A former Walt Disney Imagineer who helped build Splash Mountain says she doubted the concept from the start. Two years after the log flume became Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, her comments have reopened the debate over the ride’s controversial source material.
A Veteran Imagineer Looks Back
Kathy Magnum retired in 2018 after 42 years with The Walt Disney Company, 40 of them in Imagineering. She recently appeared on the “Dream Chasing” podcast, hosted by former Walt Disney Imagineering President Bob Weis, in an episode titled “A 42 Year Career of Creative Collaborations.” There she discussed several projects from her career, including Splash Mountain.
Splash Mountain drew its story and characters from Song of the South (1946), a film that has sat in the “Disney vault” for decades. Critics have long objected to its sanitized portrayal of Black American life in the post-Civil War South and its stereotypical depictions of Black characters.
“A Horrible Idea”
Magnum told Weis she had reservations about the ride from the beginning. “I knew building Splash Mountain based on a movie we would not show was not a great idea,” Magnum said. “It was a horrible idea.”
She added that she was “not proud” of her work on the attraction. One moment stuck with her in particular: she felt “so uncomfortable” when an actor recorded dialogue for Br’er Fox, a character from the animated stories in the partially live-action film.
“I wouldn’t do it today,” Magnum said of building the ride around Song of the South characters. “Neither would Disney, but we did it.”
Support for the Retheme
Magnum concluded that transforming the ride into Tiana’s Bayou Adventure was “the right thing.” The retheme, inspired by The Princess and the Frog (2009), removed every reference to Song of the South from the Disney parks, including the “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” song. The new version reopened at Disneyland Park and Walt Disney World Resort’s Magic Kingdom Park two years ago.
One Version Remains
Tokyo Disney Resort, which is run by the Oriental Land Company (OLC) under license from The Walt Disney Company, is the only Disney park that still operates a Splash Mountain attraction based on Song of the South.
Have you been on Tiana’s Bayou Adventure at Magic Kingdom Park or Disneyland Park? Tell Disney Dining about your experience in the comments!
