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

[flynnibus]

Their job is to tell the story. Thats the purpose of the backstory. If the backstory isn’t part of conveying the story then they’re not doing their jobs well and it’s a waste.

Nah - it can be support without being the purpose/ intended takeaway

See HM… pirates…. You don’t focus on the conclusion of the story as the element people go home with as their memory.

I like to think of it more like… staging. It’s purpose is to help set the tone and surrounds.

 

[mysto]

It couldn't have been any clearer that Brer Rabbit was baiting Brer Fox into flinging him in. Even if you did somehow miss that, they make it even more explicit in the finale scenes where Brer Rabbit is sitting outside his front door of his briar patch house (which again was shown at the start of the ride) and boasting about how he tricked them again.

I didn't quite get that Brer Rabbit was baiting Fox as a trick. I always felt Rabbit's tone sounded ironic, but I thought I was mistaken about that. I saw the references to him being a trickster but still didn't get it.

The point is that anyone unfamiliar with the story may simply take the ride at face value - why do we end up okay when we plummet into the Briar Patch? Must just be luck, I guess.

This is about how I saw it.

I missed it all - not kidding.
I never knew 'till now that he was flung into the brier patch.

Courageous confession! Props.

 

[flynnibus]

The sad thing is…, the ride story isn’t even about the ‘troublesome’ parts of the movie… but the brer rabbit tales the movie tells.

And apparently not enough people know thd basic premise that brer rabbit is a trickster…. And the stories are about how he gets out of trouble.

The ride version really does rely on hearing the dialogue well.. as it moved through the important plot elements so quickly

 

[LittleBuford]

I didn't quite get that Brer Rabbit was baiting Fox as a trick. I always felt Rabbit's tone sounded ironic, but I thought I was mistaken about that. I saw the references to him being a trickster but still didn't get it.


This is about how I saw it.


Courageous confession! Props.

I noticed you were among the posters who liked @MerlinTheGoat‘s posts insisting that the story is easy to follow (I paid attention because I wanted a sense of how many people felt that way). It’s interesting that you’re now acknowledging you didn’t pick up on the reverse-psychology part. It makes me wonder how many others think they’ve understood the whole plot but have actually (and very understandably!) missed certain details, including some pretty major ones.

 

[mysto]

I noticed you were among the posters who liked @MerlinTheGoat‘s posts insisting that the story is easy to follow (I paid attention because I wanted a sense of how many people felt that way). It’s interesting that you’re now acknowledging you didn’t pick up on the reverse-psychology part. It makes me wonder how many others think they’ve understood the whole plot but have actually (and very understandably!) missed certain details, including some pretty major ones.

I give a lot of likes, sometimes because I agree but sometimes just because a point is well made, and even sometimes as a silent "agree to disagree". So it's complicated. In this case @MerlinTheGoat gave a bit of explanation that helped me to see it, so "liked". Also I try to like posts I reply to and reply to me regardless of agreement.

 

[UNCgolf]

Fair enough. I am learning that what was happening in the ride was less clear to at least some people who had more than a passing interest in the attraction that I thought it would have been. Maybe for that story element about the briar patch to be intuitive you have to have some prior knowledge of the story. As a child growing up in the 1980s in Australia I knew it (I first went on the ride at DL in 1992), but younger generations may not know it particularly as the film has disappeared. My hazy recollection is knowing it from a (possibly Disney) book of stories rather than the film, but I could be wrong.

All in all, I agree with @UNCgolf that they probably told a linear story about as well as they could in this medium on Splash Mountain without a literal narrator spelling it out for you. The confusion some felt about certain elements is probably why so many rides just involve running away from something, going to somewhere, or things going horribly wrong.

In the case of Splash, I don't think anyone is disagreeing that it works whether you understand every beat of the story and just assume Brer Rabbit was lucky enough to survive the drop and get away at the end of the ride. I think that's a big step up from something like Dinosaur where you have to watch a video beforehand in which they explain to you what is going to happen, without which you would have no idea what the story was supposed to be.

I've never seen Song of the South, so I definitely didn't have any knowledge of it before riding Splash Mountain. That said, it's possible I had knowledge of the story in general, since Song of the South was merely an adaptation of those stories.

Regardless, yes, I have a hard time imagining how they could have done it any better in the context of a theme park attraction even if many people only picked up part of the story.

 

[LittleBuford]

I give a lot of likes, sometimes because I agree but sometimes just because a point is well made, and even sometimes as a silent "agree to disagree". So it's complicated. In this case @MerlinTheGoat gave a bit of explanation that helped me to see it, so "liked". Also I try to like posts I reply to and reply to me regardless of agreement.

Sorry for misunderstanding!

I like your “like” policy. I wish more people did as you do.

 

[LittleBuford]

Regardless, yes, I have a hard time imagining how they could have done it any better in the context of a theme park attraction even if many people only picked up part of the story.

One of the big differences between the ride’s interpretation and the film itself is that, in the latter, Br’er Rabbit isn’t tied up when he’s about to be thrown into the briar patch. Having him bound in the ride makes the drop seem scarier (a good thing!) but also makes it more difficult to work out how and why he emerges unscathed after the drop.

 

[SNS]

One of the big differences between the ride’s interpretation and the film itself is that, in the latter, Br’er Rabbit isn’t tied up when he’s about to be thrown into the briar patch. Having him bound in the ride makes the drop seem scarier (a good thing!) but also makes it more difficult to work out how and why he emerges unscathed after the drop.

Yeah, the scene of him being tied off is taken from the next story (the one where the laughing place song comes from). They combined the two to have the exciting briar patch climax.

 

[Castle Cake Apologist]

I first took the plunge from Chickapin Hill in 1993, when I was 5, and the story was always very clear to me. I've also never seen Song of the South, so I had no reference point to go off. My only familiarity with it was the songs from SotS they included on the Classic Disney cassettes I had as a kid.

Honestly, I was very surprised that there are people (especially on here) who don't understand the story. Or, at the very least, the basic beats of him wanting to leave, getting caught and escaping to his home to learn the lesson that he should just stay put. It feels like you'd have to actively ignore everything happening for that to be the case. There's a ton of dialogue that tells you what's going on along the way, as well as rewritten songs with explicit references to the story.

It's not that I don't believe the people who are saying they didn't pick up on it, or even that there's anything wrong with it, but it honestly really surprised me to see. I think one person said they weren't even aware that Br'er Rabbit gets flung into the Briar Patch? It's just wild to me that a person could ride multiple times and never get that.

I've always regarded Splash so highly because of how well it tells a relatively complex story in a medium as difficult as a dark ride. Now I feel like everything I thought I knew was a lie.

 

[LittleBuford]

I've always regarded Splash so highly because of how well it tells a relatively complex story in a medium as difficult as a dark ride. Now I feel like everything I thought I knew was a lie.

I don't think one needed to understand the intricacies of the plot to really enjoy the ride. I think that's what made it a truly great attraction.

 

[LittleBuford]

I just started a poll for those who are interested:

Intelligibility of Splash Mountain's plot

I created this poll in response to a discussion taking place now over in the Splash Mountain thread. How much of the plot did you personally understand from the ride alone? The options I've provided seem to cover the full spectrum, but please let me know if you think I should add any. For those...

forums.wdwmagic.com

 

[Brer Oswald]

I don't think one needed to understand the intricacies of the plot to really enjoy the ride. I think that's what made it a truly great attraction.

The ride was both great at linear storytelling and atmospheric storytelling. Even if you didn’t follow along with the narrative, the music and set design conveyed the proper emotions of the journey.

The first outdoor section with the instrumental music served as the transition from the real world to this fictional cartoon world. The HDYD section pulled you into the cartoonish animal habitat filling you with a sense of joy. The Laughing Place section combined a sense of adventure and fun with a bit of danger. Then, the danger took over with the frightening final drop. After the drop was conquered, then came the celebration.

The narrative of the replacement attraction will be different, and that’s okay. But I think it’s pretty important that they maintain these similar atmospheric and emotional beats. Otherwise I don’t know if it will be as effective of an attraction.

 

[BrerFoxesBayouAdventure]

The narrative of the replacement attraction will be different, and that’s okay. But I think it’s pretty important that they maintain these similar atmospheric and emotional beats. Otherwise I don’t know if it will be as effective of an attraction.

That's the thing, the ride from what we know is nothing but party central.

 

[DisneyDreamerxyz]

Any guesses on what the new name of the exit gift shop (previously known as "Splashdown Photos" ) and The Briar Patch will be ? They have never mentioned those in any announcement.

 

[MagicHappens1971]

Any guesses on what the new name of the exit gift shop (previously known as "Splashdown Photos" ) and The Briar Patch will be ? They have never mentioned those in any announcement.

Tiana Merchandise Activation #1 & #2?

Just kidding but I’m sure they’ll come up with something creative PatF related

 

[Ghost93]

That's the thing, the ride from what we know is nothing but party central.

I'm sure there will be some suspense, like when Tiana discovers she ran out of salt for her special recipe!

 

[Kirby86]

The Briar Patch will be changed to The Salt Dome and Splashdown photos will be Naveens Navigation and gift shoo. Honestly though who knows what the shops will be called now.

 

[Kirby86]

I'm sure there will be some suspense, like when Tiana discovers she ran out of salt for her special recipe!

Nah it'll be a fun adventure I bet Mama Odie will be singing "you got to dig a little deeper to get that precious salt, you got to dig a little deeper it's what your boss would want."

 

[Drdcm]

Tiana Merchandise Activation #1 & #2?

Just kidding but I’m sure they’ll come up with something creative PatF related

Bayou Boutique… (that’s my guess)