It was a flume ride with a frame of the Brer Rabbit stories, but it's not like the movement of the boat had anything to do with what was going on in the action of the animals and Brer Rabbit's misadventures.

Apart from the political reasons, the fact that Disney has put this whole movie into the vault meant that very few people on the ride understood anymore what was going on. It's an old story, and Disney has been pushing their rides more and more toward supporting the selling of merchandise, so it had become a wasted opportunity. I don't think the newly selected movie is one of their bigger intellectual properties, but the theme does fit with the general atmosphere of the area of the park in which it's placed.