A CNN article published today reports that some Disney fans want to re-theme Splash Mountain to a ride based on “The Princess and the Frog” instead, and remove all traces of Song of the South, the film which has been “widely considered the studio’s most racist.” Song of the South was last released theatrically in 1986, a few years before Splash Mountain’s 1989 grand opening. Song of the South has never been made available in the U.S. despite being sold by Disney worldwide until 2001. Today, it remains unavailable, and Disney has made it clear they have no plans to make it available on Disney’s new streaming movie service, Disney+.
Splash Mountain is the popular theme park ride loosely based on Song of the South’s animated sequences, which in turn were based on the tales of Uncle Remus by Joel Chandler Harris. The ride features Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox, and Brer Bear, and other repurposed animatronics from the defunct America Sings attraction. The ride has locations at Disneyland, Walt Disney World, and Tokyo Disneyland, and remains one of the park’s most popular attractions. “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah”, the Academy Award winning song from Song of the South, is the centerpiece of the ride’s finale.
One such individual, Alex O, has started a petition to retheme Splash Mountain. At the time of writing this article, it has so far received over 2,800 signatures. At this rate, it will quickly surpass the petition to release Song of the South on Disney+.
Hi christian!
I’m getting mixed reports on this
“December 2001” report.
What is this citing?
Also, I’m seeing it has been played on Cable overseas in the 21st century… source? Best, Jxn
Hi Jxn, a VHS distributor I was working with back in 2001 reported that Disney had stopped selling the Song of the South VHS at that time in the UK. That was the last country I was aware of who was still selling the film. It has been shown on cable in various countries over the years, including Australia, but stopped being commercially available for sale in 2001.
That would be disastrous! To erase Song of the South from existence would be the same as claiming that these prejudices never existed!
…which would be fine otherwise, but they existed, and we have to learn from our mistakes!
Absolute garbage. These people (pushing this kind of agenda) are never satisfied. The ride only ever incorporated the cartoon characters anyway. Unbelievable. The direction the western world is moving in… I wouldn’t be surprised if they eventually pushed to erase the film completely. Again, ONCE AGAIN, this is a HUGE disservice to James Baskett and his family.
James Baskett was never even allowed to attend the Oscars ceremony. I doubt he was paid fairly. I doubt if he were alive today he would be proud to be in this movie.
Disney better not rush into anything too quickly. They could easily open up a can of worms they’re not ready to handle. Cinderella was abused and essentially a slave. Cruella Da Ville wants to make coats out of dogs, animal cruelty. Flubber encourages cheating by putting the stuff on the bottom of shoes for basketball games. I could go on and on. All I’m trying to say is Walt Disney wanteda place to take his children and have fun without “grown up” issues getting in the way. Splash Mountain makes no reference to the movie. If parents feel the need to explain, let them, it’s their choice. Just as this ride may bring up conversations about the past, unfortunate it is a part of our history. Disney, could you change one of the US parks and keep the other like the Tiki Room? Just as you have people disliking it you also have many people that it’s there favorite ride, not because of story but because they want to see Brer Rabbit survives.
In 2005 we had a local drive-in theater get Herbie Goes Bananas for our VW car club event. It had previews of Song of the South. I happened to mention this to a friend of mine who worked for Buena Vista (Disney’s movie distribution company) and they tracked down that print and confiscated it because of the included preview.