missouri, Yellowstone, Snake, and Columbia and see the Indian Nations along the way.

Did you do those maps yourself?