A new attraction featuring Disney’s first Black princess is opening at the company’s U.S. theme park resorts, and many Disney fans see it as a fitting replacement for an old ride that was based on a movie with racist stereotypes.
The new ride updates Tiana’s story from the 2009 animated film “The Princess and the Frog.” It’s set to open this year in the spot where Splash Mountain used to be. Splash Mountain was themed around “Song of the South,” a 1946 Disney movie filled with racist clichés about African Americans and plantation life.
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure keeps the log-flume style of Splash Mountain but adds music, scenery, and animatronic characters inspired by “The Princess and the Frog,” set in 1920s New Orleans. The ride will open to the public later this month at Walt Disney World in Florida, and at Disneyland in California later this year.
“For little Black girls, Tiana has meant a lot. When a little child can see somebody who looks like them, that matters.” Neal Lester, English professor at Arizona State University, who has written about Tiana.
Disney announced in June 2020 that it would transform its long-standing Splash Mountain ride into Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. This decision came in the wake of social justice protests following George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis police custody.
Although Disney stated that the change was already being planned, the announcement coincided with many companies across the U.S. reevaluating or renaming long-standing brands amid the global protests.
Disney’s Racist Movie
The film “Song of the South” combines live action, animation, and music, following an elderly Black man working on a plantation who shares tales of talking animals with a young white city boy. Criticized for perpetuating racist stereotypes, the film hasn’t been shown in theaters for many years and isn’t available on Disney’s streaming service, Disney+.
“Song of the South,” completed in 1946, became the first Disney film to combine live action with animation. The film is set in a typical southern plantation, where whites manage and Black people work the land, with the particularity that Black people live happily.
The role of Uncle Remus was left to actor James Baskett who couldn’t attend the film’s avant premiere at the Fox Theater in Atlanta, due to his skin color. Two years later, Walt Disney’s lobby allowed him to win an honorary Oscar, becoming the first African-American man to win the award.
‘Splash Mountain’ Controversy
Splash Mountain, a gentle ride aboard a “log” that leads to an unexpected semi-vertical drop over a pool of water, was completed in 1989 in the California park and was later replicated in Florida. The entire journey is adorned with the images and voices of Br’er Rabbit, Br’er Fox and Br’er Bear (Brother Rabbit, Brother Fox and Brother Bear, the three main animated characters of the 1946 film).
In 2020, Disney lowkey updated its ideology and announced the remodeling of the attraction to turn it into an inspiration for ‘The Princess and the Frog’, the production company’s first feature film starring an African-American princess, named Tiana.
Above is the original SPLASH MOUNTAIN based on Song of the South, with the song Zippity Doo Dah.
It was removed by Disney, and replaced with Tanya’s Bayou Adventure based on Princess and the Frog below. pic.twitter.com/fxquZrSERI
— Hollywood Horror Museum (@horrormuseum) June 2, 2024
The shift from Splash Mountain to Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is part of a broader effort by the entertainment giant to update theme park rides with outdated or problematic storylines.
The new ride, is set to open to the public at Disney World on June 28, with a similar version expected to debut at Disneyland by the end of the year.
