In 2020, Disney Parks announced that the iconic attraction, Splash Mountain, located at Walt Disney World and Disneyland, would be rethemed into a “Princess and the Frog” ride.
Splash Mountain at Walt Disney World permanently closed to Guests on January 23, 2023. Disneyland’s version of the ride remains open — but not for long, as Disney just announced when the ride would permanently close.
Splash Mountain To Close In May
Disney announced today that Splash Mountain at Disneyland Park would be closed starting May 31, 2023, so the Parks can begin the next development phase for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.
The attraction is based on the film “Song of the South,” which is highly controversial as many deem it racist. The movie mixes 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.
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.
As the Walt Disney Company pushed for more inclusion, they decided to eliminate Splash Mountain and turn it into a “Princess and the Frog” attraction.
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure
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).
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.”
“Walt Disney Imagineering is creating an original, next chapter story for Tiana,” Disney Parks previously reported. “Within the attraction queue, guests will discover that she continues to grow her business with Tiana’s Foods – an employee-owned cooperative. Combining her talents with those of the local community, Tiana has transformed an aging salt mine and built a beloved brand.”
The storyline will follow Tiana as she purchased the salt mine and the surrounding areas from which the salt dome operated. Fans will see beloved characters from the film, including Tiana’s mother, Eudora, her husband, Prince Naveen, and the lovable alligator, Louis, who all helped Tiana revive the old salt mine and the surrounding land, allowing them to grow fresh new ingredients such as vegetables, herbs, and spices for her recipes.
The new ride, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, will open at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida and Disneyland Resort in California sometime in 2024.
