VIDEO: Br’er Rabbit, Fox, and Bear Projection Scene Restored in HD at Splash Mountain in the Magic Kingdom

Jessica Figueroa

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VIDEO: Br’er Rabbit, Fox, and Bear Projection Scene Restored in HD at Splash Mountain in the Magic Kingdom

Despite an announced “Princess and the Frog” re-theme for Splash Mountain at the Magic Kingdom, we’ve noticed a number of improvements to the attraction in the past few weeks, from the problematic “Million Dollar Rabbit” animatronic, which was finally fixed, to a newly restored projection scene showing Br’er Rabbit, Br’er Fox, and Br’er Bear.

You’ll recognize this scene as one early on in the show building of the attraction, establishing Br’er Rabbit’s need for excitement and adventure. You come across two younger bunnies looking out from their country home to the fields. “Look yonder! There goes Br’er Rabbit,” says the rabbit on the steps. The scene then pans over to a distant hill, where the silhouette of Br’er Rabbit chased by Br’er Fox and Br’er Bear appears via projection. You then pass by the other young rabbit, who follows up by saying, “…being chased by Br’er Fox and Br’er Bear.”

This effect has been missing for quite some time now, making the dialogue somewhat confusing given that there was a key element gone from the scene. Now, the effect has not only been restored, but it’s in crisp HD, with the characters running across the hill at full speed. You can watch the effect in the tweet embedded above.

To see what the broken effect looked like up until now, you can check out one of our latest Magic Kingdom livestreams. Below is a video with the exact time code where the scene starts:

So despite the imminent loss of the attraction, it seems Walt Disney World continues to boost the ride’s popularity through spontaneous merchandise releases and now, increased maintenance, ensuring that everything stays “Satisfactual” through to the bitter end.

Are you looking forward to taking a few more rides on Splash Mountain, especially given the newly restored effects? Let us know in the comments!

11 thoughts on “VIDEO: Br’er Rabbit, Fox, and Bear Projection Scene Restored in HD at Splash Mountain in the Magic Kingdom”

  1. Given how disconnected Splash Mountain is from “Song of the South”, it wouldn’t be that hard for Disney to tune the ride a bit, add Princess and the Frog references into it while keeping these characters around. The reality is that MOST attendees don’t even get the references to the movie given that it’s been intentionally removed from the general public view for almost 50 years.

    I agree that SotS is probably best forgotten, but there’s a gentle drift into ‘erase all history’ (note: I am NOT saying celebrate all history) that I find a little worrisome.

  2. So Disney is complaining about loss of money and profits. They announce an unwelcome IP change to a beloved ride. And then they spend who knows how much money to fix multiple long-term problems with the original ride before they need to overhaul everything anyway. What a genius idea!

    • This comparison that I am going to refer to has a kind of similar outcome to what you stated. Universal orlando did the same thing with twister ride it out. Wasting money on newly added aspects to the show. And then a few weeks later, they remove the show entirely. Money wasted…

    • Hopefully this means they’re reconsidering. Silently hopefully they noticed the petition with 85,000 signatures to keep it.

  3. Howdy!

    I enjoyed the ‘virtual tour’ of WDW with Tom Corless. I’ve been to the ‘World’ twice: in 1972 and 1985. It certainly has changed! I’m now in my ‘mid 70s’, and it’s not likely I’ll ever have or take the ‘opportunity’ to visit it again…..so I really did appreciate the video!!!

    Two of my ‘all-time’ favorite Disney classic films are SO DEAR TO MY HEART [1948] starring Burl Ives and THE SHAGGY DOG [1959] starring Fred MacMurray. To the best of your knowledge are there any attractions ‘based or inspired’ on either of these films in any of the Disney Parks?

    It seems to me that an attraction that ‘featured’ shaggy sheepdogs and a ‘small herd’ of black lambs (and a few ‘white one’s too…..of course) co-existing with each other would be especially charming and delightful!

    If such an ‘attraction’ does exist…..I hope ‘Mr. Corless’ features it in one of his future ‘virtual-video’s. In the meantime, I think I just might again for the ‘umpteenth million’ time watch SO DEAR TO MY HEART and THE SHAGGY DOG. It really is a terrific ‘double-feature’!!!

    Best,
    William Paul Johnson, Jr.

  4. I’m hoping this is a sign that they are at least keeping the Disney World version of Splash Mountain and only changing the one in Disneyland (if they ever get to reopen Disneyland at all…)

  5. It’s great that they’re making improvements.

    I hope they don’t turn it into The Princess and The Frog themed. That would be Satisfactual.

  6. I was thinking, with Disneyland being closed 7 Mo’s & no reopening in the near future; I doubt they’ll have the money to overhaul it, so maybe my family can experience Splash Mountain like I did at WDW.

  7. Disney should not be changing the story on splash mountain. People need to relax on the over sensitivity these days. It’s ridiculous. Those cute little animals are not doing anything bad or offensive. This is just stupid.

  8. I hope these updates means Disney is changing their mind. There is still the petition that is 85,000 signatures strong asking Disney not to change the ride – which is larger than any anti splash mountain one out there.
    If people knew their actual history / Disney took the time to have a discussion about the film/history they could have been spared of all this trouble, but hiding it made it more ‘taboo’. I’m still praying this ride doesn’t get destroyed :(

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