Tiana's Bayou Adventure: Disneyland Watch & Discussion

[SuddenStorm]

Not enough time? Don’t open it til the start of the 70th anniversary next summer. That’s plenty of time to re-record some dialogue, fix some staging, add some more AAs (they should have a few they removed out back) add some projections/ suspense to the lifthill and play the song everyone wants to hear. Might not be perfect but would be light years better than what they opened at MK and would be better than disappointing everyone all over again. If they open this up in November that’ll be 6 months where they did nothing except work on giving us the exact same garbage from MK.

That's literally part of why Splash Mountain's original opening was delayed to '89- to fix issues with the logs and to fix issues with the story and staging.

But that was a time when WDI took pride in their work and wanted things to be perfect.

A delay is temporary. Opening a crappy attraction is permanent.

 

[chadwpalm]

I know some people don't like Fresh Baked here. But he brought up a good point. Space Mountain and the Railroad closing might be a sign for the opening of Tiana's Bayou Adventure (and also Haunted Mansion). There is no way that Disney would be content with closing four attractions for a long period of time.

Space Mountain is going down for a seasonal refurb (https://www.ocregister.com/2024/07/05/disneyland-to-close-space-mountain-during-busy-summer-season/) to fix lighting and flooring. Though I haven't watched today's State of Disneyland video yet, Dave said in the last construction video that the train going down was due to a multi-year refurb where they were going to close it down periodically to replace the track in sections. I don't think either of these things has anything to do with Tiana.

As @mickEblu stated, Disney seems to be pushing to get all the refurbs done before the 70th next year. IIRC, a lot of attractions were down the year leading up to the 60th celebration to do a ton of upgrades.

And if the guy on X is to be believed, Disney is trying to get all the refurbs in DL proper completed so they can start pushing focus on park expansion with DLF.

This could suggest Tiana's might be ready by September if Haunted Mansion is indeed opening in time for the Halloween season in late August.

Have you seen where things are at in TBA construction? I'd be hard pressed to believe it will be open by September. The entirety of Critter Country is torn apart right now. I've seen some speculation that Disney is not just re-working CC for Tiana, but also configuring it to be the main thoroughfare between DL proper and DLF so they they don't have to close it down again when DLF is ready on the other side of Disneyland Dr.

Regarding Haunted Mansion, many believe it will be open by the end of this month. Someone just posted a pic in the HM thread of the headstones being back in the queue space. The area between the entry gate and the mansion should be finished soon and allow for the virtual queue to start going while the rest of the queue is being worked on.

 

[mickEblu]

That's literally part of why Splash Mountain's original opening was delayed to '89- to fix issues with the logs and to fix issues with the story and staging.

But that was a time when WDI took pride in their work and wanted things to be perfect.

A delay is temporary. Opening a crappy attraction is permanent.

Right. It’s as if they don’t have enough capacity to deal with it being down. This isn’t AK or DHS.

 

[TP2000]

Or they could just be taking advantage of there being a set time period and fashion that they can use. I don’t really understand the drastic negativity this in thread specifically.

This ride takes place a year or so after the movie. It's 1927. But they aged Tiana up by more than that, and de-glammed her into a jodhpur wearing swamp adventurer. Why?

You can't tell me a 6 year old girl would rather be whatever this lady is supposed to be...

Rather than the pretty Princess from the movie...

 

[Jedi14]

This ride takes place a year or so after the movie. It's 1927. But they aged Tiana up by more than that, and de-glammed her into a jodhpur wearing swamp adventurer. Why?

You can't tell me a 6 year old girl would rather be whatever this lady is supposed to be...

Rather than the pretty Princess from the movie...

It’s just different clothes and her hair being down. She still meets in her ballgown and in the castle show wears a flapper outfit with another hairstyle in the same park. It makes sense she wouldn’t wear a dress in the swamp and there’s another outfit for the finale.

 

[Epcot81Fan]

This ride takes place a year or so after the movie. It's 1927. But they aged Tiana up by more than that, and de-glammed her into a jodhpur wearing swamp adventurer. Why?

You can't tell me a 6 year old girl would rather be whatever this lady is supposed to be...

Rather than the pretty Princess from the movie...

The second picture is “on model” to the animated movie - Tiana is a thin, beautiful, slender faced young woman. Why they decided to make the animatronic in the ride look nothing like that is baffling

I have no idea who that person in the first picture is supposed to be.

Beyond the costume and hair, the ride model’s face is much wider, older, and I wouldn’t even have guessed that it was Tiana if shown to me out of context.

And the fact that Charlotte and Naveen look exactly like they are in the movie as if no time has passed makes it even more puzzling,

Talk about “problematic” - it’s as if they said, “Eh, it’s close enough for our first black princess. She’s black, they’ll figure it out.”

 

[Epcot81Fan]

This ride takes place a year or so after the movie. It's 1927. But they aged Tiana up by more than that, and de-glammed her into a jodhpur wearing swamp adventurer. Why?

You can't tell me a 6 year old girl would rather be whatever this lady is supposed to be...

Rather than the pretty Princess from the movie...

Or put another way:

The second picture is the profile image on Tinder, while the first picture is who shows up at the bar.

 

[Rich T]

Or they could just be taking advantage of there being a set time period and fashion that they can use. I don’t really understand the drastic negativity this in thread specifically.

Well, I have negative thoughts about TBA because I’ve ridden the MK version, and-though there are elements I like— The “story” is, IMO, so bland, stupid and uninspired that it really makes me wonder what the heck happened to this project.

 

[Rich T]

A Few More Thoughts About TBA at MK:

Here are a couple of points I left out of my review last week:

Good:

1. This is great: If you stand in the runoff area, you can hear songbirds tweeting. It sounds very calming and natural. It’s only if you stay a bit and pay attention that you realize they’re chirping in tune with the music loop, almost like they’re doing their own bass or percussion line. I don’t know if this was originally done for Splash Mtn., but I certainly love it here. I like this more than the actual TBA ride.

2. Amount of splash. Sitting in back, I got the perfect amount of splash on the big drop—right in the face. Fun, refreshing, and I was dry again within five minutes. This is how it should always be!

3. The on-ride photo shop. Its walls are full of vintage-looking tin signs. I love tin signs. If they were purchasable, I’d have spent money. I certainly had no desire to buy any TBA merch.

BAD:

The ride’s preschool-level spot-the-animals “story” remains my biggest complaint, but there’s one other thing:

Charlotte, much-loved in the film for her hilarious non-stop and usually self-absorbed babbling—is completely silent on this ride. What a pity: her AA looks absolutely perfect!

 

[Rich T]

All of this is moot when it’s not in the ride. And if you go “but the movie” I’ll point you to Peter Pan that uses “red man” and “red skins” freely. What are audiences to make of that?

Disney’s hypocrisy isn’t really excusable here. They’re using this property, ride, music, and its fans to be a scapegoat for all of their perceived sins throughout history. You don’t turn your hardcore fans against you. That’s bad business.

I’m just pointing it out as a reason Disney did what they did. I personally think if SotS had not had the TB phrase so prominently featured, there’d have possibly been more of a chance Disney would have tried to salvage/rework SotS into a presentable, context-appended bit of film history and kept Splash Mtn.

I think the offensive phrase was the deal-breaker that killed the entire IP. Maybe I’m wrong.

 

[SuddenStorm]

Have you seen where things are at in TBA construction? I'd be hard pressed to believe it will be open by September. The entirety of Critter Country is torn apart right now. I've seen some speculation that Disney is not just re-working CC for Tiana, but also configuring it to be the main thoroughfare between DL proper and DLF so they they don't have to close it down again when DLF is ready on the other side of Disneyland Dr.

At what point does a park become too big?

I know fans have been speculating about a third gate for 20 years now, but at a certain point Disneyland Park can't keep having new lands built. It works great when it's busy- but if there's a really slow season, having the extra operating costs might weigh negatively on it.

You can't exactly close off entire lands without looking cheap, but you can shorten operating hours of underperforming parks to meet demand.

DCA is slower than Disneyland, and it's operating hours reflect it.

Not to mention maintaining what's left of Disneyland's thematic integrity and charm.

 

[TP2000]

It’s just different clothes and her hair being down. She still meets in her ballgown and in the castle show wears a flapper outfit with another hairstyle in the same park. It makes sense she wouldn’t wear a dress in the swamp and there’s another outfit for the finale.

What the heck is a "castle show"?

Regardless, which outfit do you think a 6 year old girl would want to emulate; the jodhpurs and pantsuit, or the sparkly gown?

 

[TP2000]

New photos from the site we don't say-
View attachment 798506View attachment 798507View attachment 798508View attachment 798509View attachment 798510View attachment 798511View attachment 798512

I had such high hopes for this ride, so I still am trying to find good things to comment on.

I do like how they re-landscaped the exterior of Splash Mountain's skeleton. It looks far more lush and, well, swampy than it did previously. Even at Disneyland, where unlike WDW they didn't have to try and make it mesh with Big Thunder Mountain right next door because Walt didn't buy enough Florida property in 1965, this version of Tiana Mountain looks better all greened up and re-landscaped than Splash Mountain did.

A shame the interior of at least the WDW version is such a massive letdown and embarrassment, but at least the exterior looks better with 2020's fake landscaping compared to 1990's fake landscaping.

 

[Disney Irish]

The Mods specifically said the topic of the previous attraction and its source material was off-limits in both the WDW and DLR threads as it was debated for 4 years straight. No new ground is going to be covered, its just rehashing the same thing over and over and over again from the last 4 years. TBA is opened in WDW and will soon open in DLR, its done its over.

 

[Disney Irish]

What the heck is a "castle show"?

WDW has a castle show where Tiana is featured in her flapper garb.

 

[Brer Oswald]

I had such high hopes for this ride, so I still am trying to find good things to comment on.

I do like how they re-landscaped the exterior of Splash Mountain's skeleton. It looks far more lush and, well, swampy than it did previously. Even at Disneyland, where unlike WDW they didn't have to try and make it mesh with Big Thunder Mountain right next door because Walt didn't buy enough Florida property in 1965, this version of Tiana Mountain looks better all greened up and re-landscaped than Splash Mountain did.

A shame the interior of at least the WDW version is such a massive letdown and embarrassment, but at least the exterior looks better with 2020's fake landscaping compared to 1990's fake landscaping.

This is one of the rare times where I disagree with you completely. Disneyland's Splash was such a marvel to look at. The distinction between then and now is of course the tree, or lack thereof. But the rockwork really shined with the old paint scheme. It was this whimsical haven, a blend of cartoon and realism, that you could only find at Disney. And the grass on it was actually real! Now the foiliage is fake, with little effort to convince us otherwise. And the rockwork has been plastered with blotches of vomit green. A harbinger of things to come perhaps, with all of the young guests they plan to attract?

As for the Florida version...well it was never as beautiful as California's. But the rockwork was at least vibrant. Now it looks like the Jurassic Dung Adventure. If I were to rate the exterior's throughout their history it would have to be:
DL Splash > Tokyo Splash >> WDW Splash >= DL TBA >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> WDW TBA

 

[Brer Oswald]

The Mods specifically said the topic of the previous attraction and its source material was off-limits in both the WDW and DLR threads as it was debated for 4 years straight. No new ground is going to be covered, its just rehashing the same thing over and over and over again from the last 4 years. TBA is opened in WDW and will soon open in DLR, its done its over.

I understand the desire to move away from talking about the old source film, but you are never going to be able to avoid hearing comparisons to the prior attraction. The whole point of this project was to replace it, and the discussion will always be on how it did/didn't live up. You aren't going to be able to avoid us until us 20-something year olds that went on (and loved) the original die out, and by that time, this ride will be rethemed to something else.

 

[Disney Irish]

I understand the desire to move away from talking about the old source film, but you are never going to be able to avoid hearing comparisons to the prior attraction. The whole point of this project was to replace it, and the discussion will always be on how it did/didn't live up. You aren't going to be able to avoid us until us 20-something year olds that went on (and loved) the original die out, and by that time, this ride will be rethemed to something else.

It has nothing to do with what I personally want to avoid or not avoid, which is what I said in my post before it was edited by the Mods. The Mods have already been in the thread and removed a bunch of posts including yours about said topic, my suggestion is to follow what the site Mods have stated otherwise risk being banned from the thread or worse.

 

[MK-fan]

Imagineering truly hasn’t been listening to us. Many of us expressed are disappoint with the Tiana’s foods sign in the ride at WDW:

They’ve installed an even bigger and more garish version at Disneyland:

Now this is just a slap in the face to all the park fans.

 

[Epcot81Fan]

Imagineering truly hasn’t been listening to us. Many of us expressed are disappoint with the Tiana’s foods sign in the ride at WDW:
View attachment 799619
They’ve installed an even bigger and more garish version at Disneyland:
View attachment 799620

Now this is just a slap in the face to all the park fans.

Is there still an idiotic giant tiara in the middle of Critter Country?