The attraction will become Princess and the Frog focused instead. The attraction, which is open at Disney World and Disneyland, will tell the story of The Princess and the Frog.
Key insight:There’s no timeline for the change, and Disney already has a lot of ride-related projects in the works.
Splash Mountain, one of Disney’s problematic theme park attractions, will be “completely reimagined” from its current theme, which has its roots in Song of the South, a Disney movie the company has long disavowed.
The official Disney Parks blog broke the news today with a first-look rendering of the new theme for the ride, a project Disney said its engineers—known as imagineers—”have been working on since last year.” Splash Mountain will now be based on the 2009 animated film The Princess and the Frog—the only one to feature a Black Disney princess—that tells the story of Tiana, an aspiring New Orleans restaurateur who meets a prince cursed to live as a frog.
“We pick up this story after the final kiss, and join Princess Tiana and Louis on a musical adventure—featuring some of the powerful music from the film—as they prepare for their first-ever Mardi Gras performance,” according to the blog post.
The idea for revamping Splash Mountain—the ride exists at both Disney’s Magic Kingdom in Orlando, Fla. and Disneyland in Anaheim—actually began trending on social media in early June as people reexamined racist relics of the past within modern American life in light of the Black Lives Matter movement. But it really took off when self-described “Disney parks afficionado” Frederick Chambers showed off his renderings and storylines for the ride, which he said he’s been working on for years:
Princess and the Frog Splash Mountain retheme for Disneyland thread. Just put on the soundtrack and a splash ridethrough while reading this.
