Topline
Splash Mountain at Disneyland in Southern California will take its final lap May 30, the company announced Wednesday, months after the ride closed at Florida’s Walt Disney World after a push from the racial justice movement of 2020 forced the company to examine the ride’s connection to the controversial movie Song of the South.
Splash Mountain in Critter Country at Disneyland in Anaheim, CA.
Key Facts
The attraction will close May 31 after the Memorial Day weekend rush, Disney said in a blog post Wednesday.
Splash Mountain is scheduled to be rethemed and reopen in 2024 as “Tiana’s Bayou Adventure,” based on the 2009 film The Princes and the Frog which features Disney’s first Black princess, the company said.
The new ride will take guests on a nine-minute journey through a reimagined New Orleans on their way to a Mardi Gras concert, and feature more than a dozen original audio-animatronic figures along the way, Disney said.
Tangent
Splash Mountain at Walt Disney World closed for good in January. Just like in Disneyland, the ride is set to reopen as “Tiana’s Bayou Adventure” in 2024.
Key Background
Splash Mountain has been marred in controversy the past few years over its connection to a Civil War-era movie. The ride—which opened in Disneyland in 1989 and Walt Disney World in 1992—is based on Song of the South, a 1946 live-action and animated film that has been widely criticized for the way it depicted race relations in the post-Civil War South. While the film was re-released multiple times in the 20th century, there was never a home release of the film in the U.S. and it’s not available on Disney+, the company’s streaming service. The film, which even won an Oscar at the time of release, is also known for the song “Zip-a-dee-doo-dah.” which many believe was based on a racist pre-Civil War song. The ride’s connection to the 1946 film is one many guests were unaware of until a Change.org petition gained steam in 2020 and received more than 21,000 signatures in an effort to get Disney to change the theme of the ride. Disney announced in June 2020 the ride would be rethemed to the film The Princess and the Frog in both parks. A few months later, the Orange County Register reported Disneyland stopped using the “Zip-a-dee-doo-dah” song on the ride.
Further Reading
Disney’s Splash Mountain Takes Final Lap After Controversial Past (Forbes)
Disney’s Splash Mountain To Close In Florida in January Amid Racism Concerns—Nearly Three Years After Company First Announced It (Forbes)
Disney To Remove Controversial ‘Song Of The South’ Theme From Splash Mountain Rides (Forbes)
A Year After Disney Said It Would Revamp Racist Splash Mountain, It’s Still Open And Company Won’t Say When Work Will Start (Forbes)
Disney’s Splash Mountain—Based On Controversial ‘Song Of The South’—Sells Out Merch Prior To Makeover (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/anafaguy/2023/04/12/disneylands-splash-mountain-closing-next-month-over-ties-to-controversial-film/