- The Splash Mountain ride at Disney World in Florida closed on Monday.
- The "Song of the South" theme of the log-flume ride will be replaced with "Princess and the Frog."
Disney World's Splash Mountain ride closed on Monday ahead of $4 into Tiana's Bayou Adventure, which is slated to open in 2024.
Following the closure, some Disney fans have tried to make money by listing bags and jars filled with water that they say they collected from the log-flume ride. As of Tuesday morning, the lowest listed price for water claiming to be from Splash Mountain on eBay was $4 and the highest was $4.
Listings describe the water as "Disney's Splash Mountain Water 1/22/2023 Limited" and "Genuine Disney SPLASH MOUNTAIN Water circa 2021," respectively.
Another eBay user poked fun at those trying to sell water by $4. As of Tuesday morning, the listing was expired.
The description read: "This is obviously just for fun and to make fun of the people who are really selling water from a ride. I'm a Disney fan but come on people has the world gotten so doomed that people would buy water from a ride. Smh if you really want this water buy it. I'll even do free shipping! Have a magical day!"
Splash Mountain — which opened at Disneyland in California in 1989 and Disney World in 1992 — was based on the 1946 movie "Song of the South," which has been criticized for its depiction of Black Americans in a post-slavery era. It was announced in June 2020 that the ride would be re-themed at both the Florida and California theme parks following $4, $4. Change.org currently has the petition marked as a "victory" with 21,319 supporters.
The re-themed ride will be based on the 2009 film "The Princess and the Frog," which featured Disney's first Black princess, Tiana.
$4 that "Song of the South" has been called one of "Hollywood's most resiliently offensive racist texts," according to film professor and author Jason Sperb. Some people, including Sperb, believe it shouldn't be completely forgotten and should be used as a teaching tool to help prevent the resurgence of its underlying issues.
Whoopi Goldberg previously told $4: "I'm trying to find a way to get people to start having conversations about bringing 'Song of the South' back so we can talk about what it was and where it came from and why it came out."