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

[GhostHost1000]

What have they done in the last few months to make you think they considered guests’ desires to send off this ride in an appropriate way as a priority?

Good point

 

[Tha Realest]

"During the ride we noticed they appeared to be audio testing Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. While we could not hear what the riders were saying, we do know many of them to be Walt Disney Imagineers working on the Tiana’s Bayou Adventure attraction, including one noticeable figure, Charita Carter, Executive Creative Producer for Relevancy Activations at Walt Disney Imagineering, who has been leading this project.

Also in the boat is Ted Robledo, Executive Creative Director at Walt Disney Imagineering. We believe this group also includes Carmen Smith, Senior Vice President Creative Development Content-Products & Inclusive Strategies at Walt Disney Imagineering.

We believe this ride-through was to listen to new attraction audio as a group. Several of the riders were wearing headphones and there was a smartphone and an MP3 device they were connected to.

This device (seen above) was used each time the Imagineering team went into a new scene of the attraction. As we know, the upcoming Tiana’s Bayou Adventure ride will have the same ride path layout as the current Splash Mountain. So we assumed the Imagineers were listening to the upcoming attraction audio in real time. That doesn’t necessarily mean the ride audio is final and the music is ready to go though. Since we can’t hear what’s playing, this is an assumption, but one we’re pretty confident about.

Unfortunately, we were not able to see with our eyes (or the camera) what the audio devices said. But we can confirm this group of Disney Executives and Imagineers were continually pointing at specific ride scenes, animatronics, and props."

Imagineers seen testing Tiana's Bayou Adventure at Splash Mountain

Executive Imagineers were seen presumably testing Tiana's Bayou Adventure ride audio on a the final open week of Florida's Splash Mountain.

attractionsmagazine.com

Where was Tony Baxter? We were reassured he was playing a pivotal role in this remake

 

[MagicHappens1971]

Where was Tony Baxter? We were reassured he was playing a pivotal role in this remake

I don’t recall it being said he would play a “pivotal” role. Most people assumed it was more of just a PR stunt to save face

 

[Kirby86]

Looks like they might be decorating the barn a bit if the guys hand motion is anything to go by.

 

[Smiley/OCD]

If anything I can see them cutting the line early today.

Won’t happen…MK is open tonight till 11…I wouldn’t be surprised if there were still people in line at 12:30, 1 am…

 

[MagicHappens1971]

Won’t happen…MK is open tonight till 11…I wouldn’t be surprised if there were still people in line at 12:30, 1 am…

Probably will be people in line until 12:30am. People would riot if they cut the line early

 

[Kirby86]

I don’t recall it being said he would play a “pivotal” role. Most people assumed it was more of just a PR stunt to save face

I assumed he was probably at some early meetings to tell the new team what he looks for in a good log flume and the thought process on designing the orignal they took some notes then every one went their separate ways. The retheme is definitely mostly new Imagineer driven.

 

[Ghost93]

Do we know when the Tiana series is supposed to come out this year? I know it was meant to come out in 2023. I think the show would give us some insight as to what the new version of the ride would be like.

 

[Smiley/OCD]

I assumed he was probably at some early meetings to tell the new team what he looks for in a good log flume and the thought process on designing the orignal they took some notes then every one went their separate ways. The retheme is definitely mostly new Imagineer driven.

He was/is a Disney PR figurehead included in the initial announcement…I do expect him to have a comment or two during the work and then an interview when Tiana opens saying how great the ride is.

 

[GhostHost1000]

Shew those imagineers have some pressure on them when redoing this popular attraction. They have to make it better and that isn’t going to be easy

 

[Rich T]

Granted that it closes tomorrow and this was presumably pretty recent, I wonder why they would do this during the day with guests

Wild guess: To avoid paying CMs overtime.

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

I don’t recall it being said he would play a “pivotal” role. Most people assumed it was more of just a PR stunt to save face

I was told he was substantially involved. Doesn't mean he's part of the leadership group, or that he's still involved currently now that they have a final plan.

I also probably don't need to tell people that there are a hell of a lot more people on the creative team for this ride than were in that boat.

 

[Rich T]

I’ve never seen princess and the frog. Is it worth the watch? I figured I’ll eventually watch it before I ride the new ride.

Yes, it’s an extremely fun movie with very likeable characters, a great villain and terrific songs. It’s a gorgeous-looking film, too.

 

[brb1006]

Princess and the Frog is black culture appropriated to fit a European fairy tale by a company mainly run by white men, and yet I still like that movie and see the benefits of it. Removing the only ride at the parks based AA folk lore is a mistake and sends a message that they only have room for one black ride at the parks.

At least Tokyo keeps the ride.

 

[Incomudro]

Yes, it’s an extremely fun movie with very likeable characters, a great villain and terrific songs. It’s a gorgeous-looking film, too.

It really is.
Making the decision to not base the ride on the time frame, as well as some of the best characters, and songs from the film all the more troubling.

 

[Rich T]

We got Tron coming up, Tiana, uhmmm whatever OLC is doing in Japan, some new boats for the Cruise line and a new Island for said cruise line.

You forgot Moana’s Super Awesome Tribute to Water!

 

[celluloid]

Imagine being in an era where there has been so much negative morale and failures and Tron and Princess and The Frog are the cards you have positioned yourself with to save the day.

They have two years to do this, supposedly so many research trips and five years of planning this and we are seeing Imagineers riding the log flume and pointing in its final days.

 

[tanc]

Image of people being the last to ride Splash Mountain

 

[DisneyOutsider]

Imagine being in an era where there has been so much negative morale and failures and Tron and Princess and The Frog are the cards you have positioned yourself with to save the day.

They have two years to do this, supposedly so many research trips and five years of planning this and we are seeing Imagineers riding the log flume and pointing in its final days.

As Splash Mountain demonstrates... Quality is the only thing that matters. The specific IP comes in a distant second place.. unless your IP is racist/racially insensitive. Then you've picked the wrong IP.

 

[HoustonHorn]

Granted that it closes tomorrow and this was presumably pretty recent, I wonder why they would do this during the day with guests

Because they don't give a rat's furry backside about the consumers?