Today, Josh D’Amaro, the current Chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products gave a keynote presentation at the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions expo.
Splash Mountain
D’Amaro provided some KEY updates about some of the future attractions coming to Disney World, including the transformation of Splash Mountain into an attraction themed to “The Princess and the Frog.”
In June of 2020, Disney announced that Splash Mountain at both Disneyland Park and in Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World will be re-themed to an attraction themed to The Princess and the Frog.
Princess and the Frog attraction Concept Art ©Disney
Disney has shared a few details about this attraction, including a general idea of the story, the Imagineer who will be leading the project, and a bit more.
©Disney
But, Disney had yet to share any specific timeline for this transformation. Instead, Magic Kingdom reopened with the existing Splash Mountain attraction, and Disney merely noted that “conceptual design work is well underway and Imagineers will soon be able to conduct preliminary reviews and develop a timeline for when the transformation can start to take shape.”
We don’t have an official timeline yet, but today we did get an important update! According to IAAPA, during today’s presentation, Josh D’Amaro noted that certain guest facing changes, “like the reimagining of ‘Splash Mountain,’ have been expedited to ensure that all who visit the company’s parks do feel welcome as well.”
This way to Splash Mountain
We’re not sure exactly when this re-theming will start taking place yet, but we will definitely keep an eye out for more updates so you know when you’ll be able to float on down the bayou with Tiana and her friends. Stay tuned for all the latest news!
Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure in EPCOT is now set to open in 2021! Check out the details here.
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Boooooooooo
But hey don’t worry about all of those we fired yeah Disney sure loves their employees. This could wait to b done or never as far as I’m concerned! But what this year has taught me is the total not caring and unloyalty of Disney concerning their employees who are the backbone of their company.
They had to fire 28,000 cast members and cancel almost all of the entertainment at WDW due to budget problems, but they have the money to re-theme one of their most popular attractions…I’m shocked by this news.
Change the French Market Restaurant to Princesse and the frog Theme Place. Leave Splash Mountain Alone.
Still a dumb move by Disney. Princess and the Frog with a Mardi Gras celebration does NOT belong in Frontierland. It is out of place and should have its own ride somewhere else that makes more sense. I still feel it was a poorly done movie with forgettable music and not very good animation compared to what Disney has put out before. I don’t think “fans are going to be over the moon” about this as evidenced by how impossible it has been to get Splash Mountain merch since the announcement or how long the lines are now to ride it before the change happens. Take a hint, Disney.
As a half-black male who appreciated the original african folk tales of splash mountain I feel this is a change given to us as a token. If Disney really wanted to show diversity in the parks they would build a new ride for POTF and leave splash mountain alone. Apparently we can only have one ride based on our culture and not two. I feel a lot less welcome in the parks now after this mess. Won’t be going back for a long time if ever!
It would be nice if it could be ready for the 50th anniversary of the Magic Kingdom in October 2021, but I guess that would be pretty ambitious!
I can’t ride it myself for medical reasons, but I’m eager to see video when it comes out. I think the structure of the ride really lends itself to the swamp/bayou theme.
I do hope they retain the Splash Mountain name and just add a subtitle, like “Splash Mountain: Tiana’s Bayou Adventure” or something. And they could move TIana’s meet-and-greet from Liberty Square, where it didn’t quite fit in,
Boycott Disney. I no longer feel welcome at their parks thanks to this announcement.
Devastating. With all the meaningful and beneficial projects they put aside or scrapped, I was hoping this would be shelved for a few years until they did those things.
Now they’re going to expedite this travesty, which means that it will not only be awful, but it will be poorly done. An insult.
Maybe I should complain about the Pharaoh in Spaceship Earth so my people can feel “welcome” too. Ridiculous.
This is an absolute discrace. This retheme was doomed from the beginning, and speeding things up, especially after laying off 400 imagineers, will lead to an even more lackluster expirience. Splash is sacred. It has always been loved by people of all races, until this summer, and I resent the accusation that it hasn’t. The brer rabbit stories are representative of black folklore, the stories were told on real plantations.
Makes me sick
So excited for this ride transformation! Can’t wait. Really wish people would stop complaining. All theme parks change rides out. Get over it!
NOT happy with this news. NOT renewing after countless years as an AP and as a former CM from 20 years ago. It took not only this initial announcement for me to make my final decision but also the general direction of the company as a whole over the last year or so, and topped off by their continuing with other projects like the exorbitant Star Wars hotel while laying off tens of thousands of my fellow Floridians and other CMs across the company.
I am so happy for this update! I love princess and the frog 🐸 I cannot wait for the update and all the new merchandise which will be released especially pins!
Tiana deserves to have her own restaurant with an amazing meet and greet. This bandaid approach is ridiculous.
I’m glad so many are as outraged and upset by this as I am (and no it’s not because they are choosing to change the ride).
With the successful petition of getting 1.5 million signatures to sign and say they wouldn’t go see Aquaman 2 if Amber Head was staring in it, I think if we want Disney to definitely NOT act on this we should hit them in their pocketbook and someone should start and we should all sign a petition saying we won’t go see a specific blockbuster they have planned if they push this horrible idea through.
Give Tiana her own ride AND restaurant AND gift shop, and leave Splash Mountain alone!
I’m not on social media so someone else will have to take up this torch and decide what movie would make them really act and then spread the word near and far and get the signatures.
As of right now the petition to save the mountain had almost 90k signatures while the petition to change it didn’t even have half that. I think at this point it’s blatantly obvious Disney cares about their money, so let’s show them we mean it!
Please feel free to use my words to create one!
Gutted that this is happening we were due to go in 2020 and due to a pandemic we didn’t get … this will be such a disappointment for our son who is autistic and obsessed by this ride
It’ll sting a little, but I know a lot of young children like my little cousin will be impacted by the presence of the one and only African American Disney princess in this ride. Given the circumstances I hope they have it ready soon before the Splash Mountain fans have the chance to conspire lol. December 2021 would be amazing and make it worth the wait for my 6 year old cousin’s first visit.
Here’s an idea… take Tom sawyers island and turn it into a PATF bayou. Since the castle is visible at night from there a cool concept could be to put an awesome restaurant, some attractions there, and have experiences like dessert and fireworks at Tiana’s restaurant. That could really be an awesome experience for guests and a much bigger space for princess and the frog
I’m still going to be singing “Zip-a-dee-doo-da” when I go over the falls!! Who will join me??!!
Just came back from Disney World and excited to see this transform into Princess and the Frog. It’s a beautiful looking movie with a strong female character. Tiana is my favorite princess, and I’m thrilled to see it go there…it’s a perfect place to bring the bayou alive. I’ll be sad to see Splash Mountain go, however, we do need to embrace change just as we did with Pirates. I’m not a fan that they changed it to focus on the movie, but have sense grown to like it.
I have split feelings but mostly I’m sad about this. Splash Mountain is a monument for Black Americans of the 1800’s and their culture. Disney’s telling and passing down the stories of Br’er Rabbit pay homage to their culture. These are the folk tales they told their children. There are morals to these stories attached to histories we should never forget. In misguided efforts, so many are pushing to erase these stories so they fade away and are lost. All to spare the feelings of people that know little to nothing about this history. It’s sad.
However, I love Tiana and want her to have a ride and a restaurant, but why must we cut ties with historic Black American culture to do it? Seriously, we can’t do both?