Woke activists successfully canceled Splash Mountain. Now they have pressured Disney into changing another well-known theme park ride.
Disney is giving its popular Jungle Cruise an overhaul following complaints that it glorified “colonial” attitudes and contained racist imagery.
The plan includes modifying “negative depictions” of native people currently featured in the riverboat adventure.
The Walt Disney Co. announced Monday that the makeovers will affect the Jungle Cruise rides at the Magic Kingdom in Orlando and Disneyland in Anaheim. In a press release, Disney said the changes will “reflect and value the diversity of the world around us.”
“Imagineers are constantly looking for opportunities to enhance experiences, and when it comes to updating classic attractions, they employ a very careful and thoughtful approach,” Disney said in a statement sent to multiple news outlets. “In this particular case, Imagineers created a storyline that builds upon what people love the most while addressing negative depictions simultaneously.”
Disney provided scant details of the plan, but the Orange County Register reported that the changes will feature an update to a shrunken head dealer known as “Trader Sam.”
The announcement follows online pressure from fans who were upset about the ride’s “racist” caricatures and its alleged depiction of native people as “savages.”
Jungle Cruise is one of Disney’s oldest theme park attractions, first opening in Disneyland in 1955.
Disney announced last year that it will completely overhaul Splash Mountain, which was based on the 1946 Disney movie Song of the South. The new ride will be based on the 2009 Disney animated movie The Princess and the Frog, which features a black heroine.
Last year’s announcement followed a social media campaign that called the attraction “problematic” due to its “racist tropes” borrowed from Song of the South.
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