Following the closure of Walt Disney World’s Splash Mountain on January 23, Disneyland closed the doors on the original Splash Mountain ride yesterday, May 31.
The ride will be re-themed as “Tiana’s Bayou Adventure”, based upon the characters from Disney’s 2009 film The Princess and The Frog. It is currently scheduled to re-open in 2024.
In 2019, a petition was opened by Alex O. to re-theme Splash Mountain to “remove all traces of this racist movie”, and after 20,000 signatures, Disney agreed to it. Meanwhile, a petition to Save Splash Mountain opened by Eric Thibeault garnered over 80,000 signatures, but predictably fell upon deaf mouse ears.
Disneyland’s Splash Mountain was the first of three locations opened in 1989, followed by WDW and Tokyo Disneyland in 1992. Tokyo Disneyland’s Splash Mountain is now the last surviving location, and at least for now it seems to be safe from a “reimagining”.
Really is a shame Disney a pandering to a small but loud minority, as Splash Mountain represents a time when Disney was at their most creative, at least most since Walt’s passing. The fact the movie ended being “locked away” only made the ride more creative and imaginative.
Following the easy money for this obnoxious princess “brand” (and a specific movie that was never really that successful to justify the hype) is the work of a corporation and leadership(Iger, Chapek too, but mostly Bob Iger) that’s only cares about money and not creativity, which ironically will lead to less money in the long-run.
I miss splash mountain at disneyland and Walt Disney world. Thank you so much for the Wonderful Memories!!
Okay so Disney is being stupid. Here’s how you can combat it and enjoy yourself at the same time: The most pristine restoration of Song of the South in High Definition is now available in this 2023 edition.
https://archive.org/details/song-of-the-south-1080-2023-restoration-v-29-cc-h-264
You can download it along with special features from that site. (Just in case the storm troopers start taking it down.) Then share it with all your friends and family. Flood the world with copies of this wonderful film.