We’ve known for nearly three years now that Splash Mountain was headed for the briar patch, but now we finally have an official date for when the three-decade-old Disneyland ride will take its final plunge before it transforms into a Princess and the Frog-themed log flume—and it’s soon.
Splash Mountain will close on May 31, 2023 (meaning May 30 will be your last day to ride), according to a post on the Disney Parks Blog. The ride, which is currently themed to the controversial Song of the South, will then embark on its redevelopment into Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, which is slated to open in late 2024. (The version of the ride in Florida, which will undergo a similar transformation, closed earlier this year.)
From the outside, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure will look pretty familiar: A model shown off at last year’s D23 Expo still shows a largely similar mountain structure and plunge, minus the hollowed-out tree trunk at the top and plus some Louisiana-inspired flora and The Princess and the Frog-themed touches, like a branch with the titular frogs and a water tower with Tiana’s name.
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Inside, you can expect an entirely new story that follows Princess Tiana and trumpet-playing gator Louis as they prepare a Mardi Gras celebration, with new songs and animatronic critters—and the smell of beignets wafting through the queue. (Speaking of beignets, that popular counter in New Orleans Square will reside next to Tiana’s Palace, a new take on the French Market Restaurant that’s expected to open later this year.)
The film’s original voice actors will reprise their roles for the ride, including Anika Noni Rose as Princess Tiana, Bruno Campos as Prince Naveen, Michael Leon Wooley as Louis and Jenifer Lewis as Mama Odie; for the latter, the theme park just released a new concept image of the magical bayou priestess.
With “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” having gradually made its way out of the park’s parades and background music loops recently, the more contemporary and inclusive take on the 1989 ride should usher out the last remnant of Song of the South, a 1946 live action and animated film whose depiction of life on a plantation in the South during the Reconstruction era has been characterized as racist. (Aside from the cartoon characters in Splash Mountain, Song of the South had otherwise been excised from Disney’s back catalog for decades.)
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