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

[Animaniac93-98]

It took Disney the better part of 2 years to turn Maelstrom into Frozen.

If they close it early 2023 I could see a late 2024 opening...maybe.

 

[Incomudro]

A random thought:
I've heard people saying that Splash is very hard to maintain. Which explains it's current condition.
For me, that begs the question. Will they bite the bullet and suddenly turn that attitude around for the PATF version? Or will they make changes to the attraction and show building to make it easier to maintain. Or just remove certain AAs and swap in screens/projection mapping to make it easier?

The way they maintain the current version scares me enough.

I'm betting on the second unfortuantely.
I'd love to be wrong, but the way they run things lately - I can't see them keeping the majority of those AA's, getting them working, and keeping them working.
That just doesn't seem to be the way they do things now.
I'm of the belief they will slash half the AA's, or keepthem in a smi static mode, add screans, and an excellent Tiana AA.

 

[CLEtoWDW]

It’s a shame that the Imagineering masterpiece of Splash will be re-themed. Pardon me for being glass half empty but 2022 Disney Imagineering is a far cry from the 1980s-90s Imagineering. The brain drain is real.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

It took Disney the better part of 2 years to turn Maelstrom into Frozen.

If they close it early 2023 I could see a late 2024 opening...maybe.

The one thing Splash/Frog might have going for it is I think they’ll want it open for the hot summer months.

I won’t be surprised if it takes them 2 full years but I also wouldn’t be surprised to see them doing everything possible to have it open by summer crowds 24.

 

[Disney Analyst]

A random thought:
I've heard people saying that Splash is very hard to maintain. Which explains it's current condition.
For me, that begs the question. Will they bite the bullet and suddenly turn that attitude around for the PATF version? Or will they make changes to the attraction and show building to make it easier to maintain. Or just remove certain AAs and swap in screens/projection mapping to make it easier?

The way they maintain the current version scares me enough.

Part of this redo may address some of the issues, as I believe at Disneyland specifically some maintenance can only be done during a full shut down of the attraction, due to lack of access.

I would hope they are making maintenance more accessible for overnight work.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

A random thought:
I've heard people saying that Splash is very hard to maintain. Which explains it's current condition.
For me, that begs the question. Will they bite the bullet and suddenly turn that attitude around for the PATF version? Or will they make changes to the attraction and show building to make it easier to maintain. Or just remove certain AAs and swap in screens/projection mapping to make it easier?

The way they maintain the current version scares me enough.

I am also kind of curious how/if they will address the maintenance issues the ride currently faces in Florida as in California the issues are far less obvious. If the main issue in Florida is that they don't want to take it down long enough to fix the relevant issues and park ops basically don't care, then there's really nothing they can do. If there is some issue that comes with AAs & humidity, it would be nice to see them try and resolve that. Unfortunately, I suspect it will be a combination of using less AAs with the excuse that this resolves the maintenance issues and Orlando management doing what Orlando management does once it opens in whatever form that may take.

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

For a retheme like this, all they have to do is demo and install. Likely everything got built in a warehouse hundreds of miles away months before it’s ready to be installed.

Shouldn’t take long at all.

Yeah . . . not quite as simple as all that.

 

[Disgruntled Walt]

The wording of Disney's statement really sounds snippy to me. Maybe this is still happening for WDW, but I'll bet they were not happy with this being brought up outside of their own terms.

 

[EagleScout610]

The wording of Disney's statement really sounds snippy to me. Maybe this is still happening for WDW, but I'll bet they were not happy with this being brought up outside of their own terms.

This is the vibe I got:
Aniki: *Mentions 2024*
Disney Fans: WRITE THAT DOWN!! WRITE THAT DOWN!!
Disney Scrambling to do damage control:

 

[Midwest Elitist]

This is the vibe I got:
Aniki: *Mentions 2024*
Disney Fans: WRITE THAT DOWN!! WRITE THAT DOWN!!
Disney Scrambling to do damage control:

Bet you aren't betting highly on your Bus Driver now

 

[wdwmagic]

The wording of Disney's statement really sounds snippy to me. Maybe this is still happening for WDW, but I'll bet they were not happy with this being brought up outside of their own terms.

They are not having the best run recently. Guardians opening date spilled by their head communications guy, and now this one. This is one of the risks they run when there are projects lingering around for years and years on the sidelines.

I think there is definitely something to be said about how it used to go. Say nothing until construction is underway, and then let us know what is happening, and have a rapid opening within the following 12 to 24 months.

 

[Dear Prudence]

I am also kind of curious how/if they will address the maintenance issues the ride currently faces in Florida as in California the issues are far less obvious. If the main issue in Florida is that they don't want to take it down long enough to fix the relevant issues and park ops basically don't care, then there's really nothing they can do. If there is some issue that comes with AAs & humidity, it would be nice to see them try and resolve that. Unfortunately, I suspect it will be a combination of using less AAs with the excuse that this resolves the maintenance issues and Orlando management doing what Orlando management does once it opens in whatever form that may take.

Japan is also humid and has most extreme weather and theirs is maintained, the US parks are just cheap and lazy.

 

[trainplane3]

They are not having the best run recently. Guardians opening date spilled by their head communications guy, and now this one. This is one of the risks they run when there are projects lingering around for years and years on the sidelines.

I think there is definitely something to be said about how it used to go. Say nothing until construction is underway, and then let us know what is happening, and have a rapid opening within the following 12 to 24 months.

I've been saying this for a bit, their PR game has noticeably slipped over the past 2 years. From unprofessional statements ("guest wastelines") to that guy just dropping the GotG date casually. It really seems like once Zenia left everything went downhill hard. The company now has a hard time with spinning negative PR into positive, something they used to do really well.

 

[Dear Prudence]

I've been saying this for a bit, their PR game has noticeably slipped over the past 2 years. From unprofessional statements ("guest wastelines") to that guy just dropping the GotG date casually. It really seems like once Zenia left everything went downhill hard. The company now has a hard time with spinning negative PR into positive, something they used to do really well.

They can't keep their mouths shut, they can't keep their attractions working, they can't keep their parks clean, the only thing they can do well is charge people more.

 

[wdwmagic]

I've been saying this for a bit, their PR game has noticeably slipped over the past 2 years. From unprofessional statements ("guest wastelines") to that guy just dropping the GotG date casually. It really seems like once Zenia left everything went downhill hard. The company now has a hard time with spinning negative PR into positive, something they used to do really well.

I think it has definitely got harder to manage in recent years. There are so many opportunities for people to say things they shouldn't - looking at social media in particular. But in this case, it was on a major TV show, which you would have thought would have been prepped.

 

[BuzzedPotatoHead89]

I think it has definitely got harder to manage in recent years. There are so many opportunities for people to say things they shouldn't - looking at social media in particular. But in this case, it was on a major TV show, which you would have thought would have been prepped.

That in addition to the fact it was on a TV show when prompted by a host who is on their payroll as it is on a network wholly owned by their company. They could have preempted this entire media “story” and not jumped the shark had they wanted to.

I don’t understand why this is so difficult for them to just have a general statement about how “An official timeline will be announced very soon. We know are guests are excited to hear more about this we’re excited to announce more details about this new attraction soon, too”. Instead of a condescending “as we already told you…”

 

[Midwest Elitist]

That in addition to the fact it was on a TV show when prompted by a host who is on their payroll as it is on a network wholly owned by their company. They could have preempted this entire media “story” and not jumped the shark had they wanted to.

I don’t understand why this is so difficult for them to just have a general statement about how “An official timeline will be announced very soon. We know are guests are excited to hear more about this we’re excited to announce more details about this new attraction soon, too”. Instead of a condescending “as we already told you…”

Because they know it's an astounding swing in the other direction.

 

[JohnD]

If a closure of Splash for WDW for a 2024 reopening, my hunch is it will close soon after Tron opens. That would be a 1 for 1. Bonus: You get the train for a ride to Casey’s Circus and a quick walk to Tron.

 

[Dear Prudence]

That in addition to the fact it was on a TV show when prompted by a host who is on their payroll as it is on a network wholly owned by their company.

THAT PART

 

[Coaster Lover]

Is this juggernaut attraction going to compete against Epic Universe opening?

Nah, they're going to whip out the BIG guns for that... the Play! Pavilion!