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

[Brer Panther]

I'm sadly expecting most if not all of the current animatronics to be scrapped due to their basic shapes not fitting with PATF's characters. Most of SOTS/Splash's animals are extremely "anthropomorphic", which is a hybrid of animal AND human characteristics and proportions. The type of designs also used in Robin Hood, Great Mouse Detective and Zootopia. PATF uses more realistically shaped animals such as 101 Dalmations, Bambi and Lion King.

There are a few smaller simpler figures that could possibly be reskinned such as Roadrunner, Mr Bluebird and the squatting toads or turtles. They're proportioned more like real animals. But the larger frogs, rabbits, foxes, chickens, geese and most other characters use anthropomorphic designs and don't remotely fit with the animals in PATF. But nor are their shapes suitable for reskinning as humans either.

Louis might be an exception. He's the only real animal who learned to move and walk like a human. His size and proportions might possibly work as a reskinned Brer Bear figure. The frog versions of Tiana and Naveen also move around like humans, but allegedly they're only appearing as humans in the ride. Even as frogs, none of the ride's figures fit their designs.

I expect the new ride will be very sparse and video-heavy with very few animatronic figures.

Yeah, anybody who thinks they're gonna reuse any of the Splash Mountain animatronics that were in turn reused form America Sings is kidding themselves. Disney's definitely gonna trash 'em all like they did the Great Movie Ride and Universe of Energy animatronics. Especially if the amount of maintenance they have to do on Splash Mountain is indeed a reason why they're retheming it.

Say, who exactly are they planning on having doing the animation for the video screens that'll fill the ride, what with them gutting the 2D animation department and laying off a good chunk of the animators that worked there? Or do they just plan on doing Frozen-style CGI animation for Tiana, Naveen, etc.? Maybe they could reuse the Tiana model from Ralph Breaks the Internet...

 

[lazyboy97o]

It makes me wonder, do you think that if they have to cancel the retheme due to how expensive it's gonna be (or if they go through with it, it sucks, and everyone hates it) Disney is gonna learn a lesson about not bowing down to people complaining on Twitter?

If Disney finds the project too expense they’re going to tear it down.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

If Disney finds the project too expense they’re going to tear it down.

Or just close it and leave it sitting there. Wouldn't be the first time for MK

 

[UNCgolf]

If Disney finds the project too expense they’re going to tear it down.

That actually could be preferable if they end up cheaping out on the retheme. Would leave the possibility of building something better in the future instead of being committed to a mediocre ride.

Hopefully that won't be an issue and the re-theme will actually be just as good as the current attraction, but I'm not optimistic.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

That actually could be preferable if they end up cheaping out on the retheme. Would leave the possibility of building something better in the future instead of being committed to a mediocre ride.

Like a roller coaster in a giant green box?!

 

[UNCgolf]

Like a roller coaster in a giant green box?!

Obviously.

Seriously, though -- if the PatF retheme goes through and the resulting ride is mediocre or worse, it's not going to change for a very long time if ever. We will be stuck with it for decades. If it's torn down and there's just an empty spot there (I'm assuming they wouldn't build a new ride in its place immediately in this scenario), there's at least the possibility that sometime down the road (hopefully after there's been a change in management) they'll actually build something impressive there.

I'm not saying I want them to tear down Splash Mountain (and they're not going to). Ideally they will just spend the necessary money to nail the retheme and it will continue to be one of the best attractions in the park. That seems wildly optimistic, though.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Hopefully the makeover turns out better than this:

 

[lazyboy97o]

Hopefully the makeover turns out better than this:

View attachment 533060

Gorgeous!

 

[_caleb]

I beg to differ.

This thread is for discussion about the upcoming attraction only. For discussion about the motivations behind the retheme of Splash Mountain, we’ve been asked to post those in this thread on the Social and Political boards.

 

[Homemade Imagineering]

Part of me wants to speculate whether Disney will opt out of building their own figures for the new attraction, and instead turn to Garner Holt Productions, who manufactured the figures for mermaid. It ultimately depends whether consulting with a third party vendor for their AAs will be less costly, rather than building their own figures. I definitely don't want any projection faces on the AAs.

 

[Brer Panther]

If Disney finds the project too expense they’re going to tear it down.

Depressingly, I could picture them doing that. It would still allow them to look like heroes for getting rid of a "racist" attraction.

Or just close it and leave it sitting there. Wouldn't be the first time for MK

View attachment 533032

View attachment 533033

Depressingly, I could see them doing that too.

While Splash is arguably a top 5 ride for me, unless this is a total botch job I don’t think this is “the issue” (per se) that is teaching the company “that lesson”. While this change is controversial in the fan community there appears to be a mix of opinions on this, from excitement to anger, and I venture WDC has already factored that a good portion of the general public will be satisfied as long as the drop/thrills/soaking remain.

That’s not to say that there won’t be other straws and other camels’ backs’ to be broken both in the parks and on the media side of the house. Particularly if these changes aren’t embarked on with an equal (or greater) weight for balancing these progressive changes with inherent guests expectations for quality and nostalgia. It’s a tough needle to thread.

Yeah, Disney parks fans will probably just go gaga over the sparkly new Tiana ride and not realize that it's lousy.

 

[The Mom]

This thread is for discussion about the upcoming attraction only. For discussion about the motivations behind the retheme of Splash Mountain, we’ve been asked to post those in this thread on the Social and Political boards.

^^^^This is absolutely correct. This thread is to discuss actual physical changes that might be made - not the reason behind the changes.

 

[bdearl41]

Do we have any clue on a start date?

 

[Touchdown]

Also Disney isn’t going to just destroy the physical ride, as much as I don’t like admitting it, the DCA ToT to GotG transformation showed that when the physical ride experience is enjoyable and popular it really doesn’t matter what theme it is, it will always be popular.

WDW’s Splash Mountain the flume ride is my favorite flume ride, and is widely put in the top 5 by most fans (along with other Splash Mts, Dudley, Knott’s Timber Mountain.)

 

[Homemade Imagineering]

Other than going off of an estimated reported budget for the attraction, I don't see where any solid evidence points to the attraction losing a ton of AAs in favor of a plethora of screens. Sure, a handful of them probably won't survive the re-theme, but I'm sure many other figures can indeed be recycled and retrofitted in order to fit the PatF theme, with new fiberglass shells being made for the shapes of their bodies along with new cosmetics, all while working around the figures inner pneumatic/ hydraulic mech. I predict the gator figures won't have any problem fitting into the attraction's theming.

 

[DisneyHead123]

Other than going off of an estimated reported budget for the attraction, I don't see where any solid evidence points to the attraction losing a ton of AAs in favor of a plethora of screens. Sure, a handful of them probably won't survive the re-theme, but I'm sure many other figures can indeed be recycled and retrofitted in order to fit the PatF theme, with new fiberglass shells being made for the shapes of their bodies along with new cosmetics, all while working around the figures inner pneumatic/ hydraulic mech. I predict the gator figures won't have any problem fitting into the attraction's theming.

I suspect there will be at least some screen usage because
1. I can't think of a newer Disney ride that doesn't incorporate screens and
2. Some parts of the movie would actually legitimately look better on a screen.
I know they're not going by the original movie exactly, but assuming they incorporate key points like Friends On The Other Side and the fireflies, I think those wouldn't look right as animatronics... they'd look much better on screens, and they could do a lot more in terms of "choreography" or whatever you want to call it. I just hope they don't go overboard with it. I haven't been on Splash since the late 90s, probably, but when I looked at a Youtube video I was surprised at how detailed and immersive the animatronics and sets are. I hope they keep that "pre digital era" vibe at least in segments of the ride, when they had to rely more on extremely detailed sets.

 

[Parker in NYC]

Hopefully the makeover turns out better than this:

View attachment 533060

Aww, Louis is so cute.

 

[EagleScout610]

But assuming they incorporate key points like Friends On The Other Side and the fireflies, I think those wouldn't look right as animatronics... they'd look much better on screens, and they could do a lot more in terms of "choreography" or whatever you want to call it. I just hope they don't go overboard with it.

I'm assuming the Friends on the Other Side skulls/dolls will be primarily projections, but I can see the spinning bees being used as fireflies

 

[DisneyHead123]

I'm assuming the Friends on the Other Side skulls/dolls will be primarily projections, but I can see the spinning bees being used as fireflies

In part, maybe, but I can’t imagine them passing by the opportunity for the visuals of tons of fireflies moving in and out of sparkling formation, writing in light, etc. Also I read in another comment that the Imagineer in charge, Charita Carter, helped design Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Roller Coaster, where incorporating modern technology, from what I understand (haven’t been on it yet) played a big role.

 

[matt9112]

My hope is that they leave most of the backgrounds intact. If they're just replacing the main characters and cleverly recontextualizing existing sets, I think $50 million might be acceptable.

In other words, if they're replacing all of the animatronics on the finale ferry, $50 million = disaster.

If they're just teaching those animatronics a new song, $50 million might be OK.

So you get a disjointed experience that makes no sense?