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Disney Parks fans recently accused Disneyland Resort of hypocrisy for inviting an R-rated character into its family-friendly theme park after removing offensive elements from other attractions.
Last week, Deadpool made his first appearance in Avengers Campus at Disney California Adventure Park and Disneyland Paris Resort’s Walt Disney Studios Park. At Disneyland Resort, Deadpool joins Wolverine for a family-friendly storytime session, boasting chimichangas in his holsters instead of guns.
The often explicit Marvel character keeps it clean at Disneyland Resort but keeps his classic irreverent and sarcastic sense of humor. Still, some parents protested Deadpool’s Disney Parks debut.
Now, other Disney Parks fans are frustrated with Disneyland Resort for welcoming Deadpool but editing or retheming attractions like Pirates of the Caribbean and Splash Mountain (Now Tiana’s Bayou Adventure).
Credit: Disney
u/Ellionwy posted on Reddit this week, angry that Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resort modified offensive parts of historic rides:
“So they get rid of Red from Pirates, and the auction, and Liver Lips’ name is gone, and they want to get rid of the hanging corpse from Haunted Mansion, or even Jessica Rabbit being covered up and turned from a damsel-in-distress to a crime fighter all because of political correctness.
But rude, crude, Deadpool is somehow okay?”
Redd refers to an animatronic woman from Pirates of the Caribbean, a bride-for-sale transformed into a swashbuckling pirate. In the late 2010s, Walt Disney Imagineers removed the sexist auction scene from Disneyland Park, Magic Kingdom Park, Tokyo Disneyland, and Disneyland Paris.
Credit: Ed Aguila, Inside the Magic
Liver Lips McGrowl is the former name of Romeo McGrowl, one of the bears from the recently rethemed Country Bear Musical Jamboree at Magic Kingdom Park. Walt Disney World Resort renamed the character and removed his meet-and-greet due to the nickname’s racist connotations.
When Disneyland Park revamped Roger Rabbit’s Car Town Spin, Imagineers covered Jessica Rabbit’s salacious red dress with a trench coat. The character is now a private detective, keeping Toontown safe from the weasels.
The Disney Parks fan also mentioned a controversial reference to suicide in The Haunted Mansion. For years, rumors have swirled that Imagineering plans to remove the hanging corpse from the Stretching Room–no official plans have been revealed.
Credit: Disney
The Redditor argued that if Deadpool is allowed at Disney California Adventure Park, none of these changes could be justified:
“Okay. Madison from Splash walking naked. Touchstone, and not at Disneyland. Or how about a Ruthless People meet-and-greet? That would be fun!”
Some Disney Parks fans agreed.
Credit: Disneyland Paris
Related: Guests Evacuated After Country Bear Jamboree Burns
“There’s no logical consistency in what is taboo,” u/billbotbillbot commented. “It’s mostly a matter of fashion, and, so, subject to constant change.”
“You are not wrong,” said u/Giggalo_Joe. “But this is the world we live in. We are very selective about what we get angry about these days and it doesn’t always make sense.”
Credit: Disney
Still, most argued that a family-friendly version of a Marvel character that also appears in kid-friendly cartoons and comic books is different from antiquated stereotypes in Disney Parks attractions. From u/sidal714:
“You need to use your brain and realize that Deadpool is a comic book character first and foremost.
He’s been featured in MANY different forms of media from Marvel with VARIOUS different ratings from kids to adult content.
That’s like saying Wolverine shouldn’t be in the parks because he was in two R rated movies. When the Wolverine character has been used in MULTIPLE different settings.
Also you’re weird for thinking auctioning off a human being is the same as a crude character in the parks tbh.”
“Deadpool isnt acting like a rated R movie in the parks”, u/roaringstar44 agreed. “The character is also in kid shows and is more like an Animaniac. I see no problem with this.”
Is Deadpool’s presence at Disney California Adventure Park offensive? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.
Time for Disney to step back and look at what harm they have done. Bring back the old, it was fine for how many years? Then all of the sudden. We want the old Disney back. Deadpool has a foul mouth. Doesn’t belong at Disney, but neither does parents with foul mouths and foul attitudes. You all, including Disney, need to clean up your acts.