Disney heeft vandaag naar buiten gebracht dat Walt Disney World en Disneyland in respectievelijk Florida en California de attractie Splash Mountain aanpast. In de Orange County Register staat het volgende nieuwsbericht:
Disneyland and Disney World to remake Splash Mountain with ‘Princess and the Frog’ theme
The Splash Mountain log flume rides at Disneyland in Anaheim and the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World in Florida will be transformed with a new theme based on the “Princess and the Frog” animated movie, according to Disney.
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“The retheming of Splash Mountain is of particular importance today,” according to a statement posted to the Disney Parks Blog.
bron: OCR
Disney zegt er zelf het volgende over:
Today we are thrilled to share a first glimpse of a project Imagineers have been working on since last year. Splash Mountain – at both Disneyland park in California and Magic Kingdom park in Florida – will soon be completely reimagined. The theme is inspired by an all-time favorite animated Disney film, “The Princess and the Frog.” We pick up this story after the final kiss, and join Princess Tiana and Louis on a musical adventure – featuring some of the powerful music from the film – as they prepare for their first-ever Mardi Gras performance.
Tiana is a modern, courageous, and empowered woman, who pursues her dreams and never loses sight of what’s really important. It’s a great story with a strong lead character, set against the backdrop of New Orleans and the Louisiana bayou. In 1966, Walt himself opened New Orleans Square when it became the first new “land” added to Disneyland park, so it feels natural to link the story and the incredible music of “The Princess and the Frog” to our parks.
Hier lees je het hele artikel: Disney Blog
Wonderlijk genoeg rept Disney zelf met geen woord over de petities of over de huidige protesten en onrust in de Verenigde Staten. Alleen dit:
And with this longstanding history of updating attractions and adding new magic, the retheming of Splash Mountain is of particular importance today.
In the OCR (en door Disney zelf) wordt gezegd dat er al sinds vorig jaar, dus voor de BLM-protesten wordt gewerkt aan deze extensieve retheming:
Walt Disney Imagineering, the creative arm of the company, has been developing a “Princess and the Frog” backstory for Splash Mountain since last year and settled on many of the concepts for the reimagined attraction last summer.
Over Tokyo wordt niet gesproken. De versie die daar staat blijft vooralsnog bestaan in zijn huidige vorm. Dit heeft wellicht te maken met zowel de eigendomsconstructie (Tokyo Disneyland is in handen van de Oriental Land Company) en het feit dat de protesten hoofdzakelijk van toepassing zijn op de amerikaanse parken.
De protesten worden in het vorige topic besproken, dat kun je hier vinden: Gaat Disney Splash Mountain aanpassen?