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

Bill Cipher

Bill Cipher

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
Yes
Trauma said:
I appreciate your well thought out post but I’m trying to decide if we can trust your opinion.

Would you consider yourself more Superfan or general public?
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Generally more of a “Superfan” but less so of Disney’s brand identity or characters and moreso of the themed entertainment medium/industry and what it can accomplish. I work for Disney but I still have the freedom to say they are far from perfect. I am critical because I want the company to create the best that it can.
 
HauntedPirate

HauntedPirate

Park nostalgist
Premium Member
Bill Cipher said:
Generally more of a “Superfan” but less so of Disney’s brand identity or characters and moreso of the themed entertainment medium/industry and what it can accomplish. I work for Disney but I still have the freedom to say they are far from perfect. I am critical because I want the company to create the best that it can.
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That last line sums up what a lot of us around here believe. And under Iger, it has done far, far less than its best, for the most part. Unless you're talking revenue extraction from the guest, then it's excelled.
 
Sir_Cliff

Sir_Cliff

Well-Known Member
sw_charlie said:
:)
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Very happy Drew enjoyed the ride after all this time!

I do agree that the decision to release that on-ride video is a head-scratcher and seems one in a long line of marketing missteps for this attraction. Very odd that you would release a fixed video like that which presents a new attraction in a relatively unflattering light.

Bill Cipher said:
TL;DR: Don’t give in to the hysterics of people saying this is the worst attraction WDI has ever produced because it is a decent ride; but it does not evoke the spectacle of its predecessor, making it hard to enjoy for those that know what came before.
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Thanks for the report; I have been very much waiting to hear the thoughts of people who had actually been on it rather than just watched the videos! This summation has been my impression of the ride as not an abomination as some are say, but lacking in many ways and particularly in comparison to Splash.
 
Incomudro

Incomudro

Well-Known Member
Bill Cipher said:
Alright, I have officially ridden the attraction and have a lot of thoughts. Not sure how novel any of this is because the page count of this thread jumped by 70+ pages since I ducked out to avoid spoilers so I apologize for retreading any ground.

Where to begin? Perhaps a goods vs bads to lay everything out and then some final thoughts. I would also like to state that I was coming into the ride with moderate expectations leaning positive and attempted to view the attraction on its own merits separate from its history as Splash Mountain (but then found that harder and harder to commit to).

The queue is nice and I quite enjoy the radio loop playing. The radio in particular gives a vibe that a tiny slice of New Orleans Square has come to WDW and does a good job at establishing Tiana as an important public figure. I absolutely love the lush greenery of the interior sets and dark lighting. The critter bands are very cute and add a great bit of liveliness to the spots they appear. The A1000s of Tiana and Louis are all a treat to see in full motion. Upon first hearing the rumors that there would be a shrinking/transformation portion to the ride I was highly skeptical it would be a good choice, but I think it turned out well and was a fun way to display the animatronic frogs much larger, as well as call back to the film. The primary thing to praise here is the finale scene and original song. The energy in that scene is great and really delivers the most complete part of the experience.

I generally don’t think the screens in this ride are too egregious or overbearing - they are actually quite minimal - but the shot of giant Tiana and Louis looking at the riders in the shrunken portion is the worst visual offender of the ride. It genuinely feels out of place and their dialogue could have been delivered with audio only to convey the same thing. As many have mentioned, there are quite a few empty stretches along the ride between characters. Not every ride has to be filled with animatronics to be good, and not every animated figure has to have complex motion to be effective at conveying what it needs to, but there is still a lot to be desired from the emptier scenes. The space between the 2nd band and the transformation dip drop is particularly empty, so much so that while on the ride you just instinctively look to watch the boat ahead of you complete the dialogue with Tiana right before the dip drop, only to immediately hear it again directed at your own boat. Though the A1000s are lovely, they are mainly used to just look at the ride vehicles and gesture at things. The finale is the only scene where it feels like the any A1000s are actually doing something within the narrative like dancing or playing music. Perhaps the greatest flaw of the ride though is that it lacks any poignant stakes, dramatic tension, or low beats. When designing a linear narrative experience a writer will typically create a graph laying out where the emotional high and low points of a story will be so they can fluctuate in a logical and satisfying manner. It feels to me that if you were to make something like that for this attraction it would be super flat and monotone with a lone spike at the finale. And while it’s true that not every attraction needs a well executed narrative or complex emotional arc to be really good, the issue lies in the nature of the attraction being a replacement.

I really tried to let this ride live on its own merits separate from Splash Mountain, but the positive elements of this ride come at the expense of another attraction, and they extract a heavy toll. Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is by no means a bad attraction and far from the worst retheme in WDW, but it does not live up to the narrative, emotional stakes, and technical feats of its predecessor. It’s very much like Runaway Railway in that sense; it’s quite enjoyable and a decent ride on its own, but it should not have been a replacement in a park desperate for additional ride-through capacity. Even with the social issues surrounding Splash Mountain and Song of the South, there could have been tactful methods of updating the plot and concept with different characters to deliver the same strengths of the experience.

TL;DR: Don’t give in to the hysterics of people saying this is the worst attraction WDI has ever produced because it is a decent ride; but it does not evoke the spectacle of its predecessor, making it hard to enjoy for those that know what came before.
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Excellent take.
And just like anything live, I know this ride is so much better in the flesh then viewed on screen.
The sights, sounds, scents, feeling of movement and general sense of fun when at the park vs the cold, critical judgements we do here online are certainly in favor of the live experience.
I'm certain I'll enjoy the ride in and of itself when I ride it someday.
My biggest issues are what they deliberately left out.
PatF has so many great moments, sights, and songs that are perfect for this attraction.
And they left them out.
 
davis_unoxx

davis_unoxx

Well-Known Member
IMG_5222.jpeg

All the people that were gaslit for years saying that we were crazy for saying it won’t be as great as the predecessor, have finally been vindicated.
 
Vegas Disney Fan

Vegas Disney Fan

Well-Known Member
doctornick said:
Exactly. That's the troubling thing - it's not that the Imagineers didn't have enough funds - not to mention a great baseline ride system and space - to make an exception ride. It's that they seemingly weren't capable of making something anywhere near as entertaining and engaging as Splash. Yes, it's a high bar to clear, but I think it unfortunately does speak more to the talent of the current crop of engineers than the resources they were given to work with.
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The Imagineers did amazing work in Fantasy Springs which shows they still have talent, which leads to the question “why did TBA turn out like this?”, I think the obvious answer is the imagineers weren’t in charge,

They were given a specific list of things the new ride was meant to portray and told to make it work.
 
davis_unoxx

davis_unoxx

Well-Known Member
IMG_5223.jpeg
Love to see this! And the TBA defenders said yesterday that as days go on, the ratio of dislikes will go down. Nope!

When I first started tracking it was only 35% downvoted, love to see it! And if you filter by newest comments, not just ones at the top. Around 90% of the comments say this ride sucks!
 
TheCoasterNerd

TheCoasterNerd

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
Vegas Disney Fan said:
The Imagineers did amazing work in Fantasy Springs which shows they still have talent, which leads to the question “why did TBA turn out like this?”, I think the obvious answer is the imagineers weren’t in charge, this change started in DEI and was likely managed by DEI, I doubt the Imagineers were ever in charge.

They were given a specific list of things the new ride was meant to portray and told to make it work.
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This ^
 

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