On June 10, it was reported that some Disney fans were petitioning Disney to re-theme Splash Mountain to a ride based on The Princess and the Frog instead, and remove all traces of Song of the South due to its “racist” content. Song of the South was last released theatrically in the United States in 1986, a few years before Splash Mountain’s grand opening at Disneyland in 1989. The ride proved so popular that 2 additional locations at Walt Disney World and Tokyo Disneyland were opened in 1992.
Today, the Disney Parks Twitter account has tweeted the following:
“We’re thrilled to share Splash Mountain at @Disneyland & @WaltDisneyWorld will be completely reimagined with a new story inspired by an all-time favorite @DisneyAnimation film, “The Princess and the Frog.” Learn about what Imagineers have in development: https://bit.ly/3hUY0Gq“
The petition to re-theme Splash Mountain to The Princess and the Frog had gained 21,383 signatures before “declaring victory” (no more signatures can be added).
Meanwhile, a counter-petition “To Save Splash Mountain and keep it as it is in Magic Kingdom and Disneyland” has garnered over 40,000 signatures so far.
So far there have not been any mention of plans to re-theme the third Splash Mountain location at Tokyo Disneyland.
Tokyo Disneyland is an independently owned and operated Disney Theme Park, so they don’t have to go along with what the other parks do, because other parks are under financial control of the Disney Corporation and how Mr. Bob Iger likes to shape Disney.
They have no changed their Pirates of the Caribbean ride either.
Have they said when Splash Mountain will close? I need to get in my one last ride.
There are no words.
It is rather fitting Tokyo Disneyland is the last holdout for Splash Mountain, given the Japanese Laserdisc has been to easiest way to own this movie for 30+ years.
Tokyo Disneyland is considering a re-theme http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/13495321 .
Highly doubt they will, Japan has most of their rides sponsored so for them to change it would mean they likely will lose the sponsor. Princess and the frog isn’t even known in Japan. Japan could careless about the issues in the west, they also kept the wench scene in pirates.
Dang, that counter petition is almost at 60k! Hopefully Disney (and the media) take note of that.
If you are for the Re-Theming of Splash Mountain, then you are not a true Disney fan.
Once again Disney bends to the will of the Twitter mob. It is absolutely mind boggling how a relatively small number of people on social media can have such a massive influence on a large and powerful company.
This is ridiculous. Did they even ASK the black people what THEY wanted? First of all Song of the South was never released in America, so a majority of Americans aren’t even familiar with the movie. How can you be offened by something you don’t even know exists? A majority of the videos on Youtube are BLACK people laughing at how ridiculous this whole thing is. The biggest piece of how stupid it is is the statement a worker at the Uncle Remus Museum said. She made a whole video about it! A BIG majority of the Save Splash Mountain community is BLACK!!! Notice how this thing started because a WHITE PERSON said it was racist? I thought white people can’t decide what is and isn’t racist. We need to save Splash Mountain!
I’m not black myself, but Splash Mountain and Song of the South have been a BIG part of my life. I’ve been obsessed with both my whole life and even gathered up a BIG collection (Not as big as Christian’s unfortunately). My all time DREAM was to work on Splash Mountain. A SONG OF THE SOUTH Splash Mountain. Not a Splash Mountain that destroys TRUE black history. The Brer Stories have been passed down for HUNDREDS of years even before slavery by black people. I’m not black, but I am speaking on behalf of all of my good friends that are black and are extremely offended about the retheme.