In the summer of 2020, as a nationwide reckoning on racism spread, Disney announced it would be removing Splash Mountain, a hugely popular thrill ride with racist roots.
Others rejoiced, saying the move was long overdue: After 31 years at Disneyland in California and 28 at Walt Disney World in Florida, the attraction, along with its animal minstrels from the radioactive 1946 film “Song of the South,” had to be removed.
But Disney has faced backlash, too. When Splash Mountain finally closed last year, someone erected an impromptu memorial near its entrance, the kind that looks like something out of nowhere at a horrific crime scene. Distraught fans carried away bottles of water. More than 100,000 fans signed a petition calling on Disney to reverse its “ridiculous” decision.
Now, Disney is preparing a replacement for Splash Mountain that's based on the 2009 animated musical “The Princess and the Frog,” which featured Disney's first black princess. The fun new attraction, “Tiana's Bayou Adventure,” opens to the public at Disney World on June 28, with a similar attraction expected to come to Disneyland by the end of the year.
It's a historic moment for Disney: After 69 years in the theme-park business, the company will have a flagship attraction featuring a black character. Analysts estimate that Disney is spending at least $150 million on the bicoastal project. (A Disney spokesman declined to comment on the cost.)
“Obviously, for black kids, this is a great way to show representation,” Anika Noni Rose, who voices Tiana in the film and recorded new lines for the ride, said when the project was announced. “For kids who don't look like Tiana, this is a way to open their eyes.”
Disney has remade rides before, often drawing flak from fans, but this major overhaul is particularly sensitive: In recent years, the company has been embroiled in a national debate over its diversity and inclusion efforts, with leading Republican politicians and conservative media pundits pointing to the company as an example of corporate political correctness run wild.
The pressure is beginning to ease, partly because Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is no longer running for president and has stopped attacking “woke Disney” on the campaign trail. Disney Chief Executive Officer Robert A. Iger has also repeatedly said he has distanced the company from “agenda-driven” content.
Tiana's Bayou Adventure could drag Disney back onto the cultural battlefield, or it could be further evidence that the debate is moving in the other direction.
“Our theme parks are cherished, and our fans have a deep interest in how they evolve and change, just as we do,” Disney Theme Parks Chairman Josh D'Amaro said in an interview. “What our fans always say to me is, 'If you're going to change it, promise me you'll make it even better,' and I think we've delivered on that promise with Tiana.”
Tiana's Bayou Adventure follows the same track as Splash Mountain, with passengers traveling in hollowed-out log-like vehicles, but everything else has been redesigned. Instead of a suspenseful story in which Brother Rabbit is thrown into a thorny bush, the new attraction focuses on a Mardi Gras party, with Tiana and her trumpet-playing alligator friend Louie searching for creatures to form a band with.
Along the way, the bubbly Mama Odie, the Voodoo Queen from “The Princess and the Frog” and now “Fairy Godmother of the Bayou,” casts a spell that shrinks the passengers to the size of fireflies.
Tiana's Bayou Adventure also has a new tagline: “Everyone is welcome.”
Ted Robredo, the attraction's executive creative director, who rode Tiana's Bayou Adventure with me during the test opening, pointed out many inclusive touches, such as Spanish and French décor that reflects New Orleans' multicultural history and the diverse music (jazz, zydeco, blues) that plays from the sound system.
“This is a sign of respect to the Native Americans of the area,” Robredo said, pointing to a Choctaw stickball racquet on display in a diorama near the ride's entrance.
“We're always looking for ways to cast a wider net,” Robredo said. “The older properties, for a variety of reasons, are no longer as relevant. They've outlived their usefulness in some sense.”
“The Princess and the Frog,” the story of a working-class woman who becomes royalty, was a box office disappointment, but Tiana became a staple for Disney: In a consumer poll conducted by the company, she was ranked the second most popular Disney character among black women (behind “The Lion King” characters).
Disney has high hopes for merchandise tied to the new attraction that will expand on the film's storyline. (There are two gift shops near the exit.) An animated Tiana series is coming to Disney+ and will continue some of the storyline set in the attraction.
“Tiana is a modern-day princess who can resonate with everyone,” D'Amaro said. “Though she wasn't born into royalty, her story of perseverance and pride is timeless, and this enduring quality is crucial for our park attractions, which need to entertain for generations to come.”
D'Amaro likened the complaints over Splash Mountain's removal to a past situation at Disneyland Resort, when Disney closed the popular Twilight Zone Tower of Terror ride in 2017 after an elevator broke and replaced it with a Marvel movie-themed “Guardians of the Galaxy” attraction. Fans continued to boo the ride, but then got a chance to ride the replacement.
“It was a controversial decision at the time, but by introducing a modern story with different emotions, it created an entirely new experience,” D'Amaro said, noting that attendance ratings for the Tower of Terror remake soared.
This month, Disney posted a nine-minute video tour of the new Tiana attraction to the Internet. As of Monday, the video had been viewed 625,000 times, with 10,000 people voting in favor and 38,000 voting against. The ride “seems to lack dramatic tension and stakes,” retired Disney park designer Jim Schur wrote in X based on the video. Some Splash Mountain aficionados have dubbed the new ride “Tiana's Bayou Blunder.”
Reaction from people who rode the attraction during its soft opening was much more positive.
“I loved it,” Victoria Wade, a social media influencer from Baltimore, told X on Thursday. “I love how this whole attraction adds more color to the continuation of Tiana's story,” she said, calling the attraction's 48 animatronic figures “really amazing.”
Drew Smith, 21, of Windermere, Florida, a self-described Disney “huge fan,” talked himself into riding the ride during testing. “Splash Mountain was my favorite attraction growing up, and I'm excited to say the new ride is just as great,” he said in an interview. “Don't believe the naysayers!”