Disney World to close Splash Mountain, based on a movie with racial stereotypes, on Jan. 23
So much for Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah.
The Splash Mountain water ride will close on Jan. 23, the Disney Company announced Friday. The attraction, which opened just under 30 years ago in Walt Disney World's Frontierland, will be rethemed "Tatiana's Bayou Adventure" based on the 2009 animated movie "The Princess and the Frog."
Carmen Smith, senior vice president of creative development on the Disney Parks Blog, said that there will be "many exciting updates ahead" and added that Splash Mountain will close "so we can begin the next phase of this attraction's development."
Prior coverage: Disney's Splash Mountain to get new theme amid calls to ditch racist history
More: Disney World 'wokeness' column on Splash Mountain, Jungle Cruise, other changes stirs Twitter debate
The attraction has been under a cloud for years because it is based on the Disney movie "Song of the South," which was released in 1946 during the Jim Crow era.
The NAACP protested the initial release of the movie, which combines live action with animated sequences including the popular Brer Rabbit, Brer Bear and Brer Fox characters that appear in the ride. The song Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah won the Academy Award in its category.
The movie's racial stereotypes, however, have continued to raise objections and the movie has not been released on either video cassettes, DVDs or on Disney's streaming service, Disney+.
Antonio Fins is a politics and business editor at the Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at afins@pbpost.com. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Splash Mountain at Walt Disney World set for last ride on January 23
