USA: A new attraction featuring Tiana, Disney's first Black princess, to open

A new attraction starring Tiana, the first Black Disney princess will soon welcome its visitors.

The new theme park attraction updates Tiana's storyline from the 2009 animated film, “The Princess and the Frog”.

It is opening in the space previously occupied by Splash Mountain. The water ride had been themed to “Song of the South,” a 1946 Disney movie filled with racist stereotypes about African Americans.

Tiana's Bayou Adventure keeps Splash Mountain's DNA as a log-flume ride, but it's infused with music, scenery and animatronic characters inspired by the film set in 1920s New Orleans.

It was in June 2020 that Disney announced that it would transform the Splash Mountain ride into Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. This came in the aftermath of protests sparked by the murder of African American George Floyd in police custody

The Princess and the Frog is a retelling of the classic story The Frog Prince. In the 1-hour-37 minute-film finds the lives of arrogant Prince Naveen and hardworking waitress Tiana crossing paths.

Tiana's Bayou Adventure opens on June 28 at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida!

Disney has been criticized for racist tropes in films made in earlier decades. The crow characters from the 1941 film, “Dumbo” and the King Louie character from 1967’s “The Jungle Book” were viewed as African American caricatures. The depiction of Native Americans in the 1953 movie, “Peter Pan,” and the Siamese cats — often deemed as Asian stereotypes — from the 1955 film, “Lady and the Tramp,” also have been derided.

Not everyone is sold on the belief that opening a ride based on Tiana’s story solves Disney’s past racial depictions.