Disney

Disney's making waves after announcing its iconic Splash Mountain ride will be re-themed after the studio's first Black princess in "The Princess and the Frog."

The Mouse House announced Thursday its Disneyland and Walt Disney World Resort parks will overhaul Splash Mountain -- which opened in 1989 -- and tell the story of the studio's first Black princess from the 2009 animated film.

Disney said, "We pick-up this story after the final kiss, and join Princess Tiana and Louis on a musical adventure -- featuring some of the powerful music from the film -- as they prepare for their first-ever Mardi Gras performance."

Disney says this has been in the plans since last year and maybe even longer. So, why the change? It has everything to do with Splash Mountain's connection to a racist 1946 film, "Song of the South," which has been criticized for years for its depictions of Southern Black men and how it nostalgically views the antebellum South.

In fact, Disney executive chairman Bob Iger has said in the past the film "is not appropriate in today's world." The film has also never been made available on VHS, DVD nor on the streaming platform Disney+.

Disney has not given a timeline on when these changes will take place.

Barbra Streisand just gave George Floyd's young daughter a gift that's worth its weight in gold -- especially long term -- in the form of stock to a behemoth of a company ... Disney.

6-year-old Gianna Floyd posted about the nice gesture on her personal IG account, saying ... "Thank You @barbrastreisand for my package, I am now a Disney Stockholder thanks to you 🥰🥰🥰." She also threw in a few photos of the official Disney stock certificate(s).

Now, it's unclear how many shares Barbra gave the kid -- but considering she's loaded and went out of her way to get this for Gigi ... something tells us she might've been generous.

Disney shares go for about $115 a pop right now -- and while the Mouse House has been put on ice in the wake of the pandemic ... Wall Street history shows that it's a fairly solid company to invest in over time, people usually make their money back with Mickey and co.

This kindness is just the latest amid an outpouring of love and support for Gianna and the rest of George's family. She's already been offered a full-ride scholarship to Texas Southern University in Houston -- and of course, we know Kanye has set up a college fund for her.

The NBA may be without one of its biggest names when the season resumes in July -- Portland Trail Blazers star Carmelo Anthony says he's on the fence.

Melo's Blazers are 3.5 games out of a playoff spot -- and would need a strong run to make the playoffs.

But, Anthony says he has yet to commit to join the team at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida ... simply because he needs more info about the event before he can make up his mind.

"I'm still up in the air a little bit because I really don't, we don't have all the details," Melo told Ernie Johnson his Twitter show, "#NBATogether."

"We don't know a lot of information, so until we have that, it's hard to just commit to that 100%."

The NBA is planning on bringing the top 22 teams to Orlando to live and play in a bubble-style environment with rigorous testing due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

While some players -- like LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo -- are stoked about getting back to work, there are reports of a rift between other stars, who aren't fully on board.

MLS is taking a page from the NBA -- returning to play in July with a tournament at Disney World in Orlando ... and all 26 teams will participate.

Major League Soccer announced the plan Wednesday morning -- the Welcome Back Tournament -- a World Cup-style competition consisting of a group stage followed by knockout rounds.

After the tourney, the teams will play the rest of the 2020 MLS regular season ... but tourney games WILL count toward regular-season standings.

And, get this ... the winning team will earn a spot in the 2021 Concacaf Champions League tournament!

FYI, the CCL tourney is made up of the top teams in North America, Central America and the Caribbean.

The Welcome Back tourney kicks off on July 8 -- with the Final set for August 11.

All games will take place at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.

MLS Commissioner Don Garber issued a statement saying, "The opportunity to have all 26 clubs in a controlled environment enables us to help protect the health of our players, coaches and staff as we return to play."

"We also recognize that the death of George Floyd and others has focused our country on issues of racial injustice, inequality and violence against black men and women."

Texas child actor Ike Eisenmann was only 13 years old when he shot to stardom after taking on the role of the harmonica playing orphan alien, Tony -- who uses his psychic abilities and cunning kid smarts to find his way home -- in Disney's 1975 fantasy film, "Escape to Witch Mountain."

Ike Eisenmann was cast alongside Eddie Albert as the helpful dude with an R.V., Jason O'Day ... and of course, Kim Richards (yes, the one from "The Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills") as the telepathic sister sidekick, Tia.

Ike went on to act in the 1978 sequel, "Return from Witch Mountain," and can even be spotted in the 2009 remake, "Race to Witch Mountain," featuring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.

Disney is taking its first steps to reopen their parks in none other than China next week -- and the takeaway/possible road map for what's to come is simple ... lots of slower lines.

New China TV documented an in-depth tour given by the VP of Operations, Andrew Bolstein, which showed how the park plans to safely operate Monday -- when they'll reopen their doors to the public. Bottom line ... social distancing will be key, literally everywhere.

Right from the get-go, ticketholders will have to wait in line with markers on the ground of where NOT to stand, which automatically creates a distance between people of about a meter or so. Going in, they gotta be wearing face masks, have their temperature checked ... and also present updated medical records essentially proving they're coronavirus-free.

But wait, there's more ... waiting. Once inside, there are a lot more markers on the ground, where people are supposed to stay as they navigate the park. The rides are kinda the same deal -- everyone is spaced out, and they'll even load people onto cars via every other row.

What that means ... each ride will have less people on it than it can normally carry (in order to maintain the appropriate social distancing), so to go on Pirates of the Caribbean, Disney fans might have to wait a lifetime and a half going forward ... more so than usual.

It's unclear if Disneyland (Anaheim) and Disney World (Orlando) will adopt similar measures if/when they decide to restart the breakers, but it's likely their plan will be similar.

Might not be a better time to get on that Fast Pass plan. Yipeee!!!

Demi Lovato opened up in a big way with her former castmates from the Disney show, "Sonny With a Chance" ... describing how a fellow castmate was her inspiration for going to rehab and how her eating disorder made it impossibly cold on the set.

Demi was part of a virtual chat between cast members of 'Sonny' and the spinoff, "So Random!," including Tiffany Thornton, Allisyn Ashley Arm, Sterling Knight, Dough Brochu, Matthew Scott Montgomery, Shayne Topp, Audrey Whitby and Damien Haas.

She reminisced about how Tiffany gave her the strength to enter rehab for the first time, saying, "When I went away to treatment for the first time, you were my biggest inspiration coming out of it because you dealt with all of those pressures of being a woman on TV."

Demi went on to say ... "I looked at that as, 'I wish I had that so bad.' Yes, I probably was happier in my head with whatever I looked like at the time. But, I'm so much happier now with the mentality that you have. I look back now and I'm like, man, it's a shame that we wasted any energy on what we wore on set."

She went on to talk about how she was miserable on the set, in part because she was sleep-deprived and overworked.

And then, she talked priorities... "I'm realizing that as I've gotten older because when I was young, when you start off in the industry as a 7-year-old, 8-year-old, you kind of value your self-worth with your success," she explained. "I have moments all the time where I'm like, Do I want to continue this? Or do I want to pull a Tiffany and move to Texas, have a family and have a farm."

And, there's this ... Demi fessed up as to why her dressing room was a sweltering 98 degrees ... "I had an eating disorder and I was underweight and freezing!"

And, while 'Sonny' is near and dear to Lovato's heart, it's not something that she would want to revisit.

Child actor and Hollywood heir Jason Davis's cause of death was fentanyl ... according to the Medical Examiner.

L.A. County Medical Examiner documents show Jason died from the "effects of fentanyl." No other factors are listed in the report ... but it does say it was an accident.

TMZ broke the story ... Jason was found unresponsive in his bathroom on February 16. Law enforcement sources at the time told us there were items nearby that were consistent with heroin or opioid use ... including burnt tin foil and other paraphernalia.

Based on the ME's report ... the opioid would be fentanyl, and not heroin.

Jason -- known in Hollywood as the voice of Mikey Blumberg on the long-running Disney Channel show, "Recess" -- had battled addiction in the past. In 2011, he was busted and charged for allegedly having heroin on him. Those charges were eventually dropped.

He went on to co-found a charity called Cure Addiction Now, an org he was heavily involved with running. The voice actor was also known for being the grandson of the late Hollywood billionaire moguls, Marvin and Barbara Davis.

Jason was 35.

RIP

Monique Coleman says there's a perfectly good explanation why her old Disney Channel costar, Zac Efron, didn't join in on a big broadcast sing-along ... the almighty Wi-Fi signal.

We talked to the 'High School Musical' alum -- who was one of the former child stars in the hit DC movie series, and who performed "We're All In This Together" Thursday alongside Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale and others -- and she told us why Zac was MIA during the nationally televised performance. Long story short ... dude's probably got a bad signal.

Monique says Zac -- the lead man in the 'HSM' movies -- got on-board at the very last minute, and was only able to introduce the song from a fuzzy video he sent in. The reason he wasn't able to sing along with the crew is because he's likely in a remote part of the world with crappy Internet. Last she heard, ZE was in Papua New Guinea filming for his new Quibi show, "Killing Zac Efron" -- so yeah, he wasn't gonna risk a bad show.

More importantly than that, though, is the fact that Zac is one of the most down-to-earth celebs there is in the biz ... according to Monique, anyway. She says she's not surprised he didn't cave to the Disney pressure to get in on the sing-along ... and did what he realistically could.

Walt Disney World employees are taking it on the chin, hard -- the theme park is about to furlough 43,000 workers as it remains closed due to the coronavirus.

Orlando's Magic Kingdom, which has been shut down since March 16, reached agreements with its workers' unions, and will make the layoffs effective April 19 ... according to Forbes. Most of the employees are security guards and other workers involved in operating the facilities.

The Mouse House says the laid-off workers will keep their health benefits up to one year -- and Disney has agreed to pay for coronavirus testing for any employees who need it.

Of course, it's still unclear when Disney will reopen gates at its parks around the world. The massive park will now be staffed by only 200 people with "essential duties."

Forbes says Disney World is the largest single-site employer in the country ... and the massive layoffs are expected to have a domino effect on the Central Florida economy ... where so many other industries depend on Disney being open to stay in business.

Meghan Markle got back on the bike by narrating a Disney nature documentary, and take a listen ... she didn't skip a beat.

Disney+ just dropped the Disney Nature documentary, "Elephant," narrated by Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex -- and the teaser just aired on 'GMA.' The doc, of course, is special to her. She's done a ton of work in the past to help elephants, and proceeds will go to help an org near and dear to her ... Elephant Without Borders.

Meghan narrates the migration of Shani and her family. The elephant family is tracked as they make a 1,000-mile, 8-month trek across Africa. Ya gotta listen reaaaal closely, 'cause it almost doesn't sound like Meghan. But, it's her.

As we reported ... Meghan's making her Hollywood comeback nearly a year after Prince Harry went to bat for Meghan when he pitched former Disney head Bob Iger.

Disney is making its most loyal fans happy by pausing payments for annual pass holders and refunding monthly payments during the coronavirus pandemic.

Here's the deal ... the Mouse House just announced it will no longer continue charging Annual Pass members while its parks remain closed due to the virus, and it's refunding scheduled monthly payments that were changed since the outbreak.

As we reported ... Disney pissed off a lot of people by continuing to charge Pass holders at a time when millions of folks are hurting for cash.

Disney posted an update to the annual pass holder payment policy Thursday, offering some much needed financial relief in a dark time. The policy flip will ease minds and wallets, and seek to undo some very bad optics.

Disney also says park pass holders who already paid in full for their annual passes can get a partial refund for the period the theme parks are closed.

The new policy kicks in this Sunday, when Disney says it will halt automatic payments and waive all upcoming monthly payments while the parks remain shuttered.