Tiana's Bayou Adventure: Disneyland Watch & Discussion

celluloid

Well-Known Member
Disney hypocrisy I can live with. We all know they're a Big Bad Company yet willingly buy into the fantasy they sell us. I would even happily purchase the hot sauce. What I take issue with is the use of the ride's backstory—something that should get us excited for a magical new attraction—to cynically promote a new product.

This. It seems very He-Man in order. The toy was designed and then they needed a show. The synergy to the extreme.

I admit I don't agree with you often, and frankly, I apologize now for being a jerk plenty of times. But my hat off to you for hitting the nail on the head here. Very well-articulated. I think people recognize sincerity and why this in particular feels odd and foreboding.
 

Disney Analyst

Well-Known Member
I hate that I'm about to write this, because I am not someone who has ever opposed the retheme or dismissed it out of hand (quite the opposite), but the backstory as described in the linked DisneyParks Blog piece reads like something from The Onion. "Complete with a boutique farm and both a working and teaching kitchen, Tiana’s Foods is where Tiana and her colleagues create all sorts of new products that they are bringing to the world, including a line of original hot sauces." Really?! I can't imagine anything that feels less true to the tone of the film than this boiler-plate corporate language (which is a none-too-subtle harbinger of a new line of hot sauces that they're going to start selling in the parks). I'm just baffled.

I am still going to remain optimistic, and hopeful that whatever they are doing works out, is pulled off successfully, and the ride wows us.

I hope at the end of the day, they remember it's all about having fun. Being transported to a world we can't experience in our every day lives.

It's all about something... Wondrous.
 

Californian Elitist

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Sure. That is what is always said at the end of the day. But going by what we know so far is also fair to discuss. Because they pay a lot of money to have this treatment ready for copy and to publish to the General Public. The goal is to hype, so a critique on the artform is fair.
I never said it wasn’t fair to discuss. I’m not interested in coming to conclusions with this newest little piece of news.
I would generally agree with you, but are we supposed to ignore everything they're telling and showing us in the meantime?
No need to ignore.
 

LittleBuford

Well-Known Member
I am still going to remain optimistic, and hopeful that whatever they are doing works out, is pulled off successfully, and the ride wows us.

I hope at the end of the day, they remember it's all about having fun. Being transported to a world we can't experience in our every day lives.

It's all about something... Wondrous.
I am not all that optimistic but am still hoping for the best. It may well be that this is all just PR guff and that the ride itself will prove a great success. If any IP lends itself to something wondrous, it’s the world of Tiana.
 

Californian Elitist

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
It help that Disneyland has the blessing of size. There’s so much to do, the loss of one attraction just isn’t that big of a deal.

Sure, I liked Splash Mountain, but I also like that I can take the hour I would spend waiting in line for Splash and apply it to taking a grand circle tour aboard the Disneyland Railroad, or join the happiest cruise that ever set sail on “it’s a small world.”

Personally, it also helped I had a chance to ride it before it closed knowing it was the last I would get to.

I’ll never be mature about the closure of Tower of Terror, however. Damn Disney for that bastardization of the Hollywood Tower Hotel.
For sure. I’m just annoyed with the “the sky is falling” attitude some have.
 

celluloid

Well-Known Member
I am not all that optimistic but am still hoping for the best. It may well be that this is all just PR guff and that the ride itself will prove a great success. If any IP lends itself to something wondrous, it’s the world of Tiana.

The fear I have is this comes from WDI communications. A little more directly connected and Kevin Jr and his dad, now retired are a huge part of fun Imagineering.
 

Californian Elitist

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
There’s never enough hot sauce.

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Ghost93

Well-Known Member
I was really excited about the Princess and the Frog retheme when it was first announced, but everything we've been hearing is making me worried it won't contain the magic or fun of the original movie. The co-op backstory provided felt very filled to the brim with corporate PR speak and didn't seem to contain any elements that would make for an exciting attraction.

I personally think kids would be a lot more excited about a flume ride where you are trying to escape the clutches of Dr. Facillier than one where you are trying to assist a food cooperative.

Hopefully the co-op is just queue background and not the main focus of the adventure itself.
 

mickEblu

Well-Known Member
This backstory is what you get when the people designing a theme park attraction think their work has meaning beyond entertaining people. When the ride is viewed as a medium to inspire change, give people a sense of meaning, or whatever the heck it is they're trying to accomplish here it distracts and dilutes the primary purpose of a theme park attraction- to entertain.

True. I’m hoping they don’t lose sight of that and this is all mostly PR fluff.

It would be great if this whole missing ingredient thing was us being sent to the deepest darkest cave or part of the bayou for some rare mushroom or something where Facilier is waiting for us. If the missing ingredient is “our love” I’ll puke.
 
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LittleBuford

Well-Known Member
Y’all want them to be frogs again.
I’m actually very happy for the ride to be set after the film and to show Tiana as a successful restaurateur and businesswoman. I just don’t think such an approach necessitated all this convoluted stuff about salt domes, co-ops, and “boutique farms” (I’m not even sure what a boutique farm is!).
 

Ghost93

Well-Known Member
Y’all want them to be frogs again.
I don't want Tiana and Naveen to be frogs again. I DO want a ride that is fun, exciting, magical, musical and has the right amount of danger and levity. Ya know, AN ADVENTURE. None of the information released about the ride's story conveys any of that and instead focuses on a boring-sounding food co-op.

Now it's possible that the co-op stuff is just background conveyed in the queue and the ride itself will be fun. But "fun" and "thrills" haven't been hyped up in any of the press releases Disney has put out about the attraction.
 

Californian Elitist

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I don't want Tiana and Naveen to be frogs again. I DO want a ride that is fun, exciting, magical, musical and has the right amount of danger and levity. Ya know, AN ADVENTURE. None of the information released about the ride's story conveys any of that and instead focuses on a boring-sounding food co-op.

Now it's possible that the co-op stuff is just background conveyed in the queue and the ride itself will be fun. But "fun" and "thrills" haven't been hyped up in any of the press releases Disney has put out about the attraction.
Read post number 7,361.
 

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