Travel
An attraction featuring Disney’s first black princess replaces a ride based on a movie that many consider racist

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) – A brand new attraction starring Disney’s first Black princess is opening at the corporate’s U.S. theme parks, and a few Disney supporters see it as a suitable substitute for a previous ride based on a film with racist tropes.
The latest theme park attraction continues the story of Tiana from the 2009 animated film “The Princess and the Frog” and can open this yr within the space previously occupied by Splash Mountain. The fundamental theme of the water ride was “Song of the South,” a 1946 Disney film filled with racist stereotypes about African Americans and plantation life.
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure retains Splash Mountain’s log ride DNA, but is infused with music, scenery and animatronic characters inspired by “The Princess,” set in Twenties New Orleans. It will open to the general public later this month at Walt Disney World in Florida and at Disneyland in California later this yr.
“Tiana meant a lot to little Black girls. When a young child sees someone who looks like them, it matters,” said Neal Lester, an English professor at Arizona State University who has written about Tiana.
Disney’s announcement that it could transform its long-running Splash Mountain ride into Tiana’s Bayou Adventure was announced in June 2020 within the wake of social justice protests sparked by the murder of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis. Disney said on the time that the change was already within the works. But it happened as corporations across the United States, within the face of worldwide protests, reconsidered or modified their names to decades-old brands.
The film “Song of the South” is a mixture of live motion, cartoons and music, starring an elderly black man who works on a plantation and tells a white town boy fairy tales about talking animals. The film has been criticized for its racist stereotypes, has not been released in theaters for many years and is just not available on the corporate’s Disney+ streaming service.
Disney was criticized for racist themes in movies made in earlier many years. The crow characters from the 1941 film “Dumbo” and the character of King Louie from the 1967 “Jungle Book” were seen as caricatures of African Americans. Also ridiculed were depictions of Native Americans within the 1953 film “Peter Pan” and Siamese cats – often considered Asian stereotypes – within the 1955 film “Lady and the Tramp.”
Not everyone believes that opening a ride based on Tiana’s story solves Disney’s problematic racial representations.
In rebuilding Splash Mountain into Bayou Adventure Tiana, quite than completely dismantling the attraction, Disney combined “Song of the South” with “The Princess and the Frog.” Both are fantasies that are largely silent on the racial realities of the segregated eras they depict, said Katie Kapurch, an English professor at Texas State University who has written extensively about Disney.
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“We can see the impulse to replace rather than dismantle or build anew also as a metaphor for structural racism,” Kapurch said. “Again, this is unintentional on Disney’s part, but this observation goes to the heart of how Disney reflects America itself.”
The imagineers who design Disney attractions are at all times trying to take a look at attractions with fresh eyes and explore ways to inform latest stories “so that everyone feels included,” said Carmen Smith, senior vice chairman of creative development at Walt Disney Imagineering.
“We never want to perpetuate stereotypes or misconceptions,” Smith said Monday. “Our intention is to tell great stories.”
It’s also necessary for Imagineers to inform diverse stories to their global audiences, said Charita Carter, executive creative producer at Walt Disney Imagineering, who oversaw the attraction’s development.
“Society is actually changing and we are developing different sensibilities,” Carter said. “We focus our stories differently depending on the needs of our society.”
The transformation of Splash Mountain into Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is certainly one of several recalibrations on the amusement giant’s theme parks for rides whose storylines are considered outdated or offensive.
In 2021, Disney announced that it could be revamping Jungle Cruise, certainly one of the unique attractions at Disney Parks that has been criticized prior to now for being racially insensitive because of its portrayal of animatronic indigenous people as savages or bounty hunters. Three years earlier, Disney had eliminated a “Bride Auction” scene from its “Pirates of the Caribbean” ride that was deemed offensive since it showed women lining up for an auction.
It’s a positive step for Disney that a ride based on a past character not seen in previous iterations of Disney princesses replaced an attraction from a movie steeped in racist tropes because “representation matters,” Lester said.
“Disney is all about money and getting people to the park, and you can make money, still have representation, be aware of the social justice story and make everyone feel like they belong there,” Lester said.
Travel
Are you looking for black luxury in full? Spice Island Beach Resort is a new standard

Janelle Hopkin knows that her father could be proud.
Sir Roiston Hopkin was a figure greater than life, who became a knight by the Queen of England, but egg scrambled eggs for breakfast were still daily, maintaining contact with people around the globe, in addition to his home island Grenada, West India, a small island north of Trinidad and Tobago and only a five -hour flight from New York.
It was Sir Hopkin who had a vision of constructing a wonderful luxurious resort along the Grenada Grandada Grandada Anse Beach, often known as Spice Island Beach Resort. It began in 1987, when he bought a neglected center from 20 rooms and worked from 12 months to 12 months to expand it to 64 luxury villas. The son of oldsters who had a motel, hospitality ran along with his blood.
In times, he got here across a guest or businessman who was surprised when a young black man was conducting such a great project, his youth or breed was never an obstacle. In Grenada, black entrepreneurship was as common because the nutmeg that grew on the trees across the island. Everyone who was surprised simply catching up.
“He traveled a lot and saw things,” he recalls. He at all times got here back from travel and had an idea. He desired to push the novel. When everyone said, “We can’t do it, it’s okay as it is.” He said, “What do you mean I can’t do it because I’m in Grenada?” He loved his country. He desired to encourage Grenada and affinity for Grenada in the hearts of his guests.
And so Sir Hopkin lived daily along with his dream, running along with his wife along with his wife and two daughters watching his every move – including his youngest, Janelle, who asked to learn business and deserved to scrub the kitchen in the kitchen to profitability. Ultimately, Spice Island Beach Resort is growing and fame, winning a five -time rating AAA and accepts guests corresponding to Prince Harry.
Before her father got sick and died in 2020, Hopkin accepted the fact that at some point he could manage her full-time family business-but her father explained that he trusted her vision to transfer her to a higher level.

Sir Hopkin was right. Now, having the title of president and managing director, Janelle Hopkin boldly pushed to administer the well -oiled machine Spice Island Beach Resort. In addition to 64 luxury villas, the middle offers a combination of built -in pools, patio and beach balconies, in addition to a delicious full -day dining room and drinks with a non -standard menu prepared by the chef, which may be served by the bed or beach.
Thanks to the best rated SPA, a complete fitness center with yoga classes, a swimming pool and two restaurants, Hopkin claims that Spice Island Beach Resort is designed in order that all the pieces that guests need in one place.

“But I had to push forward and ignore the noise. If you love what you do, you can’t just do the same every day – you have to think about the bigger one.”
And think she did it. Just in time for the fiftieth anniversary of the anniversary of Independence Grenada, Hopkin also renewed the parts of the beach deck in which hotel guests spilled, enjoyed the weekly Sunday grill buffet and listened to live music Steelpan, bringing a modern atmosphere.
She also intended to convey a donation to varsities, employ locally and trained new generations of Grenadian to prosper in the hotel industry, which might increasingly dominate the company brands coming to the Caribbean Islands to submit their claims.
“I’m going to speak (students) and let them know, study tourism and hospitality does not give coffee and cleaning. You can get so high in your career,” says Hopkin.
“I honestly believe in employing local employees from all levels. You go to many resorts in the Caribbean, and many senior management is not local” – he explains. “Many of my teams grew up here. Many of them are women. They started as receptionists … It takes much more time, much more training. But the same in itself turns to the island.”

While Spice Island is the property of Black, its clientele comes from everywhere in the world to experience luxurious accommodation, and a fast crowd scan in a winter week shows a diverse mixture of guests, including about 30 years, but mainly older European couples on vacation from cold, relaxing in private cabins.
But Hopkin also met many black American tourists visiting Spice, moving the inspiring history of her family and the black beginnings of the middle. Recently, she fell on a couple from Chicago, who needed to experience Spice Island for herself.
Such stories confirm Janelle Hopkin that he not only maintains his father’s heritage alive through Spice Island Beach Resort, but expands him to achieve more people willing to offer.
Now her heritage is also based on the leadership of black women in the Caribbean, which showed that they’ve what they have to be bosses, leaders, innovators and others. As the mother of the young son and executive director, at all times on the go, Hopkin climbs in many mountains at the identical time-but like her father, who marked out a new territory with grace and whose portrait is one in every of the primary things that may greet guests in the lobby of the resort on the beach of Spice Island-Hopkin learns their very own lessons concerning the principles of success and applying them in real time:
(Tagstotransate) grenada
Travel
From the plantation to black heritage: like Shadel Nyack Compton, he transformed Estate Belmont Grenada to the destination for a visit

When Shadel Compton Nyack left her native country Grenada at Howard University a many years ago, her life plan was quite clearly touched – graduation in HBCu, go to law school and continues his profession as a lawyer.
But life has a fun way to shake the best -developed plans.
She grew up on a farm named Belmont Estate it was dark past-Earlier he served as a profitable plantation on the island of Grenada-as long as its ancestors Indo-Grenadan didn’t buy it. Despite their positive intention, they might allow the terrain to fall into ruins through old age. Compton Nyack saw the opportunity.
“I had a passion and I knew that I wanted to keep this business that has been so important in Grenada for many decades. And this ensured economic stability that provided jobs. “
Compton Nyack saw areas that when produced chocolate and other products and thought that they might be grown again for tourist purposes. She began to transform the property into a university environment, which trained local residents of the production process for crops, together with the activities of the points of business and tourism of the Earth.
Visitors to Belmont Estate can then visit a delicious fragrant production room, wherein the paste is transformed into chocolate bars, trying the final product and buying gifts for the home.
In addition to the chocolate trip, guests can try goat cheese produced on the farm and eat lunch on the table farm.
The wealthy history and current transformation of the Earth Grenadan is something that Compton Nyack wants more African -American travelers to enjoy.
“I am glad that African Americans spend their dollars in the Caribbean, recognizing our history and culture, as well as for many areas in which we have similarities … and simply develop a greater sense of pride,” reflects Compton Nyack.

Black leadership in business is a common thread that goes beyond the borders of the Black Diaspora. This one Shadel Compton Nyack Hopes inspires latest generations of entrepreneurs, especially black people, especially women, derive hope from tourist industries, which sometimes seem exploiting.
“They come here and see that we are a black country, that we have black leadership, that there are black in business,” he says. “So many … local entrepreneurs, especially here in Grenada. I think the dynamics here in Grenada is different than on many other islands. And African Americans appreciate it. “
For anyone who wants to go to the unknown, Compton Nyack offers this encouragement:
“I’m saying, go for it. You know when you’ve got this inspiration, this vision and this passion – you have to have it first – for it. Enjoy the process. It needs to be fun. It should make you are feeling glad. And if possible, ensure your project, what you are promoting makes a difference in the lives of others.
For me it’s the biggest joy – that I develop people here. We support the community. We try to help people maintain the environment higher. So all this stuff provide you with a great sense of goal and satisfaction, and you’ll be able to change your world. “
(Tagstranslat) grenada
Travel
This black yoga studio is the perfect travel escape in Grenada

Hidden on the hills of the Grenada island, in the community of St. George’s, sits yoga Spice Harmony, a black yoga studio that seems to escape from the world. Founded by Dr. Kecia Brooks-Smith-LoweHer husband Ferron C. Lowe ESQ.and their daughter, Malaika Brooks-Smith-LoweSpice Harmony Yoga is positioned on the third floor of the Brooks-Lowe-Smith family home. With a fruit and vegetable garden in the yard and medical practice, Dr. Brooks-Smith-Lowe on the second floor, in this house, purpose, passion and repair.
Visitors recognize Harmony Spice as a comfortable space with purple with yoga mats, bands and pillows. It has all the vital elements of a typical studio with unpretentious sense and stands out from one other space on the island as the only non-hotel yoga studio in Grenada.
The story of Spice Harmony actually began in Montclair, New Jersey, in the 90s, when Dr. Brooks-Smith-Lowee made a medical residence-a stressful and demanding phase becoming a physician. Her husband, Ferron, from Grenada, went to local walks and discovered yoga as a strategy to de -stress, after which brought his family, including Malaika. Soon, the whole family was trained and licensed, in 2011, all three members of the Brooks-Smith-Low family officially launched Spice Harmony yoga on a gorgeous island.

Malaika says that although people often see yoga as a hobby or fitness trend, Harmony Spice serves a deeper goal in the community by changing the possibilities.
“People often feel that yoga is not for them,” he explains. “For any reason: they are too old. They are not flexible. It’s a man. They have a medical problem. And yoga therapy taught me that you can meet someone anywhere. “
The studio offers private classes, with non -standard experience for couples in honey months or holidays, in addition to classes for kids, seniors, future pregnant moms and others.
“Great Yoga Wall” Spice Harmony is also a special feature that leaves guests suspended in the air, with ropes attached to wall hooks, which make them feel weightless. It helps with flexibility and customary problems.
Malaika, who is also a trained doula and mother for a six -year -old boy, notes that a lot of her clients also use yoga for medical and therapeutic reasons.
“Some of my parents, my patients had impacts, paralysis, all kinds of things. And there are so many aspects of this practice that go beyond physical. Breath, mindfulness that we still need, especially when our body is not, you know what it was once or passed through something traumatic. So for me the opportunity to have this space and offer something so high quality, which our people deserve. “

To support this effort, he is working on raising funds for a brand new project called The Wild Seed Sanctuary-Trzy and a half Akra of a social enterprise designed to create a comprehensive, intergenerational yoga space, social events and healing.
Wild seeds will gather all guests and residents in Grenada with the “Pay-What-You-Can” model, creating black coworking and yoga space, which means that you can create organic connections.

The youngest Brooks-Smith-Lowee received numerous support and enthusiasm for the project and hopes that he’ll replace it by the end of the 12 months.
The presence of Spice Harmony in Grenada is in the landscape of many black firms, and it is one among the Brooke-Smith-Lowe malaika, from which it attracts strength.
“Many people move to Grenada. And this is great, especially since there are more – they are not only white people who move here and call themselves expatt. We also have younger black and brown people who are trying to get out of the USA and Great Britain … I think it is still important that we have companies that we also really run in Grenada, that we also use it. “

(Tagstotransate) grenada
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