Tiana's Bayou Adventure: Disneyland Watch & Discussion

[Brer Panther]

The general consensus on Song of the South is that, aside from the animated segments, it's a pretty boring film. There's a reason, aside from the racism/problematic elements, that none of the live action stuff is in the ride.

 

[Californian Elitist]

I went to Archive.org and I'm 7 minutes into the movie. I realize I've never seen it and it is awful so far, dreadfully awful and that's besides any racial misgivings.

Definitely finish the movie, though I agree that it’s nowhere near Disney’s best, racial stuff aside. I found it to be very boring.

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

SOTS is more boring than Algebra but the animated bits are fun. I'm particularly fond of the blending of cartoons with film footage and those effects hold up and look pretty remarkable. There's a particular bit at the end where the cartoons are in the real world and seem to interact with the environment that is just flawless.

 

[Homemade Imagineering]

Yeah, when I watched SotS on a bootleg DVD years ago, I was bored out of my mind. Plus, the video quality was god awful, so that probably didn't help.

 

[truecoat]

Definitely finish the movie, though I agree that it’s nowhere near Disney’s best, racial stuff aside. I found it to be very boring.

I'm going to keep watching. I can't believe I never watched it as a child.

 

[truecoat]

Not that we can fully appreciate it since it’s never been properly restored, but the cinematography is world-class. Gregg Toland, the DP for Citizen Kane, photographed Song of the South and his work is stunning. If you find a copy of the film that hasn’t been horribly blown out and oversaturated, it’s beautiful.

The transfer is pretty good at archive.org.

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

These old rides still attract people. It’s pretty much making the same ridiculous argument that Disney executives made about traditional animation after the poor box office performance of The Princess and the Frog.

Indeed -

Execs: "People don't like watching Hand-drawn Animation anymore"

Family at home popping The Little Mermaid into the DVD player for the 6,000th time: "Huh?"

Thought experiment: Would modern guests be impressed with a brand new ride that only comprised the technology, design, theming, pacing, and experience that Splash Mountain provides?

In other words, do people give rides like Splash Mountain (or any of the classics) a pass because of nostalgia that they wouldn't give to a brand new ride?

I love the thoughtful design that went into the classic stuff, but I think attention spans have gotten shorter, entertainment has gotten dumber, and the audience has become, er––less sophisticated over the years.

The notion of "shorter attention spans" devolving guest standards is easily seen through when you consider how many first-time guests rode these attractions last week and fell in love. There's a reason the classics still have so many people lining up 30, 50, 60 years in - it's because they can be enjoyed by guests old, young, repeat, and first-time alike.

 

[mickEblu]

I have some old friends that are scheduled soon to retrain at splash mountain. So that's good news it'll come back for opening.

@SuddenStorm

My son is riding. Whether he’s ready or not. I’ll finally have something to put in this Splash Mountain frame I bought years ago.

It’s probably my best piece of Splash merch. The marquee sign detaches too. Unfortunately it’s the WDW marquee sign even though I bought it at DL. My frame isn’t missing Brer Foxes nose though.

 

[SuddenStorm]

@SuddenStorm

My son is riding. Whether he’s ready or not. I’ll finally have something to put in this Splash Mountain frame I bought years ago.

View attachment 542276

It’s probably my best piece of Splash merch. The marquee sign detaches too. Unfortunately it’s the WDW marquee sign even though I bought it at DL. My frame isn’t missing Brer Foxes nose though.

It's nice to hear Disney's not closing it right away. Though, as far as I'm concerned, it's never gonna close so of course it's reopening with the park.

 

[mickEblu]

It's nice to hear Disney's not closing it right away. Though, as far as I'm concerned, it's never gonna close so of course it's reopening with the park.

I like this approach and I’m kind of doing it myself as well. See my NOS expansion post.

 

[1HAPPYGHOSTHOST]

I like this approach and I’m kind of doing it myself as well. See my NOS expansion post.

I hope it is open for you and you and your son get to ride it but It wouldn't surprise me to see it closed when the parks open. I wouldn't put it past Disney.

 

[mickEblu]

I hope it is open for you and you and your son get to ride it but It wouldn't surprise me to see it closed when the parks open. I wouldn't put it past Disney.

Even before the news today, I believed it was opening with the parks. Now if it will be there after the holidays I don’t know.

And thank you

 

[EagleScout610]

I hope it is open for you and you and your son get to ride it but It wouldn't surprise me to see it closed when the parks open. I wouldn't put it past Disney.

I think it'll open with the park. Think about it, this is Disney. You know they'd milk the chance to sell "Time to be Moving Along" merch

 

[Figments Friend]

It was mentioned a while back...at some point last year, maybe even in this thread.
It had been said and i was told Disneyland's 'Splash Mountain' will open when the Park eventually does.

Premise i was given is DLR has a desire to 'exploit' the marketing potential of encouraging people to 'ride one more time' before the proposed changes.
Also, it was said that there was a desire to let everyone have a chance to experience the Attraction before the possible closing for re-theming.

Either way, i am glad it looks to be happening and Guests can have more time to enjoy 'the Original' at Disneyland Park.





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[Brer Oswald]

It was mentioned a while back...at some point last year, maybe even in this thread.
It had been said and i was told Disneyland's 'Splash Mountain' will open when the Park eventually does.

Premise i was given is DLR has a desire to 'exploit' the marketing potential of encouraging people to 'ride one more time' before the proposed changes.
Also, it was said that there was a desire to let everyone have a chance to experience the Attraction before the possible closing for re-theming.

Either way, i am glad it looks to be happening and Guests can have more time to enjoy 'the Original' at Disneyland Park.





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I’m perhaps a bit disappointed that I only had one chance to ride the original, but better once than never I suppose. It also resulted in a memorable picture that looked like I was about to cry during the drop.

 

[Brer Panther]

Still bums me out that all those America Sings animatronics are likely going to be trashed...

 

[D.Silentu]

It also resulted in a memorable picture that looked like I was about to cry during the drop

Reminds me, once my dad and sister rode together and he braced for the big drop with his knees. Only when he saw the picture did he realize that he had been crushing my sister's finger, as she had an awful expression! Dad reports that other parents in the area were looking at him like he was the biggest jerk for dragging someone on the ride who appeared to be terrified.

Still bums me out that all those America Sings animatronics are likely going to be trashed...

Easy now, we don't know this for certain. There are plenty of critters in Princess and the Frog.

 

[Brer Panther]

Easy now, we don't know this for certain. There are plenty of critters in Princess and the Frog.

Yeah, but the America Sings animatronics don't really have the same art style as the characters in The Princess and the Frog. And if Splash Mountain needing so much maintenance is indeed one of the reasons why this retheme is going on, they'd probably want to trash most of the animatronics so they don't have to keep repairing them.

 

[PiratesMansion]

Yeah, but the America Sings animatronics don't really have the same art style as the characters in The Princess and the Frog. And if Splash Mountain needing so much maintenance is indeed one of the reasons why this retheme is going on, they'd probably want to trash most of the animatronics so they don't have to keep repairing them.

I think the maintenance needs are less due to the animatronics and more due to the fact that water complicates everything and makes it more expensive to maintain. I remember reading in the past that allegedly the Disneyland AAs actually functioned better than the WDW AAs because they were higher quality animatronics (or at least, so alleged a Micechat update from back in the day).

I have yet to be convinced that they can't keep a solid number of the existing AAs when they redo the ride. To me they're similar environments, and it wouldn't at all be a stretch to see many of those America Sings critters in the same space as the PATF characters.

 

[D.Silentu]

Yeah, but the America Sings animatronics don't really have the same art style as the characters in The Princess and the Frog. And if Splash Mountain needing so much maintenance is indeed one of the reasons why this retheme is going on, they'd probably want to trash most of the animatronics so they don't have to keep repairing them.

I agree, it's a given that the animatronics would need new skins. As to your second point, I'm crossing my fingers that part of the pitch for the new ride is that it already has a cast of animatronics which could save costs. I imagine they will try and reuse everything they can.

PiratesMansion:
I have yet to be convinced that they can't keep a solid number of the existing AAs when they redo the ride. To me they're similar environments, and it wouldn't at all be a stretch to see many of those America Sings critters in the same space as the PATF characters.

It has to help that there are already terminals wired for animatronics throughout the ride.