Tiana's Bayou Adventure: Disneyland Watch & Discussion

[BasiltheBatLord]

This continues to be such an embarrassment for WDI. Just a strike out on pretty much every level. And it only cost them their best ride ever.

America Sings figures cosigned to Yesterland is a kicker especially.

 

[Disgruntled Walt]

The faster pace makes it even more ridiculous that they keep saying the critters can play. At least they paused about 20 seconds between making nearly identical statements. Now there's a five second pause!

 

[Homemade Imagineering]

Just got finished riding. Okay so, yes, this was absolutely designed with our version in mind, I don’t think that was ever out of the question. Overall I enjoyed it, the dead space issue with MK has been fixed here. The former HDYD section is miles better here than in MK, and in person the sets & screens behind are layered in nicely. Of course the A-1000s look great (when they function properly) so no complaints there. My biggest gripe is the laughin’ place.

The whole time it felt congested which I suppose is their intention, but compared to what came before it pales in comparison. With that said however, the tunnel effect on the lift worked really well here, I would imagine that has to do with the fact it’s generally a smaller space.

And the finale is a 10/10. Not to mention the queue featured alot of nice elements I was pleasantly surprised to see they fit into our more compact layout.

Is it better than Splash? Probably not, but it’s certainly NOT the worst attraction ever made. It’s like a Fantasy Springs attraction shoehorned into SM, which has its drawbacks but there was still a good amount of quality to it. I’ll miss those America Sings AAs like crazy though. That and the laughin’ place are my biggest gripes.

Overall a solid attraction, I’m looking forward to getting more rides in soon

 

[Brer Oswald]

Where is there dead space that there wasn't on Splash?

I seem to remember that from the drop of the first lift to the first stop there was.. absolutely nothing on Splash. This is a huge improvement.

 

[SuddenStorm]

When Splash was under development, they threw in the America Sings animatronics and the show was a mess. The set design was crowded and sloppy.

Gordon brought in Dave Feiten to fix the show. He restaged animatronics and pulled unnecessary ones. Feiten recently discussed this in a podcast. While never perfect, the set transitions in Anaheim were beautifully done.

I guess my point is- it's okay for the show to breathe. I need to sit down and watch this properly but dead space or lack thereof isn't what determines the quality of an attraction.

 

[SuddenStorm]

I seem to remember that from the drop of the first lift to the first stop there was.. absolutely nothing on Splash. This is a huge improvement.

That was on purpose- to transport the guests to the world of the attraction for a few minutes to make the animatronic show piece segments more believable.

Like how Pirates has the slow build before the drop, then the caverns of skeletons.

 

[Brer Oswald]

When Splash was under development, they threw in the America Sings animatronics and the show was a mess. The set design was crowded and sloppy.

Gordon brought in Dave Feiten to fix the show. He restaged animatronics and pulled unnecessary ones. Feiten recently discussed this in a podcast. While never perfect, the set transitions in Anaheim were beautifully done.

I guess my point is- it's okay for the show to breathe. I need to sit down and watch this properly but dead space or lack thereof isn't what determines the quality of an attraction.

Dead space isn't inherently bad. That being said, I don't know anyone that would unironically prefer the TBA approach of pure darkness compared to the Spalsh approach of detailed critter houses and cartoony props.

 

[SuddenStorm]

Dead space isn't inherently bad. That being said, I don't know anyone that would unironical prefer the TBA approach of pure darkness compared to the Spalsh approach of detailed critter houses and cartoony props.

Yeah, I'll see how I feel in person in a couple weeks but for some reason, Splash's set design seemed more alive than this.

 

[SuddenStorm]

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Is there anything in this new ride that comes close to the charm of that alligator and frog?

 

[EagleScout610]

Is there anything in this new ride that comes close to the charm of that alligator and frog?

The knowledge in our hearts that THESE CATS CAN PLAAAAYYYYYYY

 

[el_super]

Like how Pirates has the slow build before the drop, then the caverns of skeletons.

Oh I see. So it's perfectly acceptable to have periods without animatronics when you are trying to set a scene in say.. a bayou or something. Got it.

 

[el_super]

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So one animatronic? That's it? The inclusion of the new animatronics outside and the screens inside more than make up for it.

 

[Brer Oswald]

So one animatronic? That's it? The inclusion of the new animatronics outside and the screens inside more than make up for it.

Dude...there were 15 animatronics there and they replaced it with darkness and a screen. What animatronics are outside besides the one Tiana in the lift barn?

 

[chadwpalm]

Looks like it broke down about an hour ago and they aren't summoning any more people on the app. Wonder if they are going to call it a day or if it will be back.

Day 1......lasted 2 hours.

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

This actually looks worse than WDW's IMO. The vast reduction in the amount of figures is even more glaring. While I always preferred WDW's version of Splash overall due to the improvements in the quality of environmental scenery, Disneyland at least made up for a lot of that with a larger population of AA's. The reduction in the amount of AA's was already a huge issue with TBA at WDW, and it's an even larger problem at DL because there was so much more to lose. In addition, they did a very poor job at filling out the spaces with foliage that they evicted characters from. The environment scenery is quite a bit more sparse and less detailed than WDW's in these spaces and it's even more dark and empty. As one example, the scene with the four small static frogs right before the dip drop, the WDW variant of this scene at least is tremendously more detailed in terms of foliage and background wall detail. Maybe they wanted to make the frogs more visible and less overwhelmed by the scenery, but the scene is just so empty and bland now...

Also, they somehow managed to make the Tiana's Foods banner atop the second lift even more hideous and awkward...

 

[DavidDL]

...

Also, they somehow managed to make the Tiana's Foods banner atop the second lift even more hideous and awkward...

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This one is especially ridiculous because they literally just had to do absolutely nothing with this area. It's like they were afraid we would forget this was somehow Tiana's attraction after walking through the Tiana's Foods building, hearing "Down in New Orleans" and then passing the literal character herself.

 

[Nland316]

Literally a night and day difference between DL and WDW pacing lol.

 

[EagleScout610]

Now that I've watched a few more POVs, I have some thoughts:

Pros –

• Less dead space than Magic Kingdom’s version. The faster logs also cut down on the time animatronics are stationary before the next log.
• Lighting effects on the big lift hill and dip drop are more visible so they look a little bit better than MK’s.
• Mondo is seen in all his timeless glory. All hail Mondo.

Cons –

• 110 animatronics reduced to 14. There’s no way to sugar coat it, that’s a terrible downgrade.
• The white paint in the queue where they repatched the walls to look like salt just look lazy compared to the rockwork left over from Splash (See photo below)
• Staging is extremely crammed due to the layout of the attraction. While MK’s has much more fleshed out show scenes and larger figures to fill that space, DL’s was very narrow and the figures were much smaller. Tiana’s attempts to cram larger figures where the smaller figures stood.
  • The worst offenders are the Rara Band, which is crammed into the corner where Br’er Rabbit and Turtle were and the Tiana and Louis scene before the dip drop, which is crammed where the giggling Br'er Rabbit was.
  • Also there are points where Louis’ head is partially obstructed by foliage, mainly in the Zydeco band scene.
• Laughin’ Place is still awful. The Cocomelon scene is literally flown past before all the dialogue is heard.
• Finale looks very cramped, and the span of wall formerly taken by Br’er Fox/Bear with the Gator looks way too long in comparison
  • This whole tunnel had to be gutted since it was all briars, so they just left the wall blank.
• The new dialogue from Tiana and Louis right after you see Louis in the garden is pointless. Plus, Tiana’s voice is already singing Almost There. Is there a ghost Tiana we don’t know about?

Grade –
MK – 3/10
DL – 4/10

 

[Brer Oswald]

This actually looks worse than WDW's IMO. The vast reduction in the amount of figures is even more glaring. While I always preferred WDW's version of Splash overall due to the improvements in the quality of environmental scenery, Disneyland at least made up for a lot of that with a larger population of AA's. The reduction in the amount of AA's was already a huge issue with TBA at WDW, and it's an even larger problem at DL because there was so much more to lose. In addition, they did a very poor job at filling out the spaces with foliage that they evicted characters from. The environment scenery is quite a bit more sparse and less detailed than WDW's in these spaces and it's even more dark and empty. As one example, the scene with the four small static frogs right before the dip drop, the WDW variant of this scene at least is tremendously more detailed in terms of foliage and background wall detail. Maybe they wanted to make the frogs more visible and less overwhelmed by the scenery, but the scene is just so empty and bland now...

View attachment 821710

Also, they somehow managed to make the Tiana's Foods banner atop the second lift even more hideous and awkward...

View attachment 821712

And that's why they call you MerlinTheGOAT!

 

[mickEblu]

Just watched it. Somewhere, Tony Baxter is crying. So much charm gone. So much wasted potential. So many seemingly rookie mistakes. Can’t help but feel like he could have helped a lot. If only what Disney told us in that parks blog about him being on the project was true. Seeing the DL version ruined hits me harder than the MK version for obvious reasons

Anyway, not one pleasant surprise. That new tunnel we’ve seen them building this whole time? Literally nothing. Just built to keep the light out of that dark barren bayou I guess. The pace and staging helps but it’s not enough to save this train wreck. Music starts off fine. Wish the instrumental to “Down in New Orleans” would have at least lasted through the barn lifthill but it’s Ok. What’s up with the disembodied voices of Tiana, Louis and Mama Odie before the first drop? Odd and unnecessary. I feel a big loss after the first drop. Painful to go from all the geese singing as soon as you enter the show building to some projected fireflies. Maybe if we didn’t know what used to be there it would be passable but going from what we had to this is criminal. That’s the thing - I feel like the imagineers needed to be a little more aware of these things. There are certain spots like this that are bound to feel depressing, lifeless or off when you consider what it replaced. Replacing the vultures with Mama Odie on a screen is another example.

Overall the old How Do you So scenes feel sad and lifeless in comparison to what preceded them. No magical little touches like the possums and the brilliant sound design/ soundtrack Splash had. Something is just way off. It’s so dark and the spotlight approach on all the scenes was… a choice. There doesn’t seem to be any flow. It just feels kind of sad to me. Not sure how else to put it.

The effect on the Brer Butt drop works pretty well and I don’t mind Mama Odie there as much as at the final lifthill.

The Old Laughin Place scenes are ok. Laughing Place was probably my least favorite part of Splash. The bees buzzing Along to the song was great but from there to Burrows Lament was probably my least favorite part of the ride. Not because it was bad but because it wasn’t as good as the rest of the ride to me. So it’s probably why I think the Frog/ Dig a Little Deeper scenes are Ok. They work better for me than what precedes them but they re nothing to write home about.

The CGI Tiana lives. Absolutely awful.

Another thing that wasn’t very thought through, will the logs always be backing up where those fireflies -and the bottle are? In Splash it was ok because of the ominous tone and music. It was ok to be going slow but now here it’s very strange to have a backup there with the energy of the music and show scenes.

The effects on the final lifthill seems to work better here than the MK version.

Didn’t they remove that damn banner from the finale scene at MK? How did it end up here? The finale seems to work fine even if it’s a far cry from what preceded it. It’s the only scene that’s even on the same stratosphere as Splash.

Why does it feel like Louis should have had a bigger or at least better presence than standing around cheerleading for these generic critters that rock back n forth?

Overall - this retheme is a huge downgrade in every sense of the word. All the possibilities with the IP and they delivered this? Somehow they managed to not meet or surpass almost anybodies expectations. Some like mine - that were very very low. Curious to see if my ride through in a couple weeks changes my opinion at all.