I think it's time to celebrate Disneyland's Critter Country and its proud tradition of never making sense as a land
So Disneyland is divided into thematically strong sections, each supported by multiple attractions. Ideas like "fairy tale," "western," "future" are all pretty straightforward. A land theme would be chosen, and then ride concepts were created to suit it.
When they built Country Bear Jamboree, it would have best fit into Frontierland, but the space to build it was on the other side of New Orleans Square. So they decided to rename this corner of the park into its own land - a land whose theme was, Redneck Bears.
They called the section Bear Country and it consisted of Country Bear Jamboree, a Country Bear themed restaurant, arcade, and merch locations. An entire land around just the Country Bears.
Then they built Splash Mountain, because 1) they wanted a log flume and 2) the ride concept would enable them to reuse the 100+ expensive anthropomorphic animal animatronics from the closing America Sings show in tomorrowland
Splash Mountain had one bear but primarily other kinds of animals so it didn't really make sense for Bear Country, but that's where they had the spot to build it. So they just renamed Bear Country to Critter Country, and the theme was now, Redneck Animals of All Species.
THEN they closed Country Bear Jamboree and built a Winnie the Pooh ride because Pooh sells mad merch. Pooh, a british bear, WOULD have made sense in a bear-themed land, but did not make sense in a Redneck Animals land, but they didn't bother renaming the land.
Fun fact: Christopher Robin does not appear in the Winnie the Pooh ride as a conscious decision because the ride is in Critter Country and Christopher Robin, a human character, cannot be allowed to exist in an attraction without breaking the land's already-extremely-shaky theme.
Finally, they are going to retheme Splash Mountain to a Princess and the Frog ride. PatF is set in New Orleans and has human characters, so it would make more sense to consider part of New Orleans Square, which the attraction is already on the current boundary of.
But if they delete Critter Country as a land, Winnie the Pooh is just a random british bear ride in the middle of New Orleans Square. And if they keep Critter Country, it's now a Redneck Animals themed land containing ONLY a british bear ride and its associated gift shop.
I guess my end point is that idk if they'll retheme Critter Country again but if they did it would continue the tradition of constantly retheming that corner of the park because they have no idea what to do with it.
