Honestly, this is the logical conclusion to this entire saga. The fact is Disney has kept aspects of Song of the South alive while simultaneously acting like it never existed, and they can’t have it both ways anymore.
Look, we all love what the parks have done with convergence and transmedia with Disney’s properties (none of us would be here if we didn’t), but in the case of Song of the South and Splash Mountain specifically, all it’s done is obscure the source material’s racism while allowing Disney to keep profiting off of it. The company has never really owned up for this blatantly racist content. And that’s to say nothing of the original Br’Er Rabbit stories and how they were divorced from their African origins and recast by a white novelist during Reconstruction. A lot of people who love the cartoon characters they see on Splash Mountain are unaware of their problematic origin, let alone the racist aspects of the film itself. All of this allows us to look at the ride as nothing more than a bunch of cute animals singing happy songs, but there’s dark past behind it all that deserves to be brought to light.
It’s unfortunate that Splash Mountain is part of a long and ugly racist history, but it is. Again, kudos to Disney for acting.