News Splash Mountain retheme to Princess and the Frog - Tiana's Bayou Adventure

[ifan]

My completely uneducated guess is that this will close in the next 6-9 months and then take around 2 years to complete. Spring 2025 opening.

 

[LittleBuford]

I will help you out. It is presented in the form of of a Wyatt Earp western revue show, which are a tribute to the Wild West. The way the trio are dressed and the background slideshow is presented in a melodrama type slideshow format. It is not supposed to be taking place in the old west, but at the turn of the century when those types of shows were popular. It is objective as evident by the script in the show and the thematic narratives in the attraction.

My understanding is that the show is more directly based on Homer and Jethro (Southern, mid-twentieth century). That doesn’t mean there isn’t overlap with the genre you cite—I agree that there is—but that still doesn’t negate my original point, which is that Frontierland already encompasses plenty of Southern references.

 

[celluloid]

My understanding is that the show is more directly based on Homer and Jethro (Southern, mid-twentieth century). That doesn’t mean there isn’t overlap with the genre you cite—I agree that there is—but that still doesn’t negate my original point, which is that Frontierland already encompasses plenty of Southern references.

This is why it is called Frontierland and features Pioneering atmosphere and love letters to the spirit of it all that is Romanticized folklore Americana. And not "Westernland" in a sense of just the geographic west.

 

[CastAStone]

So you think both Splash Mountains will be re-themed and opened by Saturday, December 2, 2023?

I would take the other side of that bet. Shall we say ... a Cosmic Ray's cheeseburger meal and drink?

No, 18 months start to finish sir. Not 18 months from now!

 

[MisterPenguin]

So Orlando will open first then?

Maybe.

 

[JTH781]

I'm going to say January 2023 closure with a reopening date of 2024

 

[JTH781]

I will make sure to ride the classic Splash a few times this summer trip then although sad it will be in a dire state from the sound of it

I hope they will wait to 2023 to close it so I can ride a few last times also for my trip in November.

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

Agreed. The staircase EC style was a cute ride that actually plays nicely. No need for an apology but that is class act of you to notice. Thanks for that. For awhile the graveyard looked pretty good again.

The Hitchiking ghosts to digital actually came later, and I think we can typically find majority agreeing it ruins the point of the effect most of the time and we can do it on our phones, where a large scale pepper's ghost reversed most will never have at home or in their pocket.

I wonder if that energy died with the increased push for the NextGen things. That is what I feel and find anyway with the 2010 year being on my mind.

And hey, at least we got a great gift shop out of it that sells mostly park attraction specific things. It was a good time and you are right, that energy should have continued.

That was what I meant by changes that have been made since - and I fully agree with you that a fully staged illusion is more unique and impressive than basically any projection effect, even an interactive one. I'm so glad they haven't touched the effect in Disneyland.

Funny enough, it seems like The Haunted Mansion was the turning point for the interactive queue initiative - Thunder, Mine Train, and Pan had theirs open afterward, but it seems like Mansion was where it jumped the shark and Disney seemed to take notice. I happen to think there's some interesting potential for an Interactive Queue at the Mansion, but what was built is overly cartoonish, noisy, and out of step with the ride it precedes.

I do enjoy Memento Mori, and find myself regularly dropping at least a couple bucks there. Not all the merch is my flavor, but when they hit it . . . I may currently have a pair of Gargoyles watching over as I type this (and may or may not have altered the dates of a recent trip to Paris to nab the Kevin and Jody Phantom Manor figure )

All this to say, it does seem like the Interactive Queue initiative is dead as we knew it. None of Disney's major new attractions in the last 7 years have featured such elements. Which is fine with me, because I much prefer strong theming over buttons and levers.

To tie this back into everything . . . It's sort of stunning how Disney went out on a limb spending more money on queues instead of the rides themselves, only to end up in a place where both seem to have every chance of languishing. I know Splash has unique maintenance issues, but nothing should never be allowed to get this bad.

 

[Riverrafter21]

Either Disney is being very secretive about their progress, which is interesting, or there is no progress and nobody but the "true" bus drivers know what's going on. I would think if the three animatronics are in development as rumored wouldn't we have seen social media on it?

If this is Disney's crowning act of progressiveness why have they been this quiet? Imagineering is way too narcissistic to not give us updates.

 

[marni1971]

Either Disney is being very secretive about their progress, which is interesting, or there is no progress and nobody but the "true" bus drivers know what's going on. I would think if the three animatronics are in development as rumored wouldn't we have seen social media on it?

If this is Disney's crowning act of progressiveness why have they been this quiet? Imagineering is way to narcissistic to not give us updates.

I wouldn’t read too much into it.

Half of the gang are still debating if they want to move to Orlando.

 

[FettFan]

So….seeing as how the track runs through part of Splash’s show building, will this mean they’re going to keep the railroad closed until 2024 as well?


Because that would mean it will have been shut down for nearly six years.

 

[J4546]

i thought splash redo was coming to DL but it had been postponed in MK

 

[TalkingHead]

It is presented in the form of of a Wyatt Earp western revue show

what in tarnation?

 

[FettFan]

i thought splash redo was coming to DL but it had been postponed in MK

That was what was rumored at first, because allegedly Chapek saw Splash as too big a draw to the international visitors that WDW attracts, as well as he didn’t want to have it shuttered during the 50th.

Alas, there was no Splash merch to be had when I visited in February. You could buy the ride photo, but that was it. One would think that Chapek would have been all over that, especially after the news of the retheme broke.

 

[Prince-1]

I will throw this out there...

Anika Noni Rose says Splash Mountain's 'Princess and the Frog' revamp will open in 2024

Anika Noni Rose says Disney parks' Splash Mountain revamp to a 'Princess and the Frog' theme will open in 2024.

ew.com

 

[FutureCEO]

They did TOT -> Guardians MB in 5 months, California Screamin -> Incredicoaster in 5 months, TGMR-MMRR in 30 months, and Maelstrom to Frozen in 21 months. So yeah they CAN do it.

and look how horrible Frozen is

 

[MisterPenguin]

i thought splash redo was coming to DL but it had been postponed in MK

Rumors be rumors.

And people who don't like the change might be spreading false rumors either purposefully, or, substituting their presumptions as facts.

Also, the latest cryptic rumor from a real insider seems to indicate the opposite now, in that Orlando's re-do will come before Anaheim's.

I say 'now' because, with Disney being Disney, that could change several times.

 

[FettFan]

They did TOT -> Guardians MB in 5 months, California Screamin -> Incredicoaster in 5 months, TGMR-MMRR in 30 months, and Maelstrom to Frozen in 21 months. So yeah they CAN do it.

There’s one key difference between then and now: Joe Rohde is no longer employed by Disney.

And that’s why I’m skeptical about the current crop of imagineers: they’re so gosh darn un-imaginative, to the point where when PatF was announced, their first order of business was to ask Tony Baxter to give them a hand.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

So….seeing as how the track runs through part of Splash’s show building, will this mean they’re going to keep the railroad closed until 2024 as well?


Because that would mean it will have been shut down for nearly six years.

I wouldn't think they wouldn't need to close the tunnel is if they aren't changing the structure of the building - though I suspect the windows would be covered so you can't see in while work going on

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

There’s one key difference between then and now: Joe Rohde is no longer employed by Disney.

And that’s why I’m skeptical about the current crop of imagineers: they’re so gosh darn un-imaginative, to the point where when PatF was announced, their first order of business was to ask Tony Baxter to give them a hand.

In fairness, for all their wonderful qualities, Joe Rohde and Tony Baxter never did their work single-handedly, and they would be the first to tell you so.

Additionally, Tony Baxter’s involvement in PATF was less “Help us Obi-Wan Kenobi” and more “Give us your blessing on letterhead”.