Tiana's Bayou Adventure: Disneyland Watch & Discussion

[D.Silentu]

Why would they deliberately be misleading everyone? Seems like a strange route to take.

If I'm assessing the situation correctly, Disney's view is that they aren't trying to mislead anyone so much as they are attempting to keep details a surprise. Taking the article at face value, this answers why the marketing foot they're putting forward has been so stiff. I'll be anxious to see if my thoughts behind this hit the mark.

 

[_caleb]

It looks great in context.

View attachment 750476

Right. For someone to criticize the Fichwa! Fellow as being "like something a child would paint," they'd be missing the context that helps it make sense. In context, this is a thematically consistent way to feature Mickey in a section of a park where the traditional design would be obtrusive to the theme.

And I would expect the same for TBA's exterior mural. It should work in the context (which we're slowly seeing take shape). Whatever the setting of the ride will be, Malaika Favorite's mural is intends to help establish the experience WDI intends for guests. I'm looking forward to seeing how it all comes together.

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

The interior hasn't even been all THAT much of a secret to people who have paid any attention. We do have three pieces of art showing the interior. As i've said multiple times, I expect once those scenes actually begin following the first drop, it won't have very much to do with the co-op story. That's almost certainly going to be relegated to the queue and parts of the exterior. The art of the interior appears to be a fairly traditional AA-centric musical dark ride, not unlike Splash.

The problem is that they've been over-marketing the co-op storyline and sort of shoved the interior details to the side. So people who haven't paid attention to the details are under the impression that the co-op stuff is going to dominate every aspect of the ride.

I am curious if Dusty has heard more details about the finale though. Because he singled that scene out in particular and claims it will be the "musical grand finale guests want". Well, what we want is something with a ton of AA figures much like Splash. SplashArchive contradicted this by saying the finale would be an empty disappointment, and used his renders as proof of this. And while I don't have verification that this isn't true, I still have a gut feeling that his renders are still incomplete and there will be more characters than they show (again due to all of the empty "slots" where you would imagine they go).

 

[Disney Analyst]

The interior hasn't even been all THAT much of a secret to people who have paid any attention. We do have three pieces of art showing the interior. As i've said multiple times, I expect once those scenes actually begin following the first drop, it won't have very much to do with the co-op story. That's almost certainly going to be relegated to the queue and parts of the exterior. The art of the interior appears to be a fairly traditional AA-centric musical dark ride, not unlike Splash.

The problem is that they've been over-marketing the co-op storyline and sort of shoved the interior details to the side. So people who haven't paid attention to the details are under the impression that the co-op stuff is going to dominate every aspect of the ride.

It's like people actually expect Tiana to be on the ride with dialogue like:

"Hey friends, or should I saw fellow owners! Welcome to your co-op, you run this show, and I make a profit with you!"

 

[EPCOTCenterLover]

On the WDW thread, there's photos of the salt dome with much more moss on the lower levels. The abundance of green will look very nice in the Critter Country area. Maybe some weeping willows will help transition from New Orleans Square to the exterior of Tiana's Adventure.

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

It's like people to actually expect Tiana to be on the ride with dialogue like

"Hey friends, or should I saw fellow owners! Welcome to your co-op, you run this show, and I make a profit with you!"

I don't know why they did. We have three pieces of interior art. The very first interior scene is this-

That looks like it has nothing to do with a backstory about a food co op. Same goes for the other two interior arts. Tiana is probably searching for the "missing ingredient" throughout the ride, but even that plotline looks like it's going to be somewhat sidelined in favor of showcasing musical animals (perhaps used as a transition detail, something to explain why the ride is moving along to different scenes. And as Dusty and people on this forum have suggested, the missing ingredient probably won't end up be food related at all. Something like music and/or family.

 

[_caleb]

So people who haven't paid attention to the details are under the impression that the co-op stuff is going to dominate every aspect of the ride.

And also people who claim to be paying attention

 

[Rich T]

…Also, can I just say how weird that is? Why would they deliberately be misleading everyone? Seems like a strange route to take.

It’s better to pleasantly surprise or even astonish an audience than to spoil everything or raise expectations too high. It’s not weird, it’s good showmanship (aside from perhaps the way the backstory so far is coming across too dry for many). All I can say is that if I were involved in this project, I would get a huge kick out of observing all the online haters spitting on every intentionally revealed detail (I can imagine designers chuckling, “The mural! Yes! Let ‘em see THAT first!) while keeping the big “wow” moments hidden for as long as possible. And on opening day I would smile at all the haters (who have camped out to be among the first, naturally), wave them on and then stand on the unloaded dock calmly filing my fingernails as the logs return full of ex-haters wiping tears of joy from their eyes and I would nonchalantly say, “Not bad, huh?”

 

[chadwpalm]

Tiana's Bayou Adventure
A J.J. Abrams Production

 

[Californian Elitist]

This is exactly why I and a few others have said that making sweeping and vast judgements about the story with such little information is neither rational, nor fair.

Not sure how true this information is, but the lack of details we have and how quiet Disney has been regarding this project make sense if they’re trying to surprise guests instead of give everything away.

 

[Disgruntled Walt]

It’s better to pleasantly surprise or even astonish an audience than to spoil everything or raise expectations too high. It’s not weird, it’s good showmanship (aside from perhaps the way the backstory so far is coming across too dry for many). All I can say is that if I were involved in this project, I would get a huge kick out of observing all the online haters spitting on every intentionally revealed detail (I can imagine designers chuckling, “The mural! Yes! Let ‘em see THAT first!) while keeping the big “wow” moments hidden for as long as possible. And on opening day I would smile at all the haters (who have camped out to be among the first, naturally), wave them on and then stand on the unloaded dock calmly filing my fingernails as the logs return full of ex-haters wiping tears of joy from their eyes and I would nonchalantly say, “Not bad, huh?”

Sure, it's better to pleasantly surprise people, but I've never seen anything quite like this (if what Dusty has been told is true) in terms of theme park subterfuge. It just strikes me as strange.

I hope I come back with tears of joy. But color me skeptical.

 

[Disney Analyst]

I've always maintained, Disney knows how spectacular and special Splash was, and I expect them to make this just as spectacular.

Will some still prefer the OG version? I absolutely believe they will. But as long as the quality is high, the music soulful and plentiful, I have no doubt this will be an amazing new version of our treasured log flume, that will win many over, and be just as good if not better than the original.

It can't afford to be anything other than that.

 

[Californian Elitist]

Disney is probably keeping more quiet than usual for this project because of the context surrounding it.

 

[Too Many Hats]

On the WDW thread, there's photos of the salt dome with much more moss on the lower levels. The abundance of green will look very nice in the Critter Country area. Maybe some weeping willows will help transition from New Orleans Square to the exterior of Tiana's Adventure.

I’ve been thinking the same thing. Lots of negativity in this thread, but I’m loving the way the facade is coming along at MK. It’s going to look fantastic at Disneyland.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Everything Disney says about TBA is savagely criticized by people (who have various reasons to be savagely critical).

So why on earth would Disney put out the whole shebang at this point? There will still be groups that will savagely attack it... for reasons. Only a few would be mollified.

And there would be a year-long trawling of Disney and TBA through social media over every design decision (and many of those criticisms would be people making stuff up just to be critical... for reasons).

It's genius on the part of Disney to:

​

1. Not say anything bad -- or anything at all -- about the B'rer and SotS connection and why the old theme should give way to the new retheme.​

​

2. Not say much about the actual ride design, giving haters little to say.​

 

[TP2000]

I'm saying it right now, and someone should quote me so it lives on forever...

If that "missing ingredient" we are looking for is not "Love" or "Community" or "Family", then I will buy everyone a cocktail at Carthay Circle Lounge in January, 2025.

 

[TP2000]

So why on earth would Disney put out the whole shebang at this point?

Because it's just a remodeled log ride at a theme park???

Can you imagine if Knott's Berry Farm tried to drag a remodel of an older ride out this long? Leaking vague intel on queue decor that 99.94% of the riders won't notice, talking about the native Buena Park artisan they employed to paint the mural on the side of the building, discussing in hushed tones the old junk they found at Salvation Army on Beach Blvd. to decorate the unload dock with?

I mean, my God, it's just a theme park log ride. If you don't want to tell us what's inside the ride, then don't tell us.

But don't pretend that it's some sort of important state secret that must not be revealed for fear it falls into our enemy's hands and is used against us to attack our American way of life.

This gets back to a comment I made recently in another thread... This current crop of Imagineers take themselves sooooo seriously. Everything they do is very important. It's all so deeply meaningful. They are doing very, very important work.

And yet I'm sitting here thinking "Honey, it's just a log ride at a theme park. Lighten up a bit. You're not Elon Musk."

 

[MisterPenguin]

Can you imagine if Knott's Berry Farm tried to drag a remodel of an older ride out this long?

I'm failing imagining anyone caring about any ride's retheme at Knott's Berry Farms.

 

[TP2000]

I'm failing imagining anyone caring about any ride's retheme at Knott's Berry Farms.

Well, true.

Since I spent the summer in San Diego, I almost used an analogy of the elaborate backstory some inept 24 year old intern could create for the new Shamu show at Sea World.

But instead I went with a retheme at Knott's Berry Farm.

The point remains. It's just a log ride. They are not curating a new exhibit on Cajun culture at the Smithsonian.

It's just a freaking log ride. With singing robots. And the same big drop they've had since 1989, which is really the reason people go on the damn ride to begin with. WDI needs to dial the self-importance back just a bit. It's getting to be too much.

 

[Rich T]

WDI needs to dial the self-importance back just a bit. It's getting to be too much.

In all fairness, I think we need to remember that the public presentation and image of Imagineering is a corporate thing, carefully (and sometimes clumsily) scripted, crafted and edited for mass consumption. How much of that is within the departments’s control… I have no idea.

But I agree, whoever’s responsible for the current pomp needs a reality check. What originally made Imagineering so endearing (there’s a lyric for a TBA musical!) was watching Walt present them on his TV show, and them coming across so wonderfully as camera-shy, modest craftsmen (in ties) who knew dang well not to try to upstage the Boss, even when he got the ride’s name wrong.