MK; Splash Mountain to become Princess and the Frog ride.

[YorkshireT]

They’ve got some top Imagineers working on this including one coming out of retirement especially to do it- I actually have high hopes but would have preferred to have seen them build a totally new PatF water ride instead of changing this one.

[YLL]

Splash Mountain was a great ride and the new version will still be a great ride and probably more amazing than ever before with brand new animatronics and scenery! I hope it will be open by 2022.

Has anyone here ever seen Song of the South? Found it online last year, problematic yes and very naive...

[theCMG]

For me this change is long overdue, the fact that Disney has held back from showing or re-releasing Song of the South for years says it all. Looking forward to a Princess and the Frog re-skin and it means they can put in a New Orleans theme that they have in Disneyland (albeit they’ll have to be careful not to jar with the old West).

[Tretinker]

My daughters are thrilled Tiana is their favourite princess and PatF their favourite film. They love SM but glad it's being reimagine.
I was sad at first SM is a fab of mine and I'll miss the song but I have never seen Song of the South and while I'd heard their were issues I didnt know what. I did think once I saw a post on Instagram that SMs days were numbered.

[JohnD]

Originally Posted by DisneyDose

Re-theming Splash Mountain won't stop racism. This is a much loved ride that many millions of Black people have ridden over the years and most could care less about it's back story. Cancel culture wins the day again. Splash Mountain becomes Woke Mountain.

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I can remember my Gran reading the Brer Rabbit books to me and loving them. It seems nothing can be left alone any more.

[Guest]

I am very sad to read this news, I loved the theming as it was.

I do not know what the issue with Song of the South is, and after having just googled and read up, I am no wiser.

[chmurf]

Mixed emotions

splash was a very nice ride, and like with every retheming, one ride has to go to make place for another awesome ride (or so we hope for)

it's difficult to see a ride go, but that's life. What would make it more difficult to accept would have to do with the motives behind the change

make a ride evolve, offer new content, I'm ok with that (even when I don't like the new theme. There's gotta be something for everyone in the parks)
tear down an icon because of fear of controversy, that's a sad, sad world

[amarooney]

Originally Posted by DonnaD

Why don't you believe it? There have been rumours about a change for ages.

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There are always rumours at Disney. The timing is dubious bearing in mind the recent 'pressure'. They can produce concept art for all sorts of things as anyone who subscribe to the Disney Channel knows and who has a watched the Imagineering programmes. Maybe the Princess and the Frog was an idea they considered once and shelved. I would have thought the sheer size of the ride would have made re branding a long and expensive project which put them off. Who am I to doubt what a multi billion corporation says when it's trying to protect its image.

[Aimee_K]

This makes me so sad
I've loved this ride for a very long time, one of my first memories in 1993.
I understand sometimes change has to happen but this is such an iconic ride for Walt Disney World and i'm unsure if this would have gone ahead if recent circumstances hadn't have happened.
Maybe PatF would have been it's own ride somewhere else in the park.
I'm glad in a way that the actual ride won't change though, just the theme. I'm sure that they will do something beautiful with it and maybe brighten it up a bit.
But Splash Mountain will always hold a special place in my heart.

[Guest]

So moving away from the issues around racism for a second and to the actual theme of the ride. For Disney world:

1) how does Princess and the frog fit with the area especially next to big thunder mountain
2) how does a mountain fit into the princess and the frog story

For those reasons above I think they should have considered a different theme.

Certainly, the theme fits at Disneyland but here I am not so sure