Last Chance To Ride Splash Mountain At WDW Before Permanent Closure
By Kelly Coffey-Behrens on January 22, 2023 at 9:15 AM EST
In 2020, Disney Parks announced that the iconic attraction, Splash Mountain, located at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland, will be rethemed into a "Princess and the Frog" ride.
The attraction is based off of the film, "Song of the South", which is extremely controversial as many deem it racist. The movie is a mix of live-action and animation and features an older African-American plantation laborer named Uncle Remus who tells stories to a young white boy. Groups including the NAACP protested the film’s initial release.
As the Walt Disney Company pushes for more inclusion, they made the decision to get rid of Splash Mountain and turn it into a "Princess and the Frog" attraction.
Final Weekend To Ride Disney World's Splash Mountain
The Disney Parks recently announced that the last day Guests can experience Splash Mountain at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida would be on January 23, 2022, meaning there are only a few days left before the iconic attraction closes forever.
Within Splash Mountain, Guests can spot many of the characters from Song of the South, including Br’er Rabbit, Br’er Fox, and Br’er Bear.
The official Disney World description reads:
Gently drift through a colorful Southern bayou along with happy-go-lucky Br’er Rabbit as he looks for his “laughing place.” But be warned: Br’er Bear and Br’er Fox are in hot pursuit of this wayward hare.
Glide by over 100 adorable Audio-Animatronics geese, frogs, raccoons, possums, bees, alligators and other down-home critters as they sing classic Disney ditties, including “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” and “Ev’rybody’s Got a Laughing Place.”
Then hang on to your hats—this delightful musical cruise ends in an exciting 5-story splashdown into a thorny Briar Patch!
Splash Mountain To Become "Princess and the Frog" Ride
In 2020, a petition made its rounds on the internet asking Disney to retheme Splash Mountain into a "Princess and the Frog" themed ride, which seems to have made an impact as a few months later, Disney Parks announced the plans to permanently close the classic theme park attraction Splash Mountain — which opened in the late ’80s and early ’90s at the California and Florida theme parks — and open a new ride based on the 2009 Disney Princess animated movie.
"The Princess and the Frog" was released in 2009 and starred Anika Noni Rose (Tiana), Jennifer Cody (Charlotte “Lottie” La Bouff), Jim Cummings (Ray), John Goodman (“Big Daddy” La Bouff), Keith David (Dr. Facilier), Bruno Campos (Prince Naveen), Michael Leon Wooley (Louis), Jenifer Lewis (Mama Odie), Terrence Howard (James), Oprah Winfrey (Eudora).
Disney Movies describes the film as:
With a modern twist on a classic tale, this animated comedy is set in the great city of New Orleans. Featuring a beautiful girl named Tiana, a frog prince who desperately wants to be human again, and a fateful kiss that leads them both on a hilarious adventure through the mystical bayous of Louisiana.
According to Disney, the story for the new attraction will pick up after the final kiss in the movie as Guests join Princess Tiana and Louis on a musical adventure “featuring some of the powerful music from the film – as they prepare for their first-ever Mardi Gras performance.”
At this time, there is no closing date for Splash Mountain in Disneyland or an opening date for Tiana's Bayou Adventure for either Disney World or Disneyland.
