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

[JohnD]

I just finished the video. Alas, I can’t deny that I’m disappointed. Unlike some here, I don’t think the ride looks empty—I find the interiors sufficiently lush and interesting—but the lack of any narrative tension or excitement is very much to the detriment of the experience. I also really dislike the screens.

I don’t think it’s a bad attraction in itself, and I’m reasonably confident it will be more enjoyable in person, but the final product isn’t strong enough to stop me from missing Splash.

After watching, I find the interiors as sufficiently lush and interesting as NRJ. Lots of empty space until AAs (NRJ - 1 AA) show up.

 

[brb1006]

Just seen a couple online reactions from Japanese Disney fans reacting to the POV footage for this ride. Let's just say they weren't impressed at all.

 

[Squishy]

What they did to the drop build up should be criminal

 

[tanc]

Forgot the specific posts, since they were in Japanese but you have to do a bit of digging on Twitter/X (which is impossible for those that don't use the site) and other social media sites to find them.

Idk as someone who can read Japanese and follows Japanese Disney twitter accounts, I've seen positive and negative reception in Japan.

If you're genuinely curious you can just search this: https://x.com/search?q=スプラッシュマウンテン&src=recent_search_click&f=live

 

[KDM31091]

I agree that it gives me a similar feeling as when I get off of Navi River Journey. It's not a bad attraction. It's visually stunning. But it feels like it's missing something. There's no conflict and no real story. It's just very visually appealing. Tiana feels like the same thing. No real story, no conflict, no excitement.

I also feel like the backstory and characters hyped up by Disney beforehand barely play any role in the attraction.

 

[zipadee999]

I had that hope for years, and it would have been amazing. Especially with tasteful projection mapping added to the Splash sets.

Or at least they could’ve replaced the blue walls for the sky with screen backdrops to add some more depth. It was still just about perfect as was though

 

[mightynine]

I do wonder if TBA will be as dark as it seems on this video. Watching a second time on my TV, felt like everytime the camera encountered a brighter show scene, the surrounding scenery would get darker, like it had an auto adjust for brightness activated.

But man, that script is rough the second time around.

Louis - “Tiana found a band that can play!”
seconds later
Tiana - “They can play!”

 

[monothingie]

View attachment 788879“Everybody’s got a laughing place”

Ouch the ratio.

 

[SuddenStorm]

What do we think the motivation was for debuting a ride through today before the attraction officially opened?

With Rise, Disney kept things locked down. As far as I know, Disney has never released a ride through film to the masses before the attraction opened, but I could be wrong.

 

[Ayla]

Hey, why the heck are there no giant fireflies in the shrinking section? You know, the most visually unique and amusing designs in the franchise, linked to one of the most memorable characters?

There are, on the screens...IIRC.

 

[monothingie]

To the people saying this will have a long line showing this is a successful ride, you’re not thinking big picture.

Disney has turned off a lot of guests the last few years, from getting too involved into politics, upping the prices too much, decrease in quality.

Changing Splash Mountain to a vocal minority is a turn off to the average guest from the South or the average Family that visits Disney, it’s that simple.

This alone hasn’t turned off people from visiting Disney, but this and other decisions has made people take their money elsewhere.

Also you can’t use the excuse people are afraid to travel to Florida, that’s why Disney less busy. Florida keeps beating their tourism records from years past, if Disney had same percentage of guests visiting Florida as 5 years ago their occupancy rates for hotels would be 95%, not 25% below that rate…

It’s management that doesn’t want to understand or cater to their guests but would rather treat them as a consumer of “product” and tell them what they should like and do.

Disney may still have some talent left in it (or they could buy some) and the cast members are from the most part pure gold. But when you have leadership in Burbank that looks down and ridicules the people that essentially pay their salaries and make the company 1/3+ of its profit, you have a inescapable and pervasive rot destroying what’s left.

 

[Mikomike12]

There are, on the screens...IIRC.

They are all behind the giant leaves too

 

[gerarar]

What do we think the motivation was for debuting a ride through today before the attraction officially opened?

With Rise, Disney kept things locked down. As far as I know, Disney has never released a ride through film to the masses before the attraction opened, but I could be wrong.

Keeping ROTR a secret 'til pretty much media previews was a very genius tactic. As soon the first POV dropped (BlogMickey was one of the first iirc), I was amazed at how everything worked and wanted to experience it ASAP (in fact got to experience it that Christmas holiday, making everything worth it).

So it's very interesting at the approach Disney took here. I'm also pretty sure Disney released a Tron POV before the opening of the ride, but considering it's a clone of an attraction we could already watch online, didn't matter much then. Here, it's a completely new attraction (a retheme albeit), but even so...just strange all around.

 

[JohnD]

I have to echo what everyone else has said. All along I said, let's not criticize it until we've seen it. Now we've seen it and some are saying, "Well. It's the the way the video was shot" or "I guess we'll have to wait until we actually ride it." When we have to put ourselves into contortions hoping that the ride ride will be good in the end, it doesn't bode well for actual reception of it.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

To the people saying this will have a long line showing this is a successful ride, you’re not thinking big picture.

Disney has turned off a lot of guests the last few years, from getting too involved into politics, upping the prices too much, decrease in quality.

Changing Splash Mountain to a vocal minority is a turn off to the average guest from the South or the average Family that visits Disney, it’s that simple.

This alone hasn’t turned off people from visiting Disney, but this and other decisions has made people take their money elsewhere.

Also you can’t use the excuse people are afraid to travel to Florida, that’s why Disney less busy. Florida keeps beating their tourism records from years past, if Disney had same percentage of guests visiting Florida as 5 years ago their occupancy rates for hotels would be 95%, not 25% below that rate…

Long lines are 100% due to not having enough capacity in wdw for 20 years.

That is the reason. The only reason.

If this ride is good. It’s worth it. If it is not good…even with a line…it is not.

The last thing TWDC needs when they’re losing business is the comment “I paid/waited in a long line and it sucked”

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I have to echo what everyone else has said. All along I said, let's not criticize it until we've seen it. Now we've seen it and some are saying, "Well. It's the the way the video was shot" or "I guess we'll have to wait until we actually ride it." When we have to put ourselves into contortions hoping that the ride ride will be good in the end, it doesn't bode well for actual reception of it.

Nobody had to do this in 1992…it is what it is

 

[tathompson87]

Another person on a disney park fan forum site wondering why disney park fans are passionate about something they care about. Crazy concept, my dude, I know.

Trust me my dude, I’m not wondering. I was well aware of what I was signing up for when I created my account 16 years ago. I was just posting MY opinion on the site, which is kind of the idea, no?

 

[Trauma]

View attachment 788879“Everybody’s got a laughing place”

I wonder how long before they turn comments off.

It’s not going the way Disney wants.

Just sad.

I actually feel bad for the Imagineers involved in this project. I think it was doomed from the start.

I’m sure the blame will be passed around and
no one will be held responsible, ensuring more failures like this in the future.

 

[peter11435]

Nobody had to do this in 1992…it is what it is

Nobody saw a video of the entire ride before they actually rode the attraction in 1992.

 

[JohnD]

I wonder how long before they turn comments off.

It’s not going the way Disney wants.

Just sad.

I actually feel bad for the Imagineers involved in this project. I think it was doomed from the start.

I’m sure the blame will be passed around and
no one will be held responsible, ensuring more failures like this in the future.

Actually. I don't feel bad for the imagineers. Rethemimg the ride doesn't negate the importance of having the retheme live up to the standards of what it replaced. It didn't.