Rumor: Splash Mountain to Already be Closed when DL Reopens

[RforFilm]

Warning: Take this with a grain of salt.

According to a friend of mine who works in Disneyland management, there is a lot of talk about prematurely closing Splash Mountain a lot sooner then expected, perhaps within the month or two range in order to start construction on the new Princess and the Frog re-theming. I'm not at liberty to say who it is, those who visit Downtown Disney or at WDW will already notice that "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" has already been removed from music compilation loop that plays in the Esplanade.

It's alleged that Disney is well aware that a lot of fans are divided on Splash Mountain losing it's Song of the South theme, but would rather start the refurbishment sooner then later instead of starting a promotion of "Riding it or the last time".

It's also alleged that the decision to start the refurbishment will be announced soon, in order to take advantage of the next quarter's budget before they start making some heavy cuts as a result of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

[Captain Andy]

In my opinion, if they haven't touched Splash Mountain at all during these past couple of months, it's best they just quietly move onto the next thing. I rode it the weekend before Disneyland closed, and it wasn't looking too great. It was sad seeing it the way it was. It was even sadder that Br'er Rabbit was just missing from most of his show scenes. Maybe he got the eviction notice early, and moved out.

I've learned a lot about Splash Mountain's history these past couple of years, and a whole lot more during this year alone. I understand it's need to go from all angles.

[PragmaticIdealist]

Disneyland should just stay closed forever at this point.

[Sun Bonnet]

They are probably better off without the publicity of a "Ride it one last time" promotion.

[ryborg]

Warning: Take this with a grain of salt.

According to a friend of mine who works in Disneyland management, there is a lot of talk about prematurely closing Splash Mountain a lot sooner then expected, perhaps within the month or two range in order to start construction on the new Princess and the Frog re-theming. I'm not at liberty to say who it is, those who visit Downtown Disney or at WDW will already notice that "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" has already been removed from music compilation loop that plays in the Esplanade.

It's alleged that Disney is well aware that a lot of fans are divided on Splash Mountain losing it's Song of the South theme, but would rather start the refurbishment sooner then later instead of starting a promotion of "Riding it or the last time".

It's also alleged that the decision to start the refurbishment will be announced soon, in order to take advantage of the next quarter's budget before they start making some heavy cuts as a result of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

I'll take it with the salt as suggested, but all your points sound very reasonable and believable to me.

[SkunkID]

If anyone remembers or has a link I'll be grateful; but I recall there was a rumor/leak from the WDW forums about the retheme being pushed up after there was some "issues" with the operation of the ride itself? Did your source mention anything along the lines of this? As others have pointed out, despite the usual refurbs and maintenance, the ride wasn't looking too well just before quarentine happened, so it really wouldn't surprise me if SOME breakdown in the ride or the show elements prompted Disney to go "screw it, we'd have to tear out parts of the ride to fix things, might aswell start bagging and tagging for the archives now and get the retheme started."

[J. Thaddeus Toad]

The only problem with this rumor is the reskin is still in the early development stage - reportedly, completion is a long ways off. Are they willing to possibly shutter the attraction for 1 or 2 years?

Or maybe fast-track a Pixar Pier like overlay, babies-on-sticks and all?

Neither decisions would surprise me under the current leadership.

[Jord]

Disney issued a statement

The removal of the song from Downtown Disney’s background music is part of a continuous process to deliver an environment that features stories that are relevant and inclusive.

https:///2020/08/disney-issues-state...t-music-loops/

Well then, why stop there?

Please remove all the stuff related to Dumbo, that horrible racist film with those horrible racist crows
Please remove all the Jungle Book stuff, with it's racist casting of a man of color as an ape while the rest of the non-ape characters are played by white men.
Please remove all the Pinocchio stuff. I hate the racist italian stereotype they used for Stromboli and why did they turn the Italian stereotype evil, compared to the book? It's racist!
Please remove all the Peter Pan stuff, I find it really racist how they portray the native indians.
Please remove or rename all the Snow White and the 7 dwarfs stuff. You can't call little people dwarfs anymore in 2020!

[Steven Fonzi Brown]

Disney issued a statement


https:///2020/08/disney-issues-state...t-music-loops/

Well then, why stop there?

Please remove all the stuff related to Dumbo, that horrible racist film with those horrible racist crows
Please remove all the Jungle Book stuff, with it's racist casting of a man of color as an ape while the rest of the non-ape characters are played by white men.
Please remove all the Pinocchio stuff. I hate the racist italian stereotype they used for Stromboli and why did they turn the Italian stereotype evil, compared to the book? It's racist!
Please remove all the Peter Pan stuff, I find it really racist how they portray the native indians.
Please remove or rename all the Snow White and the 7 dwarfs stuff. You can't call little people dwarfs anymore in 2020!

Removing the song is dumb. There is nothing remotely racist about the song itself, so far as I know. Plus it's a famous Disney classic. I could understand removing "What Makes The Red Man Red" if that were still playing for some reason, but "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" is totally harmless. I think removing it is a step WAY too far.

Re-theming Splash Mountain makes sense for a number of reasons, as others have mentioned. I think it makes it sense even just for the sake of breathing fresh life into an old attraction. That makes some degree of sense from a business perspective. Disneyland has limited space, and regularly bringing in new stuff is a good way to keep it fresh and interesting as time goes by. It's sad to get rid of old classics, but from a pure business perspective it is understandable. I know we think Disneyland is too famous to ever fail, but running a theme park is increasingly more difficult and expensive, with ever increasing rules, regulations, lawsuits, etc. Disney has to keep finding ways to pull people back in, especially since ticket prices are so insanely expensive (for good reason).

But removing a harmless classic song from a music loop makes no sense to me. Are people seriously not going to visit Disneyland just because of that song? Does that song reflect badly on Disney's image? What harm does it do? As Jord pointed out, there are plenty of other things still in Disneyland that are potentially more controversial.

Re-theming a ride makes sense to me. But if Disney is seriously going to go down the route of removing every single thing that has any connection at all to anything remotely controversial, than they would have to pretty much remove everything they've ever done. This is ridiculous.

I also think this is somewhat hypocritical given the controversial socio-political stuff they've been shoving into some of their more recent movies that has been upsetting fans and hurting their profits.

[YellowTugStrap]

I hope the fans get to ride it one last time, but I mean, if they're changing it anyways...

[Tomorrowland_1967]

How about a call for removing Sleeping Beauty Castle for it’s a reminder of the Oligarchy rule over people from the ages from when these castles were built? It’s not just about racism .... it’s about .... pick anything with a negative background. That’s all you need these days to make an argument, get a petition.... and let’s effectively shut all of Disneyland down. It’s all offensive!

[Tomorrowland_1967]

Hey .... moving onto WDW .... let’s start with Hall of Presidents .... and one by one go through every president who ever said anything... even remotely offensive! And demand their respective AA taken out!

[TacAlert]

Disney issued a statement


https:///2020/08/disney-issues-state...t-music-loops/

Well then, why stop there?

Please remove all the stuff related to Dumbo, that horrible racist film with those horrible racist crows
Please remove all the Jungle Book stuff, with it's racist casting of a man of color as an ape while the rest of the non-ape characters are played by white men.
Please remove all the Pinocchio stuff. I hate the racist italian stereotype they used for Stromboli and why did they turn the Italian stereotype evil, compared to the book? It's racist!
Please remove all the Peter Pan stuff, I find it really racist how they portray the native indians.
Please remove or rename all the Snow White and the 7 dwarfs stuff. You can't call little people dwarfs anymore in 2020!

And what do they mean by Snow White? Is that her last name? Why can't she just be called Snow? Or does that refer to white also?

[DisneyIPresume]

Disneyland should just stay closed forever at this point.

Am I the only one who read this in Eeyore’s voice?

[PragmaticIdealist]

The sanitizing of Disney has gotten downright sickening. Everything is being dumbed-down now in order to satisfy the stupidest and least-informed among us and to appease a certain kind of parent who is hell-bent on demanding Disney be as condescending and patronizing as possible.

Disney is nothing but pap and pablum anymore.

[YeaDZNY]

Am I the only one who read this in Eeyore’s voice?

No your not :-)..I just moved along after I read what was posted...as who ever thinks that way, probably is just here to troll anyways...garbage in - garbage out

[tarheelalum]

And what do they mean by Snow White? Is that her last name? Why can't she just be called Snow? Or does that refer to white also?

Snow white's, "white privilege" upsets the outrage mob to no end and they will have a petition going in no time to correct this evil fairy tale !!!

[oceanbreeze77]

Keep in mind water rides have to be less "splashy" due to covid. It is possible the State told them no splash water rides.

[MRaymond]

Disneyland should just stay closed forever at this point.

You can't do that, Anaheim would be sucked into the void left behind. What would all those hotels do, cater to the Convention Center?

[TacAlert]

Snow white's, "white privilege" upsets the outrage mob to no end and they will have a petition going in no time to correct this evil fairy tale !!!

Probably true.