Disney has just announced the Splash Mountain closing date. According to Disney, Splash Mountain will permanently close on January 23, 2023. The final day of operations will be January 22nd. This timeline only applies to Walt Disney World. Disneyland has not announced a closing date. When it reopens in late 2024, Splash Mountain will be completely rethemed to a Princess and the Frog attraction called Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. The Splash Mountain retheme was announced in June 2020.
Splash Moutain is themed around the 1946 film Song of the South. The film has been criticized for employing racist stereotypes for some of the characters. In a March 2020 shareholder meeting, Disney CEO Bob Iger talked about Song of the South when a shareholder asked if it would be included in the Disney+ catalog. Iger said, “I’ve felt as long as I’ve been CEO that Song of the South — even with a disclaimer — was just not appropriate in today’s world…It’s just hard, given the depictions in some of those films, to bring them out today without in some form or another offending people, so we’ve decided not to do that.” Just a few months later, Disney would announce that Splash Mountain would be closed permanently.
In the initial announcement in the summer of 2020, Disney noted that the retheme was due to their Diversity & Inclusion initiative to tell more relevant stories in their theme parks:
The approach to retheming or “plussing” attractions (as Walt Disney referred to it) begins with Imagineers asking the question, how can we build upon or elevate the experience and tell a fresh, relevant story? It’s a continuous process that Imagineers are deeply passionate about. And with this longstanding history of updating attractions and adding new magic, the retheming of Splash Mountain is of particular importance today. The new concept is inclusive – one that all of our guests can connect with and be inspired by, and it speaks to the diversity of the millions of people who visit our parks each year.
Splash Mountain originally opened in 1989 at Disneyland and 1992 at Walt Disney World.
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!
Apparently those who object to Song of the South have never seen the movie. I own a copy and have watched it many times. Uncle Remus is a nice old black man who USED TO BE a slave. The children love him for the stories he tells them. If the stories seem racist, Uncle Remus is retelling stories he had heard from the slave days as told by other slaves passed down by their parents. All nationalities have their own stories. Go to the World Showcase in Epcot. Tradition!
Disney is going down hill
This sucks!!!!
That is just terrible ☹️
One of my disabled sons favourite rides, that his sisters were hoping to ride with him next Autumn.
Please don’t get rid of Brer Rabbit and his friends.
That’s ridiculous Walt Disney is turning in his grave about what Disney is turning into. He built that brand for families not political.
Disney is full of whiny little babies now. It’s lost it’s magic.
I am more excited about TIANA’s BAYOU ADVENTURE for replacing Splash Mountain for Disneyland anaheim California and as I’m hoping Disney could also change old flume boats 1 seaters into 2 seaters new wider flume boats for Disneyland anaheim to reconstruct with tracks and alongside moving to New Orleans Square as I hope for.
Boooo.