Tiana's Bayou Adventure: Disneyland Watch & Discussion

[TP2000]

The meaningless corporate speak on diversity and inclusion is so barf-worthy.

It is barfy, but it's all so ham-handed and clumsy that it's also hilarious!

And yet the simple fact that the left hand in Burbank doesn't know what the right hand is doing in Anaheim or Orlando or on a Disney owned cruise ship at sea, and they're all directly contradicting each other simultaneously just makes it all so delicious.

Burbank in 2021 via a massive pre-planned media campaign...

We used to be racist and hurtful, but now we aren't. As but one example, we're sorry we created King Louie the jazzy orangutang in 1966. We won't do it again. We are Official Good People now, trust us.

Meanwhile, in Orlando...

We've got a big new show using jetskis and kites, and it stars all your favorite characters like King Louie who dances through the sky to his jazzy theme song! Come celebrate the 50th!

 

[Dear Prudence]

It is barfy, but it's all so ham-handed and clumsy that it's also hilarious!

And yet the simple fact that the left hand in Burbank doesn't know what the right hand is doing in Anaheim or Orlando or on a Disney owned cruise ship at sea, and they're all directly contradicting each other simultaneously just makes it all so delicious.

Burbank in 2021 via a massive media campaign...

We used to be racist and hurtful, but now we aren't. As but one example, we're sorry we created King Louie the jazzy orangutang in 1966. We won't do it again. We are Official Good People now, trust us.

Meanwhile, in Orlando...

We've got a big new show using jetskis and kites, and it stars all your favorite characters like King Louie who dances through the sky to his jazzy theme song! Come celebrate the 50th!

The kites are crashing because THEY don't even want to be involved, TBH.

 

[Dear Prudence]

Cute rabbits likely sell just as much merchandise as princesses.

This is true, this must be killing them.

 

[TP2000]

The kites are crashing because THEY don't even want to be involved, TBH.

Off topic, but I can NOT get enough of these KiteTail videos coming out on the TikTok and Tweet machines today! They are absolutely fabulous in every conceivable way.

It's making me consider a quick trip out to Orlando just for that show, before it gets sent on a permanent Time Out.

 

[BuzzedPotatoHead89]

Off topic, but I can NOT get enough of these KiteTail videos coming out on the TikTok and Tweet machines today! They are absolutely fabulous in every conceivable way.

It's making me consider a quick trip out to Orlando just for that show, before it gets sent on a permanent Time Out.

Kite tails may be the sleeper hit of the 50th. It’s got the slapstick comedic relief of old school Billy Hill routine mixed with America’s Funniest Home Videos. An inadvertent homage to the prop comedy of yesteryear. If only it wasn’t apparently taking place in the hot/humid Florida sun.

 

[Dear Prudence]

Off topic, but I can NOT get enough of these KiteTail videos coming out on the TikTok and Tweet machines today! They are absolutely fabulous in every conceivable way.

It's making me consider a quick trip out to Orlando just for that show, before it gets sent on a permanent Time Out.

LOOK, I am NOT saying that removing the bronze buddy statues from the WDW hub sent the entire stateside parks empire into instant catty wampus, BUT.....

 

[Dear Prudence]

I know this will NEVER happen because Disney doesn't actually care about representation and neither does any of the non BIPOC PATF stans (that's so creepy to me, sorry), but Disney is finishing up publishing this series and is set to release a graphic novel. IF they were to consider perhaps a more appropriate change, these books are amazing. It's set in the South in the same area as Splash/NOS, is written by a Black author, centers Blackness (and not what non BIPOC think is ). It has multi dimensional characters, a moving story, and features actual Black and African theology and oral literature. It's what Brer Rabbit as a religious and historical figure actually deserves. It fits the dark ride-thrill ride ratio. We could get original songs! Sadly, it doesn't sell princess dresses and isn't attached to a lucrative franchise. Which is such a shame, because the books are actually incredible and deeply moving.

 

[EagleScout610]

I wish they'd just come out and admit the real reason why they're retheming the ride. Nobody's falling for their "we want to be inclusive" bullcrap.

Disney is doing it because Disney wants to

 

[SuddenStorm]

I know this will NEVER happen because Disney doesn't actually care about representation and neither does any of the non BIPOC PATF stans (that's so creepy to me, sorry), but Disney is finishing up publishing this series and is set to release a graphic novel. IF they were to consider perhaps a more appropriate change, these books are amazing. It's set in the South in the same area as Splash/NOS, is written by a Black author, centers Blackness (and not what non BIPOC think is ). It has multi dimensional characters, a moving story, and features actual Black and African theology and oral literature. It's what Brer Rabbit as a religious and historical figure actually deserves. It fits the dark ride-thrill ride ratio. We could get original songs! Sadly, it doesn't sell princess dresses and isn't attached to a lucrative franchise. Which is such a shame, because the books are actually incredible and deeply moving.

View attachment 590719

I'm sure that's a great book but I'm having trouble figuring out how that would fit at all inside Disneyland. Especially as a musically driven thrill/water ride.

Just because Disney has published something does not mean it's something the Walt Disney Company would consider part of its 'Disney' brand or put it inside Disneyland.

 

[Dear Prudence]

I'm sure that's a great book but I'm having trouble figuring out how that would fit at all inside Disneyland. Especially as a musically driven thrill/water ride.

Just because Disney has published something does not mean it's something the Walt Disney Company would consider part of its 'Disney' brand or put it inside Disneyland.

It's a book series set in the same real world locations as the Splash locations in both parks. Like I had said before, we could get new original music the was Simbad does at Tokyo Disney Sea. I am assuming you haven't read the series, but it's better than both Harry Potter and American Gods (which it draws frequent comparisons to), it would fit just fine with the locations, track layout, and narrative needs for a replacement.

Granted, this is all hypothetical in fun,, and they'd never do anything of that scale and meaning when they could get a quick cash grab.

 

[Ghost93]

View attachment 590463
WDW did just put this out. Wonder why the didn't use the new art they released

Even though I support the Splash Mountain retheme I think it's absurd to have a 50th-anniversary Walt Disney World book with a section on Splash Mountain completely not mention that the ride was originally based on Song of the South — or at the very least, the stories of Brer Rabbit. I get that Disney doesn't want to dwell on their mistakes, but I think this is just a cringy whitewashing of their own history. They could have said the ride was based on the animated segments of Song of the South and kept in the rest about wanting to keep up with the times and be more inclusive. The way it's written is kind of painful because they are so blatantly dancing around the issue.

 

[Dear Prudence]

Even though I support the Splash Mountain retheme I think it's absurd to have a 50th-anniversary Walt Disney World book with a section on Splash Mountain completely not mention that the ride was originally based on Song of the South — or at the very least, the stories of Brer Rabbit. I get that Disney doesn't want to dwell on their mistakes, but I think this is just a cringy whitewashing of their own history. They could have said the ride was based on the animated segments of Song of the South and kept in the rest about wanting to keep up with the times and be more inclusive. The way it's written is kind of painful because they are so blatantly dancing around the issue.

They haven't dwelled on it at all. They have completely glossed over it. it is such an egregious mistake that those whom these stories actually belong to, Black and Indigenous people of the Americas, can't actually talk about them or even be heard. It's JUST that--cringey whitewashing, using nothing but buzzwords that mean absolutely nothing. If they actually wanted to be inclusive, they would own up to their mistakes and actually call them what they are, MISTAKES. They would be working for and towards repatriation of this oral literature and theology. They haven't dwelled on it enough as far as I am concerned because they haven't mentioned that they squandered and cheapened someone else's relgious figures in a movie that sugar-coated the horrors of slavery and then made a theme park attraction out of it they let rot into the ground. I don't think people, let alone those who are in charge of Disney right now, truly comprehend the sheer levels of disrespect and the further insult by using a bunch of nonsense words that mean absolutely nothing.

Plus, do they not realize they can NON-mention all they want, but Google is free?

(sorry, my frustration is towards Disney, not you, btw)

 

[GoneForGood]

They haven't dwelled on it at all. They have completely glossed over it. it is such an egregious mistake that those whom these stories actually belong to, Black and Indigenous people of the Americas, can't actually talk about them or even be heard. It's JUST that--cringey whitewashing, using nothing but buzzwords that mean absolutely nothing. If they actually wanted to be inclusive, they would own up to their mistakes and actually call them what they are, MISTAKES. They would be working for and towards repatriation of this oral literature and theology. They haven't dwelled on it enough as far as I am concerned because they haven't mentioned that they squandered and cheapened someone else's relgious figures in a movie that sugar-coated the horrors of slavery and then made a theme park attraction out of it they let rot into the ground. I don't think people, let alone those who are in charge of Disney right now, truly comprehend the sheer levels of disrespect and the further insult by using a bunch of nonsense words that mean absolutely nothing.

Plus, do they not realize they can NON-mention all they want, but Google is free?

(sorry, my frustration is towards Disney, not you, btw)

This. Every single word.

 

[Californian Elitist]

They haven't dwelled on it at all. They have completely glossed over it. it is such an egregious mistake that those whom these stories actually belong to, Black and Indigenous people of the Americas, can't actually talk about them or even be heard. It's JUST that--cringey whitewashing, using nothing but buzzwords that mean absolutely nothing. If they actually wanted to be inclusive, they would own up to their mistakes and actually call them what they are, MISTAKES. They would be working for and towards repatriation of this oral literature and theology. They haven't dwelled on it enough as far as I am concerned because they haven't mentioned that they squandered and cheapened someone else's relgious figures in a movie that sugar-coated the horrors of slavery and then made a theme park attraction out of it they let rot into the ground. I don't think people, let alone those who are in charge of Disney right now, truly comprehend the sheer levels of disrespect and the further insult by using a bunch of nonsense words that mean absolutely nothing.

Plus, do they not realize they can NON-mention all they want, but Google is free?

(sorry, my frustration is towards Disney, not you, btw)

Preach.

 

[BuzzedPotatoHead89]

They haven't dwelled on it at all. They have completely glossed over it. it is such an egregious mistake that those whom these stories actually belong to, Black and Indigenous people of the Americas, can't actually talk about them or even be heard. It's JUST that--cringey whitewashing, using nothing but buzzwords that mean absolutely nothing. If they actually wanted to be inclusive, they would own up to their mistakes and actually call them what they are, MISTAKES. They would be working for and towards repatriation of this oral literature and theology. They haven't dwelled on it enough as far as I am concerned because they haven't mentioned that they squandered and cheapened someone else's relgious figures in a movie that sugar-coated the horrors of slavery and then made a theme park attraction out of it they let rot into the ground. I don't think people, let alone those who are in charge of Disney right now, truly comprehend the sheer levels of disrespect and the further insult by using a bunch of nonsense words that mean absolutely nothing.

Plus, do they not realize they can NON-mention all they want, but Google is free?

(sorry, my frustration is towards Disney, not you, btw)

Corporate America (not just Disney) literally has a very limited vocabulary/dictionary of words they can choose from when making announcements about anything. It’s always perceived as the safest option possible.

This is a perfect example of that. So far we’ve gotten several DPB posts that basically use the words “problematic” in reference to the original splash and in its place reference “inclusive”, “diverse”, and “independent”. Throw in Walt’s quote about Disneyland will never be complete (which has become a favorite Carte blanc excuse for any haphazard change imaginable) and I wouldn’t expect much more.

In the eyes of the company executives SoTS is a dead franchise walking and PaTF is a franchise rich with synergy. There’s certainly no interest in revisiting the Brer characters or SoTS from a critical/academic lens. The sooner they can sweep this whole episode under the carpet the better.

 

[Model3 McQueen]

Throw in Walt’s quote about Disneyland will never be complete (which has become a favorite Carte blanc excuse for any haphazard change imaginable) and I wouldn’t expect much more.

THANK YOU. Executives are trash to keep using that quote to justify their changes.

 

[Dear Prudence]

THANK YOU. Executives are trash to keep using that quote to justify their changes.

Walt was ferocious about quality. Disneyland will never be complete, but this is the man who saved every last feline in the first generation of Disneyland Cats. This is the man who hired other artists and designers no one else would hire because he knew they were the best and he wanted the best. I am not against change. I just want quality changes. I want a plus to an attraction to feel like a vast improvement. I want every change to be as good as the Snow White updates. I want updates like the new Snow White and Beauty and the Beast attraction. I want Disney to feel like the king of entertainment to justify the entry price. Tiana better not have a Frozen Ever After screen face....

 

[Dear Prudence]

Someone I work with used this line for me when talking about the Splash retheme saying that "I don't like it either but Walt did say Disneyland would never be complete".

I'm still not over the fact that the Blackface African caricatures of the Jungle Cruise were an afterthought (and still won't commit to getting rid of Trader Sam or the racist Tiki bar) and they didn't bother to even think about the grotesque depictions of Native people in Peter Pan. They'll make bizarre over corrections to Roger Rabbit's Cartoon Spin, and still not address or fully get rid of dehumanizing images of people. At least the Jungle Cruise changes were led by Skippers.

If Splash Mountain is "so bad," fine. So be it. Change it. Whatever. But to go for Splash's throat (to the detriment of Black and Native people) and ignore or gloss over...arguably way more pressing changes..... It just seems like a no brainer, especially since you have to basically invent issues with the current Splash, because its connections to SOTS aren't enough.

"Disneyland will never be complete," okay, fine! No issues, there. But please do not insult our intelligence.

 

[EagleScout610]

I had a dream last night that Disney closed Splash, but upon reopening all you did was sit in the log at the loading platform while Chapek sat on a stool telling you how the old theme wasn't "Disney enough", then threw a bucket of water at you, then asked for $5. Ride photos were $20

 

[truecoat]

I had a dream last night that Disney closed Splash, but upon reopening all you did was sit in the log at the loading platform while Chapek sat on a stool telling you how the old theme wasn't "Disney enough", then threw a bucket of water at you, then asked for $5. Ride photos were $20

So you have some internal documents on the future of Disney Parks.