As the entertainment industry strives to enforce true and lasting change amidst today's sociopolitical climate, The Walt Disney Co. on Thursday announced that its Splash Mountain ride would be “completely reimagined,” given the attraction's ties to Disney's racist 1946 film SONG OF THE SOUTH.
Rather than keep the ride's offensive iconography intact, Disney plans to redesign Splash Mountain so that it reflects the 2009 film THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG, an animated classic that gave Mouseketeers the studio's first Black princess. According to the House of Mouse, they've been working on the redesign for more than a year, though a construction timeline and date to relaunch the ride have yet to be determined at this time. Furthermore, it's been said that the new ride’s storyline will pick up after Princess Tiana and Louis’ final kiss in the film, and feature both music from the movie as well as a spirited Mardi Gras performance.
The “conceptual design work is well underway,” according to a Disney Parks blog post, and Imagineers will “soon be able to conduct preliminary reviews and develop a timeline for when the transformation can start to take shape.”
As the ride exists today, Splash Mountain features characters and songs from SONG OF THE SOUTH, Disney's 1946 live-action animated hybrid that finds a Black story-teller by the name of Uncle Remus telling a young white boy about the trickster Br'er Rabbit, who outwits Br'er Fox and slow-witted Br'er Bear. Ever since the film's release, Disney has taken heat for the feature drawing on racist stereotypes in its portrayal of freed slaves, as well as the ways with which the sing-song adventure presents a plantation system that is free of struggle, sadness, and other tragic realities. To this day, and for damn good reason, Disney has yet to make the film available for sale in any official capacity.
While the relaunch of Splash Mountain is likely years away, Disney's plan to redesign the ride is being viewed by many as another step in a positive direction toward equality and representation throughout their money-printing parks and more.