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

Drew the Disney Dude

Drew the Disney Dude

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
Yes
Drew the Disney Dude said:
April 3! Annual Meeting of Shareholders. I'd say the date is almost guaranteed to be announced then.

FWIW, I knew we were getting an announcement today, but not if we were getting summer confirmed or a specific date. As you said, the May 24th date always seemed extremely optimistic, and at the very best, that's when previews will start. CMs who closed Splash have already got their assignments for when they'll be returning.

Looking back at HEA and TRON last year, it would only make sense for them to be at the same time - one big media push with everyone here at once, and as some have mentioned, I'm sure the goal is to have both open capacity wise.


Now, in terms to the date itself, this is 100% speculation, but I keep coming back to July 1.

April 3, the Shareholders Meeting, to July 1, is 89 days, which lines up with the booking window they have done in the past.

July 1 stands out to me for a few reasons: the start of Q4 FY24, it would increase capacity for the 4th of July crowds, and it would allow Disney to promote the opening all week at the Essence Festival in New Orleans.

We already know they used the Essence Festival in 2022 as the biggest promo at the time for this thing, so I could easily see a similar strategy now, except to promote its opening.


In regards to the construction currently, there's a couple VERY good signs for log testing, which lines up with the summer opening confirmed today.

100% of the scaffolding has been removed from the top of the drop to the splashdown area, even at the bottom of the drop itself. There were crews repairing the bottom where the scaffolding was set up, I believe DCBaker posted a photo of this, but now it's done and ready for testing.

At the millhouse, the flowers were purposely installed on the right side and completed first, also clearing the flume for testing. There is still scaffolding up for the left side, BUT, that is behind the wall with the gumbo mural, and can be completed after testing starts, if needed. It's very clear this work was done to clear the flume and that lift hill in the millhouse.

The last big thing is the tarps blocking the view of the finale from the railroad. They recently put up much thicker tarps secured by wood and nails to 100% block the view of the testing, and I'm assuming it's also a soundproofing measure to keep the music muted. I posted a video of it on my Twitter, but these new tarps are extremely secure, and the fact they just got installed says all we need to know in regards to testing and that finale being in "show mode."

I know that's a very long post, but I have been looking forward to today for a long time, so to see summer confirmed, get an incredible video of the Tiana Animatronic, and see work on-site line up with all of it is very exciting.

Now we wait for April 3! :)

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Well, this aged beautifully. It's all about the details.
 
Doberge

Doberge

True Bayou Magic
Premium Member
Poseidon Quest

Poseidon Quest

Well-Known Member
MerlinTheGoat said:
A100 was a progression from the previous humanoid models before it, which were called A1. A1's were the original full sized human animatronics created in the 1960s for the Worlds Fair and Disneyland. Carousel of Progress, Lincoln, Pirates etc.

According to Wayne Jackson, they also had A2 (animals), A3 (the Small World dolls) and A5 (dinosaurs). So there were probably some others in the single digits. I'm not sure if they ever had double digit A models in between A1 and A100, or if they just skipped right to A100.
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Do you recollect where you got this information from? I Googled Jackson but didn't get any animatronic specific results. Are A5 animatronics just for Magic Skyway, or does that designation also apply to UoE or CTX? If there's any published work by him or quotes in Disney published material, I would be interested in reading it.
 
Roger_the_pianist

Roger_the_pianist

Well-Known Member
I knew I would be called out to call it a "rip off" of Okefenokee. The Six Flags version was around way before Splash and Tony Baxter said he was very familiar with the ride.

The footage and images that exist of Okefenokee make it look like a fever dream of Splash Mountain, or maybe the Nara Dreamland version 🙈

My point is that Tiana's Bayou Venture is not generic just because they took a character off of the ride vehicles and haven't replaced it with another figure.
 
SuddenStorm

SuddenStorm

Well-Known Member
Citing this-

1707881048266.png


as an inspiration or influence for Splash Mountain is disingenuous and a byproduct of modern Youtubers running wild with Disney history. It's influence went as far as 'I know that ride existed' and ends there.

Timber Mountain at Knott's, Song of the South, and the America Sings figures were the primary influence for the first pass at Splash Mountain.

And saying that Splash is a 'ripoff' of this is ridiculous.
 
SuddenStorm

SuddenStorm

Well-Known Member
Roger_the_pianist said:
My point is that Tiana's Bayou Venture is not generic just because they took a character off of the ride vehicles and haven't replaced it with another figure.
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The logs were themed specifically to Splash with the Br'er topper. That's gone now, and they have no distinct marker to distinguish them as unique to Tiana's Bayou Adventure. If that's not making something generic, at least in regards to the logs, I'm not sure what is.

They could have done a frog topper or something.
 
D

DisneyFanatic12

Well-Known Member
Lots of posts in this thread, wow! Maybe this has already been answered, but I just started thinking about it again. When I ride the WDW railroad, there is a grey (I remember it being grey at least), elevator sized building off what appears to be the side of Splash Mountain, or sorry, TBA.

Anyways, has this tower/building always been there? If not, does anyone know what it is/might be?

EDIT:
I think I found what it might be…
IMG_4799.jpeg

Obviously, this confirms that this was here before the retheme (if this is indeed the grey structure I remember seeing). Do you think that this is just a the backside of the facade, or is this a stairwell or possibly something else?
 

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