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WDW Magic Kingdom: General Discussion

Bump! Been a while since there was any news here...

However, it looks like Magic Kingdom's Club 33 location, one of four coming to each of the Walt Disney World theme parks, is now pretty much complete (on the outside anyway). The Club even looks to have a private balcony so that members will be able to take in the views over Adventureland. :)

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Image from @bioreconstruct on Twitter.
 
Looking good! Can't wait to visit Magic Kingdom for the first time in April!
 
I just posted this in the Disneyland thread, but as it applies to the Magic Kingdom’s ride too, I thought it might be worth posting here as well.

In a very interesting turn of events, Disney has announced that it will be retheming the two American Splash Mountain rides to The Princess & The Frog:



I wonder how much of this was to do with Splash Mountain’s links to Song of the South, and the recent petition to retheme it that occurred due to this? Funnily enough, The Princess & The Frog was even a suggested theme by the petition creator!


An anticipated timeline hasn’t currently been announced.


As much as I did like Splash Mountain’s theming, I look forward to seeing what Disney comes up with!
EDIT: TPW’s Facebook post seems to have disappeared, so I’ll add Disney’s official Twitter post instead:
 
Think it’s a great decision to do this. The film it was based on was outdated and forgotten anyway regardless of its abhorrent racism.

Good job Disney (said it’d be a good retheme when I watched the film haha)
 
Andrew said:
Think it’s a great decision to do this. The film it was based on was outdated and forgotten anyway regardless of its abhorrent racism.

Good job Disney (said it’d be a good retheme when I watched the film haha)
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I’m really gutted about this, the Brier Rabbit theme is really fun and not at all related to the controversial parts of Songs of the South. I’m sure Disney will do a good job but it’s still sad.
 
Matt N said:
I wonder how much of this was to do with Splash Mountain’s links to Song of the South, and the recent petition to retheme it that occurred due to this? ]
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Lots, but equally, they would have done it in the end anyhow. Disney want to make money, and aside from the on-ride photo, Splash Mountain did not make any. This means they get to avoid criticism and sneak a 'new' attraction in while appearing diverse.

I'm split. This is one of my favourite ever rides, it's a masterpiece. There's absolutely nothing explicitly racist in the attraction, and it could be argued (in good faith) that the ride is actually instead rooted in black folklore, being replaced by a Grimm fairytale with a black character bolted on.

On the other, the world is changing, ours and Walt Disney's. Nothing lasts forever. This will mean something to a new generation of kids.
 
Plastic Person said:
Lots, but equally, they would have done it in the end anyhow. Disney want to make money, and aside from the on-ride photo, Splash Mountain did not make any. This means they get to avoid criticism and sneak a 'new' attraction in while appearing diverse.

I'm split. This is one of my favourite ever rides, it's a masterpiece. There's absolutely nothing explicitly racist in the attraction, and it could be argued (in good faith) that the ride is actually instead rooted in black folklore, being replaced by a Grimm fairytale with a black character bolted on.

On the other, the world is changing, ours and Walt Disney's. Nothing lasts forever. This will mean something to a new generation of kids.
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I rode Splash Mountain last April, and I don’t remember seeing anything remotely racist depicted within the ride itself. In fact, I must admit that at the time, I did rather like the whole happy, feel good vibe of the ride, as well as its rather catchy soundtrack!

However, those links with Song of the South, no matter how tenuous, are there, and I think it’s probably for the best that they’re retheming it so as to prevent further backlash and promote diversity. Going forward, I think it’s important for the world to promote diversity, and Disney themselves said that that’s what they want to do with this new retheme.

Interestingly, I’m not sure whether the protests entirely spurred this, as Disney says that it’s been in the works for a year...
 
Matt N said:
Interestingly, I’m not sure whether the protests entirely spurred this, as Disney says that it’s been in the works for a year...
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Perhaps the old animatronics will show up at The London Resort in a few years? ;)

I was just thinking about the scope of this project... Splash Mountain is a huge ride, nearly twelve-minutes and with some of the most elaborate sets Disney had ever created. This is going to be a big job if they're going to do it properly.
 
The debate over Splash Mountain and racism (because of it's ties to Songs of the South) have been going on for years. I have no doubt Disney were already working on this, now's just the perfect time to announce it. Also it gives them some news while all their other projects are on hold.

@Matt N I'm not aware that there's anything at all racist about the ride. Disney were careful about that when they built it. It was a strange choice to link it to Songs of the South but Imagineers had a love for the characters and the songs catchy so they were aloud to push ahead. I can't imagine that would happen now.

I put my opinion of this on the California topic as I wanted to talk about Critter Country. If you missed it I'll just say here that I approve.
 
Gutted about this as it was closed on my one and only WDW visit.

Where's the line drawn? Disney have quite rightly distanced themselves from Song Of The South over the years. 99% of younger guests will ride Splash Mountain probably having never heard of that film.

Dumbo features a flock of racist birds, are they going to tear down the Dumbo ride?

Or perhaps these hypocrites should boycott Frontierland because it celebrates a period in time when millions of Native Americans were massacred so their land could be stolen for white people to profit from?

Or let's just start a petition to close down all of the Disney Parks because of Walt's questionable past.

Sorry for the rant, it should go without saying I fully support the BLM movement. Especially having grown up in an ethnically diverse part of London and witnessed the *real* issues first hand.
 
@RicketyCricket

Where have Disney said that the retheme is anything to do with Song of the South?

It is far more likely, as others have stated in this thread, that the ride is being rethemed in order to relate to a popular IP, much like ToT in California was rethemed to Guardians of the Galaxy.

That said, as with ToT, I think it is a great shame. Even if the replacement is good it will be replacing an absolute classic, the best ride at Magic Kingdom for me.
 
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