Tiana's Bayou Adventure: Disneyland Watch & Discussion

[zipadee999]

I mean exactly what I said. Splash Mountain is not a unique ride, and never has been. For now the fourth time, Knott’s Timber Mountain Log Ride, which opened in 1969, 20 years earlier than Splash Mountain, did it first and likely inspired SM.

Have you ever been on TMLR? Ever been to DL?

I still beg to disagree. Timber Mountain was the first scenic log flume, but splash is unique in that it tells a linear story and uses the layout as a means to do that. Timber Mountain is a great ride, but it’s like riding a log through a wilderness diorama you’d see at Bass Pro Shops with some vignettes and disconnected show scenes along the way. The overhauled version we see today tells more of a story, even if it still isn’t quite to the level we see on splash, but the original version was simply dioramas and vignettes. A huge portion of the interior scenes on the original version were just mock trees with some taxidermy. This is the version that Splash opened to compete with, not the current version that we see. I’ll give it to you that Timber Mountain introduced theming to log flumes, but Splash introduced storytelling and immersion to log flumes.

 

[Californian Elitist]

I still beg to disagree.

You’re free to do that.

 

[Disney Analyst]

He's been in the game for quite some time - this would be a pretty big oops. I haven't seen any corrections made yet.

It’s odd. Generally there would be a quote from someone at Disney. Or a parks blog post to go along with this.

Unless Disney is in on this and they are trying to ease into the official closure with this article, then they confirm with their own posts in a day or two?

 

[EagleScout610]

@GiveMeTheMusic @marni1971 @wdwmagic Anything to add on this?

 

[DCBaker]

According to the Orange County Register, Splash Mountain in Disneyland will close May 7, 2023 for the reimagining into Tiana's Bayou Adventure. May 6 will be the final day to ride.

"Disneylanders finally have a date to mark on their calendars for the last chance to ride Splash Mountain before the Critter Country attraction closes for a yearlong transformation to a new Princess Tiana theme.

Disneyland will close Splash Mountain on May 7 to begin the transformation of the classic log flume ride into Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, according to the Disneyland website.

That means May 6 will be the final day for fans of the 1989 attraction to float through Br’er Rabbit’s Laughing Place and sing along to “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah.”

Splash Mountain will reopen at Disneyland and Walt Disney World in 2024 with a “Princess and the Frog” theme based on the 2009 Disney animated film."

Splash Mountain closure date at Disneyland still to be determined

The attraction is slated to be revamped with a ‘Princess and the Frog’ theme

www.ocregister.com

It’s odd. Generally there would be a quote from someone at Disney. Or a parks blog post to go along with this.

Unless Disney is in on this and they are trying to ease into the official closure with this article, then they confirm with their own posts in a day or two?

Disneyland officials have confirmed to Todd Martens that this date is incorrect.

 

[MisterPenguin]

@GiveMeTheMusic @marni1971 @wdwmagic Anything to add on this?

Steve just updated the site's news page to indicate his info is based on the OCR article. He doesn't have a separate source.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Disneyland officials have confirmed to Todd Martens that this is incorrect.

Today's Fire Drill is now completed.

Please return to your cat fights.

 

[marni1971]

@GiveMeTheMusic @marni1971 @wdwmagic Anything to add on this?

Apparently the date comes from the usual end of dates park calendar. Someone saw Splash didn’t have an opening after May 6 and made a jump. Thing is the rest of the park also didn’t have anything after May 6.

 

[mickEblu]

Now now now what if, what ifff the decision was made to only convert one Splash, appease both sides/ deliver on their promise and keep the original? The thought process would be that Disney thinks they could give the Tiana’s ride a bit more justice with the WDW layout so they went ahead and closed that one.

 

[Californian Elitist]

 

[Brer Oswald]

Now now now what if, what ifff the decision was made to only convert one Splash, appease both sides/ deliver on their promise and keep the original? The thought process would be that Disney thinks they could give the Tiana’s ride a bit more justice with the WDW layout so they went ahead and closed that one.

Not happening bro.

 

[mickEblu]

Not happening bro.

You have to admit it’s a pretty good conspiracy theory though. We’ve heard a few good ones.

 

[Brer Oswald]

You have to admit it’s a pretty good conspiracy theory though. We’ve heard a few good ones.

I’ve heard this same one like…80 odd times. It’s closing. Iger hates it and he’ll make sure it closes. Tokyo’s is probably still going to survive. And maybe they’ll do something with the Brers on video (that’s far more tasteful than SotS) in the future, but that’ll be the far future if it ever happens.

 

[DCBaker]

Here's how Brady MacDonald updated the story at the Orange County Register -

"The impending closure of Splash Mountain will take place soon, but an exact date has yet to be announced when the Critter Country attraction will begin a yearlong transformation to a new Princess Tiana theme.

It appeared from Disneyland’s website early Sunday morning that the classic log flume ride would go dark in early May, but that information was not correct."

Full article below.

Splash Mountain closure date at Disneyland still to be determined

The attraction is slated to be revamped with a ‘Princess and the Frog’ theme

www.ocregister.com

 

[The Mom]

Here's how Brady MacDonald updated the story at the Orange County Register -

"The impending closure of Splash Mountain will take place soon, but an exact date has yet to be announced when the Critter Country attraction will begin a yearlong transformation to a new Princess Tiana theme.

It appeared from Disneyland’s website early Sunday morning that the classic log flume ride would go dark in early May, but that information was not correct."

Full article below.

Splash Mountain closure date at Disneyland still to be determined

The attraction is slated to be revamped with a ‘Princess and the Frog’ theme

www.ocregister.com

I like how he blames the website for having incorrect information when he looked at the schedule and jumped to the wrong conclusion - and went public with it. A quick scan to see that no other attraction openings were listed after May 7th might have saved him some embarrassment.

The days of reporters verifying information before making it public are long gone.

 

[Kirby86]

Sometimes it seems like reporters would rather be first than right.

 

[mlayton144]

I find this whole drama personally very entertaining, I would love splash to stay but am resigned to it going away in favor of the some force-fed replacement. I think the reality is that this delay is all about money , they are conservatively spending probably $100-200 million (+) for a net lateral move in popularity and revenue when they could have given Tiana her own ride for that same amount and kept everyone happy. They will have a surge in spending and traffic when it open for 6 months and then back to Splash wait times. With some kind of recession likely I am sure they are questioning this foolish decision , after all they are a business

 

[PiratesMansion]

For the last time, Splash IS unique... you yourself literally admitted it was unique and that you knew why it elicited a strong response from fans. Why are you arguing semantics? Call it unique or not unique, it doesn't matter, but the fact of the matter is that Splash is by far the most popular and beloved attraction Disney has ever closed in both domestix parks, almost simultaneously. That's why people are prattling on about it,

...My entire argument has been that...it's NOT unique...that's literally what I've been saying. You're welcome to disagree if you care to, I have NOT been saying that it's unique. That has been you.

Now now now what if, what ifff the decision was made to only convert one Splash, appease both sides/ deliver on their promise and keep the original? The thought process would be that Disney thinks they could give the Tiana’s ride a bit more justice with the WDW layout so they went ahead and closed that one.

You might think of the Tokyo version continuing to exist as an (admittedly unintentional) appeasement.

 

[Kirby86]

You might think of the Tokyo version continuing to exist as an (admittedly unintentional) appeasement.

I wonder how much Disney wants Tokyo to get rid of the current theme? Also I wonder what the licensing agreement is?

 

[PiratesMansion]

I wonder how much Disney wants Tokyo to get rid of the current theme? Also I wonder what the licensing agreement is?

I imagine Disney wants them to change it quite badly, but there's not a whole lot they can do about it to my understanding.

Do you mean licensing agreement as in how TDR functions in relation to Disney? If so: I don't believe Disney can force the OLC to do anything with Splash. That would be counter to their established agreement, in which Disney is basically the OLC's only authorized vendor and Tokyo chooses to build-and do all the financing for-whatever they like from Disney. I don't know if there are any clauses of the contract that Disney might exploit to change that, but I can't imagine OLC would take too kindly to Disney forcing them to retheme an entire ride and land that are extremely popular and also footing none of the bill. It would do a lot of damage to their existing partnership.

But seeing as most US Disney fans don't know that TDR exists, since it's never talked about unless Disney absolutely has to, Disney might just choose to studiously ignore the fact that Splash is still around over there. And they might even get away with it, since the US Disney parks fans more often than not can't even fathom going to the Disney resort on the other side of this country, let alone one that's international.