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

[Tha Realest]

Just reminding that this is not open to the general public...MAYBE we'll see more changes/fixes before it opens or things that are planned but not yet implemented (which makes Disney releasing an on-ride video very odd but also completely on-brand for their crap marketing team right now)

Do they have a few set pieces or dozen or so AA’s at the ready?

I'm hoping that DLR's team is seeing the reactions and able to make some adjustments. I know they have been able to fight for better quality due to the difference in visitors and their expectations.

they always get the better versions of these things so checks out.

 

[zakattack99]

He’s included in the finale, no? My guess is they deemed it too expensive to create a second Naveen animatronic for earlier in the ride.

Is he? I will have to go back and look I watched the video a few times I guess I missed them?

I think the lack of Naveen was the most surprising element to me since he was the co-lead of the movie.

One of the YouTube reviews I saw of Tiana's Bayou Adventure, that had a mixed-leaning positive review of the ride, noted that most Disney rides tend to recreate the iconography of their films — even if the rides are technically set after the film like in Frozen Ever After. He noted one thing that might disappoint Princess and the Frog fans is how TIana's Bayou Adventure feels very disconnected from what people remember about the movie. Naveen is hardly in it. There's no epic "transformation" scene where Tiana and Naveen kiss and revert to human form. Tiana doesn't wear her iconic blue or green dresses and is seen sporting an Indiana Jones/Lara Croft/Jungle Cruise-type adventure outfit with a new haircut. Dr. Facillier and the shadow demons are completely gone. Ray is gone and any overt references to Evangeline. Overall it just feels very very loosely connected to the Princess and the Frog.

I've gone through the stages of grief already in terms of realizing the new ride isn't what I wanted it to be. I hope Disney makes improvements to it later down the line (more animatronics, more Naveen, some thrill elements, etc.) but if the ride remains as is it's a perfectly decent attraction. It just doesn't compare at all to what came before, despite the Princess and the Frog IP having the potential to create a ride that was better than Splash.

Maybe if the Tiana movie/series that's in the works ever comes out and is more tied to the iconography of the ride, the creative decisions made in Tiana's Bayou Adventure might make more sense and be less baffling in retrospect.

From the videos I have a hard time wrapping my head around the amount of blank or dead space in the attraction. That being said I think you make good point here regarding characters and how the ride feels disconnected from the movie. Almost like they don’t know how to use their characters in rides that are not book report rides.

 

[Sectorkeeper71]

Not to rehash sign gate since it’s the least of the rides problems, but every time I see a sign for this ride it just seems so bad.

I’m not fluent in the design language that others have used to explain it, but I can’t tell ya it all looks wrong to me.

the signage is so very disjointed. I look even at what they did in galaxy’s edge or Toy Story land, and the signage is cohesive and doesn’t feel out of place.

Others have said it’s an issue of “too many cooks in the kitchen” and I would believe that.

 

[Ice Gator]

Others have said it’s an issue of “too many cooks in the kitchen” and I would believe that.

this feels like the case to me, down to the story itself. The Tiana’s Foods storyline and Mardi Gra celebration seems like an awkward conglomeration of two separate ideas that came to be at different points of the rides conception.

I always thought Tiana’s dream was just to open her restaurant- Tiana’s Place/Palace- not kickstart an entire food production co-op.

 

[wdwmagic]

Here is our video from today's preview

 

[Sir_Cliff]

this feels like the case to me, down to the story itself. The Tiana’s Foods storyline and Mardi Gra celebration seems like an awkward conglomeration of two separate ideas that came to be at different points of the rides conception.

I always thought Tiana’s dream was just to open her restaurant- Tiana’s Place/Palace- not kickstart an entire food production co-op.

Turns out her real dream was neither to open her own restaurant nor to run a food co-op, but instead to start an animal band!

 

[MrPromey]

Here is our video from today's preview

Did you do the riding for this one?

Has your unstated opinion changed at all with this vs. the video Disney released?

 

[Trauma]

Here is our video from today's preview

Well your video is better than Disneys.

Unfortunately it’s still not a good ride.

First Tiana animatronic just stares at you until your log is in position.

Most of the sets seem lifeless.

The story is MIA as far as I can tell.

The screens in the laughing place are TERRIBLE.

The music is fine but the finale is no Zip.

If I had to pick one word to describe this attraction:

Soulless

 

[Disney Glimpses]

Here is our video from today's preview

Best one I've seen yet and it actually does change my perception of that first section of indoor track.

 

[Midwest Elitist]

Best one I've seen yet and it actually does change my perception of that first section of indoor track.

To me, it made it worse. There is nothing where the geese were.

 

[UNCgolf]

I suspect it will be a lot like Frozen Ever After. Not necessarily a compliment or criticism.

I hear the fireflies buzz in tune to the music. That’s actually pretty cute.

It's better than Frozen Ever After (not that that's a high bar to clear, at least IMO), but not as good as Splash (or any of Disney's other top of the line E tickets). If Splash was a 9 or 10, this is a 6 or 7.

It's not a bad ride; it's just not a great one.

 

[wdwmagic]

Did you do the riding for this one?

Has your unstated opinion changed at all with this vs. the video Disney released?

I'll have an upcoming article with thoughts on this one.

 

[lightningtap347]

I still don't get why Tiana's disembodied voice is singing during the first portion of the ride up in the garden. The instrumental is fine, is it just the movie audio?

 

[Ice Gator]

I still don't get why Tiana's disembodied voice is singing during the first portion of the ride up in the garden. The instrumental is fine, is it just the movie audio?

I think so, considering they kept Ray’s voice singing “Down the Bayou” despite him being deceased.

 

[MrPromey]

Turns out her real dream was neither to open her own restaurant nor to run a food co-op, but instead to start an animal band!

You know, they say it's the human drive to never be satisfied - that once we have what we wanted, we want new things.

Next, she'll want to be president, then she'll want to rule the world. After that, she'll set her sites on the galaxy... and that's when Marvel will take over the storyline.

 

[thomas998]

I still don't get why Tiana's disembodied voice is singing during the first portion of the ride up in the garden. The instrumental is fine, is it just the movie audio?

My guess is it was designed by idiots that didn't actually bother to even watch the movie. It has several things that just don't make sense... like where you see the frogs and Tiana at the same time... For the most part it seems to have just taken random bits from the movie with no concern for the continuity of what happens first or second and then completely ignores the villain that would have been a much better character to put near the top of the big drop. It also had too much of the damnable LCD screens in it. I'm kind of surprised they didn't just remove everything and just use projectors throughout for the whole ride.

 

[lightningtap347]

I think so, considering they kept Ray’s voice singing “Down the Bayou” despite him being deceased.

There are so many good audio details (the frogs & fireflies making noise to the music) yet glaringly incorrect things like this. Why is it so inconsistent? (Rhetorical, unless you know the answer lol)

 

[MrPromey]

I'll have an upcoming article with thoughts on this one.

In your video (which is so much better than the one they released - why, oh why did they do that?), it seems like they did a decent job of mixing the screens in the backgrounds for extra characters with the "live" animatronics in that final scene, helped by the kenetic energy of physical movement all pulling for your attention.

That said, this Charlotte with animated eyes and head but frozen smile comes across as really creepy nightmare fuel to me.

I had to go back and rewatch that part a couple of times because my brain just couldn't process what I was seeing and for anyone reading this, you have to see it moving to understand what I mean.

I just saw The Strangers: Chapter 1 this weekend so maybe that had something to do with it.

 

[Disney Glimpses]

It's better than Frozen Ever After (not that that's a high bar to clear, at least IMO), but not as good as Splash (or any of Disney's other top of the line E tickets). If Splash was a 9 or 10, this is a 6 or 7.

It's not a bad ride; it's just not a great one.

I don't think I realized how much the suspense of that lift added to the attraction. In TBA, it's basically treated like one of the smaller more negligible drops and in turn reduces the thrill aspect of it, IMO.

 

[MK-fan]

I wonder if the imagineers even thought to put some kind of Splash Mountain tribute. It’s been a tradition but I feel like Disney is beyond that now.