Splash Mountain at the Magic Kingdom reopened on February 11, after its annual winter refurbishment. Fans were keen to see what had been done to the attraction and reports seem to say that the ride system has been worked on and little else.
There appears to be some paint work having been done to freshen up parts of the attraction but guests have commented that the broken animatronics and effects have not been fixed whilst the attraction has been closed.
Recent chatter online had led some to believe that Disney may be rethinking the major Princess and the Frog retheme which was first announced back in June 2020. The news that Disney would be changing this iconic attraction inevitably caused an outcry from numerous fans. There have been few details, apart from the releasing of a few concept art images, since the initial announcement, however this doesn’t come as a huge surprise considering inevitable delays due to COVID-19.
It has also been noted that the previous paragraph which stated that the attraction would be rethemed on the official Splash Mountain page on the Walt Disney World website, has now been removed. This has led some people to question Disney’s intentions.
However, Disney has indeed invested a lot of time and money into this huge retheming which is planned to take place at Walt Disney World and Disneyland and is very unlikely to just leave the project, especially as Splash Mountain is certainly an aging attraction at the park having originally opened in 1992.
With an upcoming retheme on the horizon, it makes total sense that Disney would focus on the ride system alone during the recent month long refurbishment as we know the Princess and the Frog retheme will continue to use it. With Disney choosing not to fix any of the broken animatronics or effects and doing minimal painting to the interior and exterior, we think this points to there being news regarding this retheme coming very soon.
We will keep you posted with further updates on the Splash Mountain retheme to The Princess and the frog as they are announced on our news and Facebook page.
