Splash Mountain Will Change to Princess and the Frog--WILL OPEN 7/11 as Splash

[t-roy]

All my boys can say is “not another princess!”

I took my son from the age 4-16 every year. I can hear your boys in my head

 

[JamesGarvey]

This may sound crazy, but maybe you shouldnt view racist tropes as sacred to begin with.

 

[SMRT-1]

So how many young kids are going to go on Splash Mountain now because they want to go on the "Tiana ride," and then get traumatized by the drop?

 

[2vets]

I’m honestly surpised it took them so long.

 

[meredith975]

I haven't been on Disboards since my Teen Disney days, but I had to log on to give my two cents. I was really sad to hear the news. Splash Mountain is iconic. But I totally get why they're changing it. I always thought it was odd to have a ride based on a movie you don't want anyone to watch. I grew up loving Winnie the Pooh. I'm sure people were upset when it replaced Mr. Toad's Wild Ride which was an original. Kids will grow up loving the Princess and the Frog ride and I'll probably love it too. I don't want to hold on too tightly to the past where Disney can't evolve. I'm going to miss Splash Mountain, but I'm tentatively excited about the change.

 

[Karin1984]

Yes, and some rides should just never be re-themed. Never.

Look at Tower of Terror. They re-themed it for DL and it's fine for them, but....the Tower of Terror theming is just so classic Disney that just like that, if they changed it, I'd cry.

I do hope they can work all of our Brer friends into the new iteration, and the music as well, although....I guess that kind of defeats the purpose.

Oh if there is one ride that I think is so UN-disney as can be, it's Tower of Terror. I love the ride, but it always feels completely out of place to me to be at a Disney park. The name alone is undisney to me.

I'm quite sure Disney has been planning this for years. This cannot be a new idea they thought up in the last few weeks.

 

[soTinkalicious]

Disney is in the business of re-theming the parks to keep up with the times. And it makes sense for them to do so. I would imagine that Frontierland might be up for some modification. I would love to see Brother Bear / Pocahontas themes showing up through that side of the park. Personally for me, the drop is iconic and I would be sad if the new ride wasn't a water ride with the drop. The rest is window dressing

 

[Chrizwald]

How do you figure. People that were scared of the drop or just did not want to get wet are now going to set aside those reservations and jump aboard? The theme of Splash Mountain kept absolutely no one off the ride.

That theme absolutely didn't get people ON the ride.

 

[Koridawn]

Maelstrom.

#neverforget

CANNOT. LIKE. ENOUGH.

 

[mmackeymouse]

Oh if there is one ride that I think is so UN-disney as can be, it's Tower of Terror. I love the ride, but it always feels completely out of place to me to be at a Disney park. The name alone is undisney to me.

I'm quite sure Disney has been planning this for years. This cannot be a new idea they thought up in the last few weeks.

Disagree, my friend.

What I mean by Disney is....old school Disney in the sense that Walt was in the business of storytelling. The fine details. The Imagineering. Tower of Terror is storytelling at it's finest.

If they come for Dumbo, I will chain myself to the ride, and I'm not joking.

 

[SMRT-1]

Disney is in the business of re-theming the parks to keep up with the times. And it makes since for them to do so. I would imagine that Frontierland might be up for some modification. I would love to see Brother Bear / Pocahontas themes showing up through that side of the park. Personally for me, the drop is iconic and I would be sad if the new ride wasn't a water ride with the drop. The rest is window dressing

They're not building a new ride, they're just re-theming the scenes in the existing ride, so from a purely "ride" standpoint it will be the same. It's like Frozen Ever After; the ride mechanism is the same as Maelstrom, the Norwegian scenes were just replaced with Frozen.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

lol, maybe on disney forums like this. But your average disney goer isn't going to care

Exactly. I just told my SO. He does Disney with us and likes Disney but he’s not an enthusiast. When I told him he said “which ride is that?” Lol. I explained it and he said “oh the log ride with the drop?” He doesn’t even remember the theme or song.

 

[MickeyWaffles]

I love that people are already thinking this is going to be some cheap re-do. Tony Baxter is working on it. He literally came up with the idea for Splash Mountain.

Think about that. Splash was “his” ride and he’s working on the Princess and the Frog re-theme. It will be well done.

 

[TheBunny]

Having gone away to think about it... I still don’t like the news, haha.

I just can’t help but wonder why we continue to have something like Tom Sawyer Island and Swiss Family Treehouse, both of which could be taken away and reimagined into a PatF bayou setting. They do not pull the numbers or have the devoted crowd that Splash does.

So sad...

 

[ThornXBL]

I love that people are already thinking this is going to be some cheap re-do. Tony Baxter is working on it. He literally came up with the idea for Splash Mountain.

Think about that. Splash was “his” ride and he’s working on the Princess and the Frog re-theme. It will be well done.

I am ecstatic that Tony is working on the retheming. I have high hopes for Splash Mountain v2.

Side note, I think it would be wonderful if some day the Disney versions of the Br'er animals could be used in a modern, respectful, non-offensive retelling of some of the Remus stories. It's possible, although admittedly highly unlikely. There have been other modern retellings though.

 

[NewGuyHere]

Disagree, my friend.

What I mean by Disney is....old school Disney in the sense that Walt was in the business of storytelling. The fine details. The Imagineering. Tower of Terror is storytelling at it's finest.

If they come for Dumbo, I will chain myself to the ride, and I'm not joking.

Dumbo will be fine. The peanuts in the pavement leading up to the attraction...those may have to go.

 

[t-roy]

I agree 100%. And idiotic. It seems Disney always caves to the small percentage of people because they make the most noise.

I’m thinking it’s not a small percentage of people that can make Disney invest in a project this size financially or socially

 

[Koridawn]

Have does a bayou have waterfalls? Well, it's all fantasy anyway, I know. It might look cute inside, I'm sure. I'm just not resonating with the overall theme in the land it's in.

Several waterfall locations in Louisiana including Clark Creek which is about twenty miles outside of New Orleans.

 

[Koridawn]

To be fair, that is not in the offical Disney Parks Blog post which is what I read.

Nevertheless, there is a post on this news story on the official parks blog.

 

[ainswokp]

For the change, happy my daughters will have a great ride they can identify with.