Tiana's Bayou Adventure: Disneyland Watch & Discussion

[EagleScout610]

Better over the walls shot of the briar patch -

 

[mickEblu]

Better over the walls shot of the briar patch -
View attachment 813262

Where’s the Bayou?

 

[Disgruntled Walt]

Where’s the Bayou?

They realized poo-colored water wasn't a good look.

 

[mickEblu]

Tiana’s Bayou Business-venture in Bayouless Country

Or how about Tiana’s Bayou Biz-venture? I like that.

 

[Disgruntled Walt]

Tiana’s Bayou Business-venture in Bayouless Country

Or how about Tiana’s Bayou Biz-venture? I like that.

MK's was more like "Tiana's By Poo Adventure."

 

[Too Many Hats]

Agree mostly. For me the frog scenes seem to work better than the Find the band scenes that replaced the old How Do You scenes. But yes, all scenes are massive downgrades from what existed previously and that CGI Tiana is horrendous. I guess they re thinking 3D figures so 3D animation makes more sense. But Why? It's not as if that crappy 3D animation is helping us suspend disbelief to a greater degree. I think it's doing the opposite. Maybe it's just that the animation is awful but I think the rule should be if a character is on a screen in an attraction, it should be in its original animated form. It seems counterintuitive but I think this way it would feel more organic and that the audience would prefer it that way. Actually maybe it’s not counterintuitive. The closer the characters look to the to their original form the easier it is for the audience to suspend disbelief whether they are in the form of a figure or on a screen.

Agreed re: the 3D animation. It’s completely misguided. That moment is barely even necessary from a story perspective; there are so many better ways WDI could’ve communicated to riders that they’ve been turned into frogs. I’m sure countless better ideas were in fact proposed and then rejected due to budget-slashing.

The issue of 2D/3D incongruity… I mean, imagine WDI making that a priority given the state of the rest of the ride haha. But I’d contend it’s a non-issue; Alice in Wonderland is a very different type of ride, but it (IMO) successfully features both a 2D animated and 3D physical representation of its title character. It just doesn’t really matter that much. There’s no excuse for that screen in Tiana’s.

I actually think the critter band scenes are better than the frog/pre-lift hill scenes. Don’t get me wrong, the characters are 100% downgrades from the Marc Davis designs, the staging is terrible, etc etc. But every time I watch a POV, my brain simply cannot accept that the critter band stuff is anything other than filler set-dressing fluff before the actual story begins. The problem is… the story never actually begins. That realization sets in right around the time we encounter crazy-eyed CGI Tiana. And then the long lift hill of nothing.

 

[Too Many Hats]

Ideally this segment is eliminated entirely from the Disneyland version, as it's the worst part of the ride. Very Disney Jr. Esque.

I pray WDI excludes it from our version. The ride is beyond saving, but there are things they could do to make it less of a trainwreck.

 

[Too Many Hats]

I dare you to find something as charming as these guys on TBA.

View attachment 813241

There will actually be a scene (exclusive to our version) featuring Tiana sitting on Louis while he’s searching “high and low” for tiny musicians. Perhaps WDI was inspired by the staging of this gator and frog on Splash.

But of course it’ll be less charming.

 

[disneyC97]

Better over the walls shot of the briar patch -
View attachment 813262

I still hate the tiara, but overall this is better looking than Broccoli Mountain in Florida.

 

[mickEblu]

I pray WDI excludes it from our version. The ride is beyond saving, but there are things they could do to make it less of a trainwreck.

There are so many little things they could that would make it at least 50% better. Getting rid of Tom Staggs Tiana is a big one as well as getting rid of Mama Odies lift hill screen and just doing something, anything with the lift hill. Turn off the motion sensors or whatever they are and put all audio on a loop. Add some new less juvenile dialogue to mix it up.

The old How Do You Do scenes require a bit more work. Those new figures need to move from center stage and be used as fillers. Invest in some better mid tier AAs and/ or bring back some of the America Sings AA’s.

 

[SuddenStorm]

There are so many little things they could that would make it at least 50% better. Getting rid of Tom Staggs Tiana is a big one as well as getting rid of Mama Odies lift hill screen and just doing something, anything with the lift hill. Turn off the motion sensors or whatever they are and put all audio on a loop. Add some new less juvenile dialogue to mix it up.

The old How Do You Do scenes require a bit more work. Those new figures need to move from center stage and be used as fillers. Invest in some better mid tier AAs and/ or bring back some of the America Sings AA’s.

The whole ride should be sung through like Splash was.

The whole "Tiana wakes up and addresses the log before going asleep until the next one" doesn't work. And it isn't natural or convincing.

This ride should feel like we floated into the musical number in a classic Walt Disney Animation film.

 

[mickEblu]

The whole ride should be sung through like Splash was.

The whole "Tiana wakes up and addresses the log before going asleep until the next one" doesn't work. And it isn't natural or convincing.

This ride should feel like we floated into the musical number in a classic Walt Disney Animation film.

Thats a great point and not anything I've suggested in my Fix TBA posts lol. Wonder why they didn't do that in the first place? God forbid Tiana isn't looking at us ant talking to us like we're watching something on Disney Junior or Louis doesn't tell us how great they can Play 6 times!

 

[Brer Oswald]

Agreed re: the 3D animation. It’s completely misguided. That moment is barely even necessary from a story perspective; there are so many better ways WDI could’ve communicated to riders that they’ve been turned into frogs. I’m sure countless better ideas were in fact proposed and then rejected due to budget-slashing.

The issue of 2D/3D incongruity… I mean, imagine WDI making that a priority given the state of the rest of the ride haha. But I’d contend it’s a non-issue; Alice in Wonderland is a very different type of ride, but it (IMO) successfully features both a 2D animated and 3D physical representation of its title character. It just doesn’t really matter that much. There’s no excuse for that screen in Tiana’s.

I actually think the critter band scenes are better than the frog/pre-lift hill scenes. Don’t get me wrong, the characters are 100% downgrades from the Marc Davis designs, the staging is terrible, etc etc. But every time I watch a POV, my brain simply cannot accept that the critter band stuff is anything other than filler set-dressing fluff before the actual story begins. The problem is… the story never actually begins. That realization sets in right around the time we encounter crazy-eyed CGI Tiana. And then the long lift hill of nothing.

I’ve been on the Florida version of this thrice. Trust me when I say the Laughing Place “replacement” is better than the preceding “bayou” scenes. Granted it is because of the kinetics of the jumping fountains and the lighting which illuminates what remains from the superior attraction. But it’s still a better sequence than the 5 or 6 scenes that precede it.

The lift hill though? That might be the worst part of the attraction.

 

[Too Many Hats]

I still hate the tiara, but overall this is better looking than Broccoli Mountain in Florida.

I actually prefer Broccoli Mountain. Anaheim’s Tiana still looks an awful lot like Splash (to me, at least) and it makes me sad.

 

[Too Many Hats]

The whole ride should be sung through like Splash was.

The whole "Tiana wakes up and addresses the log before going asleep until the next one" doesn't work. And it isn't natural or convincing.

This ride should feel like we floated into the musical number in a classic Walt Disney Animation film.

It’s absolutely wild they landed on this approach. Splash was right there in front of their faces as a template to follow.

As for scenes requiring dialogue, I guess this team of Imagineers is unfamiliar with the Pirates “cocktail party” technique.

 

[Too Many Hats]

There are so many little things they could that would make it at least 50% better. Getting rid of Tom Staggs Tiana is a big one as well as getting rid of Mama Odies lift hill screen and just doing something, anything with the lift hill. Turn off the motion sensors or whatever they are and put all audio on a loop. Add some new less juvenile dialogue to mix it up.

The old How Do You Do scenes require a bit more work. Those new figures need to move from center stage and be used as fillers. Invest in some better mid tier AAs and/ or bring back some of the America Sings AA’s.

I don’t even know where to start in terms of “fixing TBA,” but scrapping the Tiana/Louis and Mama Odie screens would be a fantastic start. They actively hurt the ride.

If they put the current audio on a loop and ditch the motion sensors, won’t it look like every Tiana AA is talking to nobody before we get to her? WDI shot themselves in the foot with that approach; it’s not clear to me how they can easily fix it (since it’s not just asinine, it actually is not functional).

 

[Too Many Hats]

I’ve been on the Florida version of this thrice. Trust me when I say the Laughing Place “replacement” is better than the preceding “bayou” scenes. Granted it is because of the kinetics of the jumping fountains and the lighting which illuminates what remains from the superior attraction. But it’s still a better sequence than the 5 or 6 scenes that precede it.

The lift hill though? That might be the worst part of the attraction.

Interesting. POVs make it seem like the bayou critter band scenes at least establish something of a mood. Whereas the mood of the frog scene is “here’s where we ran out of money/ideas.”

I can’t imagine ever riding the MK version, so I’ll take your word for it. We shall see how the sequences compare on Disneyland’s version.

 

[EagleScout610]

I don’t even know where to start in terms of “fixing TBA,” but scrapping the Tiana/Louis and Mama Odie screens would be a fantastic start. They actively hurt the ride.

If they put the current audio on a loop and ditch the motion sensors, won’t it look like every Tiana AA is talking to nobody before we get to her? WDI shot themselves in the foot with that approach; it’s not clear to me how they can easily fix it (since it’s not just asinine, it actually is not functional).

Splash did the looping audio in Disneyland perfectly decades earlier. It worked because, as mentioned, logs fly through the scenes so the more bite sized audio works, vs. Magic Kingdom's where logs slowed down for show scenes where they could do more full dialogue lines.

Example -



Which is where the concern of them trying to cram the scenes in WDW into DL's layout come from since it's more small and compact.

 

[mickEblu]

I don’t even know where to start in terms of “fixing TBA,” but scrapping the Tiana/Louis and Mama Odie screens would be a fantastic start. They actively hurt the ride.

If they put the current audio on a loop and ditch the motion sensors, won’t it look like every Tiana AA is talking to nobody before we get to her? WDI shot themselves in the foot with that approach; it’s not clear to me how they can easily fix it (since it’s not just asinine, it actually is not functional).

Lol good point. It wouldn’t work for any solo AAs. Those could stay programmed to talk to us with hopefully better dialogue. But would work for any AA in the vicinity of other figures which I believe are most of them?

 

[Brer Oswald]

Interesting. POVs make it seem like the bayou critter band scenes at least establish something of a mood. Whereas the mood of the frog scene is “here’s where we ran out of money/ideas.”

I can’t imagine ever riding the MK version, so I’ll take your word for it. We shall see how the sequences compare on Disneyland’s version.

The bayou critter bands are pitch black darkness with “pockets” of lighting placed on the characters. The problem is that the characters are not staged nearly as well as the characters in Splash were. The dark ride portion opens with…nothing, whereas previously it introduced you to the world of the critters with the singing geese and fish. The first Louis is positioned too closely to the flume. The first critter band is placed too close to the flume (and the over head bridge for that matter) compared to Brer Fox and Brer Bear, making the scene hard to focus on.

The spot where “Time to be turning around” was is now just a void of darkness. And then finally, the long stretch to the sitting Tiana is just awkward. The placement of Louis butt has you focus on him instead of the Mama Odie “portal”. By the time you are ready to focus on Odie, you’re right under the screen, and you’ve probably missed the audio cue where she talks about shrinking you (due to Louis drowning her out) leading to further confusion if you don’t already know the ride’s “plot”.

Just really poor staging all around that did not take into account the pre-existing layout of the showbuilding.