7Splash Mountain Closing in January; Princess and the Frog Transformation Beginning?
UPDATE (11:00am)
Splash Mountain at the Disneyland Resort is closing down on January 10, 2022, for refurbishment, as pointed out by the good folks at BlogMickey. As many of you may already know, the resort has plans to retheme the popular attraction to the hit animated film, 2009’s Princess and the Frog.
As of now, there is no end date for the refurbishment, which leads us all to believe the shutdown will be for the retheme. Though, Disney Parks has yet to confirm that officially. The refurbishment could be its normal annual refurbishment, which is done during Disneyland’s colder season.
Back in November, during his keynote speech this morning for the IAAPA Expo, Josh D’Amaro Chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, spoke on the companies idea to add Inclusion as a fifth key to the company’s four keys that every new cast member receives. Here is what he said about Disney choosing to speed up the retheming of the iconic Splash Mountain ride.
“We want to make sure that we’re focusing on inclusivity for our guests as well, so we’ve chosen to speed up some of the work that we had been developing to make sure that our parks remain relevant and welcoming to all of our guests. For example, we announced the transformation of our classic attraction Splash Mountain to include a new storyline based on Princess and the Frog. Tiana is a modern, courageous, and empowered woman, who pursues her dreams and never loses sight of what’s really important. It’s a great story with a strong lead character, set against the backdrop of New Orleans and the Louisiana bayou.“
Read: Disneyland to Test Standby Rise of the Resistance
The reimagined attraction is set to replace Splash Mountain’s ties with Disney’s 1946 animated film Song of the South, which was highly criticized for painting racist depictions of Black people and helped perpetuate “a dangerously glorified picture of slavery.” While Disney has disowned the film in 1986 and has not officially released it on DVD, the ride’s ties to the movie sparked many controversies, with fans even petitioning for the Parks to remove the ride or re-haul it altogether to remove it any connections with Song of the South.
Splash Mountain in Magic Kingdom Park at Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., will soon be completely reimagined, inspired by the animated Disney film “The Princess and the Frog.” Guests will join Princess Tiana and Louis on a musical adventure as they prepare for their first Mardi Gras performance, featuring some of the powerful music from the film. (Disney) 
You can watch the video below which provides more details on the new attraction below:
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