Disney park replaces classic Splash Mountain sign — sparking backlash as critics slam ‘woke’ move
Disney has quietly removed the final surviving “Have a Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah Day” sign at the exit of Splash Mountain in Tokyo, sharp-eyed visitors reported. The original sign featured the phrase in both Kanji and English, but it has now been replaced with a simple English-only message reading, “Thanks for dropping in!”
Disney attributed the change to a sponsorship deal with the chemical and cosmetics company Kao Corporation. Critics, however, suspect the motivation is less commercial.
The Daily Mail reported that many believe Disney is distancing itself from the iconic “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah” song, which comes from the 1948 film Song of the South. The movie is set on a Georgia plantation and follows Uncle Remus, an elderly Black storyteller, as he shares tales of Br’er Rabbit, Br’er Fox, and Br’er Bear with a visiting boy named Johnny. The film has faced longstanding criticism for its racial stereotypes.
Song of the South has never been released on home video in the United States and is absent from Disney’s streaming platform, Disney+.
This move is the latest in what some critics call Disney’s “woke agenda.” Other examples include discouraging staff from using gendered greetings, showing a same-sex kiss in the 2022 film Lightyear, and replacing the actors playing dwarfs in the 2025 Snow White remake with CGI — a decision that drew sharp criticism from Game of Thrones actor Peter Dinklage, who has dwarfism. “You’re progressive in one way and you’re still making that backwards story about seven dwarfs living in a cave together. What are you doing?” he said on the WTF with Marc Maron podcast.
Splash Mountain itself closed in all U.S. Disney parks in 2023, and the once-beloved tune, which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1948, has now joined Disney’s growing list of retired classics.
“They’ve really lost it,” one critic remarked.
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