This year will mark the 28th Anniversary of Disneyland's Splash Mountain. While it is still a popular attraction, it is one that I rarely ride. Typically, guests get fairly wet, so unless you bring a change of clothes, things can get somewhat uncomfortable for the rest of your stay in the Park. These photos were taken last May, about three years after the last time I had been on this ride. Oh how time flies. Shall we?
I still find it terribly ironic that this joyful sing-a-long attraction is based on a movie that the Disney Corporation is afraid to re-release due to content that has been deemed inappropriate.
My face says it all. See you in at least three more years.
More vintage and current Splash Mountain photos on my main website.
Song of the South was re-released in 1986 for the film's 40th Anniversary and the promotion of Splash Mountain in Disneyland. Since then, Disney doesn't wide re-release any of their classics in theaters anymore due them already being on home video.
ReplyDeleteWhat Disney hasn't done and won't do is release Song of the South on the home video market in the United States. In other countries they have done so. What they should've done was release the film under the limited edition "Walt Disney Treasures" DVD series that Leonard Maltin was involved in back in the 2000's. That way it would've included the usual intro with an historical perspective that Leonard provided in that series of DVDs. That's what they did with Disney's wartime propaganda animated shorts that they vowed would not see the light of day anymore.
Personally I didn't care for "Song of the South". Walt Disney's similar "So Dear to My Heart" which was released during that same era was far superior in my opinion.
Here in Europe, the Disney comic books are a lot more popular than they are in the US. For many people here, especially those that grew up in the 1970s before the advent of the home video market, the comic books (the bulk of the stories drawn in Italy and Denmark, though some were also drawn in the US) shaped the image of some Disney characters a lot more than the animated movies or short films.
ReplyDeleteEven today, the characters from the animated segments of "Song of the South" are regulars in the comic books, appearing in short stories similar to their adventures in the movie (fox and bear try to trap rabbit, rabbit outwits them). I remember Brer Fox and Brer Bear even appearing in the occasional crossover with characters from other stories. The movie itself is still little known, but most Disney lovers in Europe are probably familiar with, and fond of, Brer Rabbit and the others.
Excellent photos Dave. It's an enjoyable and pleasantly long (time wise)attraction amidst the roller coasters of today. There are audio animatronic characters pictured that were repurposed from America Sings which have been going strong for some 40 years now. KS
ReplyDeleteYou're like me Dave. I dig the ride, but hate getting wet from it. ESPECIALLY in Florida where if it's humid enough.. your clothes will be soaked until you take them off to go to bed that night.
ReplyDeleteIt's a fun enough ride if I can get a walk-on, but not worth a wait to me.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid, I had a Disney kids book with the animated characters stories only, so Brer Fox, Brer Rabbit & c. are familiar enough, without a soundtrack or the back story. The story of the tar baby was hilarious when told in isolation, but with the perspective of age, and in combination with all the rest of the stories...
The sound track was new to me since I didn't see the film until years and years later as an adult, I agree it has historic value if nothing else and should be available for study somehow. Frankly, I don't care for the music all that much, Disney has done better.
It's interesting that the Disney Museum in San Francisco has done a similar treatment of the film in the timeline exhibit, the cartoon characters are shown, and the music is featured, but no dialog and no live actors.
Great pictures as usual, Dave. Thank you.
JG