Disney World finally closes Splash Mountain water ride

[TLSG]

They're going to rebuild it and base it off some black movie almost nobody has heard of. Why does this ride even need a theme at all?

The closing of the 30-year-old ride — which Princess Diana visited in 1993 — follows years of calls for change because it features several characters from Disney's 1946 film "Song of the South," which featured racist stereotypes.

That June, Disney announced Splash Mountain would be “reimagined” as Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, based on Disney’s first Black princess, featured in the 2009 film “The Princess and the Frog."

Tiana’s Bayou Adventure will open at Magic Kingdom and Disneyland Park, in Anaheim, California, in 2024. (It was not immediately clear when Splash Mountain at Disneyland Park closed.)

Read here

[Mr. Claws]

A more proper name would be "Iger's Piss-Stream Adventure."

[Traddles]

"Song of the South" is a Disney movie that has, for decades, had very limited availability in the US. Love or rue that fact, the number of living people in the US who have seen or know much about "Song of the South" is small and shrinking.

"The Princess and the Frog" is a Disney movie that was a box office success in the US and worldwide. It's not obscure, and many of its theater viewers are now in their late teens and twenties. The change may or not be successful with park guests, but it makes demographic sense, and the tie-in between a log ride and the Louisiana Bayou is a bit less unobvious than the land-based folklore of Joel Chandler Harris.

[TLSG]

"The Princess and the Frog" is a Disney movie that was a box office success in the US and worldwide. It's not obscure, and many of its theater viewers are now in their late teens and twenties.

Perhaps, but not as many people go to theaters today as they did back in the '40s.

Just like how decades ago, a record had to sell millions of copies for several weeks in order to be #1. Not like today where a record only needs to sell maybe ten or twenty thousand in its first week to get there.

[Mr. Claws]

"Song of the South" is a Disney movie that has, for decades, had very limited availability in the US. Love or rue that fact, the number of living people in the US who have seen or know much about "Song of the South" is small and shrinking.

"The Princess and the Frog" is a Disney movie that was a box office success in the US and worldwide. It's not obscure, and many of its theater viewers are now in their late teens and twenties. The change may or not be successful with park guests, but it makes demographic sense, and the tie-in between a log ride and the Louisiana Bayou is a bit less unobvious than the land-based folklore of Joel Chandler Harris.

I have "bootleg" VHS copy, which before I retired I burned to DVDs and sold copies at local flea markets (ska-roo you, Disney). And my number one customers BY FAR were older Black folks who fondly remembered it from their childhoods.

[Knightkore]

I think the next ride should be an Antifa riot. And you have to walk through the riot & survive.

Play a Snoop Dog tune.

[Traddles]

I have "bootleg" VHS copy, which before I retired I burned to DVDs and sold copies at local flea markets (ska-roo you, Disney). And my number one customers BY FAR were older Black folks who fondly remembered it from their childhoods.

IMO, the whole "Song of the South" = racist stereotype claim was BS. When my munchkins were young I'd have loved to have had a copy.

[Jen]

I've been on Splash Mountain in both parks. Just a meh ride unless you want to hear some dude sing Zippety Doo Dah a gazillion times. I doubt it will be missed. But then.........I have no intention of returning to Disney parks.

[Wilson2]

Disney is dead to me and most people I know. When we had tv we blocked all the Disney channels and Disney owned channels. We don't get any of the newer Disney movies on DVD, we don't buy Disney products.

I suspect a lot of people are doing the same. Its hard to get reliable data but it seems Disney World attendance is way down, its an indirect measure of attendance but wait times are down this year.