Tiana's Bayou Adventure: Disneyland Watch & Discussion

[Roger_the_pianist]

I'm sure Disney thought it was progressive. But when the NAACP is protesting you need to realize.

 

[Dear Prudence]

People always argue that the animated portions of Song of the South are fine, wonderful, masterpiece - and the live action is the problem. But the animated sketches parrallel the live action narrative. I watch the cartoon segments and I see a minstrel show. The ride is a log flume through a minstrel show in my view, but also tries to change *just enough* to not appear as a minstrel, but it's still at the core a blackface entertainment.

"In your view" --- even though countless Black American users on this forum have told you no.

 

[CaptinEO]

The WDW 50th anniversary is both concerning for us and not very concerning. From an anniversary standpoint, it’s not concerning. Disneyland has proven, even in recent years, that they can pull off an anniversary celebration. At the same time, this is all still the same company.

I’d say Avengers Campus and Pixar Pier are better examples as to why we should be concerned.

Disneyland has had great anniversaries. But we are in a new era. And WDI is all moving to Florida too. Not sure what to expect anymore.

 

[Dear Prudence]

Disneyland has had great anniversaries. But we are in a new era. And WDI is all moving to Florida too. Not sure what to expect anymore.

I watched a video recently, and I didn't realize HOW BAD the nickel and dime-ing at WDW had gotten. Woof. Thankfully, we haven't seen that AS MUCH here, but YIKES.

 

[Californian Elitist]

Disneyland has had great anniversaries. But we are in a new era. And WDI is all moving to Florida too. Not sure what to expect anymore.

I keep telling myself that the 60th was only six years ago, soon to get seven this year. They did a good job and it wasn’t that long ago. I’m not expecting anything too Grand for the 70th in three years (yikes), but I have a little bit of hope for the 75th. They haven't completely lost me with the anniversaries just yet.

I don’t think the move to Florida will affect/effect us, but I could be wrong. Shut the entire department down, at this point.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

I think Tiana in Splash at Disneyland really does make sense if done right. It’s adjacent to NOS, allows them to upgrade the AAs, has a really well done soundtrack and would be a positive representation for a previously underrepresented demographic in the park.

However if this is intended to be a flagship attraction turning a new leaf for the company they should be concerned as well. If the WDW 50th or the Galactic Starcruiser is any indication they clearly lack the internal talent and resources to give this attraction the full scale e-ticket treatment it deserves and I’m under no false pretenses that this could blow up in their faces and please no one.

So while I support this project, this is ultimately a high risk project to embark on. And perhaps one that may require even more years to develop if the in-house talent simply doesn’t exist at this time. At this point it may even be more cost effective to rebuild the structure entirely.

I love Song of the South but have no real issue with Disney changing it, it’s a dated IP most guests have probably never seen and whether you agree it’s racist or not it’s surrounded in controversy.

Like you I’m much more concerned that we’ll get a cheaply done retheme that will ultimately be worse than what we have now. I think they chose Tiana because of how much of the ride they can reuse without having to spend any money changing it, my biggest fear is we‘ll end up with a disjointed ride with the brers replaced with some PatF characters and everything else left the same. A Monsters inc/superstar limo style retheme that will just feel cheap.

 

[CaptinEO]

I watched a video recently, and I didn't realize HOW BAD the nickel and dime-ing at WDW had gotten. Woof. Thankfully, we haven't seen that AS MUCH here, but YIKES.

Whats been happening recently? I'm out of the loop.

 

[Dear Prudence]

Whats been happening recently? I'm out of the loop.

The shuttles, the hotel parking, etc. Now all cost money

 

[CaptinEO]

I keep telling myself that the 60th was only six years ago, soon to get seven this year. They did a good job and it wasn’t that long ago. I’m not expecting anything too Grand for the 70th in three years (yikes), but I have a little bit of hope for the 75th. They haven't completely lost me with the anniversaries just yet.

I don’t think the move to Florida will affect/effect us, but I could be wrong. Shut the entire department down, at this point.

It really is amazing how different things were in the park (and the world) for 2015. What a great time that was. I loved it.

Hopefully Florida won't change much.

 

[CaptinEO]

The shuttles, the hotel parking, etc. Now all cost money

Wow the ones that take you from your hotel to the themeparks arent free anymore? What a major loss.

 

[mickEblu]

Wow the ones that take you from your hotel to the themeparks arent free anymore? What a major loss.

I think she’s referring to Magical Express. Not the buses that take you back and forth from the hotels/ theme parks.

 

[Dear Prudence]

^ yep, those ones

 

[Californian Elitist]

The shuttles, the hotel parking, etc. Now all cost money

I just learned about this yesterday, actually. What shocked me most (and still, it wasn’t that shocking) was the hotel parking no longer being included in the price. Nuts.

 

[mickEblu]

^ yep, those ones

Haha still not sure which ones you re referring to. I mentioned both in my post

 

[Brer Panther]

I watch the cartoon segments and I see a minstrel show. The ride is a log flume through a minstrel show in my view

You realize that Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox, and Brer Bear are voiced by actual black actors in the movie, right?

I can see how the characters' voices in the movie (less so in the ride) can come across as stereotypical, but I really don't think the intention was for them to represent blacks. I think they're just supposed to be goofy cartoon animals who happen to be voiced by blacks, like Louis (or, heck, a character like Rafiki or Mushu).

 

[Dear Prudence]

You realize that Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox, and Brer Bear are voiced by actual black actors in the movie, right?

I can see how the characters' voices in the movie (less so in the ride) can come across as stereotypical, but I really don't think the intention was for them to represent blacks. I think they're just supposed to be goofy cartoon animals who happen to be voiced by blacks, like Louis (or, heck, a character like Rafiki or Mushu).

Look, they just had to be told that their ideas on the origin of Brer are wholly and demonstrably false not even 3 pages ago, I am not entirely sure why they think they can quantify what does or does not qualify as minstrelsy.

 

[Californian Elitist]

A minstrel can be performed by black people. Not saying that’s what’s going on here, just clearing up some misinformation.

 

[Dear Prudence]

If you compare the script to what the actual dialog is in the film, you can see that the voice actors adjusted words and syntaxes to be more natural and make more grammatical sense of an actual dialect. Traditional Gullah speakers are often seen in the comments' sections of the Brer Rabbit YouTube videos defending the dialect. Again, I would like to stress that a gap of knowledge about something doesn't mean you fill it with an answer. Someone thinking it's a stereotype because they don't speak a dialect or under how dialects work doesn't make it a stereotype, it means you don't know what you're talking about.

None of this is present in any version of the ride. The accent used in the ride is a broad "country" accent that does not in anyway resemble AAVE.

 

[Roger_the_pianist]

I guess you're right...the ride makes them sound like dumb white people from the country.

 

[Dear Prudence]

I guess you're right...the ride makes them sound like dumb white people from the country.

How in any way, shape, or form is it implied that they are dumb? Unless someone is a classist bigot who doesn't understand how language works, I don't see how anyone could surmise that someone with a country accent or any accent is stupid. Accents exist at one end or the other of a bipolar linguistic continuum. They also are always rooted in something, more often than not another language, such as Scots English