Disneyland To Revamp Peter Pan Attraction

Let’s talk about some significant changes coming to one of Disneyland’s classic attractions, Peter Pan’s Flight. Disney is planning to update this beloved ride to remove what the company views as outdated and stereotypical depictions of Indigenous people.

This move follows a similar update made at Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida, as part of a broader effort by Disney to ensure their attractions and content are more culturally sensitive and inclusive.

So, what exactly is changing? At Disney World, the Peter Pan’s Flight ride originally featured scenes with the Never Land Tribe, including a chief in a headdress, several braves drumming, and Tiger Lily sitting around a fire. In the updated version, these elements have been removed.

Now, visitors will see Tiger Lily and her mother performing a dance around the fire, while other tribe members play a ceremonial drum. The changes at Disneyland’s version of the ride are expected to be similar, though Disney hasn’t provided a specific timeline for when these updates will be made.

Disneyland officials told the New York Post that the company’s “imagineers” are focused on making “thoughtful” changes. These updates are part of a broader trend at Disney, where the company has been reevaluating and updating its attractions and films to remove or address potentially insensitive content.

For instance, Peter Pan’s Flight isn’t the only ride getting a makeover. Disney recently revamped the Splash Mountain ride at both Disneyland in California and Magic Kingdom in Florida. The original ride was based on the 1946 film Song of the South, which has long been criticized for its racist depictions of African-Americans in the post-Civil War South.

The ride has been reimagined as Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, which opened at Magic Kingdom earlier this summer and is set to open at Disneyland in mid-November.

Disney has also added content warnings to some of its classic films, including the 1953 animated film Peter Pan. The original film includes scenes where Native Americans are referred to as “redskins” and shows Peter and the Lost Boys dancing in headdresses. When viewers watch this film on Disney+, they’ll see a disclaimer noting that these depictions were wrong then and are wrong now.