The controversy around Splash Mountain

Why the iconic theme park ride is being entirely reimagined for a new era

Splash Mountain at Disney World.
(Image credit: Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

Splash Mountain, the iconic log flume ride at Disneyland and Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom, will undergo a makeover to remove a storyline based on the controversial 1946 film Song of the South. While some are praising Disney for the move, saying the ride should never have featured characters from a movie that romanticized the Reconstruction-era South, others claim that the theme is not racist and should stay in place for nostalgia's sake. Here's everything you need to know:

What is 'Song of the South'?

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.