Hello everyone! I hope all is well with all of you. Today we will be revisiting the upcoming reimagining of the fan favorite attraction, Splash Mountain. Earlier this year Disney announced that they will be reimagining Splash Mountain, which is currently based off the movie Song of the South, into an attraction based on The Princess and the Frog. Fans had and continue to have all kinds of mixed feelings on this reimagining. On one side of the fence you have those who believe that the ride should be changed due to the racist nature of Song of the South. On the other you have fans who believe that Splash Mountain, while using characters and songs from Song of the South, is a totally innocent ride that should be left alone as the characters and songs have appeared in quite a few other forms of Disney entertainment around the parks.
Since the announcement of the reimagining, Disney has been pretty well, confusing, about their stand in regards to the controversy surrounding the ride. On one hand they have acknowledged the issues with Song of the South and label the movie a product of it's time and have done their best to bury it. Recently Disney has gone as far as removing the popular Song of the South songs from the parks (outside of inside Splash Mountain itself). Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah in particular had become almost the theme of the Disney parks, but now it has all but vanished. While continuing to remove references to the movie from the parks, Disney has also come out with nothing short of a ton of new merchandise for the ride that has been deemed offensive by many people. It's strange to me to see that happening. It's not really as strange to me to see that Splash Mountain is seeing a massive surge in popularity as people try to get one last ride in despite the apparent offensive nature by some to the ride. Still, even more confusing to me is the statement that the reimagining of Splash Mountain will now be fast tracked.
Here's what I do not understand, but have an idea on. In a time where so many project have been put on hold, where so many projects have been cancelled or altered, in a time where resources are being shifted all over the place, and most importantly, in a time where cast member layoffs are all over the place, why is this attraction being fast tracked? Why is Disney suddenly making the retheming of Splash Mountain a priority as opposed to it being an idea in the pipeline? I have a couple ideas as to why, but admittingly they could be completely off base.
My biggest theory and honestly my most feared is that this is going to end up being a cheaply done retheming. The ride itself is going to remain the same, that much we know. Disney is not going to be leveling the mountain and remaking the ride. So what needs to be paid for is the removal of the Splash Mountain theme and adding in of whatever The Princess and the Frog theme they are going with. My feelings are that this is going to be done in a cheap way. Splash Mountain is home to a lot of animatronics. If you take a real good look on that ride you may be surprised as to just how many there are, especially in a water ride. My thoughts are the number of those that you will see on the new ride will be very few and far between. Those little and big robots are expensive after-all. So what will replace them? The answer is something that is now being used more and more in the new Disney park attractions, screens. Screens that may be initially expensive to install, but then will not require maintenance. Will we see animatronics at all? Yes I think we will. I think we'll get a Tiana and a Louis. Beyond that though, I'm not really sure. Compared to other projects going on right now, this makes the retheming of Splash Mountain very cheap and easy to do.
My other theory is that Disney is trying to gauge what people want and what is going to keep them looking better during this pandemic. This kind of ties into the divide between fans regarding the retheming as a whole. On one side, you have a large number of fans that want to see this attraction closed down asap and rethemed to a more inclusive one. On the other, you have a large number of fans that want to see the attraction stick around for as long as possible. Jammed in the middle are people like myself that would rather see projects already underway that have been delayed (Tron, Guardians of the Galaxy, EPCOT as a whole) realized and at least have an end in sight. These people would also like to see Disney start bringing back cast members that have been let go sooner rather than later. Right now, the loudest crowd is the crowd that wants Splash Mountain changed, therefore it becomes more of a priority because the last thing that Disney wants right now is for them to be seen as racist for keeping the ride for a longer period of time (though it could be argued that the company is just that for even having the ride open at this point and cranking out new merchandise for it).
So this where we are apparently at. At a time where other theme parks around the country, big or small, are fighting to keep staff and make it through, Disney is aiming at fast tracking a new attraction while putting other projects on hold. Really I think it does come down to the cheapest options. Disney World's 50th anniversary is fast approaching and the pandemic has certainly thrown a wrench in those plans. Whether or not Splash Mountain is a part of the festivities remains to be seen, but one thing is perfectly clear. It is not going to be around as long as we originally thought and one would think we will start getting more information soon. What will happen to the divide then? Who knows, but all I know is that both sides agree on one thing. The Princess and the Frog is certainly deserving of an attraction in the Disney Parks and either way I am excited, yet nervous to see what we end up getting.
Thank you all so much for reading and stay tuned for the next blog coming real soon!
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