Disneyland will be replacing a scene in its Peter Pan ride to remove what it called “stereotypes” of indigenous peoples, officials said.
The change to Peter Pan’s Flight in Fantasyland – an opening day attraction at the Anaheim theme park in 1955 – follows an update to the same animatronic ride at the Orlando theme park.
The current scene shows tribal members – including the chief with his arms crossed – sitting around a campfire. Some Reddit users have complained that the current ride characters are “problematic” and called them “caricatures” of native people.
The updated Never Land Tribe scene at the Magic Kingdom ride includes animatronic figures of Peter Pan’s friend Tiger Lily and her great-grandmother on a spinning turntable as they enjoy a harvest celebration.
Disneyland officials told The Post they expect similar changes to be made at the California theme park. Officials said it is unclear how long the updates will take, though the “Imagineers” behind the theme park are focused on “thoughtful” changes.
Elsewhere, the Mouse House has slapped content warnings of racial stereotypes on some of its films that are available for streaming on Disney+, including “Peter Pan.”
“These stereotypes were wrong then and are wrong now,” a Disney+ disclaimer said before the film.
The disclaimer precedes stereotypical portrayals of indigenous characters throughout the 1953 animated film, which refers to native people as “redskins” and depicts Peter and the Lost Boys dancing in headdresses.
The Peter Pan ride is not the first to be tidied up by Disney.
The California and Florida theme parks replaced uber-popular Splash Mountain – which is tied to the 1946 film “Song of the South” – with Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.
The new water ride is based on the 2009 animated film “The Princess and the Frog” and features Tiana, Disney’s first black princess.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
