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

[SailorMercury]

As much as I love Splash and the characters, at this point all I can say is GOOD! Close is it NOW. They should be embarrassed to keep it running in the condition it's currently in. It's pitiful.

Never thought I'd see the WDW of past come to be perfectly pleased and feel comfortable operating an attaction with missing ears, numerous broken animatronics, inoperative features, broken water effects, broken jaws, broken bees, peeling paint....the list goes on. I don't want to see it leave and wish P&tF could be a new attraction but it's better than seeing Splash waste away even further.

Looking forward to seeing how this turns out. As much as I'd love Splash to stay and be refurbished, time to accept it now. Tons of potential for them to hit this outta the park. Hope to see the Disney World of old return to caring and being close to perfection again because many attractions and areas of the parks/resorts are looking rough. Should never get to that point.

These conditions would never have existed under past leadership and values. No one wants to see Tiana's left arm floating in the bayou 6 months after this opens.

This is exactly how I feel.

 

[Lil Copter Cap]

They can't afford to throw this together. Making this change in the name of inclusivity and then subsequently botching a redo of a beloved ride? You've angered not only the original fans of the ride, but those that want the change for inclusion efforts. ("We are only worth a quick, thrown together reskin?")

What none of us know (besides insiders, of course) is how detailed this reimagining is going to be—and if it's extensive, as it should be to honor Tiana/PatF, as well as the original creation of Splash Mountain, this will definitely take beyond a 2024 date.......(...maybe a winter opening, but why open this ride in Florida's coldest season?)

Currently, I'm personally most curious about the name they choose for this retheme.

 

[PizzaPlanet]

I mean it’s not shocking, there have been other updates here and there since the original announcement. I want to say there was a video posted of imagineers eating and drinking their way through New Orleans for research.

 

[Stevie Amsterdam]

Are they waiting for the Tron coaster to open so that there's not a lot of lost capacity? That's all I got.

I thought the rumor is they were waiting for Tron to do Space Mountain

I heard the rumor was they were waiting for Tron. That's it. Just waiting for it.

 

[Kirby86]

Those were fairly easy in comparison to the scale of both of these solid concrete attractions.

Incredacoaster is just a standard Intamin launch coaster. Sure it has voice overs from the cast of the movie but it's a retheme in the loosest sense of the word. Hersheypark is doing that for their Vakuma Boomerang coaster. They painted the track green and shoot fruit smells at you in the tunnel and say hey it's a jolly ranchers ride now.

 

[Doberge]

You guys think the July announcements in New Orleans, which is a month away will have anything substantial?

I think it is going to be a lot of self patting and orleans inspired talk like the overproduced round table donation announcement was over a year ago.

We will probably see that same single file log DL concept art...again.

I can see a discussion with Kemp Powers (Soul, Pixar's first black writer-directoe) and Stella Meghie (writer-director of upcoming Tiana series). Presumably they'd talk about working with Disney and then include info on the attraction. Essence Fest is about celebrating culture so Disney needs to be careful to not focus too much on the ride itself at the expense of the people and ideas behind what they're doing, so I'm not expecting much more than a talk and maybe some new drawings.

 

[Indy_UK]

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

 

[wdwmagic]

I mean it’s not shocking, there have been other updates here and there since the original announcement. I want to say there was a video posted of imagineers eating and drinking their way through New Orleans for research.

Yeah from October 2021

New concept art and details unveiled for the 'The Princess and the Frog' retheme of Splash Mountain

Along with new concept art you can listen to a roundtable conversation from Dooky Chase’s Restaurant where Tiana’s story began!

www.wdwmagic.com

 

[Midwest Elitist]

First, you don’t really expect this.

Second, if we’re really worried about geographical accuracy (which most of those here opposed to the retheme claim to be), bluegrass isn’t associated with Louisiana.

There's a reason I put "more" and I should have replaced "expected" with likely.

As in it's more likely there will be an excuse to NOT have different music tracks then putting in the effort to record two versions.
The music is to fit the theme of the park area, not the IP. Which Splash did well having two different soundtracks.

 

[wdwmagic]

I heard the rumor was they were waiting for Tron. That's it. Just waiting for it.

It would certainly make sense to keep Splash running until TRON opens to soak up some of that Genie+/LL demand.

 

[HauntedPirate]

Lets just be all happy its all opening in 2024.

I think I'll pass on that. What would make me happy is proper maintenance and painting of Splash Mountain instead of the half-arsed effort TDO has given it for years.

 

[LittleBuford]

The music is to fit the theme of the park area, not the IP. Which Splash did well having two different soundtracks.

In the case of PatF, however, the IP has a huge bearing on the style of music—much more so than with SotS. I would also point to the Country Bear Jamboree as proof that Frontierland has long accommodated references and sounds that don’t really fit the land’s ostensible theme.

 

[celluloid]

In the case of PatF, however, the IP has a huge bearing on the style of music—much more so than with SotS. I would also point to the Country Bear Jamboree as proof that Frontierland has long accommodated references and sounds that don’t really fit the land’s ostensible theme.

You have tried that argument before. Country Bear Jamboree's songs are newer than the time period they sing about, but are subjects and in a style that are a tribute to the time period and themes.

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

At Essence Festival? I can walk to that but not sure I'll make it to report from the ground.

We will gladly accept an aerial report.

 

[LittleBuford]

You have tried that argument before. Country Bear Jamboree's songs are newer than the time period they sing about, but are subjects and in a style that are a tribute to the time period and themes.

Well, I'm not sure how All the Guys That Turn Me On Turn Me Down has anything to do with pioneering culture, but as you say, we've had this argument before and no-one is going to change their minds.

 

[celluloid]

Well, I'm not sure how All the Guys That Turn Me On Turn Me Down has anything to do with pioneering culture, but as you say, we've had this argument before and no-one is going to change their minds.

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.

 

[Ghost93]

I suspect that Splash Mountain will close shortly after TRON opens. While the plan is for the retheme to be open by 2024, I think Disney will honestly take as long as they need. They just don't want people to think the retheme has been canceled.

 

[SplashJacket]

I don’t see how it’s inconceivable that this can open within two years. I don’t see major additions coming to the Queue or surrounding structure (other than the boat on top).

Everything else is simple set replacements. Nothing is that complex. Maelstrom overhauled the queue, added new scenes, and replaced old scenes. This is just scene replacement. Yes, the overall scale is greater because Splash Mountain is larger, but the work in each scene should be lesser in scope.

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

Sorry. Typo. 2007 pre refurb was the terrible ripped.scrim.and entire show scene elements missing(such as bicycle ghosts) . 2010 is when the late hours and even less maintenance accelerated.

Just noticed there was a typo on my part as well - I meant "DO you mean", not "SO you mean", which is a little less tonally polite. So I apologize for that.

I agree that the Mansion had some hideous show issues before the 2007 ReHaunting finally gave them the latitude to give everything a nice tune up. I don't love everything they've done since . . . *cough* Digital Hitchhiking Ghosts *cough* . . . but at least the ride seems to be paid more attention overall.

Where is that energy through the rest of the resort?

 

[celluloid]

Just noticed there was a typo on my part as well - I meant "DO you mean", not "SO you mean", which is a little less tonally polite. So I apologize for that.

I agree that the Mansion had some hideous show issues before the 2007 ReHaunting finally gave them the latitude to give everything a nice tune up. I don't love everything they've done since . . . *cough* Digital Hitchhiking Ghosts *cough* . . . but at least the ride seems to be paid more attention overall.

Where is that energy through the rest of the resort?

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.