Social Media Erupts Over Disney Closing Splash Mountain Ride

Thousands of angry fans have lashed out against Walt Disney Studios for caving to “woke” culture as the company’s theme parks have transitioned the iconic—but racially controversial—ride Splash Mountain into a new adventure from The Princess and the Frog.

The Splash Mountain ride was based off a movie called Song of the South, which featured Disney’s first Black character, and to date is the only Disney movie to be retired from the studio’s catalog due to criticisms about the depiction of Black Americans in the post-slavery era.

The movie is a culmination of books about a character called Uncle Remus telling African American folktales and based off books written by John Chandler Harris, a white author, in the 19th century. (Harris’ stories were so popular at the time that he became friends with Mark Twain and was invited to the White House by President Theodore Roosevelt). Harris admitted being inspired by the stories told by enslaved Black people he encountered while working as a printer’s apprentice on a plantation in Georgia.

In the place of Splash Mountain will be an attraction called Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, which will open to the public on June 28 in Orlando, Florida, and at a later undisclosed date at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. (Visitors to Tokyo Disneyland will still be able to enjoy the famed ride though with no plans yet to tear it down).

Disney earned praise upon making the decision to close the ride after a conversation was sparked about its appropriateness following the racial reckoning of 2020 with the murder of George Floyd.

Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

“‘Good riddance,’” said Jim Auchmutey, the co-chair of The Wren’s Nest, the home of author John Chandler Harris that was later turned into a museum. “Our attitude is that Walt Disney is the best and worst thing that ever happened to Joel Chandler Harris’ reputation.”

In a public Facebook group boasting nearly 28,000 enthusiasts of Splash Mountain, members of the group have not shied away about their feelings at the ride being transformed into an attraction inspired by the Disney film The Princess and the Frog.

Disney

“Now… why again did Disney erase the Splash Mountain ride??” a member of the group wrote.

“Because a bunch of people raised on Disney became all in their feelings and offended by everything. And Disney not only accepted it but encouraged it,” another member of the group chimed in. “So splash mountain [sic] was canceled along with aunt Jemima, uncle Ben and the cream of wheat guy. What an accomplishment that group of people have made! Erasing black history in the name of anti-racism.”

One member of the group made a rallying cry for others to financially boycott Disney.

Disney

“Never should have removed that classic ride,” another chimed in.

“They’re not going to admit it, but the Disney company succumbed to a very loud minority of people claiming the film the attraction was based on was rac*st. What…