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

[Animaniac93-98]

I think PatF is a great choice for a Splash Mountain retheme, but it is a bit worrying that all the press for the retheme is talking about family, community, inclusion, representation and being inspirational and NOTHING about "fun, thrills, and excitement!"

Don't get me wrong, I think representation is important but I don't think it should be the selling point of a theme park ride. It should just be an added bonus.

The executive team has a low opinion of theme parks and their fans in general.

So to give this project greater significance, they are leaning into the idea that this has cultural value beyond just "fun and thrills"

Disney had great success with this strategy for their long running, popular American history theme park in Virginia...didn't they?

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Dear Disney,

Please keep the train open while this is under construction

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

I also ask for the back row for Splash (at WDW). To some here i'm sure it will sound like heresy, but I don't like being soaked on rides. It's not the appeal of Splash for me either (the scenery and thrill aspect is). I think this is technically a "broken effect", but the water jets on the sides of the big drop (and the one in front of the briar patch) have been switched off for quite a long time now. Even in the summer season. Probably the only time you'll see me appreciate a broken effect. They were only there to drench guests going around the turn at the beginning. If those jets are disabled and you sit in the back, you stand a good chance of getting off mostly dry (i also duck my head down at the end of the big drop to further reduce wetness).

 

[Smiley/OCD]

Will the Splash logs be reused like Elsa’s stinky, faded, rundown Norway boats?


God No, I hope not again.

Before he left, Tony went to Home Depot and bought some Flex Paste and Flex Tape and assured the new imagineering team that the logs won’t leak or sink on the new ride.

 

[celluloid]

Will the Splash logs be reused like Elsa’s stinky, faded, rundown Norway boats?


God No, I hope not again.

That has been pretty evident since day one. Keeping those is a huge cost saving and part of the plan.

 

[AdventureHasAName]

I've seen the Princess and the Frog once and I didn't really like and I didn't really hate it. And I remember almost nothing about the film. But it seems to me that there are obvious better ways to retro-fit a Tiana theme into Splash Mountain (which I am totally against, but I digress ...). For example, why couldn't Disney just come up with a storyline where Tiana wants to build and open a restaurant in this magical place she discovered in the bayou and then have the final show scene be a celebration being held at her new restaurant, the Blue Bayou (almost mirroring what you would see at the beginning of Pirates in Anaheim, except a bunch of animatronics singing in the "outdoor" eating area)? The show scenes could be the characters from the film constructing the restaurant. All of this salt mine stuff seems so convoluted.

 

[Ghost93]

The executive team has a low opinion of theme parks and their fans in general.

So to give this project greater significance, they are leaning into the idea that this has cultural value beyond just "fun and thrills"

Hopefully, it's just a marketing thing, and the actual finished product is fun.

The promotion of Tiana's Bayou Adventure kind of reminds me of how Jamie Lee Curtis tried to make the new Halloween movies seem way more important than they are by saying they are movies about "trauma."

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Just wondering if this has been brought up, or if anyone else here has had this thought (and yes, I’m going to nitpick )…
Song of the South is set in Georgia, which has plenty of mountains (Brasstown Bald being the highest at 4,784’) and streams/creeks, which fits thematically for Splash Mountain, even though the Frontierland location (at WDW) of the attraction is, technically, thematically off.
I’ve been to NOLA twice, and not only are there no mountains (or natural hills) even remotely close to anywhere near there, most of the city is below sea level (5% in 1895, 30% in 1935, etc.).
The highest point in Louisiana is Driskill Mountain at a whopping 535’, and it’s in northeastern LA, nowhere near NOLA or a bayou, and without a stream/creek anywhere near it.

There, I’ve picked the nits…!!!!!

Did you know Arendelle isn’t really in Norway?

 

[donaldtoo]

Did you know Arendelle isn’t really in Norway?

I did indeed, but, I guess it may have been a slightly tougher sell if they tried to put it in, say, the China pavilion…!!!!!

 

[DisneyHead123]

I do not have high hopes for this ride. In recent years, Disney has excelled primarily in “Whoa check out that new technology!” style rides. Guardians, FOP, Rise, etc. Traditional dark rides have been stuck in a very solid “fine” phase for quite some time. Frozen, Little Mermaid, Nemo…. 6 on a scale of 1-10 kinda rides. Then factor in that: 1. This ride is looong, with tons of space to fill and 2. Disney is in ultra cost cutting mode right now… I think a bunch of screens and limited animatronics are pretty much a guarantee.

 

[TalkToEthan]

That has been pretty evident since day one. Keeping those(smelly sun drenched faded outdated logs)is a huge cost saving and part of the plan.

What is there, perhaps 50 logs???
@ $5,000 each ???

Whatever the number is it can’t be that much money relative to the total costs to get this thing redone. This project will be at least 100 million, right?

They put $60 million into Haunted Mansion and that was back in over a decade ago.

 

[celluloid]

What is there, perhaps 50 logs???
@ $5,000 each ???

Whatever the number is it can’t be that much money relative to the total costs to get this thing redone. This project will be at least 100 million, right?

They put $60 million into Haunted Mansion and that was back in over a decade ago.

Different company and no, ride vehicles are .kre than 5,000 each new.
The goal was always the easiest return of investment with a focus on changing what they can to easily impress.

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

I don't have any idea how much a new Splash log costs, but I would hope it's not some absurd amount like $10,000+. You can buy a budget car for like $15,000. I can't imagine any good reason why a Splash log would be anywhere close to that. Don't they also use molds/casting for the designs, so they don't have to sculpt every single one by hand?

I would hope the logs receive proper touchups. They should, they've been in much worse condition before, and have likewise been brought back to "new looking" condition before as well. They'll be doing cosmetic work on them anyway to remove the Brer Rabbit hood ornaments.

 

[_caleb]

It just seems totally unnecessary and anachronistic. What’s wrong with showing her as a successful restaurateur? For me at least, the concept of an employee-owned coop places us squarely in the contemporary age, while the stuff about the salt dome is just weird (it’s also counterproductive, drawing more attention to the elevation “problem” than if they’d just ignored it).

Just remembered another reason they may have developed the co-op backstory: the Tiana series coming to Disney+. I assume it will tie in to the ride’s storyline in some way.

'Tiana' First Look Reveals an All-New Magical Adventure in Disney's 'Princess and the Frog' Sequel Series

The Stella Meghie-directed series will hit Disney+ sometime in 2023.

collider.com

 

[Kirby86]

I think most of us on the forum thought that this was being done to tie into the Disney plus show and sell more Tiana merchandise. At least that was part of the reasoning.

 

[LittleBuford]

Just remembered another reason they may have developed the co-op backstory: the Tiana series coming to Disney+. I assume it will tie in to the ride’s storyline in some way.

'Tiana' First Look Reveals an All-New Magical Adventure in Disney's 'Princess and the Frog' Sequel Series

The Stella Meghie-directed series will hit Disney+ sometime in 2023.

collider.com

This is a good point, as is what @Tony the Tigger said earlier about taking a wait-and-see approach. And so while I can’t deny that I really dislike the way they’ve framed this particular aspect of the retheme, I haven’t written off the final product by any means. On the contrary, I early hope it’s a great success.

 

[_caleb]

This is a good point, as is what @Tony the Tigger said earlier about taking a wait-and-see approach. And so while I can’t deny that I really dislike the way they’ve framed this particular aspect of the retheme, I haven’t written off the final product by any means. On the contrary, I early hope it’s a great success.

Me, too! It feels like with all the social, um, interest around this retheme, they have a lot riding on this. From the sounds of things, they’re at least aware that they need to get it right. And so we (continue to) wait and see what they come up with!

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

The ride is apparently a "prequel" to the D+ series. New characters from the series will also appear in the ride. I'm guessing some of them are the ones from this image (just a safe assumption)-

BTW, this photo of the otter animatronic was shared over in the Disneyland thread for the ride. I'll repost it here for anyone who didn't see it-

 

[_caleb]

The ride is apparently a "prequel" to the D+ series. New characters from the series will also appear in the ride. I'm guessing some of them are the ones from this image (just a safe assumption)-

BTW, this photo of the otter animatronic was shared over in the Disneyland thread for the ride. I'll repost it here for anyone who didn't see it-

Thanks for sharing. I love the character designs. It will be interesting to try to guess which America Sings/Splash Mountain AAs they used for each of the animals featured on the new ride.

 

[Mike21878]

We arrive to MK the early afternoon on the 21st. I know Sunday will be a madhouse on the last day, but for those that have been at the parks on the final weekend of a ride, Is the whole weekend insane? Or just the day before closure?

We get off a Carnival cruise that morning so getting fast passes/genie/whatever isn’t an option.

We rode it this past February and said our farewells, but if it’s going to be 4 hours all weekend, we can pass and go to MK after it’s gone.

Thanks!!!