Happy Birthday, Splash Mountain
I meant to post this yesterday, but never got a chance. So today will have to suffice. 
Yesterday was Splash Mountain’s 21st birthday. It was July 17, 1989 the popular attraction officially opened for business in Disneyland, Anaheim, CA (though a soft opening had occurred a few weeks earlier). Despite the fact that Song of the South was on the verge of being locked in the Disney “Vault” indefinitely, and Joel Chandler Harris’s original books were being branded as too politically incorrect for a modern audience, Splash Mountain would serve to introduce and immortalize Brer Rabbit in the public’s conscience anyways.
It is because Splash Mountain that I am writing this entry; that this site exists. Splash Mountain introduced me to Brer Rabbit. And even though today I realize how watered down and out of line with the original stories the ride is (frankly, I’d like to see them open a version with Miss Meadow and the Girls), it will always hold a special place in my heart. To date, I don’t think I would even want to visit a Disney park if Splash were closed for refurbishment.
Happy 21st Birthday, Splash Mountain.
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I agree with you about miss meadows and the girls. I wish disney would have used miss meadows in thier brer rabbit stoylines and not molly.
Aww, yeah, I wasn’t a huge fan of the way Disney used Molly either. The irony is, Molly originally WAS one of the girls. I can understand why Disney changed it (the stories never came right out and said it, but they were pretty much… prostitutes), but I never felt like they pulled off their alternative storyline for her very well.
Ah! Its like you’re reading my mind! Molly was one of the girls and those girls where like prostitutes! I must be honest…. I know joel chandler harris’ tales far better than I know the brer rabbit disney comics but what I have read in brer rabbits and mollys romance… It felt almost like it strays from his character. (Like I said I don’t know much about molly… But from what I have read in the disney comics I don’t like her persona. I think it wouldve been better if they toned down miss meadows). it makes so happy that someone else wishes that they used miss meadows besides me!
Yeah, I know what you mean. I only know what I’ve read about the comics on the internet, really — I’ve never actually read them myself. I suppose if I’m going to be running a site like this I should start collecting and reading them, but I, too, am much more familiar with Harris’s version of the stories. I’m afraid I’ll nitpick at the comics too much to enjoy them… especially when it comes to Molly. In the very least, I think they should have made her much more Southern, but she comes across more like a housewife from the 50′s in what I’ve seen. It’s too bad, because I actually tend to like the Disney designs for the characters otherwise.
On the other hand, I think the Walt Disney’s Uncle Remus Stories Big Golden Book does a pretty decent job with her. But they were mainly just illustrating to Joel Chandler Harris’s stories anyways, so no surprise there. Great book, though; I wish they’d done more like it. (Although they left out Miss Meadows in that one, too.)