A Mom Shares Her Sadness After The Disney World Ride She Named Her Baby After Closes For Good
"Is her name log flume?"
@vegangranolamom / TikTok / Instagram When it comes to naming children, some parents opt to give them names that carry specific meanings to them. Some parents name their children after a beloved relative or favorite vacation destination.
One mother decided to name her baby after a Disney World ride and has many people raising their eyebrows.
The mother named her baby daughter after her the recently closed Splash Mountain ride at Disney World.
In a TikTok video viewed over 3 million times, the mother (@vegangranolamom) shared a video of herself feeding her infant daughter.
She peers down at her baby with a somber expression on her face. “The ride I named my daughter after shut down today at Disney I’m so sad,” she wrote in a textbox over her video.
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The mother’s confession perplexed many TikTok users on what her daughter’s name actually was.
“Baby Splash Mountain?” one user asked.
“Zippity?” another user wondered, referring to the catchy tune “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah” that was played during various segments of the ride.
“Tell log I’m sorry,” another user commented, referring to the log flume boats used to carry riders through splash mountain.
The mother posted a follow-up video confirming her baby’s name, and thankfully it is not what any of the commenters guessed.
Her daughter’s name is 'Briar' after the 'Briar Patch' portion of the ride.
The most popular part of the ride was when the log flume took a 50-foot plunge into the fictional “Briar Patch.”
The mother first came across the name on a baby name list on Pinterest when she was pregnant.
“It reminded me of the little Briar Patch on the Splash Mountain ride,” she shares. “We do love Disney, so I was like, that’s such a cute name.”
However, some users pointed out that Splash Mountain closed after sparking racial controversy.
The beloved ride was based on Disney’s 1946 film, “Song of the South” which features the Uncle Remus folk stories and incorporates animated segments in the film, that include the story of Br’er Rabbit, Br’er Fox, and Br’er Bear, the fictional animals featured in Splash Mountain.
However, over the last few years, the controversial film’s offensive portrayal of African Americans living in the postbellum South encouraged Disney Imagineers to consider doing away with the flume ride that had ties to the movie to create a more inclusive environment.
In 2020, Disney announced that Splash Mountain would be permanently closing amid the controversy and rethemed into a “The Princess and the Frog” log flume ride. “You named your baby after a NORTOUROUSLY racist movie??? And that baby is fresh there’s no way you “didn’t know,” one TikTok user commented.
The mother addressed the comment, revealing that she had never seen “Song of the South” but realizes the movie is “very controversial and terrible.”
She claims that she chose to name her daughter after the ride itself rather than the film it was based on.
“The ride itself I really like, so we named her Brair,” she says.
The mother adds that while she is sad to see the Splash Mountain ride go, she is looking forward to the “The Princess and the Frog” retheme since it is one of her favorite Disney movies.
“I didn’t think her name would be so controversial but I love it and I loved the ride so I don’t know what else to say,” the mother shared of baby Briar in a follow-up video.
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Some TikTok users criticized the woman for not educating herself on the ride’s racist undertones.
“People seem to wonder why we don’t seem to be going anywhere son as a human race. Just five minutes of any type of research would have shown what it [“Song of the South”] is about,” one user commented.
“I’m sorry but if I was gonna name my kid after something I would do some research,” another added.
However, others adored the baby’s name and the meaning behind it.
“Briar is a beautiful name and your reasoning is valid,” one user commented. “Splash Mountain has been here [Disney World] for 30 years and touched the hearts of so many people.”
“I think her name is really pretty. People always have to make nothing into something,” another user wrote.
“Many users on here don’t realize that it’s [the ride] a nostalgic thing for so many people. This ride had provided core memories for families who ride it,” another user added.
Splash Mountain in Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida closed permanently on January 23, 2023.
The ride still stands in Disneyland in Anaheim, California and an official closing date is yet to be announced.
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.