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

MisterPenguin

President of Animal Kingdom
Premium Member
in this particular case it was nothing more than a pure bs spin that they were planning to remove one of if not the most popular ride in WDW
Many, many insiders have avowed that it was in initial planning stages, which is not the same thing as a final blueprint.

It's not hard to believe that Iger, who directly and bluntly refers to "Song of the South" as racist and thus will never be released from "the vault" would encourage such a retheme.

If you wish to believe it was all a big lie, that's your right to believe whatever conspiracy theory you wish. I suppose if it were a big lie, someone in the the corporate empire who's not on board with the retheme (and apparently, there are) would whistle-blow the big lie. This would be expected to happen, if the big lie was an actuality, given all the lay offs. But so far, that hasn't happened.

In absence of such whistle blowers, or considering the danger executives face for creating big lies that can bite them later on, and in light of insiders who have said it was indeed 'in the works,' I choose to believe the non-conspiratorial version of events.

in this particular case it was nothing more than a pure bs spin that they were planning to remove one of if not the most popular ride in WDW

Also, a 'retherme' is not the same as 'removing.' Completely removing the ride would indeed be disastrous.
 

BobPar

Active Member
Many, many insiders have avowed that it was in initial planning stages, which is not the same thing as a final blueprint.

It's not hard to believe that Iger, who directly and bluntly refers to "Song of the South" as racist and thus will never be released from "the vault" would encourage such a retheme.

If you wish to believe it was all a big lie, that's your right to believe whatever conspiracy theory you wish. I suppose if it were a big lie, someone in the the corporate empire who's not on board with the retheme (and apparently, there are) would whistle-blow the big lie. This would be expected to happen, if the big lie was an actuality, given all the lay offs. But so far, that hasn't happened.

In absence of such whistle blowers, or considering the danger executives face for creating big lies that can bite them later on, and in light of insiders who have said it was indeed 'in the works,' I choose to believe the non-conspiratorial version of events.



Also, a 'retherme' is not the same as 'removing.' Completely removing the ride would indeed be disastrous.
Iger hated it so much that he was the Boss for 15 years and not once did we even sniff the idea of the ride being removed… he seems to be the king culprit to Disneys capacity issues yet somehow a ride heavy on AA and my guess maintenance somehow survived?
 

mysto

Well-Known Member
The trips to New Orleans might be for buying trinkets at garage sales to use for theming. Kinda like Rohde going to thee Himalayas.
 

Bocabear

Well-Known Member
if they are indeed budget cutting the exterior enhancements, that water tower they are showing off definitely needs to go along with the storyline about Tiana running a co-op business... This has NOTHING to do with the story and feels even more "Designed By Committee" than anything else...Why a water tower? What is the TDO obsession with water towers and properties called ...something SPRINGS...lol but seriously the tree and Odies Boat looked like classic Disney... the water tower and minimal changes looks like Paul Pressler
 

Smiley/OCD

Well-Known Member
if they are indeed budget cutting the exterior enhancements, that water tower they are showing off definitely needs to go along with the storyline about Tiana running a co-op business... This has NOTHING to do with the story and feels even more "Designed By Committee" than anything else...Why a water tower? What is the TDO obsession with water towers and properties called ...something SPRINGS...lol but seriously the tree and Odies Boat looked like classic Disney... the water tower and minimal changes looks like Paul Pressler
Why the water tower? Easy, to keep all the salt dust down, and it’ll make a hell of a brine for the cukes in LwtL…
 

BobPar

Active Member
He has been a "consultant" since he departed
You said the reason it stayed was because of him and other insiders have claimed he is actually a part of the new project… both statements cant be true. Unless of course he is just getting paid to shut his mouth up and play nice.
 

MerlinTheGoat

Well-Known Member
He has been a "consultant" since he departed
Baxter? Werent we told he was “on board & helping” with the project?
You said the reason it stayed was because of him and other insiders have claimed he is actually a part of the new project… both statements cant be true. Unless of course he is just getting paid to shut his mouth up and play nice.
I'm the one who said Baxter's role in this overhaul is apparently far more than just a "consultant". Like the rest of the people here, I also believed initially that he was just paid to give his "approval" to the project. A PR mouthpiece without any involvement beyond that. But according to the source that provided the other stuff i've been discussing for about a month now, his creative influence is actually VERY substantial. So we'll see what they do.

Also, a 'retherme' is not the same as 'removing.' Completely removing the ride would indeed be disastrous.
There are a lot of things they could have done to this ride besides outright removal that would also be disastrous as well. It would be a very ugly situation indeed if this reopened as yet another empty video screen ride, which is what the first iteration called for. You, me and the rest of us had best hope that what i've posted over the past month ends up being accurate. Because there will be hell to pay otherwise.

And the first thing after the budget expansion was to budget cut the exterior?
I do prefer the tree and boat at the top and wish it had made it in. But i'm also not certain they ever intended to include it for any iteration being considered. That art was cobbled together on extremely short notice without any real plan. They just swampified Splash a bit and added a couple of elements to demonstrate the IP being used. Tiana and Louis figures also appeared outside in the art as well, which were never going to be present there due to the Florida sun and climate.

I think someone else in this thread recently claimed that the top of the mountain wasn't able to hold the weight of the tree and boat. I don't know if this is true and I welcome veracity of this claim either way. I would also imagine that the salt mine and food company backstory put an end to the tree as well. Which again is unfortunate because the salt mine is the one aspect of the ride that pretty much everyone is unhappy with (even those who are otherwise excited about this ride)..

The interior scenes are what matter above all else, they're what make Splash truly great and sets it so far above any other log flume IMO. And those scenes are allegedly being treated with a high priority if the source is accurate. The initial scrapped "lost trumpet" concept called for a mass removal of most if not all existing animatronics with a heavy use of video screens and dark empty rooms. If we managed to dodge this bullet and come out with something much closer to the quality of Splash's scenes, I can live without the tree. Again, we shall see.
 
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MerlinTheGoat

Well-Known Member
I'm sorry to tag you @Magic Feather . But since you were replying in another topic earlier, I figured i'd go ahead and ask if you've heard anything to be excited or worried about regarding this overhaul? I think you've commented on it in the past (some of which was deleted in the political section purge IIRC). But i'm curious if you've heard anything else now that the plans are presumably finalized and conversion will begin presumably in January.
 
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EagleScout610

Always causin' some kind of commotion downstream
Premium Member
Call me a pessimist but I don't think the Marc Davis character designs will last to PatF. The two art styles are too radically different and I don't think any old designs that could be connected to Old Splash stays. So, if the current animatronics stay, I expect them to look absolutely nothing like their current selves.
 

MerlinTheGoat

Well-Known Member
Call me a pessimist but I don't think the Marc Davis character designs will last to PatF. The two art styles are too radically different and I don't think any old designs that could be connected to Old Splash stays. So, if the current animatronics stay, I expect them to look absolutely nothing like their current selves.
I've said in the past that the animals from Splash are not really "appropriate" those of the PATF movie. Most of the animal characters in Splash (aside for some of the smaller frogs, turtles and a donkey from Disneyland's version) have larger human-like proportions that walk on two legs, similar to Robin Hood and Zootopia. Aside from Louis (whose entire character is him trying to fit in with humans) and Tiana/Navine (who ARE humans, and won't be frogs in the ride), most of the animals in PATF are proportioned like real animals.

That said, there was this piece of concept art showing silhouettes of instrument playing animals that seem like they probably have Splash like designs-

77ca8c87-0b3b-4751-b03b-1346d38f8fd6-PATF_Attraction_Rendering_2021.jpg


And the following paintings. These weren't done by an internal artist at Disney, but the artist seems to have been contracted by Disney to produce them. They claim to serve as "inspiration" for the imagineering team and were used to promote it in a video back in August. Some very Splash-like animal designs here as well.

aa9dcb68-9f7f-4941-86d6-ba68fc0fbf82-PATF_Attraction_InspirationArt.jpg

BI6837658767.jpg


All I was told is that the old animatronics are staying. So take that however you will. There might be some reskinning involved for some of them, but I really don't know.
 

celluloid

Well-Known Member
The trips to New Orleans might be for buying trinkets at garage sales to use for theming. Kinda like Rohde going to thee Himalayas.

That would be something to lower expectations on. That was pre Chapek and Iger. Before main stream film IP was the push rather than in house theme park intellectual property from Imagineering. I imagine we are more likely to see a Frozen type queue project where it is a fabrication redo and Knick knacks added.
 

MerlinTheGoat

Well-Known Member
If they're collecting trinkets, they would need to be period appropriate for the 1920s. I'm not sure if they're doing that for this ride though. The collectibles were part of the backstory of Everest, the entire queue was supposed to be a museum building the backstory and history of the search for the yeti. While I don't have any information on the matter, i've also not seen much to indicate they're doing something like that for this ride...
 

BrerFoxesBayouAdventure

Well-Known Member
And the following paintings. These weren't done by an internal artist at Disney, but the artist seems to have been contracted by Disney to produce them. They claim to serve as "inspiration" for the imagineering team and were used to promote it in a video back in August. Some very Splash-like animal designs here as well.

aa9dcb68-9f7f-4941-86d6-ba68fc0fbf82-PATF_Attraction_InspirationArt.jpg

BI6837658767.jpg


All I was told is that the old animatronics are staying. So take that however you will. There might be some reskinning involved for some of them, but I really don't know.
Is this confirmation Charlotte is appearing in some capacity in the ride? I thought she was funny in the film and wouldn't mind seeing more of her.

Call me a pessimist but I don't think the Marc Davis character designs will last to PatF. The two art styles are too radically different and I don't think any old designs that could be connected to Old Splash stays. So, if the current animatronics stay, I expect them to look absolutely nothing like their current selves.
I've said in the past that the animals from Splash are not really "appropriate" those of the PATF movie. Most of the animal characters in Splash (aside for some of the smaller frogs, turtles and a donkey from Disneyland's version) have larger human-like proportions that walk on two legs, similar to Robin Hood and Zootopia. Aside from Louis (whose entire character is him trying to fit in with humans) and Tiana/Navine (who ARE humans, and won't be frogs in the ride), most of the animals in PATF are proportioned like real animals.

That said, there was this piece of concept art showing silhouettes of instrument playing animals that seem like they probably have Splash like designs-

77ca8c87-0b3b-4751-b03b-1346d38f8fd6-PATF_Attraction_Rendering_2021.jpg
Yeah, I get the feeling the America Sings animatronics will either be removed outright or reskinned to look more like the animals from PaTF. It's a shame, they tried for ages to find those animatronics a new home.
 

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