Josh D’Amaro, Chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products, stated during today’s IAAPA Expo that there will be “more to come” for the new fifth Key, Inclusion, in the parks.
Inclusion was introduced as the fifth Key of Cast Member training in September. The four pre-existing Keys are Safety, Courtesy, Show, and Efficiency.
The Inclusion announcement came a few months after it was announced both Walt Disney World and Disneyland would be re-theming Splash Mountain to The Princess and the Frog. D’Amaro says they are speeding up work on inclusivity projects such as this one.
“This represents transformative cultural change,” D’Amaro said in regards to upcoming changes and projects.
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If inclusivity is so important why are they placing the Louisiana Bayou in the middle of WDW’s Frontierland when they could place a Pocahontas themed ride (which would further diversify the ride line-up between the two resorts, giving people more reason to visit both and spend money), and still meet the diversity need while keeping land continuity?
The Dinsey company continues to loose billions of dollars and lay off tens of thousands of cast members, yet they magically find the money for nonsense projects like this. Pure hyprocrites. I’m done with this company. I’m cancelling my WDW trip and will never return. Goodbye, fools.
They won’t be happy until they have driven away every rational thinking fan, where all that will be left are the same woke people who demand “change” and will never be satisfied. Disney chasing their tail and has dug themselves a huge grave. Disgusting.
Go woke, go broke! Disney needs to put its money where its mouth is. If they truly want to be more inclusive than build original authentic experiences that are more diverse. Do not gratuitously reskin old ones to assuage. You are not more inclusive by replacing existing representation with other forms of representation. You are merely cannibalizing in a transparent pandering of what is presently perceived as “trendy”. The message actually sent is the diverse characters and experiences are not worthy of their own original attraction but can only make it on the backs of what has come before. Sounds more like the bigotry of low expectations than inclusion to me.
Cough cough coco in the mexico pavilion
I know that one ride that comes up when talking about inclusion/changing the dynamic due to the culture of the time is Peter Pan’s Flight. As a big fan of the Peter Pan franchise (3rd party/non-disney works excluded), I think there’s a potential for a re-imagining for this attraction.
An animated movie in the realm of the Peter Pan that functions like the Avatar VR ride would be perfect. You start off whisked away with/by Peter Pan and Tinkerbell through the sky to Neverland, and you have the sensation of flying, racing through trees, waterfalls, Pixie Hollow (to tie in the other faeries from Tinker Bell movies) etc. Something higher intensity than the slow ride currently in place, more interactive, yet scaled down a bit from Avatar so younger kids can ride it too.
Could save quite a bit of space, even add a 2nd attraction like an interactive area of the Lost Boys forest and train to be a Lost Boy/Lost Girl. BTW, if you’ve never read the orginal work by Barrie, it’s worth a read, MUCH darker than the Disney interpretation!
If DIsney continues to destroy the parks and rides that we have come to love over the years they will drive away the loyal fans who have spent thousands at Disney Parks in the past. Overseas visitors will stop going to the USA parks and will spend their hard earned cash elsewhere. Listen to the loyal Disney fans before it’s too late, there is room in the parks for new inclusive rides without scrapping the most popular existing rides
Please do not retheme this ride?!
We are laying off thousands of cast members that we can’t afford to pay, but we are getting ready to spend untold amounts of money to re-theme a beloved and popular ride just for appearances……if people were that offended by Splash Mountain, there would never be a line for it. I guess none of the merchandise would sell either. Hhhhmmmmm. That doesn’t seem to be the case at all
I guess if people are truly offended by the re-theme, then there will never be a line for it when it opens. If long lines are proof that no one is offended, then long lines for the new version will mean that no one has a problem with it. So let’s see what happens. If I were a betting man, I’d be a fool to bet against it.
I just meant that the long lines to the current ride show a lack of an issue with the current theme. As in, if there was a major problem with the current theme by most park goers then they would not go on the ride. A lot if people will probably go on the re-theme too as it would be something new. You will have a lot if people refuse to ride it again (like me) if it re-themed. It would take time for the newness to wear off in order to see if it is as popular regardless of theme. I was simply pointing out the apparent lack of an issue with it as it stands now due to long lines and sale of merchandise.
Isn’t AK already a subtle nod towards inclusion? Call me nuts, but the whole park is pretty much a hat tip towards Africa. Who needs an EPCOT country when you’ve got a whole park???
This is the opposite of inclusion because it alienates all the fans of the ride who don’t want it to change and excludes us. The stories Splash Mountain is based upon are rich cultural African folktales, and there are no human characters on the ride, changing it would make it less innocent and put a focus on race where there wasn’t one before thus creating division and focusing on our differences rather than being entertained by what brings us all together, from all walks of life. Splash Mountain brings immense joy to people who need a way to deal with anxiety, and it’s the single greatest thing about going to the parks, and what makes me want to experience the magic.
They say it, but I am not sure they mean it.
I think every attraction should have a social or moral message – because that’s what people want when visiting a theme park. We are not preached at enough by pop-culture and the mainstream news, and need to be further programmed on how to think and behave.
Not.
Right, when I am on vacation, I am there to be entertained. Period. I want to get away from the world, pop culture and societal views, and be immersed in a time and place far from reality. Well, Disney has done a good job at ruining that over the past few years and I have had enough. Never will return.
Stop trying to make Disney parks a political battleground! We visit the parks to escape our problems and have fun! This “inclusion” movement is doing nothing but dividing fans and destroying a beloved attraction. There’s plenty of room for a new attraction for Tiana! Leave politics out of it!
Tokyo Disney here I come!!!
This honestly is one of the biggest, most horrid changes that a beloved Disney attraction has gone through. Ever! There have been many great attractions back then, which a lot of them have suffered because of unnecessary changes. Because of ignorant guests who were “offended” by something that is history related.. Or something else! Not all were about that subject. Like Alien encounter, which was one of the best attractions that 100% was a full success when it first truly opened in 1995. Yeah, it scared kids. But it never was meant for children in the first place. (I cannot explain the real reason the show closed. The subject matter is very graphic.) Besides the point. Have you heard the saying; “Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts.”? That’s exactly what is happening here. This is a no go for me. I do love the new things that Disney and the team are creating however! I respect the old attractions for a very good reason. Because the old attractions had wonderful and powerful storylines and excitement brought to all guests from around the world! But not only that, but the Imagineers brought amazing tech into the attractions to blow our mind. Now the rides kind of feel less powerful and things feel really rushed… I know this PATF attraction will do that with the tech, but it possibly will fail like the Frozen attraction. That ride ruined one of my personal favorites. The attraction was just plain horrible! Animatronic wise, the details were wonderful. But story-wise. No. I really hope Disney avoids this change and responds to this nonsense from these weird overly-strange guests who visit the park, just to ruin the classic attractions because of their ridiculous excuses and negligence. If I find an issue with a ride. It will be an animatronic issue or audio playback issue or some special effect problem. Not because the story “offended” me! This generation of made-up nonsense is ridiculous. I give feedback for the Indiana Jones Adventure because I love that attraction with all my heart. Because that is one of the most impressive attractions that Disney has ever created! Along with many others! (They better not touch that attraction, or I will break entirely..) Enough said.
Wait… how are they finding the money to change rides while thousands of their employees had to be let go for budget cuts? Disney needs to address this before making changes or even adding rides to the park for that matter. They need to stop pretending like they care about people’s feelings when it’s really all about money for them. If you care so much, hire back your cast members. Start making budget cuts from the top (CEO, etc.) so that you can afford to pay your workers fair wages. I’m not impressed by their claims of being “inclusive”. They are anything but. I’m thankful for theme parks like Universal.
The folks that love “triggering a liberal”, seem extra triggered by this fabulous news.. (based on the passionate comments here).
I was hoping for one last ride on Splash Mountain, looks like it’ll be gone before I can get back to Florida.
How about work on TRON, an attraction everyone would agree would be good instead of creating (ironically) attractions that are divisive among the now-broken Disney fandom.
I’m glad so many are as outraged and upset by this as I am (and no it’s not because they are choosing to change the ride).
With the successful petition of getting 1.5 million signatures to sign and say they wouldn’t go see Aquaman 2 if Amber Head was staring in it, I think if we want Disney to definitely NOT act on this we should hit them in their pocketbook and someone should start and we should all sign a petition saying we won’t go see a specific blockbuster they have planned if they push this horrible idea through.
Give Tiana her own ride AND restaurant AND gift shop, and leave Splash Mountain alone!
I’m not on social media so someone else will have to take up this torch and decide what movie would make them really act and then spread the word near and far and get the signatures.
As of right now the petition to save the mountain had almost 90k signatures while the petition to change it didn’t even have half that. I think at this point it’s blatantly obvious Disney cares about their money, so let’s show them we mean it!
Please feel free to use my words to create one!