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Credit: Disney It’s official: Splash Mountain has been erased from the Disney World map.
After 30 years, Walt Disney World Resort officially bid goodbye to its ‘Laughing Place.’ On January 23, 2023, Magic Kingdom’s Splash Mountain closed its queue for a final time to make space for a new attraction: Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.
Inspired by Song of the South (1946), the controversy around Splash Mountain had been brewing for a while. Not only was its source material notorious for utilizing racist stereotypes, but the fact that Disney – a company that prides itself on producing family-friendly content – was still spotlighting it in three of its Parks worldwide felt more than a little disingenuous.
In 2020 – in the midst of Black Lives Matter protests across the United States – Disney announced that it had been developing a new iteration of the attraction since 2019. This time, it would be inspired by The Princess and the Frog, with Splash Mountain’s leading Imagineer Tony Baxter returning as a creative advisor.
Both Disneyland and Magic Kingdom have since shuttered their Splash Mountain attractions, while Tokyo Disneyland is yet to announce any updates.
Their replacements will be set a year after the events of The Princess and the Frog and focus on Tiana’s new employee-owned food cooperative, Tiana’s Foods, which she’s built on a salt dome. It’s carnival season, and Tiana is hosting a celebration for the people of New Orleans when she realizes that her celebration is missing a key ingredient and needs her Guests’ help to find it.
Guests have a while to wait until Tiana calls for their help. Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is set to open at both Disneyland and Magic Kingdom in 2024. However, Disney World is already prepping for its arrival, having recently replaced Splash Mountain on the My Disney Experience app’s map with Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.
Journalist Ashley Carter shared the discovery on Twitter. The ride’s location is marked with its logo, stylized similarly to the font used on The Princess and the Frog poster.
The logo for Tiana's Bayou Adventure has been added to the Disney World digital map in the My Disney Experience app. The attraction is set to open at Magic Kingdom next year. pic.twitter.com/ZTXmCyTzHZ
— Ashley Carter (@AshleyLCarter1) June 8, 2023
It’s a small step, but all part of the long journey ahead until we can experience Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. We’re almost there.
What do you think of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure? Let us know what you’re most excited about in the comments!