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

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TrainsOfDisney

Well-Known Member
We are all Disney fans with strong feelings! I'm still upset that 20k leagues is no longer around to enjoy, however this attraction will still be around for those who are upset to go down but with a different tune.
While I never got to ride 20k (although I did see it from the skyway!) I’m so glad I got to ride the Nemo version of the subs at Disneyland.
 

owlsandcoffee

Well-Known Member
We are all Disney fans with strong feelings! I'm still upset that 20k leagues is no longer around to enjoy, however this attraction will still be around for those who are upset to go down but with a different tune.

My mother got to ride 20k in 1972, I remain exceptionally jealous :) I am, at the end of the day, glad that they aren't just tearing down a beloved attraction.
 

UNCgolf

Well-Known Member
To be fair though... riding Frozen is nothing like riding Maelstrom.

Yeah, I don't think Princess and the Frog and Splash Mountain are going to be very similar. I'd love to be wrong and see Disney go all out, filling it with AAs and detailed sets, but they have not done much of that recently outside of ROTR. I'll be very surprised if PatF isn't a significantly lessened experience.
 

UNCgolf

Well-Known Member
Also, 20k was a tremendously good ride. There's no comparison between it and what resides in that space now; LM and 7DMT combined aren't 10% of the ride 20k was.

With that said, it was incredibly impressive -for its time-. I rode it in the early 90s (and probably late 80s, but I don't remember that) and was blown away, but the ride would have needed a significant overhaul to still be a feasible attraction today. They likely would have needed to replace every single show scene, which I assume would have required draining the whole lagoon.

It's just a shame that they didn't build something equally impressive in that space instead of what we got.
 

uncle jimmy

Premium Member
While I never got to ride 20k (although I did see it from the skyway!) I’m so glad I got to ride the Nemo version of the subs at Disneyland.
Nemo version is one I'm excited about to ride... I never got to ride skyway.
My mother got to ride 20k in 1972, I remain exceptionally jealous :) I am, at the end of the day, glad that they aren't just tearing down a beloved attraction.
As a kid riding 20K, I believed we were exploring the depths of the ocean. Swiss Family Tree house, I wanted to live in and BTMR I thought was a wild train. I'm glad too this attraction will be around for more to enjoy.
 

1HAPPYGHOSTHOST

Well-Known Member
They haven’t even done that with ROTR in my opinion. Yes the entire experience is great. But Splash is up there with mansion and pirates as being just about perfect.
The AAs they have of Storm Troopers on RISE, I'm just gonna say it, suck! Hardly any movement . Before someone goes " BUT , BUT THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO BE AT ATTENTION AS PRISONERS ARE ESCORTED IN!" Ok...so people don't still move like people. or aim their guns at prisoners, or move side to side?? I have mannequins that seems more alive.
 

UNCgolf

Well-Known Member
They haven’t even done that with ROTR in my opinion. Yes the entire experience is great. But Splash is up there with mansion and pirates as being just about perfect.

I just meant in terms of actually building large, detailed sets, not in terms of overall ride quality (I haven't been on ROTR yet). Most of their other recent rides either have little in the way of show scenes at all (the Toy Story Land rides) or are heavily or entirely projections/screens (MMRR, Flight of Passage, Smugglers Run). Use of projection/screens isn't inherently bad, as Flight of Passage and MMRR are solid rides, but it's generally a lesser experience than something that uses actual physical sets and AAs.

NRJ is the other recent example of a ride done mostly right with regards to detailed sets that make you feel transported to another location, but it has other flaws that keep it from being a classic (mainly lack of AAs and length). It's still vastly superior to rides like Little Mermaid or Frozen Ever After, though.
 
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uncle jimmy

Premium Member
The AAs they have of Storm Troopers on RISE, I'm just gonna say it, suck! Hardly any movement . Before someone goes " BUT , BUT THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO BE AT ATTENTION AS PRISONERS ARE ESCORTED IN!" Ok...so people don't still move like people. or aim their guns at prisoners, or move side to side?? I have mannequins that seems more alive.
Some of us have been sitting at home for a year, we're a little stiff... clearly they suffered too!
 

owlsandcoffee

Well-Known Member
I think that ROTR (haven't ridden it) will age really well. It really takes advantage of the immersive medium.

I have a feeling PatF will not have quite the same level of design clarity, sadly.
 

erasure fan1

Well-Known Member
Yeah, I don't think Princess and the Frog and Splash Mountain are going to be very similar. I'd love to be wrong and see Disney go all out, filling it with AAs and detailed sets, but they have not done much of that recently outside of ROTR. I'll be very surprised if PatF isn't a significantly lessened experience.
That's a good bet for sure. I'd love to be wrong, but I just don't see it being anything more than a basic reskin. I just have a feeling that this will always just feel like they shoehorned PatF into splash mountain. We will probably see a cool Tiana and Louis AA and maybe Naveen. I would also expect the lions share to be projection effects. Again, I'm hoping to eat crow on this one. I just trust Disney as much as I trust them not to raise prices.
 

Animaniac93-98

Well-Known Member
Also, 20k was a tremendously good ride. There's no comparison between it and what resides in that space now; LM and 7DMT combined aren't 10% of the ride 20k was.

With that said, it was incredibly impressive -for its time-. I rode it in the early 90s (and probably late 80s, but I don't remember that) and was blown away, but the ride would have needed a significant overhaul to still be a feasible attraction today. They likely would have needed to replace every single show scene, which I assume would have required draining the whole lagoon.

It's just a shame that they didn't build something equally impressive in that space instead of what we got.

7 years after the ride closed in WDW, TDS opened their version and it still holds up today. Excellent dark ride. Better than either one built for New Fantasyland. There were absolutely ways it could have been upgraded while still keeping the same story. It's not like it wasn't still popular in 1994.
 

UNCgolf

Well-Known Member
7 years after the ride closed in WDW, TDS opened their version and it still holds up today. Excellent dark ride. Better than either one built for New Fantasyland. There were absolutely ways it could have been upgraded while still keeping the same story. It's not like it wasn't still popular in 1994.

Oh absolutely -- I wasn't suggesting they couldn't have done it. It's not like replacing all the show scenes with newer technology is something outside of Disney's capabilities. I only meant the original ride probably wouldn't have worked as well in 2020 if they'd never done any updates.

I certainly wish it was still there.
 

Bocabear

Well-Known Member
20k Leagues was more than the sum of it's parts... Not only a unique and wonderful ride experience, but the beauty of the lagoon with it's fanciful submarines has never been matched... The Skyway was another loss that was again, more than the sum of it's parts... The kinetic energy it brought to the skyline was amazing...Though I am always surprised they never addressed theming the rooftops...Something that Universal did for their Seussland aerial tram.
 
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