Well, you're completely wrong Box Office-wise. Tangled had a higher loss than Tiana. And while Pocahontas made more money that PatF, it was rated much more poorly by critics and audiences. By BO and ratings, PatF is *not* the 'worst' princess movie. So, by your standards, Rapunzel is less deserving of a ride. And poor Pooh... his last movie had an even bigger loss. Let's rip out his ride!!
While PatF had a loss of $24 Million at the Box Office, it makes money in other windows. For example, it sold 7.2 Million units of DVD/BluRay for a total of $112 Million in sales. That's not counting, back then, it would also make money for Disney being licensed to PPV, Premium Cable, and Broadcast TV.
Then, it makes money for the parks. You may not like the movie, but many others do (again, good marks from audience ratings).
But we've done this before with
"PatF isn't popular / isn't a real presence in Disney."
So,
@Californian Elitist already gave us plenty of videos of Tiana's presence...
... let's recap the appearances:
- Tiana had her own M&G spot off of Liberty Square as well as appearing in Princess Fairytale Hall.
- Tiana's animation launches the very popular HEA.
- Tiana and friends are heavily featured in the Castle Stage Show (Friendship Faire).
- Tiana had a dessert party on the Riverboat.
- Tiana shows up in Festival of Fantasy parade and almost every castle-park parade throughout the world
- Tiana appears in Fantasmic! (both coasts)
- Tiana was going to be featured in the now-scrapped Reflections resort
- PatF was used in Sorcerers of the Kingdom.
- PatF is featured in Port Orleans resort.
- Tiana is part of the Disney Princesses 'brand'.
- Tiana got her own restaurant on the Cruise line where she appears (walkabout M&G) and performs. Plus a PatF lounge. [ WDW... bring that to Orlando! <shakes fist at WDW> ]
- Dr. Facilier is almost always part of any villain crew that shows up: Halloween Party stage show, parade, and fireworks; club evil; etc...
One more thing to consider if you think PatF isn't profitable for the parks: Y'all hate Chapek, right? Y'all think he's a bottom line cheapskate, right? Do you think he would sign off on all the Tiana M&G, stage appearances, parades, and restaurants if Tiana wasn't a draw? Do you think over the past years (way before the Splash announcement) that he was promoting prime placement for Tiana at a financial loss? If you think that, you don't hate him enough!!