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

[Drew the Disney Dude]

Jumping into the Animatronics conversation:

Josh D'Amaro said "these folks are doing amazing work. They're hard at work on all the figures that we are just packing into this attraction" at Destination D23.

Not only that, but when Disney has said we are getting a "brand-new cast of original Disney characters with distinct names and personalities," these are all going to be Animatronics, too.

"It feels like they may have a bigger role to play in this story … but we’ll just have to wait and see on that one."

We already got confirmation 17 of these new characters will be Animatronics, so if each of them appear at least twice, that's 34 right there. We could easily see 36+ new figures being just the critters themselves, not including Tiana, Naveen, Mama Odie, Louis, Eudora, Charlotte, “Big Daddy,” the King and Queen of Maldonia and Ralphie, and this is all official info, they are telling us without telling us.

I have no idea if any of the Splash figures are being repurposed or the exact number of new ones, but strictly going off official info we have got, all signs point to a ton of new ones, between the critters and main characters. There should be no concern about Animatronics in this ride.

When Ted Robledo has talked about building on what Splash Mountain had, giving us a dozens of animal animatronics would line up with that, and I wouldn't be shocked if part of the PR push is for these guys once their names and personalities are revealed. They know we loved the animals in Splash, and dare I say having 17 new characters in Tiana will be better, especially with current Animatronics technology.

 

[TheEPCOTHistorian]

You beat me to it. Thanks for not letting that miscarriage of statistics stand.

That was the joke lol. See my above post about the comedically inaccurate long winded excuses. Thank you all for indulging my point

 

[SplashJacket]

I do wonder, when was the last ride (Disney or otherwise) that contains an abundance of highly advanced animatronics?

Sinbad’s at Tokyo Disney Sea? So 23 years?

This is exciting for that reason alone.

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

I do wonder, when was the last ride (Disney or otherwise) that contains an abundance of highly advanced animatronics?

Sinbad’s at Tokyo Disney Sea? So 23 years?

This is exciting for that reason alone.

Sinbad was the last one, yeah. And by my count, I believe it had the largest number of proper animatronics of any ride Disney ever built. "Proper" as in not primitive animated props. Small World of course also has a ton of figures, but they're again extremely simplistic. Sinbad's have an amazing range of dynamic fluid motion, even the simplest ones in the ride are really high quality.

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

Yeah, both AAs have faces that are larger/rounder than their animated counterparts. I wonder if that's simply a necessity for the AA mechanics.

I don't think Belle is further off-model than Tiana, although the familiar costume and hairstyle probably helps.

Re: The bolded - I did a quick photoshop of Tiana too, she needed far less modification to match the character from the movie. Mostly just bringing in the cheeks a little:

Real Photo:

Photoshop:

 

[ᗩLᘿᑕ ✨ ᗩζᗩᗰ]

Re: The bolded - I did a quick photoshop of Tiana too, she needed far less modification to match the character from the movie. Mostly just bringing in the cheeks a little:

Real Photo:

View attachment 768463

Photoshop:

View attachment 768462

Can you also do the hair and outfit?

 

[UNCgolf]

Re: The bolded - I did a quick photoshop of Tiana too, she needed far less modification to match the character from the movie. Mostly just bringing in the cheeks a little:

Real Photo:

View attachment 768463

Photoshop:

View attachment 768462

Your photoshop still doesn't look like Tiana from the movie to me.

As I said, though, the costume and especially the hair probably has a significant effect.

Also, I'm not especially concerned. People are still going to know it's Tiana regardless of how accurate it is (which is subjective anyways).

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

If you didn't know that figure was supposed to be Tiana who would you guess it is?

Honest answer- The AA looks a lot more like Tiana. The size and shape of the eyes, pupils, eyebrow thickness, hairline and even the little curl on the hair. The hairstyle is different from the first pic, but she otherwise does look like Tiana to me.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Re: The bolded - I did a quick photoshop of Tiana too, she needed far less modification to match the character from the movie. Mostly just bringing in the cheeks a little:

Real Photo:

View attachment 768463

Photoshop:

View attachment 768462

If I’m honest, the difference just looks like someone who got engaged and comfortable with her new fiancé and that involved a lot of dates at restaurants and beignets.

Happens to all of us once we find “the one”.

 

[EagleScout610]

I mentioned this on Twitter today with @Drew the Disney Dude and it might shed some light on why Tiana looks older as an Animatronic.

The Princess and the Frog takes place in November of 1912. In the beginning of the film, there’s a gentleman reading a newspaper with the headline ‘Wilson Elected!’, effectively conveying the setting.

Tiana’s Bayou Adventure takes place in 1927, as stated by Josh D’amaro and WDI.

In the film, Tiana is 19 years old. That means during the time of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, she’s 34. The Average life expectancy of women in the 1920s was 54 years, meaning she is 63% of the way through her life during the attraction.

She’s just old (for the time period).

I hear her retirement party will be an upcharge event with cupcakes

 

[celluloid]

Off modeling is pretty common I guess lately. Who the heck is this?

 

[splah]

i'm interested in the test animation and her stance. she's got an open stance and gesturing rapidly and raising her hands above her head. it seems like she has a sense of urgency. where do we think it'll be in the ride?

 

[ᗩLᘿᑕ ✨ ᗩζᗩᗰ]

i'm interested in the test animation and her stance. she's got an open stance and gesturing rapidly and raising her hands above her head. it seems like she has a sense of urgency. where do we think it'll be in the ride?

I don't know if that's actually indicative of anything. My guess is they just had the figure flail about just to showcase it's range of motion for the teaser video.

 

[celluloid]

That one is likely the first one you see, after the logs depart the loading station.

 

[ᗩLᘿᑕ ✨ ᗩζᗩᗰ]

Who the heck is this?

Aunt Petunia.

 

[Roger_the_pianist]

Why are people body shaming an animatronic

 

[Mike S]

Why are people body shaming an animatronic

Why are you complaining about body shaming something that isn’t even alive.

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

Can you also do the hair and outfit?

A bit of a taller order, so forgive the imperfections, but:

And then with the modifications I made to her face in the ealier post:

 

[Mike S]

A bit of a taller order, so forgive the imperfections, but:
View attachment 768487

And then with the modifications I made to her face in the ealier post:

View attachment 768488

You got skills dude.

 

[ᗩLᘿᑕ ✨ ᗩζᗩᗰ]

A bit of a taller order, so forgive the imperfections, but:

View attachment 768487

And then with the modifications I made to her face in the ealier post:

View attachment 768488

I knew it could be done. So much better! This is the AA figure that 5 years olds will be expecting when visiting her starring attraction. That looks like Tiana. No question.

From a merchandising standpoint, Do you think they'll be selling Tiana's non-princess outfits?