Tiana's Bayou Adventure: Disneyland Watch & Discussion

[SSG]

Something has been bugging me about the plotline, as thin and as frictionless as it is, for this ride. It just feels very badly edited. And noticeably disjointed at the end.

And then I realized the finale' scene and its all new song makes no sense to the "adventure" we've just been on. The song is all about us being the "special spice" that Tiana has been looking for all along. Huh? No where in the ride was the word "spice" used, or even alluded to. Tiana was looking for musicians, and she found them all easily and without conflict or drama. They'll even play for free. The concept of a "special spice" being integral to this plot only shows up suddenly in the lyrics of the celebration song in the finale', and thus the finale' is totally disjointed from the rest of the ride's plot.

Listening the to the dialogue spoken by Tiana, Louis and Mama Odie on the ride (the only three speaking roles), and reading the almost aggressive placement of banners overhead along the ride path, we get the following info;

Banner: Tonight Only! - A CELEBRATION OF FAMILY AND FRIENDS OF NEW ORLEANS - At The Proud Home of Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen - Everyone Welcome!
Tiana: Hey, there y'all are! Louis is up ahead. Let's join him and find a band for our celebration!
Banner: TIANA'S FOODS - Employee Owned
Louis: Yoo hoo, calling all musicians! Man, it's hard to find a band in the bayou!
Louis: Look at this y'all, this zydeco band, they sure can play! Hallelujah!
Tiana: They can play, no doubt! We'll ask them to join the band for sure.
Louis: Yeah, this rah-rah band is a triumph!
Tiana: I'm askin' all of them to play at the party, but we've got to keep searching high and low.
Louis: How low can I go?
Mama Odie: Time to think big, and to get tiny!
Louis: Wow, this joint is hoppin'!
Tiana: These tiny musicians you've found really bring the heat!
Mama Odie: Let's get you big again, cause the bigger you are the bigger the splash you'll make at the party!
Mama Odie: Now let's get you to the party! You'll be there in no time!
Banner: WELCOME - To All Who Come To This Happy Place (TP2000 Note: get it? 1955? do you get it?)

Tiana Singing The Finale' Song: It's a joyful celebration, you don't need an invitation. It's joyful, now everyone can see, you're very special spice makes us complete! There's hidden treasure, here in the bayou. Keep yourself open, life can float right by you. It may surprise you, what you can find, down beneath the surface with an open mind. It's a joyful celebration, you don't need an invitation. It's joyful, now everyone can see, your very special spice makes us complete! Sometime it's hard to believe, that the very thing we were looking for was right here all along! Let's not waste any more time, doubting what's inside, everyone can sing this song! [REPEAT]

Huh? You were looking for a special spice all this time? You never mentioned that. And I'm the special spice you were looking for? You already met me 10 minutes ago on the first lift hill, you didn't notice it then? You only said we were looking for musicians to play at your party, there was no talk of recipes or spices or any other missing ingredient. You just needed a band made up of animals to play jazz for your party. Remember?

Something big and rather last-minute must have happened to this ride's plot during the past four years of development. The plot, through spoken dialogue and blatant banners, makes no sense with the big new finale' song and it's message. And I didn't need to take multiple immersion trips to New Orleans to figure that out.

Maybe the Special Spice was the friends we made along the way.

 

[TP2000]

Does Superstar Limo qualify as camp? A friend and I loved it in the "so bad it's good" way.

Most definitely it qualified as camp! I think it registered on the camp meter just from Joan Rivers in the queue. By the time your limo was in that second or third room with Cher, it was a camp factory. When the narration said "Pool Party!" and you dove into the pool, the camp meter was off the charts.

I loved that ride because it was so truly awful. Camp at its best. Almost like a John Waters movie in C Ticket dark ride format.

TP, be sure to list it as ‘Journey Into YOUR Imagination’ as that is the second version that was the worse Attraction ever made.

‘Journey Into Imagination’ is the Original Masterpiece that should have never been removed.
We can’t be confusing the two…they are SO total and complete opposites in every conceivable way imaginable!

Oh my gosh, how could I make such a stupid mistake?! The edit has been made, my dear lady.
Thank you for watching out for me!

 

[TP2000]

Some people have said they believe the plot was changed along the way from looking for an ingredient like a spice and maybe changed it to a band. And since the song was already written and paid for they just kept that in stating that we were the missing ingredient all along and now we have some weird mismatch of what the plot was supposed to be.

Well, something clearly happened to whatever the original plot was supposed to be for this ride. Because it makes very little sense as it is now, and what plot there is has become paper thin.

Here's the Parks Blog describing the ride about 18 months ago...

Tiana wants to give a big thanks to her family and friends and the entire community for all the support they’ve given her by throwing an amazing party during Mardi Gras season. When it turns out there’s been a bit of a mix-up with the party preparations, Tiana invites us to meet her at Tiana’s Foods to help with the missing ingredient for the party.

When we arrive, we see that Tiana spruced up the company’s facilities with vibrant art from local artists. Food for the party is being prepared and beignets are being loaded into crates for the celebration.

All kinds of preparations are underway for the journey into the bayou with Tiana, along with new and familiar friends from the animated film.

Picking up where that story left off, Tiana continues bringing people together with Tiana’s Foods, another treasured meeting place to spend time together and celebrate a diverse community. Tiana is also working with cooperative members to teach gardening and cooking to children of all ages, and inspiring other women to run successful businesses as the brand grows nationwide.

I think that very last paragraph is my absolute favorite from WDI in the 2020's! It's just so insipid and cringey, especially when you consider they are talking about.... a freaking log ride!

New Storyline Details Revealed for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure - Disney Parks Blog

At a young age, Tiana developed a deep passion for cooking, and began to dream of one day owning her own business. Her father, James, taught her that good food brings folks together. One of the most exciting parts of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is that we’re going to see where Tiana’s life has taken her

disneyparksblog.com

 

[CaptinEO]

Well, something clearly happened to whatever the original plot was supposed to be for this ride. Because it makes very little sense as it is now, and what plot there is has become paper thin.

Here's the Parks Blog describing the ride about 18 months ago...

Tiana wants to give a big thanks to her family and friends and the entire community for all the support they’ve given her by throwing an amazing party during Mardi Gras season. When it turns out there’s been a bit of a mix-up with the party preparations, Tiana invites us to meet her at Tiana’s Foods to help with the missing ingredient for the party.

When we arrive, we see that Tiana spruced up the company’s facilities with vibrant art from local artists. Food for the party is being prepared and beignets are being loaded into crates for the celebration.

All kinds of preparations are underway for the journey into the bayou with Tiana, along with new and familiar friends from the animated film.

Picking up where that story left off, Tiana continues bringing people together with Tiana’s Foods, another treasured meeting place to spend time together and celebrate a diverse community. Tiana is also working with cooperative members to teach gardening and cooking to children of all ages, and inspiring other women to run successful businesses as the brand grows nationwide.

I think that very last paragraph is my absolute favorite from WDI in the 2020's! It's just so insipid and cringey, especially when you consider they are talking about.... a freaking log ride!

New Storyline Details Revealed for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure - Disney Parks Blog

At a young age, Tiana developed a deep passion for cooking, and began to dream of one day owning her own business. Her father, James, taught her that good food brings folks together. One of the most exciting parts of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is that we’re going to see where Tiana’s life has taken her

disneyparksblog.com

What's funny is all this talk of employees and a co-op but on the ride and queue we just see Tiana and her mom besides the very end with a few more people. Does she employ anyone?

No AAs or static figures of these employees? Is Tiana's mom her employee?

 

[Too Many Hats]

So do you think they left some of the America Sings AAs in the DL version? It they didn’t, they might be running to storage to dust them off after all those negative YouTube comments.

I wish. The way I see it, the ride is a trainwreck; even if the Marc Davis characters are a little different stylistically, why not just leave some scattered throughout the ride?

 

[WoundedDreamer]

Well, something clearly happened to whatever the original plot was supposed to be for this ride. Because it makes very little sense as it is now, and what plot there is has become paper thin.

Here's the Parks Blog describing the ride about 18 months ago...

Tiana wants to give a big thanks to her family and friends and the entire community for all the support they’ve given her by throwing an amazing party during Mardi Gras season. When it turns out there’s been a bit of a mix-up with the party preparations, Tiana invites us to meet her at Tiana’s Foods to help with the missing ingredient for the party.

When we arrive, we see that Tiana spruced up the company’s facilities with vibrant art from local artists. Food for the party is being prepared and beignets are being loaded into crates for the celebration.

All kinds of preparations are underway for the journey into the bayou with Tiana, along with new and familiar friends from the animated film.

Picking up where that story left off, Tiana continues bringing people together with Tiana’s Foods, another treasured meeting place to spend time together and celebrate a diverse community. Tiana is also working with cooperative members to teach gardening and cooking to children of all ages, and inspiring other women to run successful businesses as the brand grows nationwide.

I think that very last paragraph is my absolute favorite from WDI in the 2020's! It's just so insipid and cringey, especially when you consider they are talking about.... a freaking log ride!

New Storyline Details Revealed for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure - Disney Parks Blog

At a young age, Tiana developed a deep passion for cooking, and began to dream of one day owning her own business. Her father, James, taught her that good food brings folks together. One of the most exciting parts of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is that we’re going to see where Tiana’s life has taken her

disneyparksblog.com

There being a change in the plot does make sense... Which is saying something, because nothing about Tiana's Bayou Adventure makes sense!

Speaking of the things that don't make sense, here's what Tabasco branding looked like the early 1900s (circa 1905):

You can instantly tell this is from an era before computers. It's beautiful hand-drawn artwork. What does "Tiana's Foods Hot Sauce" look like?

I believe those are supposed to be chili peppers, but it's difficult to know for sure. Frankly, they look more like squash to me. Maybe that's the special spice in her sauce! But more importantly, it looks computer generated and completely ridiculous in a period attraction. It's also ugly and generic.

Got to love this attention to detail!

 

[Too Many Hats]

A lot of the issues with this ride are fixable.

I honestly disagree. They’d have to spend a fortune to fix the story issues, fix the music, integrate Facilier (AAs, projections) into the ride, etc. They already blew the budget on needlessly showy AAs; they aren’t gonna fix sh*t.

Did Bruce Vaughn have anything to do with this project? I’d imagine there’s all kinds of internal politics at play but did it have his blessing? If not, would an old white dude like him, Baxter or Rohde ever be considered to come in and make some changes or would the optics on that be bad? Who wants to be the old white guy saying the ride needs to be fixed or playing hero when the TBA team has spent three years talking about how authentic everything is going to be from the weathervane to the hot comb Tiana’s AA hair is going to get. It would have to be handled very delicately.

I think the Tiana team is incompetent, but I also suspect there’s a culture of fear at WDI where people are afraid to say “no” and leadership exists in a self-congratulatory bubble. Within the organization, I don’t think there is the capacity for self-reflection that would even allow for someone like Tony to be brought in.

 

[Too Many Hats]

There being a change in the plot does make sense... Which is saying something, because nothing about Tiana's Bayou Adventure makes sense!

Speaking of the things that don't make sense, here's what Tabasco branding looked like the early 1900s (circa 1905):


View attachment 789916

You can instantly tell this is from an era before computers. It's beautiful hand-drawn artwork. What does "Tiana's Foods Hot Sauce" look like?

View attachment 789918
I believe those are supposed to be chili peppers, but it's difficult to know for sure. Frankly, they look more like squash to me. Maybe that's the special spice in her sauce! But more importantly, it looks computer generated and completely ridiculous in a period attraction. It's also ugly and generic.

Got to love this attention to detail!

Thank you for pointing this out. Similarly, the billboard in the queue with all the 2024 HR flyers is just ridiculous.

Having said that, I sincerely think the queue is one of the most successful aspects of the attraction. LOL.

 

[mickEblu]

I think the Tiana team is incompetent, but I also suspect there’s a culture of fear at WDI where people are afraid to say “no” and leadership exists in a self-congratulatory bubble. Within the organization, I don’t think there is the capacity for self-reflection that would even allow for someone like Tony to be brought in.

This is sad. But you are probably right.

honestly disagree. They’d have to spend a fortune to fix the story issues, fix the music, integrate Facilier (AAs, projections) into the ride, etc. They already blew the budget on needlessly showy AAs; they aren’t gonna fix sh*t.

Really? Re-recording dialogue? Playing “Friends on the Other Side”, adding some scary shadow projections on the lifthill? I think that would solve 3/4 of the issues and I don’t think any of this would cost a lot. I don’t think they’ll do it but they could do this easily if they had competent, willing people.

 

[TP2000]

There being a change in the plot does make sense... Which is saying something, because nothing about Tiana's Bayou Adventure makes sense!

Speaking of the things that don't make sense, here's what Tabasco branding looked like the early 1900s (circa 1905):


View attachment 789916

You can instantly tell this is from an era before computers. It's beautiful hand-drawn artwork. What does "Tiana's Foods Hot Sauce" look like?

View attachment 789918
I believe those are supposed to be chili peppers, but it's difficult to know for sure. Frankly, they look more like squash to me. Maybe that's the special spice in her sauce! But more importantly, it looks computer generated and completely ridiculous in a period attraction. It's also ugly and generic.

Got to love this attention to detail!

More great points! That Tiana's Foods label looks like it was done by a design intern in about two hours, including a Starbucks break. And it doesn't look realistic or genuine.

In a 10 second Google search, I came up with endless examples of actual commercial graphic design for canned goods and foodstuffs circa 1925 they could have used that look far more believable and real and artistic than what WDI came up with. Not a single immersion trip required, and not even a Starbucks run needed.

 

[BagOfGroceries]

I wish. The way I see it, the ride is a trainwreck; even if the Marc Davis characters are a little different stylistically, why not just leave some scattered throughout the ride?

But in reality, I wouldn’t be surprised if the DEI committee, with WDI’s proud blessing, self-righteously burned all the AAs in a Communist China struggle session-type event.

It’s literally been confirmed all the original Mark Davis AAs, and multiple Splash AAs, were sent to the archives.

 

[Ghost93]

Tiana wants to give a big thanks to her family and friends and the entire community for all the support they’ve given her by throwing an amazing party during Mardi Gras season. When it turns out there’s been a bit of a mix-up with the party preparations, Tiana invites us to meet her at Tiana’s Foods to help with the missing ingredient for the party.

New Storyline Details Revealed for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure - Disney Parks Blog

At a young age, Tiana developed a deep passion for cooking, and began to dream of one day owning her own business. Her father, James, taught her that good food brings folks together. One of the most exciting parts of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is that we’re going to see where Tiana’s life has taken her

disneyparksblog.com

So clearly the original version of the ride had something go "wrong" and the journey into the bayou was more about finding missing ingredients rather than collecting animal band members. It's not great, but this would have at least given the ride SOME stakes.

I wonder if it's possible that the Disneyland version of the ride has a slightly different story than the Magic Kingdom one. There were some notable differences between the two versions of Splash Mountain.

 

[DrAlice]

If they just change the dialog, they can salvage the story a bit. As I said earlier, have Mama Odie accidentally shrink us, making Tiana and Louis search for us, creating a little bit of tension. Add some alligators trying to eat us (replace the big-headed Tiana projection with an alligator snapping at us), and you add a little more tension. Then we are miraculously found at the last second and get changed back (insert final drop). None of these changes would convert this to an A+ for story, but they would at least bring us to passing-grade territory.

I don't know how you fix the "look for musicians"/"special spice" inconsistency easily. Also, all the references to Tiana's Foods is so stupid. It has nothing to do with anything in the ride. As someone said earlier, it really does seems like something was changed at the 11th hour.

 

[Rich T]

…If they just change the dialog, they can salvage the story a bit. As I said earlier, have Mama Odie accidentally shrink us, making Tiana and Louis search for us, creating a little bit of tension. Add some alligators trying to eat us (replace the big-headed Tiana projection with an alligator snapping at us), and you add a little more tension. Then we are miraculously found at the last second and get changed back (insert final drop)…

That’s perfect! Just that bit of comic danger would add enough to give the story *some* kind of excitement! And it would certainly make the Mama Odie character more likeable and less annoyingly one-note.

 

[TP2000]

Also, all the references to Tiana's Foods is so stupid. It has nothing to do with anything in the ride. As someone said earlier, it really does seems like something was changed at the 11th hour.

But Doctor, are you not familiar with the new Imagineering art of banner placement?

This is right after the second lift hill. That should clear it all up for you.

 

[Too Many Hats]

View attachment 789961

Ah, yes. People on vacation definitely want to think about break rooms and offices.

 

[Too Many Hats]

Really? Re-recording dialogue? Playing “Friends on the Other Side”, adding some scary shadow projections on the lifthill? I think that would solve 3/4 of the issues and I don’t think any of this would cost a lot. I don’t think they’ll do it but they could do this easily if they had competent, willing people.

I guess my concern is that the staging of every scene in the How Do You Do section is merely Tiana and/or Louis just standing/sitting there, facing riders directly and telling them the “plot.” How do we fix this? A better script would help, but it’d still be telling instead of showing.

 

[Misted Compass]

Ah, yes. People on vacation definitely want to think about break rooms and offices.

To be fair that's a pretty common trope in theme park rides. Current Imagination and MIB are the first two examples that come to mind, and there are probably more.

 

[Too Many Hats]

To be fair that's a pretty common trope in theme park rides. Current Imagination and MIB are the first two examples that come to mind, and there are probably more.

This is interesting. I’d argue MIB (or, say, Gringotts) is a bit different because the office exists in a fantastical universe. The extent to which the office is sterile or run-of-the-mill only highlights the whimsy of the world into which guests have been transported.

I really enjoy the Spider-Man queue (Daily Bugle office) as well, but it doesn’t quite fit the MIB mold. I’d have to think about why it works for me but Tiana doesn’t.

Maybe it’s the laziness? That “break room / main office” sign on Tiana is maybe the laziest thing since Jack-Jack on a stick. It doesn’t transport me to an office, or to anywhere. Its placement (next to a river…?) doesn’t evoke anything. It’s just the word “break room,” which I associate with my soulless finance job and don’t want to read during my day of fun.

Maybe this is the difference: walking through the Daily Bugle, I see and hear crime reports about Doc Oc and know crazy things are about to happen. The mundanity of the office becomes a point of contrast and exacerbates the sense of impending danger. Is there danger afoot on Tiana Mountain? Or is it just a “break room” sign followed by 2 characters repeating “They can play!” for 9 minutes?

Imagination is a trainwreck; let’s not use it as an example of a successful attraction.

 

[mickEblu]

I watched a few more POVS for the first time in almost a week. I actually had only seen Disneys and the one WDW Magic posted here.

Here are my takeaways after seeing about five or 6 different POVs now. Some more than once.

The “Gonna Take You there” (old How Do You Do scenes) just keep getting worse for me. All the bunched up AAs and then just areas of nothing but trees and projections. None of the AAs are singing along. Just rocking back n forth like TLM lobsters. The long gaps between things that grab your attention. The cringey dialogue. The worst stretch has to be between finding the second to last band and the dip drop. Just way too long without anything going on.

The “Dig a Little Deeper” (old LP scenes) have grown on me a bit. For whatever reason I missed Tiana and Louis’s lines asking where we are after the drop. I think I was so disappointed with what I was seeing I just zoned out on the first couple watchesZ Those lines help a lot and are pretty vital in setting up the scene as without them it’s pretty thin. With that said Mama Odie could use some better dialogue before she sends us down. Also like the Afro Cuban Jazz version of Dig a Little Deeper here. The scene feels upbeat and colorful probably helped by those dark scenes of nothingness that preceded them. Anyway it would help a lot if they just added some more frogs AAs, moved up the firefly’s flying behind the bottles to fill in some empty spots and got rid of that screen with the horrid Computer animated Tiana (still can’t figure out why the didn’t go with the hand drawn versions on all the screens). Then right about where the screen is/ was that’s where Facilier’s goons show up, sound track slowly starts to change and Facilier drops a line or two. By the time you get to the lift hill you have all the projected shadows all around tunnel, Facilier’s shadow projected on the right side of the Tunnel across Mama Odies AA with “Friends on the Other Side” playing. Mama Odie saves us and we Splash down.

The finale I think I’m just the most indifferent about. Don’t hate it. Don’t love it. If it was an original attraction and I didn’t know what was there before it would be fine. But it’s not.