Definitely not something Tony would say if he's involved with the replacement. So i'm sorry about that claim and I retract it, disappointing but not surprising.
For what it's worth, I ran this by my source, and they said they were probably given old information. They also still think the retheme is going to be great, Tony being involved or not. I don't think they're attempting to deceive here. Again, they're not remotely a fan of the modern Disney company or the decision to retheme. And several of their other claims have been proven accurate, such as the new characters, being a more physical ride with animatronics and having a higher budget than it started with. But you have to be wary of things changing during development along with taking subjective stuff that you can't see/hear first hand with a grain of salt.
I'll also reiterate another thing i've personally stated from the start (despite what else i've said)- Disney does not deserve the benefit of the doubt that they'll create something decent here. And you should not give them it. It's their responsibility to prove people wrong. It's infinitely more likely that they'll ruin it, and it'll take a miracle if they get even remotely close to Splash quality. The only hint of hope I have right now is that some of the art looks nice. But as anyone with even a single brain cell can tell you, art can be deceptive. Especially if it's old. There's no telling when the art shown last year was created, whether it'll be accurate to the ride, or whether its indicative of the other scenes.
If Charita Carter and Carmen Smith are truly calling all the shots and heavily involved in the creative process of the ride itself, then be very afraid. Again it's critical to reiterate that neither are creatives. In fact, their career histories are typically associated with the suppression of creativity. Carter is an accountant and Smith managed diversity quotas for TV programming. I'll leave it at that, as anything else will probably get me in trouble (and possibly cause people to make incorrect assumptions about what I personally believe). The possible silver lining is that there are tons of other people actually designing and building the ride. And much of the backstory nonsense Carter and Smith have been trotting out in their videos seems unrelated to the the actual ride contents. Still, not having competent creatives at the head of the project was/is extremely concerning.
Incidentally, Tony not only defended Splash Mountain, but also the film it was based on. And as polite as he was about the matter, he stated sensitivity has gotten completely out of control. He's correct of course, though I hope no lunatics target him for harassment over these statements.
