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Credit: DisneyDumbo the Flying Elephant is one of the most iconic Disney Parks attractions, featured in nearly every video advertisement for Walt Disney World Resort. Versions of the aerial carousel ride operate at every Disney Resort worldwide–in Magic Kingdom Park, Disneyland Park, Disneyland Paris, Tokyo Disneyland, Hong Kong Disneyland, and Shanghai Disneyland. But that could soon change as The Walt Disney Company confronts its dark past.
Disney+ added cultural sensitivity warnings to numerous films like Swiss Family Robinson (1960) and Aristocats (1970) a few years back, alerting viewers to the insensitive depictions of marginalized groups in older media. As part of this program, The Walt Disney Company consulted third-party experts for “Stories Matter,” a look back at questionable material in its content library. Dumbo (1941) was one of those films.
“The crows and musical number pay homage to racist minstrel shows, where white performers with blackened faces and tattered clothing imitated and ridiculed enslaved Africans on Southern plantations,” Disney wrote. “The leader of the group in Dumbo is Jim Crow, which shares the name of laws that enforced racial segregation in the Southern United States. In ‘The Song of the Roustabouts,’ faceless Black workers toil away to offensive lyrics like ‘When we get our pay, we throw our money all away.’”
Walt Disney Studios’ live-action Dumbo (2019) removed the racist crows, retelling the beloved story without insulting minorities. But it’s undeniable that the Disney attraction is based on its controversial animated predecessor.
“Based on the 1941 Disney animated masterpiece Dumbo, this classic attraction lets you hop atop everybody’s favorite circus elephant as he discovers he can fly,” Walt Disney World Resort writes. “Dumbo’s faithful friend Timothy Q. Mouse helps keeps you aloft with his ‘magic’ feather. As the jubilant organ melody begins, lift off for a graceful cruise around (and around and around) Storybook Circus.”
Kid-friendly rides like Dumbo the Flying Elephant are a hit for families. But will this attraction’s popularity overrule its questionable source material? At Walt Disney World Resort alone, there are three other aerial carousel attractions: Astro Orbiter and The Magic Carpets of Aladdin at Magic Kingdom Park and TriceraTop Spin at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. One day, Walt Disney Imagineering could decide it doesn’t need a fourth.
What kind of rides are Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Resort missing? Should Walt Disney Imagineering remodel Dumbo the Flying Elephant? Share your thoughts with Inside the Magic in the comments.