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

[SilentWindODoom]

With Fat Tuesday coming and going while I was super busy, I've rushed to get caught up and... it's been a weird read to see things go from the same snark and hope battle that had been going on for pages to the announcement to hope to a weird existential crisis where people were wondering why we're even here doing this. Not what I expected.

These beignets can't hold a candle to the ones at Cafe Du Monde in real NOLA.

Disney has fallen so far. Can't even make beignets as good as a cafe in New Orleans. I have come in my thirty years of parks fandom to expect the food offerings there to exceed or at least meet the source material.

Now lemme finish this Pizzerizzo pepperoni pie.

Sure was a lot of hoopla for a weather vane you can only see if you squint. I guess it's camouflaged along with the rest of the exterior.

They made a big deal out of this thing and you can barely see it.

It's center as you enter the lift, the roofline drawing you to it, and will likely be even more attention-getting if Br'er Frog doesn't have a replacement.

I’d be fine with them doing this, especially if any expansion beyond thunder mountain was a frontier land reboot of sorts. Plus Im not a fan of peco’s bills so changing that out would be a plus for me

I've honestly never experienced Pecos, but I've never been a fan of Tortuga and I know (at least years ago) they have some overlap coming out of the same kitchen. Would they pause at redoing Pecos because of this?

I wonder if Tortuga were to go away from Mexican fare and lean more into the Islands how many dishes overlap between New Orleans and the Caribbean that could be included.

The size thing is common. A really great example of that is Buzzy from the closed Cranium Command.

He's depicted as this cute tiny little fellow but in the main theater area, the actual animatronic is frighteningly large.

You don't notice it because he's up on a pole being swung above you and if they'd actually made him small, he'd have been hard to see so it's a perspective trick since everything he's around up there is also larger than you think.

There was a picture someone posted to one of these threads that showed a woman on a riser making adjustments to his costume prior to original opening and with his cute smile, he looked ready to eat her whole.

Great Movie Ride and it's super human (not "super-human") AA's really made me realize how weird it is to see correct-scale human characters. They all look so tiny. It's one thing to see a person 10-20' away, but when it's an animatronic it feels like it should be larger.

Then again, I'm tall, so that may be skewing my perception. Going back to in-person meetings after two years of Zoom-only really reminded me how small other people are.

You should see all the silly meltdowns on Twitter. It's simply delicious watching grown adults metaphorically throw themselves into the fire over this re-theme. Sometimes I feel that I'm not 'living' life right because there is nothing I feel that passionate over. More power to them, though!

Having been on this boards, I have no idea what that's like.

Maybe it's just the name? When they tout to CONQUER THE MAGIC KINGDOM MOUNTAINS!!! Now, it just seems a bit off..You have Space, Big Thunder aaaannnnnd.....TIANA'S BAYOU ADVENTURE *EXPLOSIONS And a & heavy metal guitar riff* I dunno it just doesn't seem to fit right?

Maybe they should have still kept the Splash Mountain title but add the semicolon with the additional name...It's not like Expediton Everest: Legend of the Forbidden Mountain has that problem..Heck the title of Splash was all to tie in with the 1984 film and somehow it added the SoTS plot..

Because there are no mountains in the bayou and people would have complained about them putting one there.

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

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Forget about who she is. Why the ever-loving crap is with the Fantasia Nutcracker Suite figures dancing in the puddles on the deck?!

Looks like the Tiana that'll be in the How Do Ya Do scene.
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I think we have our answer when it comes to the weird swinging motions. It looks from art that her right arm is going to be fairly still. I remember seeing other art with a similar pose. It would be doubtful she'd do the same motion as we saw in the video and then plant her hand that way. It was likely just a test of range of motion.

I just hope the secret ingredient ist screens

I didn't know you were German.

I think this movement was popularized by Joe Rohde and a few key other imagineers in the halls of Imagineering. We are now into the second generation wave of imagineers that were trained in this thought. Every thing needs an elaborate story and a reason to be.

The trouble is modern marketing has further jumped on it and details that were maybe there for the really keen to find are now pumped full force into the community. What was a nice level of neuroticism on Joe’s philosophical part is now a marketing encyclopedia.

As it is I don’t think there’s anything terribly wrong with the movement, though it makes things very costly and slow to produce. But we didn’t need the Silmarillion pushed on us while we wait for the Hobbit/lord of the rings, as it were.

I think marketing aside the queue will be somewhat reminiscent of modern Jungle Cruise, some piped in audio, props and some neat little references to what Tiana has been up to since her film. We’ll be loaded onto the logs that normally take the food cargo down stream and that’s pretty much more than 90% of guests will even need to know or actually pay attention to. Some audio will tell us we need to go retrieve the missing ingredient that was lost down stream as the setup for the journey. The outdoor initial parts of the ride will be pass the hobby farm (stuff growing) and cargo props. We’ll be off to the bayou as soon as we enter the primary show building (musical adventure ensues) and leave its borders essentially with the final drop, whatever ‘ingredient’ Tiana needed in tact. We arrive to the celebration at her restaurant in New Orleans.

And much like the Rohde examples... those who care can enjoy and those who don't will just enjoy the ride. I've not understood why people have gotten so in arms about the messaging. I've been saying for some time that I don't think the abundance of the messaging is meant for us, but is meant to appeal to those who complained about the original ride. Grease the squeaky wheel. It's no different from the storylines of other rides, but they talk a lot about it so the people who it will appeal to ooh and ahh and stop with the outrage.

 

[JD80]

I think Alicia Stella claimed that the tunnel following the dip drop (where the spinning beehives were) would have projections of Louis on the walls. But that's only the first part of the Laughing Place and never had many physical characters to begin with. At DL and Tokyo, this tunnel doesn't even have any figures at all, whereas WDW had figures of the main Brer Trio (with Brer Bear being attacked by bees). Those particular figures are located further into the Laughing Place after the final small drop at DL/Tokyo.

I didn't listen to the entire podcast, but Alicia apparently also said there would be a segment of Mama Odie shrinking guests down to tiny critter size, with the dip drop being used as the "effect" for that transformation, and the final lift and drop being what gets us back to normal size. While I must stress that I haven't heard anything actually contradicting this claim (I have no specific information on the Laughing Place at all to say if anything is true or not), the shrinking plotpoint just sounds so random, pointless and out of place to me. So I dunno.

The plotpoint of shrinking is perfectly aligned with the movie where the main character become tiny critters. The call back to the movie doesn't seem out of place to me.

 

[JohnD]

I’m not fussed about the overall amount of AAs but I just want the scenes to make sense.

I envision where they will be sparse throughout the ride like Frozen ever after

Exactly my thought. I know some on this forum will get out their Excel spreadsheets and do comparisons. Whatever. That isn't what matters to me. I'm not going to worry about nickel and diming as to whether Splash or TBA had more AAs but whether the AAs add to the enjoyment of the attraction. As long as they are sufficiently throughout and no glaring holes, it doesn't matter to me the precise sum total.

 

[JohnD]

Some photos from the rainy day yesterdayView attachment 768966View attachment 768970View attachment 768974View attachment 768972View attachment 768973

The rain helped make the top photo look more like the finished product because the front area has yet been artificially filled by water.

 

[FettFan]

The plotpoint of shrinking is perfectly aligned with the movie where the main character become tiny critters. The call back to the movie doesn't seem out of place to me.

It doesn’t make sense as now Mama Odie is just as evil as Dr. Facilier, seeing as how turning people into animals to hide his crimes was the entire catalyst for the movie.

Both Remy and Tough to be a Bug handled the shrinking problem much better, simply by having the queue’s proportions morph as you walk through.

“It’s so subtle that you probably didn’t notice it…but your brain did.” - Harry S. Plinkett

 

[Andrew25]

Why would they block the view of the drop? That's an odd choice.

 

[FettFan]

a bit but how many times do they need to use the word party

Iger and his toadies at TWDC think the guests are all drooling idiots.

And that is how Genie+ came into being.

 

[Surferboy567]

Are they going to do the Pandora bioluminescent effect with the water?

 

[nestface84]

Is there a date when its going to be open. im crossing my fingers that they seem to be doing well so hopefully open by the time i get there in July

 

[Drew the Disney Dude]

Is there a date when its going to be open. im crossing my fingers that they seem to be doing well so hopefully open by the time i get there in July

No date yet, but it should be announced during the shareholders meeting on April 3. If you're coming in July, then there's a very good chance it'll be open by then, but we don't know for sure until Disney confirms it.

 

[celluloid]

The plotpoint of shrinking is perfectly aligned with the movie where the main character become tiny critters. The call back to the movie doesn't seem out of place to me.

There is not much showing consistency with this though. We see Tiana throughout and she is of similar size to us. The finale and intro we know has frogs of sizes and critters of scale(including Louis throughout)
so if shrinking would be there it would seem brief.

We will see some sort of screen effect in the uphill ramp(the one that feels like a coaster like ramp in the dark) post laughing place. The dark tunnel convinced them to do something there.

 

[ChewbaccaYourMum]

in the first photo, trying to zoom in on that mural on the left side wall between the two trees (I think thats what it is anyway. is it the one with food being chopped? ) but it wont enlarge...anyone

Yeah that's the mural with the food being chopped for gumbo I think lol?

Sorry that first photo I was basically holding my iPhone over the scrim to take it on my tiptoes lol it was hard to really focus or zoom in on anything. I just wanted to get a photo of those two frogs on the long and the log flume that was in the water there lol

 

[Brer Oswald]

The plotpoint of shrinking is perfectly aligned with the movie where the main character become tiny critters. The call back to the movie doesn't seem out of place to me.

It's the only part of this that sounds fun to me. When I armchaired a PatF ride on here 6 years ago, the gimmick was shrinking to the size of a frog.

 

[Brer Oswald]

I really don’t think you understood my argument at all. I’m talking about the encyclopedic massaging of everything imagineering does this days. Setting apart does not imply superiority. Sometimes it’s one of their own biggest hurdles. It’s one of the reasons imagineers can’t wrap their heads around Epcot. It doesn’t need justification that some craftsman in the 60’s found this material to build this facade for their fake companies pavilion. Epcot is an ode to worlds fairs, it doesn’t need Rohde to over explain it beyond that.

Nintendo is an example of a style guide and oversight Universal Creative has by a partner. It’s just like Potter. Most of their other product is creatively managed with their studio partners otherwise.

Celestial Park is a perfect example of what I’m getting at. What’s the story, what’s the justification? It doesn’t have one other than to be a very nice central spine with water and space elements woven in. It doesn’t have a good reason to have a nice Chinese restaraunt. Nor do I think it really needs one. Now take Disney Springs, which isn’t even a theme park and there’s some ten page story about why Morimoto’s is where it is on an old bottling factory.

This doesn’t make Imagineering better, but it’s what philosophically they do compared to Uni Creative that still loves to recreate media spaces you are familiar with, by and large.

The convuluted "justifications" are exactly the thing that made Imagineering take a turn for the worse. It started in the late 90s, and then they went overboard. Food Co-ops and "Xandar Pavillions" are silly. Remember when we went down the waterfall to go back in time to Piracy, and then "up the waterfall" to return to the present? I miss simple stuff like that.

 

[_caleb]

Iger and his toadies at TWDC think the guests are all drooling idiots.

And that is how Genie+ came into being.

Some people were complaining the ride was going to be a boring lecture on food co-ops until Disney posted the word fun 5 times on the construction walls so maybe it's working

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

It doesn’t make sense as now Mama Odie is just as evil as Dr. Facilier, seeing as how turning people into animals to hide his crimes was the entire catalyst for the movie.

Both Remy and Tough to be a Bug handled the shrinking problem much better, simply by having the queue’s proportions morph as you walk through.

“It’s so subtle that you probably didn’t notice it…but your brain did.” - Harry S. Plinkett

That's a big assumption. We don't know what Mama Odie's reasons for shrinking us would be.

 

[_caleb]

The convuluted "justifications" are exactly the thing that made Imagineering take a turn for the worse. It started in the late 90s, and then they went overboard. Food Co-ops and "Xandar Pavillions" are silly. Remember when we went down the waterfall to go back in time to Piracy, and then "up the waterfall" to return to the present? I miss simple stuff like that.

Yours is a totally valid opinion, but I really like the behind-the-scenes, "did you know?" factoids, rationales, and backstories. And I don't think I'm alone in this: these are the things that seem to spread far and wide on social media.

I don't see how the waterfall thing in PotC is any different than things like "Tiana's business empire," the Albert Falls backstory for Jungle Cruise, or the unknown storyline for Space Mountain. Imagineers use backstories to create internally consistent attractions, and learning about these can make attractions even more fun for me.

 

[DCBaker]

Photo updates from today.

 

[Homemade Imagineering]

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Add this to the list of random things for this attraction... now there's a display at the Spark Stem Fest at the Orlando Science Center this weekend.

Nothing new here, but an official look at the track layout is neat.

Link to article: https://orlando-parenting.com/a-parents-guide-tianas-bayou-adventure-with-kids/

One more thing that could be worth mentioning. It’s a long stretch but still fun to speculate, as considering there’s no Facilier, they could use some of the wildlife for suspense. Assuming the eel is representative of an actual figure(s) that could make for a slightly more menacing environment as they swing alongside the logs amongst thick fog. Someone here mentioned the laughing place would have a dark swampy atmosphere, so that could lend itself well to that section of the attraction. I will say this without going off on a tangent but great visuals make up for alot when executed very well. Especially if the story seems contrived, it will make plot holes amongst other random story devices obsolete in the moment. That also applies to much of the interior in general but anyways, it’s fun to speculate

 

[Drew the Disney Dude]

Photo updates from today.

The best photos are photos of scaffolding coming down.