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

bmr1591

bmr1591

Well-Known Member
Drew the Disney Dude said:
Take this with a grain of salt ;)

But a fall opening for WDW, as disappointing as that would be, could be confirmed on Tuesday at Mardi Gras.

I want to be wrong on this one, but I figured just in case it does happen, it's worth mentioning here.

Hypothetically speaking, if this does happen, that means we probably wouldn't get the opening date until the Essence Festival in July, which is from July 4-7, and also happens to be almost exactly 3 months before October 1.

That would be a 86-89 day booking window between July 4-7 to October 1.

For comparison:

TRON opening on April 4 was announced on January 10, an 84-day window.

Runaway Railway opening on March 4 was announced on December 3, a 92-day window.

The fact that this window would line up with previous openings makes me think it is possible, and that the name of Tiana's Bayou Adventure and the original "late 2024" opening timeframe were announced at Essence in July 2022 could very well mean they will do a similar announcement this year, but for the opening date.

The last thing I ever want to do is share incorrect information, yet after thinking about this all day, I unfortunately could see this become a reality due to everything I listed above.

Thankfully we don't have to wait much longer to find out officially.
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I can’t see them removing the “late” in “late 2024” to then keep it late 2024.
 
ToTBellHop

ToTBellHop

Well-Known Member
MerlinTheGoat said:
Dome of salt taken, but I will say that there was something conveyed to me back in early January that had the potential to slow down the progress at WDW significantly if approved. I posted about it back then. Allegedly a new project manager out in California was looking to speed up the construction of DL's version by several months. Resources would be pulled from WDW to do so, WDW's construction would slow down significantly as a result. I don't know if this plan was approved, I don't think it was when the source told me. But if they do announce a fall opening date for Tiana soon, then i'd assume it probably was.

I said it back in this post-

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

Animated figure and AA installation is underway. Summer 2024 looks increasingly likely for us.
forums.wdwmagic.com forums.wdwmagic.com

Hopefully it fell through, but it wouldn't surprise me. The alleged late May opening date WOULD surprise me.
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They certainly aren’t behaving as though the project is being forced to slow down. It would make no sense given that DL will miss California summer regardless. Why not try to get the earlier copy open when it’s still hot in Florida?

Everything I’ve been told suggests it isn’t being completed with fall in mind. So if that ends up being the opening timeframe, it will have been a (foolish) marketing decision. Though not the first time that’s happened…
 
J

jpinkc

Well-Known Member
ToTBellHop said:
They certainly aren’t behaving as though the project is being forced to slow down. It would make no sense given that DL will miss California summer regardless. Why not try to get the earlier copy open when it’s still hot in Florida?

Everything I’ve been told suggests it isn’t being completed with fall in mind. So if that ends up being the opening timeframe, it will have been a (foolish) marketing decision. Though not the first time that’s happened…
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Well if they arent even installing even HALF of the animatronics Splash had, and the track might be getting shortened I read elsewhere a while back. That might explain the slow build.
 
J

jpinkc

Well-Known Member
the_rich said:
The people who do have some insider knowledge have said it isn't true.
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I dont believe Tony Baxter, said much if anything positive about Tiana's, now maybe I am misremembering but if the guy who built Splash doesnt see it working thats not a good sign.
 
MerlinTheGoat

MerlinTheGoat

Well-Known Member
ToTBellHop said:
They certainly aren’t behaving as though the project is being forced to slow down. It would make no sense given that DL will miss California summer regardless. Why not try to get the earlier copy open when it’s still hot in Florida?

Everything I’ve been told suggests it isn’t being completed with fall in mind. So if that ends up being the opening timeframe, it will have been a (foolish) marketing decision. Though not the first time that’s happened…
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It depends, because the inside may not be as far along as the outside appears to be. Even though they're seemingly now installing the AA's as you said prior. There's also lighting adjustments and tech installation for effects, which will require a lot of careful attention and tweaking. If the people responsible for these things are present on the other coast and aren't available at WDW, then the construction progress could conceivably stall out at like 95% and stay that way for some time. We'll see though.

They definitely should do everything in their power to get it open for summer, earlier the better.

jpinkc said:
I dont know what to believe out of Disney anymore. If its saves money enough they will build it that way. I have very low expectations for Tiana. The last thing I saw said 20 animatronics and Splash had 70? I think. I do think the outside visuals arent as good as Splash was.
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jpinkc said:
Well if they arent even installing even HALF of the animatronics Splash had, and the track might be getting shortened I read elsewhere a while back. That might explain the slow build.
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I don't know who you've been listening to, but none of that track and AA stuff is true. I don't know exactly how many AA's the ride will have in total, but it's going to be far more than 20. Whether it ends up having more or less than Splash, it should at least be fairly close from what I was told. And also what other trustworthy sources have said on this forum.

Someone I personally trust got to see some finalized mockups of the finale and said it had "at least as many AA's as Splash". There have been rumors about this scene being very sparse by comparison to Splash, but it's seemingly based on early leaked test renders that were clearly not complete. So i'm erring on not trusting them compared to more recent info i've heard. We'll see. I'm not particularly concerned about the AA population anymore at the moment.

jpinkc said:
I dont believe Tony Baxter, said much if anything positive about Tiana's, now maybe I am misremembering but if the guy who built Splash doesnt see it working thats not a good sign.
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He was brought in early on to consult and then left. He hasn't made any attempt to hide that he's angry that they destroyed Splash (as he should be), but the gripes he mentioned on a podcast didn't mention anything related to a lack of AA's or a shortened track. He's angry that they tore down his ride (rightfully) and is annoyed at the overblown outrage that led to it. One specific concern he has for the ride is that he doesn't think the story progression will work as a retrofit for this kind of ride, particularly the lack of buildup and justification for the big drop. All valid concerns of his, but not stuff related to what you mentioned about it.
 
J

jpinkc

Well-Known Member
MerlinTheGoat said:
It depends, because the inside may not be as far along as the outside appears to be. Even though they're seemingly now installing the AA's as you said prior. There's also lighting adjustments and tech installation for effects, which will require a lot of careful attention and tweaking. If the people responsible for these things are present on the other coast and aren't available at WDW, then the construction progress could conceivably stall out at like 95% and stay that way for some time. We'll see though.

They definitely should do everything in their power to get it open for summer, earlier the better.



I don't know who you've been listening to, but none of that track and AA stuff is true. I don't know exactly how many AA's the ride will have in total, but it's going to be far more than 20. Whether it ends up having more or less than Splash, it should at least be fairly close from what I was told. And also what other trustworthy sources have said on this forum.


He was brought in early on to consult and then left. He hasn't made any attempt to hide that he's angry that they destroyed Splash (as he should be), but the gripes he mentioned on a podcast didn't mention anything related to a lack of AA's or a shortened track. He's angry that they tore down his ride (rightfully) and is annoyed at the overblown outrage that led to it. One specific concern he has for the ride is that he doesn't think the story progression will work as a retrofit for this kind of ride, particularly the lack of buildup and justification for the big drop. All valid concerns of his, but not stuff related to what you mentioned about it.
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I havent followed the Disney news like I used to after our 2021 Thanksgiving disaster. They really have almost killed my Pixie Dust, and I used to throw it out everywhere. I only saw some of Mr Baxters comments and they didnt seem very positive, and he has every right to be upset that one of his babies is getting taken out for reasons I dont totally get.
 
MisterPenguin

MisterPenguin

President of Animal Kingdom
Premium Member
J

jpinkc

Well-Known Member
MisterPenguin said:
Oh.. are you saying that your source for "the track might be getting shortened" was from Disney?
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No source just something I read a while back about what types of changes were expected to be done to Splash Mountain. Was also where they were saying that the animatronics count would be cut way back to save $$$. Has Martin weighed in on any of the Splash stuff?
 
M

MaxDrake79

Member
I'm the last one who knows how things work at wdw being European but I don't think it will open in autumn which would be late 2024. They removed late and started water tests that they wouldn't have done. I think it opens in the summer and not during hurricanes.
 
ToTBellHop

ToTBellHop

Well-Known Member
Given how visible the ride is and how iconic Splash was, I cannot fathom a reality where they accelerate the external work while the internal work stalls. You would just leave scaffolding up to avoid too many questions for your cast.

Internal sets are all installed and AA installation began many weeks ago.
 
Brer Oswald

Brer Oswald

Well-Known Member
ToTBellHop said:
They certainly aren’t behaving as though the project is being forced to slow down. It would make no sense given that DL will miss California summer regardless. Why not try to get the earlier copy open when it’s still hot in Florida?

Everything I’ve been told suggests it isn’t being completed with fall in mind. So if that ends up being the opening timeframe, it will have been a (foolish) marketing decision. Though not the first time that’s happened…
Click to expand...
Based on everything we’ve seen/heard, they seem to be in “finishing touches” mode at WDW. Unless they just suddenly stop all work for 4 months, I don’t see how this doesn’t make summer.
 

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