{"id":504027,"date":"2026-10-22T09:24:51","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T09:24:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/504027\/"},"modified":"2026-10-22T09:24:51","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T09:24:51","slug":"building-disneylands-splash-mountain-was-a-horrible-idea-imagineer-says-orange-county-register","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/504027\/","title":{"rendered":"Building Disneyland\u2019s Splash Mountain was a \u2018horrible idea,\u2019 Imagineer says \u2013 Orange County Register"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Walt Disney Imagineer Kathy Mangum says one of the biggest regrets of her 42-year career was building Splash Mountain at Disneyland with a backstory based on the controversial 1940s Disney movie \u201cSong of the South.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mangum spoke about her work on Splash Mountain, Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage and Cars Land at the Disneyland resort on the Dream Chasing<\/a> podcast hosted by former Imagineering President Bob Weis.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew building Splash Mountain based on a movie we would not show was not a great idea,\u201d Mangum said on the podcast. \u201cIt was a horrible idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

ALSO SEE: 7 new Disneyland projects and when they could open<\/a><\/p>\n

\"WaltWalt Disney Imagineer Kathy Mangum in Cars Land at Disney California Adventure. (Courtesy of Disney)<\/p>\n

The Splash Mountain log flume ride debuted at Disneyland in 1989 with a backstory based on \u201cSong of the South\u201d \u2014 a controversial live-action\/animated musical film that Disney shelved in the 1980s for perpetuating racist stereotypes.<\/p>\n

Disney\u2019s 1946 \u201cSong of the South\u201d was based on the \u201cUncle Remus\u201d stories \u2014 a collection of folktales from the Southern plantation era compiled by Joel Chandler Harris and published in the 1880s.<\/p>\n

Imagineering transformed the Splash Mountain rides at Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom into Tiana\u2019s Bayou Adventure<\/a> in 2024.<\/p>\n

\"WaltWalt Disney Imagineer Tony Baxter, who was executive producer of the development of Splash Mountain, holds up two vials of water from the ride after he rode it on its final day. (Photo by Brady MacDonald, Orange County Register\/SCNG)<\/p>\n

Disney Legend Tony Baxter famously came up with the idea for Splash Mountain in 1983 while stuck in traffic on the I-5 Freeway as a way to repurpose the audio-animatronic figures from Disneyland\u2019s America Sings attraction.<\/p>\n

Baxter stood by his decision to use \u201cSong of the South\u201d as the backstory for Splash Mountain during a 2023 interview on Zeitgeist\u2019s Spirit of the Time<\/a> video podcast.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was nothing in the ride that in any way was detrimental to anybody,\u201d Baxter said on the podcast. \u201cWhatever the controversy is that has come up with it is more related to what the film is. And I think we\u2019re way overboard on that kind of sensitivity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SplashSplash Mountain in Critter Country at Disneyland in Anaheim, CA, on Wednesday, August 10, 2022. Splash Mountain is a log flume based on the animated sequences of the 1946 Disney film Song of the South. In June 2020, Disney announced that the U.S. versions of the ride would be replaced with a theme based on Disney\u2019s 2009 film The Princess and the Frog. The new ride, which will be titled Tiana\u2019s Bayou Adventure, is expected to open at both Disneyland and Magic Kingdom in late 2024. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register\/SCNG)<\/p>\n

Magnum knew Splash Mountain was a bad idea in the 1980s and worked on it anyway despite her reservations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not proud of that,\u201d Mangum said on the podcast. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t do it today. Neither would Disney, but we did it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SplashSplash Mountain in Critter Country at Disneyland in Anaheim, CA, on Wednesday, August 10, 2022. Splash Mountain is a log flume based on the animated sequences of the 1946 Disney film Song of the South. In June 2020, Disney announced that the U.S. versions of the ride would be replaced with a theme based on Disney\u2019s 2009 film The Princess and the Frog. The new ride, which will be titled Tiana\u2019s Bayou Adventure, is expected to open at both Disneyland and Magic Kingdom in late 2024. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register\/SCNG)<\/p>\n

The lowest point in the Splash Mountain project occurred during the voice actor recording sessions for the \u201cSong of the South\u201d audio-animatronic figures in the attraction, according to Mangum.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we had that actor come in and do Brer Fox, that was so uncomfortable,\u201d Mangum said on the podcast.<\/p>\n

Clones of Splash Mountain were built in 1992 at the Magic Kingdom in Florida and Tokyo Disneyland in Japan.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe first boat of riders head down the falls on Tiana\u2019s Bayou Adventure at Disneyland in Anaheim, CA, on Monday, Oct. 21, 2024.(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register\/SCNG)<\/p>\n

Disney decided to remove the \u201cSong of the South\u201d theme<\/a> from the Splash Mountain rides in Anaheim and Orlando during the COVID-19 closure of the parks and amid social justice protests across the United States sparked by the 2020 death of George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis.<\/p>\n

Both attractions were closed in 2023 and transformed into Tiana\u2019s Bayou Adventure with a \u201cPrincess and the Frog\u201d theme.<\/p>\n

\"LolaLola Poe dons a Tiana backpack after getting into the 12:00 P.M. virtual queue for \ufffcTiana\u2019s Bayou Adventureat Disneyland in Anaheim, CA, on Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. Tiana\u2019s Bayou Adventure is a log flume ride based on Disney\u2019s 2009 film The Princess and the Frog. The ride used to be the Splash Mountain attraction themed to Disney\u2019s 1946 film Song of the South. ..(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register\/SCNG)<\/p>\n

The 2009 \u201cPrincess and the Frog\u201d film was celebrated as Disney\u2019s first animated depiction of an African-American princess. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for best animated feature and received two nods in the best original song category for \u201cAlmost There\u201d and \u201cDown in New Orleans.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the right thing,\u201d Mangum said of the Tiana\u2019s Bayou Adventure transformations.<\/p>\n

\"DisneyDisney California Adventure visitors fly around and throw beach balls on Luigi\u2019s Flying Tires on Thursday, June 14, 2012 at Cars Land, the new theme land at Disney California Adventure. (Photo by Joshua Sudock, The Orange County Register)<\/p>\n

Mangum, who grew up in Orange, started her Disney career with a part-time job at Disneyland while she was a student at Cal State Fullerton.<\/p>\n

During her Imagineering career, Mangum worked on Radiator Springs Racers and Luigi\u2019s Flying Tires in Cars Land at Disney California Adventure, Toy Story Land at Disney\u2019s Hollywood Studios, Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage at Disneyland and the Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach water parks at Walt Disney World.<\/p>\n

Mangum retired from Imagineering in 2018.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Walt Disney Imagineer Kathy Mangum says one of the biggest regrets of her 42-year career was building…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":504028,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[2223,163,165,164,7,2222,1341,611,420],"class_list":["post-504027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-amusement-parks","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-california","tag-disney-california-adventure","tag-disneyland","tag-orange-county","tag-things-to-do"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=504027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/504028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=504027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=504027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=504027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}