How Long Will Fans Cling to Splash Mountain After Its 'Princess and the Frog' Retheme?

With the imminent closure of Splash Mountain at Disneyland and Disney World, how long will fans cling to the iconic Disney ride’s memory?

It is no secret that Br’er Rabbit, Br’er Bear, Br’er Fox, and the residents of the Briar Patch are nearing their final “how do you do’s?” at Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Resort as the iconic Disney ride gears up for an extended closure and complete reimagining to welcome princess Tiana, prince Naveen, Louis, and Mama Odie at Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, set to welcome Guests at both Orlando and California in late 2024.

While Disneyland Resort has not announced an official closing date for the Critter Country ride, Walt Disney World has announced that Splash Mountain in Frontierland at Magic Kingdom will close on January 23, 2023. And as would be expected, the coming closure is already causing problems at Magic Kingdom as Guests have tried to do the unspeakable for the ride.

However, even with its decaying condition, broken animatronics, sinking boats, structural failures, and constant breakdowns and evacuations, thousands of fans will surely miss hearing “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah” as they visit the Briar Patch, raising an inevitable question; how long will it be until fans stop clinging to “Splash Mountain” after its definitive closure?

Disney fan u/PlasticBagPatrick started this conversation on Reddit, asking fellow users how many generations it would take before more people started referring to Splash Mountain as Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.

Their post reads, “I feel like people that grew up with Splash Mountain will still call it that just out of habit and some of their kids might just from hearing it, but it’s going to be weird when more people don’t know what Splash Mountain was and wouldn’t recognize the name.”

Nearly 130 users joined the conversation with all points of view, including u/bunifarcr, saying, “The #savesplashmountain folks will most likely still call it that or they’ll completely boycott the ride. The rest will probably call it the ‘Tiana ride.’”

User u/stellalunawitchbaby, along with several fellow Redditors, commented they would likely continue to call it “Splash” or a similar name purely out of habit as they have done with other reimagined attractions like Incredicoaster (formerly California Screamin’) and The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror (now Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT!).

And user u/SadSongStreet hilariously commented, “Hey let’s ride Tiana’s Bayou Adventure at Splash Mountain presented by Ziploc on our way to Star Wars land,” to which the original poster replied, “The Ziploc is the most important part,” and u/SquishyMon added, “Inspired by Princess and the Frog,” all making fun of the unnecessarily long names some Disney rides have, at least officially.

While the conversation strayed away from the original question, Disney fans and Guests will likely continue to call Tiana’s Bayou Adventure by its former name, “Splash Mountain,” or some variable of it for some time after the new attraction’s opening, either out of habit or for whatever reason. Guess “that’s just gonna have to wait a while,” as princess Tiana and her friends are “Almost There” to bring the new Disney ride to life.

What will you call the new attraction once it opens? “Tiana’s Bayou Adventure,” “Splash Mountain,” or something else? Let us know in the comments below!