Will Splash Mountain be eliminated? Speculation grows. Racism issues are the background, but TDL management says "nothing has been decided"
Published October 25, 2024 12:21 Updated October 25, 2024 16:57J-CAST News
There is speculation online that the popular attraction "Splash Mountain" at Tokyo Disneyland (TDL) may disappear soon. It was also reported that the operating company was considering how to respond, as the location is based on a movie that has been criticized for racism. This time, the "rumor" has been rekindled by the closure of a shop in the same area, but what will happen in the future?
The film "Song of the South" is criticized for creating misunderstandings about black history
Splash Mountain is an attraction where you take an adventurous ride on a log boat and slide down a 16-meter waterfall. It opened in 1992, nine years after the park's opening, and is still one of the most popular attractions. The park recreates the world of the 1946 film " Song of the South ," but in the United States, it has been criticized for creating misunderstandings about black history. A petition was even launched calling for changes to the settings of the two American theme parks that had opened earlier. In response to this, Walt Disney announced in June 2020 that it would change the setting of Splash Mountain to "The Princess and the Frog," an animated film released in 2009 with a black woman as the main character . At the time, Oriental Land, which operates TDL , was reported to have responded to an interview with the Asahi Shimbun and other media outlets that it was "considering how to respond at Tokyo Disneyland." After that, a theme park in Florida opened "Tiana's Bayou Adventure" in June 2024, which recreates the world of "The Princess and the Frog."It has also been reported that the same attraction will open in a theme park in California within the same year. Meanwhile, on October 22nd in Japan, it was announced on the official TDL website that the "Hoot & Hurrah Hideout", a goods shop in the Critter Country area of TDL, which is based on the theme of "Song of the South", would close on November 30th. This led to comments of "sadness" and rumors of the demise of Splash Mountain once again began to spread.
A new attraction themed on a movie with a black protagonist?
Some in Japan have said that making an attraction with a black character as the main character is going too far, as it could lead to political correctness, or so-called "political correctness." At TDL, the background music "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah," an insert song from the movie "Song of the South," stopped playing in the Disney Resort Line stations in August 2022. This time, the shops in the Critter Country area have disappeared, and there was even speculation that Oriental Land was creating an environment to eliminate the attraction. However, since Space Mountain, another of TDL's three major mountains, will close and reopen in 2027, it was rumored that Splash Mountain would be preserved until then.
In response to an interview with J-CAST News on October 24, the public relations department of Oriental Land, the company that operates TDL, replied in an email that "nothing has been decided yet" regarding what will happen to Splash Mountain. Regarding the closure of the shops in the Critter Country area this time, they said, "We have not responded to any questions about the reason," and regarding future developments in the area, they said, "We have not responded to any questions regarding the consideration of revising or abolishing facilities."
