JT, I'm not sure what point you are making here when you say the story is "antiquated." I think you just mean the plot is based on Song of the South which is an old property that's not well known. So what? The story in the ride is self-explanatory and works great. Compare something like the new Little Mermaid ride, which tries to shoehorn the plot of an entire movie into a short ride. If you don't already know the plot coming in, the ride makes no sense.
JT, I appreciate that you are one of the world's few optimists. It would nice if your faith in the company was justified, but I don't think it will be. In truth, if they could easily change the theme over to something that would sell lots of merchandise, they wouldn't see that as a way to plus the ride. They would just make the easy change, count their money, and say: mission accomplished. Look at El Rio del Tiempo. The ride needed some love, some new technology, a new vision instead of just lots and lots of screens. They didn't add Donald & Co. as a way of paying for all of those things--they added Donald & Co. as a way of avoiding paying for those things.
Splash is not a good thematic fit for Frontierland--can't argue that. But it's a pretty good visual fit. And in either category it's miles better than the Speedway over in Tomorrowland.
Splash Mountain is, in current form, a great, popular ride that works on multiple levels, and, sadly, it's one of the more recent additions to the park. Certainly it seems to be an upkeep troublemaker, but I don't see how it makes sense to promote making wholesale changes when there's so much in the park that's older, not as good, and not as popular.
