Splash Mountain to become Princess and the Frog ride

[Eric Smith]

I think when you are destroying and trying to erase West African folklore and fables the the motive is questionable. It's the equivalent of killing the patient to stop the cancer.

It's very important to keep Bre'r Rabbit and West African fables as another example of how great Africa is. Instead of erasing that from history. We learn Aesop's fables from a young age, no reason to erase West African Bre'r Rabbit fables.

Most people don't even know that the Bre'r Rabbit fables come from West Africa, or that Bre'r Rabbit stories were used as a form of resistance against the evil White slave masters.

Most people don't know that one of the greatest and richest empires was the Empire of Mali in West Africa.

The culture of trying to erase African history only furthers the notion that all history and inventions were made by white people. This is why it's important to retain African history and culture and role models.

So they only thing keeping West African folklore and fables alive are two rides in a Disney theme park? That's all that is happening here.

 

[JacknSally]

WDWMagic has had a poll up since yesterday asking "Do you agree with the decision to re-theme Splash Mountain?" as of this moment 33% are stating yes and 67% are stating no out of 510 people who responded to the poll.

Ending slavery was also an unpopular opinion but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t have been done.

 

[SierraT]

Well heck, I learned something new about IP today. Thanks Dis folks!

Whoops didn’t mean to post the article.

 

[Clockwork]

My point was my original post about not liking everything in WDW to be rethemed! I had very little to do with the rest of this. By the way that article is not behind a paywall... It's about the d23 expo. I'm not trying to be rude, I just don't appreciate being singled out for no valid reason.

I wasn’t singling you out, if you don’t want people to respond to your posts then don’t post, I would responded the same way to anyone on this board or any other, you could have said anything but you chose to argue about the actual definition of IP, not the perceived definition, I simply followed you down the rabbit hole.

 

[BrianL]

I don't see anything wrong with liking the ride (I loved it) but you can like the ride, be sad it is changing, but also understand and agree with the change.

Nothing wrong with nostolgia, but nostolgia alone isn't a reason to not change

But what happens when there is something wrong with nostalgia? We ae nostalgic for something that is deemed "wrong" and that is why it rankles so many people.

One fact I would like to point out though to everyone - Disney did not frame this by stating that the current Splash Mountain was bad or offensive, they only said they were "plussing" this ride with a new theme and celebrating the addition of an attraction for Tiana. Any other motives ascribed to disney are only speculation.

 

[Jiminy76]

Ending slavery was also an unpopular opinion but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t have been done.

Oh please I was simply providing some numbers. I really do not appreciate the attack and equation to this pool to ending slavery being an unpopular opinion. That is not related to the question at hand.

 

[ChipnDale79]

some of ya'll do know that we're talking about a ride at a them park..right?

 

[SierraT]

But what happens when there is something wrong with nostalgia? We ae nostalgic for something that is deemed "wrong" and that is why it rankles so many people.

One fact I would like to point out though to everyone - Disney did not frame this by stating that the current Splash Mountain was bad or offensive, they only said they were "plussing" this ride with a new theme and celebrating the addition of an attraction for Tiana. Any other motives ascribed to disney are only speculation.

Well, they really can’t now because people will ask “why now?” People will ask “if it was so bad, then why did they celebrate the ride last year?“ It was a good business decision to announce it the way they did.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

But what happens when there is something wrong with nostalgia? We ae nostalgic for something that is deemed "wrong" and that is why it rankles so many people.

One fact I would like to point out though to everyone - Disney did not frame this by stating that the current Splash Mountain was bad or offensive, they only said they were "plussing" this ride with a new theme and celebrating the addition of an attraction for Tiana. Any other motives ascribed to disney are only speculation.

well, I guess it depends what your are nostolgic about.

If you are saying "I will miss the fact Disney had a ride based on racist material, it's too bad something racist is leaving - we need more racism in the parks!" , then yeah, I guess that is bad and people can be called out on it

If it is "I enjoy the ride , I have a lot of positive memories of riding the ride in the past" I don't see issues with that

 

[hertamaniac]

I have never seen SotS in any format so I cannot use empirical observations to understand the concerns about Splash Mountain.

What I can relate to is an older family member of mine watched a television series growing up called Amos and Andy. It was on CBS for about 3 seasons in the early 1950's. It was controversial and was eventually cancelled due to concerns about the image of the characters. I see similarities to SotS and Amos and Andy, but you can still purchase A&A online even though it was removed permanently from the airwaves in the mid-1960's.

 

[JacknSally]

Oh please I was simply providing some numbers. I really do not appreciate the attack and equation to this pool to ending slavery being an unpopular opinion. That is not related to the question at hand.

I’m sorry, I was not attacking anyone. All I said is that popularity is not a good enough reason to keep some things. Just because something is popular does not mean it is necessarily good or right.

 

[BrianL]

well, I guess it depends what your are nostolgic about.

If you are saying "I will miss the fact Disney had a ride based on racist material, it's too bad something racist is leaving - we need more racism in the parks!" , then yeah, I guess that is bad and people can be called out on it

If it is "I enjoy the ride , I have a lot of positive memories of riding the ride in the past" I don't see issues with that

I like your thoughts there. I think though that some people project the former onto anyone disagreeing with them - just as many will project the opposite onto those who are for the change. That's why it can get so heated.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I like your thoughts there. I think though that some people project the former onto anyone disagreeing with them - just as many will project the opposite onto those who are for the change. That's why it can get so heated.

yeah, and it is challenging when discusisng things online (here is a little better than social media where we can have a bit of back and forth) but it seems like people get dumped in one of 2 buckets => at the extreme position of either totally for something or 100% against ... when in reality most people are probably somehwere in the middle (likely more to one end than the other, but not all the way either way)

 

[WorldOfPooh]

Where are those fables taught anyways? I have never heard of them except for Song of the South.

In Africa, also there are some videos on youtube where people are teaching the Bre'r rabbit fables here.

 

[Eric Smith]

In Africa, also there are some videos on youtube where people are teaching the Bre'r rabbit fables here.

Is this happening because of the Splash Mountain rides in Disney World and Disneyland?

 

[WorldOfPooh]

Is this happening because of the Splash Mountain rides in Disney World and Disneyland?

Getting rid of Bre'r Rabbit and the Bre'r Rabbit IP and deeming it racist would certainly stop people from learning about West African fables or teaching their children about it. It would be naive to think that Disney doesn't have that kind of impact and power on what we watch or what information we value.

 

[MBTigger]

To keep a western / frontier theme, you could turn Splash Mountian into a "Home on the Range" ride and enjoy several minutes of yodelling! Who wouldn't love that!

 

[rteetz]

WDWMagic has had a poll up since yesterday asking "Do you agree with the decision to re-theme Splash Mountain?" as of this moment 33% are stating yes and 67% are stating no out of 510 people who responded to the poll.

WDWmagic is built around hardcore old school fans. That doesn’t surprise me in the least.

 

[BrianL]

To keep a western / frontier theme, you could turn Splash Mountian into a "Home on the Range" ride and enjoy several minutes of yodelling! Who wouldn't love that!

You know, I watched that movie for the first time recently - it really gets a bad rap. THe Yodeling scene is actually fantastic and reminds me of 1970's Disney movies like The Aristocats. It's kind of trippy. The movie isn't that great, but it's also not bad. I enjoyed it.

 

[rteetz]

Well heck, I learned something new about IP today. Thanks Dis folks!

Whoops didn’t mean to post the article.

My article btw