Disney Parks revealed earlier this year that a plan was in place to re-theme Splash Mountain from its current Song of the South incarnation to something designed after The Princess and the Frog, and now Disney has announced there are more inclusion changes coming to the Parks in the future.
Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products Chairman Josh D’Amaro revealed durring a virtual conference by the IAAPA that the redesign of Splash Mountain is now being put on the fast track.
Not only that, more changes or additions to the park are planned that will foster inclusion. D’Amaro said the Princess and the Frog update “isn’t the last. There will be more to come”
For decades the Disney company has based its employee training around the “four keys.” Those have been safety, courtesy, show, and efficiency. Earlier this year, a fifth key was added, inclusion.
The transition of Splash Mountain is one element of this new focus on inclusion. The ride’s current theme, while not explicitly…problematic, from a race perspective, is related to a movie that has some serious problems in that regard, and the redesign to The Princess and the Frog was clearly chosen not only because it works thematically, but because that film features Disney’s only African-American Princess character.