Image: Disney
Revamped rides at Disney World and Disneyland set to debut in late 2024
It’s official: Splash Mountain, the popular roller coaster at Disneyland and Disney World, is being renamed to Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, Disney announced Friday.
The new name is part of a process to replace the original inspiration of the rides, the controversial film Song of the South, with the 2009 animated film The Princess and the Frog. Splash Mountain remains open at the moment at both Disney World and Disneyland, but Disney said Friday that the revamped rides are scheduled to debut in “late 2024.” The company has yet to announce when it will shut down the attractions for renovation.
Disney posted a video of Charita Carter, executive producer of relevancy activations at Walt Disney Imagineering, going on a trip to New Orleans. In it, Carter discusses the city’s influence on the ride. “In many ways, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is a love letter to New Orleans,” Carter said in a Disney Parks blog. “Like the musical city that inspired this attraction, Tiana’s second act is about a community working in harmony to achieve something extraordinary.”
Splash Mountain is a roller coaster currently based on the 1946 Disney film Song of the South. The film has been criticized for presenting a glorified view of slavery and a reductive portrayal of Black characters. The movie is so controversial that Splash Mountain prompted criticisms even when it originally opened back in 1989. Disney originally announced plans to reimagine the ride in June 2020.
Chase discussed further details of the attraction as part of a video for Disney in the summer of 2021. The new concept features Tiana as a person, not as a frog. The completely revamped ride will take park-goers on an adventure through through the bayou, with Tiana inviting as many people as she can to a Mardi Gras celebration.
