They remake Disney’s Splash Mountain

Splash Mountain has been one of Walt Disney World’s most popular attractions for 30 years. So when the log ride closed for good on Jan. 22, instead of saying goodbye, some Disney fans found themselves wrestling with a question: How much would someone pay for a Splash Mountain water bag?

After many fans lined up for hours at the amusement park near Orlando, Florida, for one last five-story ride down the mountain, sellers on eBay began listing what they claimed were small amounts of the 3.6 million. of liters of water from the attraction.

Prices ranged from $8.50 to $25 for a plastic bag with “Splash Mountain Water” written on it in thick black marker and hand-drawn water droplets for emphasis. One offer featured a reusable bottle purporting to contain 300 milliliters from the last day of the attraction for $7.99. Another seller advertised 120 milliliters of water in a jar for $149.95.

The fan backlash comes as Disney moves to erase the attraction’s racist backstory, taken from the 1946 musical film “Song of the South,” which hasn’t been available in any format in more than 35 years. .

When the attraction reopens, Brother Rabbit and other animatronic characters from that film will be gone, replaced by characters from the 2009 Disney film “The Princess and the Frog.” It will be renamed Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. There is a similar plan for the Splash Mountain attraction at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, although it is still open.

Disney announced the changes in 2020 during a national reckoning over racial justice in the United States. “Song of the South,” set on a plantation in post-Civil War Georgia, blended live-action film and animation in a way that was groundbreaking for the time, and won an Oscar for the song “Zip-a-Dee-Doo- dah”. But critics have long objected that the film, based on the books by Joel Chandler Harris, a white folklorist who collected traditional African-American tales and attributed them to the fictional Uncle Remus, romanticized slavery and promoted stereotypes.

Bob Iger, Disney’s chief executive, said in 2020 that the film would never appear on Disney+, the company’s streaming platform, because it “just wasn’t appropriate in today’s world.”

When the attractions reopen next year, guests will encounter Princess Tiana, Disney’s first black princess, and Louis the alligator as they prepare for a Mardi Gras performance.

“The new concept is inclusive,” Disney said in 2020. “It speaks to the diversity of the millions of people who visit our parks each year.”

By: REMY TUMIN