Several passengers on the Splash Mountain log flume ride at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom were forced to disembark near the attraction’s end when their vehicle began to sink.
This sinking marks the third time this has happened since August 2020. In the video of the incident, you can see a log ride vehicle submerged as guests try to jump out of it. A second log appears to bumps into the back of the sunken log.
Another splash mountain ride vehicle sinking??? Is this like the 3rd one now? pic.twitter.com/3oJlWDMLHx
— MagicbandManiac (@MagicbandManiac) July 13, 2022
Disney has announced that Splash Mountain “will soon be completely reimagined” and be rethemed to feature “The Princess and the Frog.”
Splash Mountain opened in 1989 and took visitors on a journey through the Old South. The ride took guests past several different scenes and includes animatronic animals singing the film’s song “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” before plunging guests down a 50-foot drop.
The announcement of the retheme follows criticism of the current theme for Splash Mountain, which is based on 1946 film “Song of the South.” The movie is based on the Uncle Remus stories of Joel Chandler Harris, a white Southern author who purported to have heard the stories from black Americans in the 19th century. Song of the South depicts what critics say is an overly idealized view of the Reconstruction-era South.