When Disney announced in June 2020 that the popular attraction Splash Mountain would be closed and rethemed into a new attraction inspired by Disney’s film, The Princess and the Frog, we couldn’t wait to see what the Imagineers had in store.
Splash Mountain
Just what would this historic retheme look like, and how would Disney keep the aspects of what so many guests have loved about Splash Mountain over the years? Disney is keeping the details hush-hush, but now we know who is spearheading the project and more details about the updates — thanks to a new interview with one of the Imagineers behind the attraction’s update!
Disney made history when The Princess and the Frog debuted and the world met Tiana, the first Black Disney princess. And just like Tiana had a dream in the film, Imagineer Charita Carter had a dream, too. In a recent interview with Essence, Carter opened up about her long love of Disney and what that means for Splash Mountain.
via Essence — Courtesy of Charita Carter
Growing up just 150 miles away from Disneyland, Carter would watch The Wonderful World of Disney and dream about walking through the roads of Main Street, U.S.A. for herself. She visited Disneyland “every once in a while” with her family but never imagined where she would end up today.
Main Street, U.S.A.
Now the Executive Producer of Relevancy Activations for Walt Disney Imagineering, Carter is spearheading the reimagination of Splash Mountain — something that she’s now comfortable with, but after working as an accountant for most of her life, the creative side of Imagineering pushed her out of her comfort zone and into a whole new world.
Princess and the Frog attraction Concept Art ©Disney
Carter got the call to be the producer and the team leader for The Princess and the Frog retheme, and the rest is history. According to Carter, the team behind the retheme is “building upon what was done with the animated film” and they have been working with New Orleans community members to make sure they get the spirit of the city right.
©Disney Princess and the Frog concept art
Unfortunately, Carter didn’t share any details about exactly when Splash Mountain will close in both Disney World and Disneyland for the renovations. However, during the Essence Festival of Culture this year, we learned that the new name for this updated ride is going to be Tiana’s Bayou Adventure!
©Disney
Disney has also shared more about Tiana’s new look for the ride. Costume designer Ida Muldrow from Disney Live Entertainment along with other members of the team talked about their approach to designing Tiana’s new look. Since the story takes place in the 1920s, they looked at the trends of the time. They wanted to make sure her look was historically accurate, while still being authentic to her character.
They also worked on developing a unique hairstyle for Tiana. According to Disney, “the team placed emphasis on the versatility of Black women’s hair and its significance to our identity across geographies and generations.”
©Disney
In June of 2022, Anika Noni Rose (the actress who voiced Tiana) gave an unexpected update on this ride refurbishment! During the interview, Rose said, “They are making a ride — it’ll be out in 2024.” During the Essence Festival, Disney confirmed that the updated ride will open in late 2024! We still don’t have confirmation on when the rides will close in Disney World and Disneyland, though.
©Disney
Disney has shared that we can expect a one-of-a-kind Mardi Gras celebration where all are welcome! Not only that, but we will get to meet NEW characters along the way as well.
Click Here to Read More About Splash Mountain’s ICONIC Transformation
The Princess and the Frog retheme isn’t the only new attraction coming to the parks! Over in Magic Kingdom, we recently saw TRON Lightcycle Run with the lights on at night for the first time, and you can check out those photos here!
And in EPCOT, Journey of Water — Inspired by Moana is under construction. This attraction promises to be an immersive, water-based, walk-through experience like we’ve never seen.
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This will join the list of disasterous decisions made by Disney, along with The Great Movie Ride and Journey Into Imagination, as huge mistakes. This retheme adds nothing to the capacity and variety of rides in the park which is too overcrowded now and could use additional attractions to spread out the load. Splash Mountain is an incredibly attractive fan favorite and a true classic attraction. Destroying this ride is crazy. Add that they are going to spend millions of dollars (?) doing this and they are removing a very popular ride that sucks in thousands of people a day who otherwise will be roaming the park looking for things to do.
Maybe they will run out of money before this even starts. It makes no sense. Add a new attraction somewhere else. How about building it on Tom Sawyer’s Island? I’m sure you can justify that too and the loss would be minimal.
What is the Executive Producer of Relevancy Activation? Sounds like a made up job to me. And why would they make an accountant an imaginer? Any guesses?
Too bad, I love the Music at Splash Mountain. Zip-pidy-do-da…down the drain they will go.
YAWN!!!
I’m from Louisiana and I’m looking forward to it. With that said I also love the way it is now.
Hopefully they’ll have a beignet kiosk!
That is my hope also, Lisa! It would be perfect!
It makes no sense to put a New Orleans themed attraction in Frontierland. I have no problem with a Princess and the Frog attraction (or restaurant) but it needs to fit the theming of the land and be new …don’t replace Splash Mountain!
Another mistake …. Gettin rid of or changing favorite rides over the past 40 -50 years……..
Is no one at Disney listening to the fans? Response to this has been almost universally negative. Leave Splash Mountain alone. Give Tiana a new ride or maybe restaurant would be more appropriate.
Anyone excited for this is excited for stupidity. This project should have been a Brother Bear theme. Tiana already has a restaurant and her mother has a store. We don’t need more Tiana. We need more diversity in attractions and themes!!!