Disney first introduced plans to shut certainly one of its signature Disneyland and Walt Disney World sights, Splash Mountain, again in the summertime of 2020. The plan all alongside has been to not a lot exchange it as replace it — to take care of the fundamental structure and construction however to interchange the characters and theming that had been from Disney’s controversial 1946 movie Music of the South with ones from the favored 2009 movie The Princess and the Frog.
There have been occasional updates since then; the announcement of the brand new trip’s title (Tiana’s Bayou Journey) and a tentative opening date of 2024. However in an effort to open Tiana’s Bayou Journey, Splash Mountain wants to shut, and till at this time Disney had given no indication when that is perhaps.
Lastly, Disney Parks Weblog has given a concrete date: Walt Disney World’s Splash Mountain will shut on January 23, 2023. (A deadline for Disneyland’s model of the trip can be given “at a later date.”)
Splash Mountain first opened in 1989, some 40 years after the discharge of Music of the South, and properly after its content material had already turn out to be a supply of controversy for Disney. (Following one final re-release in 1986, Disney basically locked Music of the South away and has by no means made it commercially accessible on residence video — for extra on why learn this text.) Regardless of its questionable content material, the movie additionally accommodates a few of Disney’s hottest songs, together with “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah.”
Disney additionally unveiled some new particulars in regards to the revised trip, together with some idea artwork of a scene that comes as “you first drop into the bayou and encounter some buddies each new and acquainted … you’ll be a part of Princess Tiana and jazz-loving alligator Louis throughout Mardi Gras season as they put together to host a one-of-a-kind celebration for the folks of New Orleans.”
Though The Princess and the Frog is way extra beloved than Music of the South, Disney acquired plenty of pushback once they first introduced this refurbishment from followers who love Splash Mountain no matter what it’s primarily based on. These people have lower than two months to trip Splash Mountain one final time, no less than in Florida.
