In June 2020, during the height of the Black Lives Matter movement, Disney announced that Splash Mountain, a popular attraction at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, would be stripped of its theming — which was tied to 1946’s racially problematic Disney film “Song of the South” — and reopen in the next few years as something new. This time, the attraction would draw from 2009’s Oscar-nominated animated film “The Princess and the Frog,” a version of the classic Brothers Grimm fairy tale set in jazz-era New Orleans.
The transformation underscores Disney’s thorny history on the subject of race, and Black imagery, while highlighting the challenges and considerations necessary even when trying to bring something as seemingly benign as a theme-park ride into the 21st century.