Tiana's Bayou Adventure: Disneyland Watch & Discussion

mickEblu

mickEblu

Well-Known Member
planodisney said:
I don’t know guys. Can they really publicly acknowledge that this ride has racist roots, is offensive to certain groups so we are going to retheme the attraction, However, we are going to let the ride operate so that fans can enjoy it for the next year. How can they possibly make that work?
If you publicly admit an attraction is offensive and racist can you still operate the ride? As politically correct as Disney is, and their, for whatever reason, need to align with the latest pop-culture movement trending on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, I can’t see them reopening Splash.
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They re doing it now at WDW. Notice they re very careful with the words they use on why they re closing Splash. They say it’s problematic without saying it’s problematic. They ve never said the ride was racist etc.
 
SuddenStorm

SuddenStorm

Well-Known Member
Talk about a song that instantly puts a smile on anyone's face. Beautifully performed by Mr. Baskett.



And here's one of the instrumental versions from Splash-



And here's the Disneyland band performing the song with the help of park guests



Oh, and here's the song used in the finale of Paint the Night, just before When You Wish Upon a Star. Because, up until this week, that's the level of esteem the song was held at. When the song comes on the crowd goes nuts.

 
BuzzedPotatoHead89

BuzzedPotatoHead89

Well-Known Member
MisterPenguin said:
We only know about this committee through a rumor... which may not be true or may have been portrayed in a way that is not accurate (whether by the leaker or the one receiving the leak).

Same source says this committee is pretty much disbanded indefinitely.

So... before one gets worked up about changes only vaguely rumored and now disrupted by a world wide pandemic and ensuing Second Great Recession...

The only thing to react to is what's announced: PatF replacing current Splash Mountain IP.
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I’m purely speculating. It just doesn’t seem like Splash Mountain was on its “last drop” early this year (pre-COVID). The music is prominently featured in the recently launched Play Disney app. Brer merchandise was still produced. If I recall even the Magic Happens parade (which premiered a whole whopping 6 months ago) features a rendition of Zip-a-dee-doo-dah in its soundtrack.

As I picture it in my head I still personally think the idea of refreshing Splash with P&TF and think it has a lot of promise. With Charita Carter as the lead and Tony Baxter’s presence on the project gives me hope this project could be a great way to inject life into an admittedly aging ride based on an IP that no longer has the marketability it did 30+ years ago. It also is a decent fit for the area at DL and refreshingly not a “cliff note/book report” retelling of the film.

However, as someone that is rooting for a quality product, I also think it’s simultaneously a mistake to rush the project in the name of PR expediency, as evident by recent moves. Frankly I hope I’m wrong, but if this is the case I’d argue this is a disservice to fans of both Splash Mountain 1.0 and P&TF alike, as well as the the team working under the tight budget constraints at WDI whom face already lofty expectations attempting this ambitious project.
 
Brer Oswald

Brer Oswald

Well-Known Member
Let’s not forget that the petition started from a permanent Disneyland Cast member. Not from Orlando. Anaheim.

It’s no coincidence. It is exploitative. Certain people in the company wanted this to happen. Other more offensive things remain in the Parks without being touched or talked about, when it’d be fairly easy to pluck them out. This is no conspiracy theory and it’s easy to connect the dots.
 
Brer Panther

Brer Panther

Well-Known Member
Brer Oswald said:
Let’s not forget that the petition started from a permanent Disneyland Cast member. Not from Orlando. Anaheim.

It’s no coincidence. It is exploitative. Certain people in the company wanted this to happen. Other more offensive things remain in the Parks without being touched or talked about, when it’d be fairly easy to pluck them out. This is no conspiracy theory and it’s easy to connect the dots.
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My question is, do these "certain people" really think Splash Mountain is racist, or did they just want a Princess and the Frog ride?
 
mickEblu

mickEblu

Well-Known Member
BuzzedPotatoHead89 said:
Unfortunately no. To the contrary, the conspiracy theorist in me is saying the opposite... that essentially the committee responsible is ramroding these changes through to take advantage of a few countervailing events:

1) Selectively leaking this during the pandemic to get this to “hit” and go viral before the budget impacts were fully felt on balance sheets;

2) Jumping the gun on the announcement/approval and promoting on DPB pressuring management to approve and budget the project in a very public fashion before Iger’s (likely 2021) departure; &

3) piggybacking off the social justice as a PR “selling point” for the more reluctant (and more incrementalism and cost conscious) senior level management teams.

Likely seeing the fiscal effects of this pandemic on the horizon I would speculate there was a limited prospective window to get this project green lit over fan objections and internal company divisions. I think they used the three countervailing forces identified above to their advantage.

Personally. I do believe Splash 2.0 was discussed as long-term blue sky evolutionary project for Disneyland beginning in 2019 alongside other expansion ideas into the next decade or more. But I don’t believe it was ever initially planned until long until after the second phase of Avengers campus and perhaps even new TL or SWGE expansion.
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This sounds much more plausible than my conspiracy theory where I try to grasp onto some shred of hope.
 
SuddenStorm

SuddenStorm

Well-Known Member
Brer Panther said:
My question is, do these "certain people" really think Splash Mountain is racist, or did they just want a Princess and the Frog ride?
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I have friends on both camps- those that view Disneyland as a medium for furthering social issues and are ecstatic the monument to racism that's been entertaining millions for three decades is getting changed to a more inclusive ride. I had a friend who always referred to Splash as the 'racist bunny ride' and was gleeful when the change was announced. There was a girl I hungout with at the park a few times- and Splash was always a ride we rode. No hint that she didn't enjoy it, but when the change was announced she posted a big long thing on her Facebook about how excited she is that Disney is being more inclusive and how the ride never sat well with her. I definitely didn't get that vibe when she was trying to coordinate our photo for the drop...

And, I have friends who simply don't care for Splash and are excited at the prospect of a Princess and the Frog ride. My old DCP friend group of early to mid 20 something year olds provided a great litmus test. Many of these people are genuinely nostalgic for 2000's era Walt Disney Animation- so the idea that these mediocre films would be featured more heavily in the park is exciting to them.
 
smooch

smooch

Well-Known Member
Mac Tonight said:
They really messed up the Matterhorn when they took away the need for straddle seating. There was nothing more thrilling than finally getting to go to DL with your crush and going for a ride.
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I know I'm a few pages behind but I'm still sad I never got to experience this 🤣 . In middle school I was supposed to be going to DLR at the same time as the girl I liked and was friends with at the time but her family had to reschedule and we didn't get to go together and I remember distinctly wanting to ride the Matterhorn with her because of the seats. But then in 2012 I believe they changed the seats and I never got to experience that. I was especially excited for the trip because I'm 6-7 hours away so it's not like I was a local who could just casually go to Disneylandfor a day / evening with a crush.
 
smooch

smooch

Well-Known Member
Brer Panther said:
As far as Bob Iger's Disney is concerned, Disneyland is for idiots who drool at the sight of anything Star Wars or Marvel-related, blow their money on anything that has Elsa's face on it, and are obsessed with posting Selfies on Instagram.
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You know the sad part is that there is actually some truth to this. I think it applies more for WDW specifically as DLR definitely has a huge AP population who are more fans of the ambiance / classic Disney touches but there are still so many people who would go to the parks if they continued taking away things like Splash and the genuinely iconic music from the resort. I think it could go unchallenged much easier at WDW as that's the Disney resort destination families save for and take expensive trips to to go visit all the parks and really engross themselves in everything Disney and really really want to enjoy it because they've spent so much. People will continue going to the parks. If Disney only puts in big IPs like the princesses, Marvel, Star Wars, and Pixar they could get away with it. Eventually people like us on the forums would reach a tipping point and the park would be so different to what we loved that we would stop, but I truly believe there would be enough people to fill the parks because they buy in to everything Disney.

And the worst part is all the people on social media who gaslight these decisions. People flocked to Pixar Pier and took and continue to take all their pictures with their jumbo Jack Jack Cookie or the Yellow Snow from the Abominable Snowman from Monsters Inc. and talk about how cute it all is and in the eyes of Disney they did a good job. They got people into the parks to buy their food and post their Instagrammable moments. Nevermind the fact the whole Pier looks so gross now and went from an elegant Victorian themed boardwalk to a cheaply themed boardwalk of cartoon characters all over the rest of the parks. Then people went to Galaxy's Edge and took all their pictures in front of the Millenium Falcon, who cares if the ride is lackluster especially for half the people on it, they got their Instagrammable moment. They sell their iconic blue milk and Disney-fied green milk because it has to be similar but not actual original Star Wars content. They sell people $200 lightsabers and people post pictures of their lightsabers and pose with them for pictures before being forced to put them away in the sheath while walking around but hey they got cool pictures with them! And people will continue to buy into it, the general population is not nearly as critical as we are and so Disney continues to do what they can and get away with it.

Sorry for the cynical post, I'm sure none of this is stuff we haven't talked about before but I really just wanted to rant about how there is technically truth to that sentiment. Disney might lose the fans of the aspects from the Disneyland we've all known and loved and lose those people as customers if they continue to dismantle classics for new IPs with poorly done, shoehorned in overlays (Guardians and most likely PatF) but they will have plenty of new customers. The general population who completely buys in to Marvel and Star Wars and Disney / Pixar in general will continue to go, there will be people who have never been and always hear about Disneyland who want to go experience it, and there will be new generations of kids who will grow up with the new stuff who will enjoy it and eventually be nostalgic about it. It's pretty depressing to think about but with this first step in that direction I am genuinely worried how true it will become over time. Sure the park won't be entirely different but if enough things change then the sum of the experience might not be fun enough / worth it to people to go, but they will be replaced with others who will enjoy what there is no matter how poorly it is done.
 

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