They never should have closed Splash Mountain. This was pandering to a vocal minority. Other than the animated characters and music, the ride had nothing to do with the movie at all. This was virtue signaling at the cost of a beloved classic attraction that was NEVER without one of the longest lines in the parks.
Here, here! We’re seeing the attempted annihilation of our culture and history all over our nation by, as you stated well, a vocal, intolerant minority. As a previous annual pass holder of 20 plus years, it is VERY disappointing to see Disney bow to the demands of this woke crowd hell bent on the destruction of anything that doesn’t fit in their narrow, pathetic vision of what they see as “tolerant and inclusive”.
Anyone who says this wasn’t built to pander to the woke minority is fooling themselves. This has always been one of Disney’s greatest attractions, especially of the more modern rides built. An absolute shame they have to ruin it this way, just like their movies they have been releasing.
CONSERVATIVES aren’t the ones ruining everything friend. being blind to truth is another problem with the liberal mind. your people wan’t to erase history rather than move forward and learn from our mistakes. embrace the error of our ways. that’s what being conservative is all about. self loathing is a wonderful human trait. you wear it well.
And Disney is not for your kind. There is nothing racist about Splash Mountain and it is alive and open. I look forward to those that tried to have it change being blacklisted from the entertainment industry and Disney parks becoming private members only clubs for its purists and off limits to liberals.
Conservatives, not liberals are the problem. Just look at how Florida’s governor is setting himself as governor for life and all his ridiculous laws he’s trying to push through.
You’re probably tired of what he’s saying because it’s true. The only reason they removed the ride was to pander to people who will likely never visit the park anyway.
Instead of giving Tiana a modern ride they gave her a 30 year old short track limiting the creativity. Plus, why would you make an important princess be the theme of a thrill ride? Little girls can’t ride, nor can people with health or serious mobility problems. And don’t forget many kids are scared of big drops. So much for inclusion. The decision was ridiculous in every aspect
You don’t speak to military men like that. And I don’t have my dates mixed up because I’m speaking to you from the year 2058. That’s right we can speak to people in the past including our past selves now. Time travel is also real. Doc Brown would be pleased. Splash Mountain is alive and well for both WDW’s 75th and Disneyland’s centennial in 2055 and FYI I will be taking over Disney myself like Saul Steinberg almost did in 1984, except I will be bringing in the MDGA era and I will not be CEO, but Owner. I will be owning Disney like a sports team and ask “What would Walt do?” to make decisions. Hope if you make to then, you enjoy theme parks trapped in the 20th century.
Disney has chosen to distance itself from Song of the South for decades. That’s a fact. That isn’t the result of some new found wokeness. Splash, therefore….was a dead brand. It was a limited IP that Disney wouldn’t (through years of burying the source material) be able to branch out and expand. With new movies and merchandise coming out for most of their older non IP rides, Splash wouldn’t have made money.
And Disney has no right to distance themselves from it. When I take Disney over, Song of the South will be embraced. And who cares about merchandising? That business model that Paul Pressler implemented is going to be dropped when I take Disney over. “What would Walt do?” will decide everything again.
Well….i loved tiana, and i loved the songs and i think turning this ride into a bayou is actually a good use and way to update it. I always looked forward to splash mountain but its way outdated for future generations. Its ok to change things. Settle down.
I saw this beautiful movie as a kid and at the age of 73 I still have wonderful memories of the Song of the South. Mr Blue Bird and Brer Rabbit And Bear but mostly Uncle Remus who interacted with these 2 very young kids as a loving kind old man. You did not look at him as Black especially back when it hit the screens. Instead of Disney re-releasing this movie to today’s WOKE IDIOTS you simply tear it down and replace it with a more recent BLACK character in a Bayou of all places! THIS IS SO WRONG and it will come to nite Disney in the butt. People including me will NEVER EVER go on this ride. Disney is alienating it’s long time fans with their outright support of Black Race and Gays. It’s is being forced down our throats and it will not work. You are clearly joining forces with the WRONG sides.
Only people with hatred in their hearts find racism in Splash Mountain and Song of the South. Those same hearts will find just as many tropes and stereotypes to rally against and cancel in the ho-hum lore of The Princess and the Frog. And ya’ll mind this now: this here story of Tiana and her frog prince was also – as Uncle Remus’ tales were a century before – curated and brought to the fore by brothers of another mother, sure as you’re born. If virtue signaling is Disney’s goal, it’s a paper tigger to many.
To replace such tried-and-true, culturally sound, sung-EVERYWHERE, brand-new-day, feel-great anthems as “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah” and “How Do You Do?” with the lackluster, over-factoried snorers from one of Randy Newman’s lesser efforts is a travesty.
And it’s absolutely tragical – GOOD GOD – to tear apart at the seams the perhaps greatest marriage of story with experience that ever came out of Imagineering. Loosening one bolt of a – literal – hot-summer’s-day, swimming-hole, spritzing plunge into a briar patch (to the delighted horror of those watching outside) is not progressing in ANY sense of the word. It only serves – and will remind us every time we take it henceforth – that there is no growth in the dreams and adventures that Walt’s great, big, beautiful tomorrow trumpeted we enjoy. It’s instead a deep, dark plunge down towards an ugly past. Into regression with no progression around the river bend.
It would be far, far more intelligent/savvy/imaginatively-engineery for Tiana to rethink the Mark Twain’s voyage on the River’s of America into a giant dark ride of a jazzy journey down to New Orleans. Or a window shopping adventure around the streets of New Orleans and Frontierland hunting or being chased by Dr. Facilier ala Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom. Or any other of a multitude of other truly progressive cultural enhancements pulsing in the creative minds out there within and without the walls of Grand Central. And while we’re wiping the sleep out of our eyes SURELY, she’s worth more than just the capital of a retheming, no?
Why must inclusion/diversity always loot the big boxes of Hollywood’s – and now Disney’s – accomplishments instead of building up it’s own? Even if fans think her film IS worthy of an experience, Tiana deserves to have her own attraction BUILT for her. Not stolen, torn-down or toppled.
You know, in creating his art, (and later, indeed, sharing it with us on the very decks of that Mark Twain many a time), Louis Armstrong and his contemporaries did not tear down. They didn’t loot. They created their own art that spoke for itself which rhythms and sounds as an aural monument TO THIS DAY in every corner of that area of the park. Far better to follow their suit; perhaps even with an umbrella held aloft and a prance in your step ’til you can’t open your mouth without a song jump right out of it.
For awhile on Tom Sawyer’s island we had an eagle’s nest with brightly white eggs frying-panned over a burning settler’s cabin. Such sympathy manifested! Making changes in the parks based on toxically-feminine reasonings is not always the least cheesy of experiences.
The WRONG things are being addressed in this awareness and this desire to change things for the better. The amateurs of justice are misusing their power and influence as the information age continues to unfurl itself. The imagineers (and the management they answer to) can do much, much better for ALL our lives than these token, insulting, soul-deadening solutions.
Celebrate. Don’t debilitate.
Entertain. Don’t lecture.
Sustain. Don’t coddle.
Enhance. Don’t redact.
Be the parent, not the child.
Disney is retheming Splash Mountain because they believe their fanbase is just a bunch of woke people on Twitter. If Disney actually knew about their fanbase Splash Mountain wouldn’t be getting rethemed.
How many children really know of Song of the South? It has been omitted by Disney for years. The first time I rode Splash Mountain the impression was that it is a great ride. What did a bear a fox and a rabbit have to do with anything other than a rabbit and his adventures. When it opened my kids were four and one. As time went on and the kids could go on Splash never once did they take it as anything but a fun story. It became an issue because people made it an issue. I agree with the majority of the comments here. It needs to be refurbished and remain the same. No need for a change. Why does Tiana need her own attraction? What about other Princesses that came before her? Yes, Snow White has her own attraction but she was the Princess that started it all. Tony Baxter did a wonderful job with Splash. Leave it alone. Disney, listen to your loyal audience and stop trying to please everyone that has an agenda.
Only people with hatred in their hearts find racism in Splash Mountain and Song of the South. Those same hearts will find just as many tropes and stereotypes to rally against and cancel in the ho-hum lore of The Princess and the Frog. And ya’ll mind this now: this here story of Tiana and her frog prince was also – as Uncle Remus’ tales were a century before – curated and brought to the fore by brothers of another mother, sure as you’re born. If virtue signaling is Disney’s goal, it’s a paper tigger to many.
It’s absolutely tragical – GOOD GOD – to tear apart at the seams the perhaps greatest marriage of story with experience that ever came out of Imagineering. Loosening one bolt of a – literal – hot-summer’s-day, swimming-hole, spritzing plunge into a briar patch (to the delighted horror of those watching outside) is not progressing in ANY sense of the word. It only serves – and will remind us every time we take it henceforth – that there is no growth in the dreams and adventures that Walt’s great, big, beautiful tomorrow trumpeted we enjoy. It’s instead a deep, dark plunge down towards an ugly past. Into regression with no progression around the river bend.
It would be far, far more intelligent/savvy/imaginatively-engineery for Tiana to rethink the Mark Twain’s voyage on the River’s of America into a giant dark ride of a jazzy journey down to New Orleans. Or a window shopping adventure around the streets of New Orleans and Frontierland hunting or being chased by Dr. Facilier ala Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom. Or any other of a multitude of other truly progressive cultural enhancements pulsing in the creative minds out there within and without the walls of Grand Central. And while we’re wiping the sleep out of our eyes SURELY, she’s worth more than just the capital of a retheming, no?
The argument is ridiculous. Disney rides have changed forever. Splash Mountain was great because it was a log flume ride in the middle of the capital of humidity. The story it told wasn’t great, it was choppy and dated, as were the audio animatronics. The people who are against the change are way way more ideological than the people in favor of it as evidenced by the passion in these comments. They desperately need it to be about a “woke” narrative otherwise they’re singular ideology of being anti-woke wouldn’t work. Disney has changed rides forever, for better and for worse. I still miss Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride and Delta Dreamflight.
Everything you said is completely wrong. And when I take Disney over, expect no ride to ever change again unless it’s something being resurrected from the dead and for the parks to be preserved in amber.
Comments for We Were Wrong About Splash Mountain
Deborah
They never should have closed Splash Mountain. This was pandering to a vocal minority. Other than the animated characters and music, the ride had nothing to do with the movie at all. This was virtue signaling at the cost of a beloved classic attraction that was NEVER without one of the longest lines in the parks.
Terry Pickle
Here, here! We’re seeing the attempted annihilation of our culture and history all over our nation by, as you stated well, a vocal, intolerant minority. As a previous annual pass holder of 20 plus years, it is VERY disappointing to see Disney bow to the demands of this woke crowd hell bent on the destruction of anything that doesn’t fit in their narrow, pathetic vision of what they see as “tolerant and inclusive”.
Roy E.
Splash Mountain was one-of-a-kind… no doubt about that! Tony Baxter and gang did some of the finest work to ever grace the halls of imagineering.
Anti woke
Anyone who says this wasn’t built to pander to the woke minority is fooling themselves. This has always been one of Disney’s greatest attractions, especially of the more modern rides built. An absolute shame they have to ruin it this way, just like their movies they have been releasing.
Bert
So tired, your argument.
Jason A
Only thing “tired” is liberals ruining everything they touch.
Steve
Only thing “tired” is conservatives ruining everything they touch. There, fixed it for you.
robert reid
CONSERVATIVES aren’t the ones ruining everything friend. being blind to truth is another problem with the liberal mind. your people wan’t to erase history rather than move forward and learn from our mistakes. embrace the error of our ways. that’s what being conservative is all about. self loathing is a wonderful human trait. you wear it well.
S1
And Disney is not for your kind. There is nothing racist about Splash Mountain and it is alive and open. I look forward to those that tried to have it change being blacklisted from the entertainment industry and Disney parks becoming private members only clubs for its purists and off limits to liberals.
Steve
Conservatives, not liberals are the problem. Just look at how Florida’s governor is setting himself as governor for life and all his ridiculous laws he’s trying to push through.
robert reid
so protecting children from potential adult predators is a bad thing for you? i really hope you dont have children.
Dan
You’re probably tired of what he’s saying because it’s true. The only reason they removed the ride was to pander to people who will likely never visit the park anyway.
Jason A
FACT!!!
Chris
Instead of giving Tiana a modern ride they gave her a 30 year old short track limiting the creativity. Plus, why would you make an important princess be the theme of a thrill ride? Little girls can’t ride, nor can people with health or serious mobility problems. And don’t forget many kids are scared of big drops. So much for inclusion. The decision was ridiculous in every aspect
Steve
Splash Mountain is alive and well for WDW’s 75th on October 1, 2046. I know because I was there. Tiana will be erased and no one will bat an eye.
Steve
Uhh, still taking your meds bud? Pretty sure you got your dates mixed up.
Steve
You don’t speak to military men like that. And I don’t have my dates mixed up because I’m speaking to you from the year 2058. That’s right we can speak to people in the past including our past selves now. Time travel is also real. Doc Brown would be pleased. Splash Mountain is alive and well for both WDW’s 75th and Disneyland’s centennial in 2055 and FYI I will be taking over Disney myself like Saul Steinberg almost did in 1984, except I will be bringing in the MDGA era and I will not be CEO, but Owner. I will be owning Disney like a sports team and ask “What would Walt do?” to make decisions. Hope if you make to then, you enjoy theme parks trapped in the 20th century.
Ace
Disney has chosen to distance itself from Song of the South for decades. That’s a fact. That isn’t the result of some new found wokeness. Splash, therefore….was a dead brand. It was a limited IP that Disney wouldn’t (through years of burying the source material) be able to branch out and expand. With new movies and merchandise coming out for most of their older non IP rides, Splash wouldn’t have made money.
Steve
And Disney has no right to distance themselves from it. When I take Disney over, Song of the South will be embraced. And who cares about merchandising? That business model that Paul Pressler implemented is going to be dropped when I take Disney over. “What would Walt do?” will decide everything again.
Frank
Princess and the Frog was a HUGE box office FLOP. It is what lead to the end of 2d animation.
EVERYTHING related to it is pandering solely based on that it was a box office FLOP.. Please prove me wrong… I am all ears..
RickTR
Plus the fact that the family of white frog hunters from “Deliverance” are extremely racist. But of course since they are white, no problem.
Bonnie
Well….i loved tiana, and i loved the songs and i think turning this ride into a bayou is actually a good use and way to update it. I always looked forward to splash mountain but its way outdated for future generations. Its ok to change things. Settle down.
Frank
What’s outdated about it?
Appalachian
Good article, Zach. Everyone loved Splash Mountain. It was a fun ride. Everyone loved the theme and the music.
Marcus
I’m totally fine with the retheme. But, I would have preferred a retelling of the Princess and the Frog story and not a new story.
Doris
I saw this beautiful movie as a kid and at the age of 73 I still have wonderful memories of the Song of the South. Mr Blue Bird and Brer Rabbit And Bear but mostly Uncle Remus who interacted with these 2 very young kids as a loving kind old man. You did not look at him as Black especially back when it hit the screens. Instead of Disney re-releasing this movie to today’s WOKE IDIOTS you simply tear it down and replace it with a more recent BLACK character in a Bayou of all places! THIS IS SO WRONG and it will come to nite Disney in the butt. People including me will NEVER EVER go on this ride. Disney is alienating it’s long time fans with their outright support of Black Race and Gays. It’s is being forced down our throats and it will not work. You are clearly joining forces with the WRONG sides.
Anthony
Of course you lijed the Uncle Remus character. An unthreatening, subservient black man singin songs for white chirrun.
Bill in TN
Good article, Zach.
Kingsport
Everyone loved Splash Mountain
Paully
This revamp of Splash Mountain will fail..
It will become an open sore subject for decades..
Eventually it will be retheamed back to its original..
Rick
Should have posted this article when the announcement was made in 2020. Maybe could have saved it. Splash Mountain will be missed.
LWA
Go woke. Go broke.
Disney’s days are numbered.
ChadL
Only people with hatred in their hearts find racism in Splash Mountain and Song of the South. Those same hearts will find just as many tropes and stereotypes to rally against and cancel in the ho-hum lore of The Princess and the Frog. And ya’ll mind this now: this here story of Tiana and her frog prince was also – as Uncle Remus’ tales were a century before – curated and brought to the fore by brothers of another mother, sure as you’re born. If virtue signaling is Disney’s goal, it’s a paper tigger to many.
To replace such tried-and-true, culturally sound, sung-EVERYWHERE, brand-new-day, feel-great anthems as “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah” and “How Do You Do?” with the lackluster, over-factoried snorers from one of Randy Newman’s lesser efforts is a travesty.
And it’s absolutely tragical – GOOD GOD – to tear apart at the seams the perhaps greatest marriage of story with experience that ever came out of Imagineering. Loosening one bolt of a – literal – hot-summer’s-day, swimming-hole, spritzing plunge into a briar patch (to the delighted horror of those watching outside) is not progressing in ANY sense of the word. It only serves – and will remind us every time we take it henceforth – that there is no growth in the dreams and adventures that Walt’s great, big, beautiful tomorrow trumpeted we enjoy. It’s instead a deep, dark plunge down towards an ugly past. Into regression with no progression around the river bend.
It would be far, far more intelligent/savvy/imaginatively-engineery for Tiana to rethink the Mark Twain’s voyage on the River’s of America into a giant dark ride of a jazzy journey down to New Orleans. Or a window shopping adventure around the streets of New Orleans and Frontierland hunting or being chased by Dr. Facilier ala Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom. Or any other of a multitude of other truly progressive cultural enhancements pulsing in the creative minds out there within and without the walls of Grand Central. And while we’re wiping the sleep out of our eyes SURELY, she’s worth more than just the capital of a retheming, no?
Why must inclusion/diversity always loot the big boxes of Hollywood’s – and now Disney’s – accomplishments instead of building up it’s own? Even if fans think her film IS worthy of an experience, Tiana deserves to have her own attraction BUILT for her. Not stolen, torn-down or toppled.
You know, in creating his art, (and later, indeed, sharing it with us on the very decks of that Mark Twain many a time), Louis Armstrong and his contemporaries did not tear down. They didn’t loot. They created their own art that spoke for itself which rhythms and sounds as an aural monument TO THIS DAY in every corner of that area of the park. Far better to follow their suit; perhaps even with an umbrella held aloft and a prance in your step ’til you can’t open your mouth without a song jump right out of it.
For awhile on Tom Sawyer’s island we had an eagle’s nest with brightly white eggs frying-panned over a burning settler’s cabin. Such sympathy manifested! Making changes in the parks based on toxically-feminine reasonings is not always the least cheesy of experiences.
The WRONG things are being addressed in this awareness and this desire to change things for the better. The amateurs of justice are misusing their power and influence as the information age continues to unfurl itself. The imagineers (and the management they answer to) can do much, much better for ALL our lives than these token, insulting, soul-deadening solutions.
Celebrate. Don’t debilitate.
Entertain. Don’t lecture.
Sustain. Don’t coddle.
Enhance. Don’t redact.
Be the parent, not the child.
Innovate, innovate, innovate.
And be supercalifragilisticexpealidocious for it.
Mason
Disney is retheming Splash Mountain because they believe their fanbase is just a bunch of woke people on Twitter. If Disney actually knew about their fanbase Splash Mountain wouldn’t be getting rethemed.
Debby
How many children really know of Song of the South? It has been omitted by Disney for years. The first time I rode Splash Mountain the impression was that it is a great ride. What did a bear a fox and a rabbit have to do with anything other than a rabbit and his adventures. When it opened my kids were four and one. As time went on and the kids could go on Splash never once did they take it as anything but a fun story. It became an issue because people made it an issue. I agree with the majority of the comments here. It needs to be refurbished and remain the same. No need for a change. Why does Tiana need her own attraction? What about other Princesses that came before her? Yes, Snow White has her own attraction but she was the Princess that started it all. Tony Baxter did a wonderful job with Splash. Leave it alone. Disney, listen to your loyal audience and stop trying to please everyone that has an agenda.
ChadL
Only people with hatred in their hearts find racism in Splash Mountain and Song of the South. Those same hearts will find just as many tropes and stereotypes to rally against and cancel in the ho-hum lore of The Princess and the Frog. And ya’ll mind this now: this here story of Tiana and her frog prince was also – as Uncle Remus’ tales were a century before – curated and brought to the fore by brothers of another mother, sure as you’re born. If virtue signaling is Disney’s goal, it’s a paper tigger to many.
Rob
Replacing Splash Mountain was stupid. Whoever is responsible for it should be terminated immediately.
RickTR
How the hell can you make a ride about looking for a “special ingredient” for a recipe? How exciting!
ChadL
It’s absolutely tragical – GOOD GOD – to tear apart at the seams the perhaps greatest marriage of story with experience that ever came out of Imagineering. Loosening one bolt of a – literal – hot-summer’s-day, swimming-hole, spritzing plunge into a briar patch (to the delighted horror of those watching outside) is not progressing in ANY sense of the word. It only serves – and will remind us every time we take it henceforth – that there is no growth in the dreams and adventures that Walt’s great, big, beautiful tomorrow trumpeted we enjoy. It’s instead a deep, dark plunge down towards an ugly past. Into regression with no progression around the river bend.
It would be far, far more intelligent/savvy/imaginatively-engineery for Tiana to rethink the Mark Twain’s voyage on the River’s of America into a giant dark ride of a jazzy journey down to New Orleans. Or a window shopping adventure around the streets of New Orleans and Frontierland hunting or being chased by Dr. Facilier ala Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom. Or any other of a multitude of other truly progressive cultural enhancements pulsing in the creative minds out there within and without the walls of Grand Central. And while we’re wiping the sleep out of our eyes SURELY, she’s worth more than just the capital of a retheming, no?
JS
The argument is ridiculous. Disney rides have changed forever. Splash Mountain was great because it was a log flume ride in the middle of the capital of humidity. The story it told wasn’t great, it was choppy and dated, as were the audio animatronics. The people who are against the change are way way more ideological than the people in favor of it as evidenced by the passion in these comments. They desperately need it to be about a “woke” narrative otherwise they’re singular ideology of being anti-woke wouldn’t work. Disney has changed rides forever, for better and for worse. I still miss Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride and Delta Dreamflight.
Steve
Everything you said is completely wrong. And when I take Disney over, expect no ride to ever change again unless it’s something being resurrected from the dead and for the parks to be preserved in amber.
JoeNYWF64
If the new Splash Mountain has ONLY animals in it, it “should” not offend anyone.
Comments are closed.