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News Tiana's Bayou Adventure - latest details and construction progress

H

harrisonm

Active Member
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WaluigiTime

WaluigiTime

Member
MerlinTheGoat said:
I'm surprised he made those comments in public on camera. As carefully as he words things there to not appear too negative, there's a clear admittance there that facial projected AA's are regarded as a mistake by the company, both show wise and also maintenance wise. I'd imagine the maintenance costs were a particularly strong factor in admitting this mistake, at least on the executive and accounting side.

A lot of the maintenance related issues mentioned didn't come as any surprise to me. I'd imagine being inside of a moving figure will cause more issues than if they were static as well (motion is likely to gradually cause misalignment and loss of focus, among other things). Fixing broken projector hardware is also a lot easier when said hardware isn't some weird semi proprietary tech that also happens to be embedded inside of a complicated robotic figure. So given what was said, I find it entirely plausible that these sorts of faces may be just as expensive to maintain if not moreso than a fully physical one. One thing I forgot to consider was the comment about deterioration of the paint used for the projection surface. When you expose paint to an intense lamp only inches away, that's going to cause rapid decay.

If these figures are as difficult and expensive to maintain as was said in the video, then that's probably more motivatation for Disney to switch back to physical than anything else (like guest satisfaction). I do get the feeling that Disney has been gradually moving away from face projection over the past few years. Hopefully that trend remains. As I said, I was told quite a while back that Tiana would not use face projection.
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I hope that at some point they replace the faces over at EPCOT and I wonder if it would be cheaper long term after the projectors start reaching the end of their lifespan.
 
Disstevefan1

Disstevefan1

Well-Known Member
WaluigiTime said:
I hope that at some point they replace the faces over at EPCOT and I wonder if it would be cheaper long term after the projectors start reaching the end of their lifespan.
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If the maintenance of the faces in WDW become too much of a burden, I bet they simply swap in static heads, remember this is WDW. Iger does not care about WDW.
 
EPCOT-O.G.

EPCOT-O.G.

Well-Known Member
MerlinTheGoat said:
I'm surprised he made those comments in public on camera. As carefully as he words things there to not appear too negative, there's a clear admittance there that facial projected AA's are regarded as a mistake by the company, both show wise and also maintenance wise. I'd imagine the maintenance costs were a particularly strong factor in admitting this mistake, at least on the executive and accounting side.

A lot of the maintenance related issues mentioned didn't come as any surprise to me. I'd imagine being inside of a moving figure will cause more issues than if they were static as well (motion is likely to gradually cause misalignment and loss of focus, among other things). Fixing broken projector hardware is also a lot easier when said hardware isn't some weird semi proprietary tech that also happens to be embedded inside of a complicated robotic figure. So given what was said, I find it entirely plausible that these sorts of faces may be just as expensive to maintain if not moreso than a fully physical one. One thing I forgot to consider was the comment about deterioration of the paint used for the projection surface. When you expose paint to an intense lamp only inches away, that's going to cause rapid decay.

If these figures are as difficult and expensive to maintain as was said in the video, then that's probably more motivatation for Disney to switch back to physical than anything else (like guest satisfaction). I do get the feeling that Disney has been gradually moving away from face projection over the past few years. Hopefully that trend remains. As I said, I was told quite a while back that Tiana would not use face projection.
Click to expand...
This is a positive sign, but I feel I also recall a video where Carter was bragging about projection mapping technology improvements and specifically their use in AA?

And Runaway Railway makes extensive use of them
 
TheMaxRebo

TheMaxRebo

Well-Known Member
EPCOT-O.G. said:
This is a positive sign, but I feel I also recall a video where Carter was bragging about projection mapping technology improvements and specifically their use in AA?

And Runaway Railway makes extensive use of them
Click to expand...

Given the simplicity of this face shapes I think it works a lot better there than for Frozen Ever After.

Not saying it is the best ever but I would definitely have the priority to update them be Frozen
 
MerlinTheGoat

MerlinTheGoat

Well-Known Member
MaxDrake79 said:
At this rate will it really be ready before summer 2024 or in June at the latest? Considering that the attraction actually already exists inside?
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Even the most aspirational timelines I've heard were still seemingly within Q3 2024. I doubt June was ever on the table. There was a push earlier this year at WDI to expedite construction and get Tiana open earlier. The most aggressive of whom wanted to shave off 5-6 months. I think "late 2024" probably meant December, MAYBE the latter parts of November. If the most aggressive abbreviated construction were approved, I'd still say around July at the absolute earliest. But i'd be surprised if the higher ups would approve such an extreme timeline. A lot of this push also seemed to be contingent on them convincing the higher ups to approve other projects as well. And based on D23, it appears that these projects were rejected. So I don't know what sort of revised timeline for Tiana (if any) was agreed upon in the end.

It's looking plausible that it'll open sooner than was expected at least. They seem to be moving at a brisk pace and also took the word "late" out of the 2024 schedule. But I still think June-July is probably way too much of a stretch. Even August seems iffy. MAYBE September. But then again, I haven't heard anything for months and someone else might have heard otherwise.

The track layout isn't being altered inside or out, but all of the sets are being gutted and replaced. And this includes major new infrastructure and electrical work. I know they've got a bunch of figures, props and setpieces already constructed (and purchased the foliage), but I don't have any clue if anything has actually been installed yet.
 
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MerlinTheGoat

MerlinTheGoat

Well-Known Member
EPCOT-O.G. said:
This is a positive sign, but I feel I also recall a video where Carter was bragging about projection mapping technology improvements and specifically their use in AA?

And Runaway Railway makes extensive use of them
Click to expand...
MMRR was first announced and began construction in mid 2017, nearly 6 and a half years ago now. A long time has passed and things have changed. I don't even think guest complaints were what really moved the needle either. But if the projections don't even save money and potentially cost more to operate and maintain in the long run, then that's something the accountants (Charita Carter being one of them) will notice.

The Tiana ride went through major changes as well. From what I gather, face projection was on the table early in development. But sentiments on the tech seem to have changed and the budget was increased. I was explicitly told that they would be using physical faces for the finalized plan, the source having seen some of the new figures and their specs.

I wonder if even Carter's team realized at some point that projected faces were a bad idea at least for this particular attraction. Aside from the ugly jawline seam, the tech is notorious for making already light complexion characters look unnaturally chalky white. It's going to look 10x more horrid if you try to use it on darker complexions.
 
Disney1923-2023

Disney1923-2023

Active Member
In the Parks
No
Is this another case of reversed forced perspective like on American Adventure, trying to make the thing smaller than it is? It almost seems like that's the direction they're trying to go
 

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