Splash Mountain to become Princess and the Frog ride

[Alicefan]

That’s not the point. It’s offensive to a large chunk of the population

That being the entire problem here though. Anyone can find something to be offended by in any given ride at Disney these days. It's going to be never ending. Once they start, where do they stop? "I don't like how there's Native Americans in the Peter Pan ride...I don't like how the dead are being portrayed as ghosts...I don't like people's butts being all up in the fine china..." There's somebody out there all bent out of shape over every little thing. I just think it's horrible timing. I feel like Disney is rewarding horrible behavior on this one. For me it's a move that says, rioting and looting gets things done. Just sends a bad message right now. I am actually looking forward to the new ride because I LOVE PatF. I've done Splash a thousand times and love that too, but I'm cool with it.

 

[Alicefan]

Would be interesting if they picked a different theme

Looking at the maps their Splash Mountain is in Critter Country and really the only attraction there and next to their Haunted Mansion which is in Fantasyland so they could go a different direction/larger change

I hope they do! I'm dying to go there but I HATE when the parks just rehash rides from other parks. I like to try brand new things. Give me a reason to travel!

 

[rteetz]

That being the entire problem here though. Anyone can find something to be offended by in any given ride at Disney these days. It's going to be never ending. Once they start, where do they stop? "I don't like how there's Native Americans in the Peter Pan ride...I don't like how the dead are being portrayed as ghosts...I don't like people's butts being all up in the fine china..." There's somebody out there all bent out of shape over every little thing. I just think it's horrible timing. I feel like Disney is rewarding horrible behavior on this one. For me it's a move that says, rioting and looting gets things done. Just sends a bad message right now. I am actually looking forward to the new ride because I LOVE PatF. I've done Splash a thousand times and love that too, but I'm cool with it.

Or it’s in response to the thousands of well thought out Peaceful protests that show things can and should change. This is in no way rewarding riots. I’m white even I think that is out of line.

Or the more likely option is it’s disney doing what is right. Taking the controversy that has surround this ride and film out of the parks completely and going with something fresh, new and exciting that will resonate with audiences.

 

[JacknSally]

I just think it's horrible timing. I feel like Disney is rewarding horrible behavior on this one. For me it's a move that says, rioting and looting gets things done. Just sends a bad message right now.

People aren't protesting (or rioting, or looting) to get a ride changed, though, so Disney's not "rewarding" anyone with this change. Disney has said they've been looking at potential rethemes for years, and working on a PatF retheme for at least one year. This is not the first time they've heard that the ride is questionable at best.

 

[Rory607]

Nope. Not me. It's an okay water ride that has a big drop but not a thrill ride... not for me. I rode it for the characters and the little drops, then the big one, are just icing. I walked out of that ride, tearing off my cheap poncho and grinning from ear to ear. Those same feelings well up inside me when I see those characters as they did when I was a boy and thought animals could talk and are my friends. For a few minutes the crappy outside world was gone. I'm having a hard time making it more than that. I think on its face there nothing to offend till someone explains the backstory. That seems to be happening here. A child goes in, loves it, the grown ups explain why that's wrong. That's where I think its inception came from.... just happiness. no harm meant. But I'm okay either way. Just make it cute with critters I can fall in love with and we'll call it a day.

So let’s think about a whole new generation of kids who will love it for the cute characters from a movie they’ve actually seen and call it a day.

 

[Alicefan]

People aren't protesting (or rioting, or looting) to get a ride changed, though, so Disney's not "rewarding" anyone with this change. Disney has said they've been looking at potential rethemes for years, and working on a PatF retheme for at least one year. This is not the first time they've heard that the ride is questionable at best.

Maybe not, but either way you look at it, people seem to be jumping at this very moment in time and it sure appears that way and still sends that message.

 

[Alicefan]

Or it’s in response to the thousands of well thought out Peaceful protests that show things can and should change. This is in no way rewarding riots. I’m white even I think that is out of line.

LOL you're kidding right? No one, but no one is showing thousands of peaceful protests on the news. I've literally shut off my cable and turned off facebook because I can't take all of the horrible hatred I had to start my day with every day. I'm sorry, it's my opinion that this should have happened a long time ago. What it LOOKS like is pandering. Whether it is or not. We'll have to agree to disagree.

 

[rteetz]

LOL you're kidding right? No one, but no one is showing thousands of peaceful protests on the news. I've literally shut off my cable and turned off facebook because I can't take all of the horrible hatred I had to start my day with every day. I'm sorry, it's my opinion that this should have happened a long time ago. What it LOOKS like is pandering. Whether it is or not. We'll have to agree to disagree.

Absolutely not kidding. Of course the news is only going to show the violence. There are more sources than just the cable news networks.

We will have to agree to disagree. Disney is attempting to do what’s right.

 

[New Mouse]

I’m not sure you’re getting the point. This isn’t about enjoying the ride as a ride. It’s about what the story is built upon. Disney did for a long time a good job at trying to eliminate that controversy. However as time goes on things change and more and more people see things in a different light. Song of the South has been problematic from the start. There is no arguing that. You could argue it could be used as a teaching point but for most people they don’t go to theme parks to learn. This is one of the reasons Epcot has changed so much.

Im getting the point...so in this case we should shut down Disney knowing that Walt did not exactly shine as someone to look up to on a personal level. There are much more egregious things that happen and happened within the company over the years and if everyone took those to heart, using this same standard you should take down all of Disney.

 

[rteetz]

Im getting the point...so in this case we should shut down Disney knowing that Walt did not exactly shine as someone to look up to on a personal level. There are much more egregious things that happen and happened within the company over the years and if everyone took those to heart, using this same standard you should take down all of Disney.

Nope.

I’ll just stop now.

 

[disneydreamer1980]

This whole situation is ridiculous. It’s a ride for gods sakes. Every person on here who is calling for the ride change and who has also waited in line, rode and enjoyed this great ride is a hypocrite. Did it not bother you then, or only now that everyone’s decided to be offended by it, now that it’s the popular thing to do?Because the ride hadn’t changed, it’s still just extremely cute and inoffensive ANIMALS that are tied to a movie that most riders don’t even know exists. Let’s all be offended by a 70 year old movie none of us has ever seen and most dont even know exists! Well I for one am offended by the portrayal of Native Americans on PPF, so I want that gone. I also don’t like that HoP includes presidents who owned or condoned slave ownership, lets just get rid of that one too. And I’m kind of offended by animals being exploited so how bout we just shut down all of AK? While we’re at it, those three caballeros are offensive so we’ll do away with that ride too. We’ll just totally change everything and call the place PC World! And for those who say “that’s ridiculous, it’s not the same,” yes, it most certainly is and it’s all ludicrous.

 

[JacknSally]

Maybe not, but either way you look at it, people seem to be jumping at this very moment in time and it sure appears that way and still sends that message.

The message I was sent was "We here at Disney have been trying to come up with a solution for the problem with this ride for a long time and now we feel like we finally have the right solution led by the right team, and we want to share it with you."

The only thing "suspicious", I guess, about the timing was that it feels like the kind of thing that would get announced at an event like D23, but given that they're having a kind of rough week with Disneyland's reopening being pushed back, Florida's COVID cases rising, rumblings that WDW cast members are uneasy about going back to work, and rumors that WDW might not actually reopen mid-July, it makes sense that they'd move the announcement up to make something positive the headline for a while.

 

[SaintsManiac]

LOL you're kidding right? No one, but no one is showing thousands of peaceful protests on the news. I've literally shut off my cable and turned off facebook because I can't take all of the horrible hatred I had to start my day with every day. I'm sorry, it's my opinion that this should have happened a long time ago. What it LOOKS like is pandering. Whether it is or not. We'll have to agree to disagree.

Seems like you needed to change the channel.

 

[New Mouse]

Nope.

I’ll just stop now.

You probably should. What makes your cause better than someone elses?

Walt was not a good person many a time, so why should we enshrine him and overlook his transgressions?

 

[Oldnewfan]

So let’s think about a whole new generation of kids who will love it for the cute characters from a movie they’ve actually seen and call it a day.

I agree. I just don't want people to demonize something that I don't think was created with any wrong intention. And.... I'm an old fart so we probably need a new generation falling in love with a new ride and this old fart will just pay the bill at the end of the day for my two granddaughters and keep my mouth shut

 

[SierraT]

Are you serious? If the parent is sitting there crying because Splash Mountain is being changed, the kid will probably be upset. If the parent explains that it is based on a movie that is from a long time ago and explains racism at an age-appropriate level, the kid will be fine. Hopefully, the parents have already been having conversations with their kids about racism and this is not brand new information to them. It's not to my kids. Not saying I'm a perfect parent, but we have these conversations in my house and my kids are in 4th grade and kindy. My kids are entitled to their feelings and emotions, but I'm not going to model crying over a theme park ride. Be upset, but learn why it's wrong and look forward to the future.

Mine are older and we had a discussion about the ride change this morning (full disclosure, my kids have been over Disney for quite a few years and have issues with them as a company even though their mom loves it there). I told them they were changing Splash and the response was “annnndddddddd.” After razzing me, they reminded me of our great memories and that those will never fade and it’s true. We will likely have more great memories with whatever Disney chooses to put in it’s place some day (if we can ever get them to go again).

That said, in all the years vacationing to Disney we never once spoke about Splash Mountain in a racist sense. We got in line, went on the ride, and then enjoyed the rest of our vacation. I have a hard time understanding why a parent would feel the need to even discuss a theme park ride with plastic animals as a teaching moment about racism. There are far more appropriate forums for that kind of dialogue. Both my children are extremely bright, well adjusted humans and one is going to be a Dr. Neither of them have a racist bone in their body, but they still enjoyed the ride. This entire thing is so overblown and frankly makes me question my sanity in why I continue to respond to the topic.

 

[Dean Marino]

My dear wife hates coasters... we never got on the original ride.
And we probably won't get on the thing that WDW is replacing it with.

Just please - don't brand COP scenes 1-3 Politically incorrect?

 

[Oldnewfan]

You probably should. What makes your cause better than someone elses?

Walt was not a good person many a time, so why should we enshrine him and overlook his transgressions?

Hey now.... leave Walt outta this.

 

[rteetz]

My dear wife hates coasters... we never got on the original ride.
And we probably won't get on the thing that WDW is replacing it with.

Just please - don't brand COP scenes 1-3 Politically incorrect?

This isn’t a coaster. The new iteration also won’t be a coaster.

 

[Oldnewfan]

This isn’t a coaster. The new iteration also won’t be a coaster.

that's pretty good actually. I'm not sure you could ever find it hunting for a coaster