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

[JoeCamel]

In a vacuum, everything shown in the preview with PJ Morton is very solid. That is why my initial opinion of this attraction was so much higher. I just wish there was MORE of it spread throughout the attraction. Needless to say this isn’t a disaster by any means, it’s FAR more salvageable than many rethemes they’ve done in the past, they just need to commit to making this even better similar to how Universal rushed to open Jurassic World early on, plussing the attraction much later putting it on par with JPRA

This is the company that built and operates little mermaid as built. I doubt you will see a change

 

[Homemade Imagineering]

This is the company that built and operates little mermaid as built. I doubt you will see a change

I mean, never say never, but yeah it will be a while before we see anything, and that’s even IF we see anything improved upon at all

 

[AndyS2992]

They did at least make some changes, minor as they were, to the Little Mermaid to improve it at least. That's the best we can hope for here I suppose.

 

[_caleb]

I am sympathetic to much of what you wrote, but I have to disagree with you quite strongly when it comes to the story. One shouldn’t need the backstory or queue to enjoy the main attraction, even if those elements help flesh out what’s going on. Indeed, one doesn’t even have to understand the main story itself (plenty of people never followed the plot of Splash).

I agree that a strong attraction should not depend on the backstory or queue, those have come to be effective tools in themed attraction storytelling. I'm glad we've moved beyond switchbacks (as in classic Fantasyland dark rides) to immersive themed queues. I look at updates to the Jungle Cruise queue as pretty significant to the storytelling and placemaking of that attraction. It seems newer, "you're in the story" attractions tend to use the queue as major storytelling devices (with differing degrees of success, in my opinion).

As long as there is good pacing and appropriate shifts in mood, even a narrative in a language one doesn’t understand can be interesting and engaging. Tiana’s Bayou Adventure appears to be sadly lacking in this regard.

Yes. And like I mentioned, pacing is hard to gauge based on an edited, fixed-gaze POV video, and story can be difficult to discern based on muffled audio.

I wanted to avoid spoilers ahead of my first ride later this year, but I went ahead and watched other/better videos (like the 360º video) and like a total nerd, I paused the video multiple times to examine scenes. I'm not sure if this gives me a better or worse idea of how the story is conveyed through an actual ride through, but there do seem to be things that support rider's understanding and experience of the story that were not obvious or even visible in the initial POV video.

 

[stepjune28]

I'm awake at 3 am because I'm still thinking about the ride, but after going on it twice, I 100% stand behind every comment I made in the video I posted on Twitter after my first ride.

I respect everyone's opinions in here and I am happy to answer any questions about it since I was able to experience it during the day and at night.

I don't have to avoid spoilers anymore, so I'll be active on here again and will answer any questions anyone wants answered.

I don't have Twitter but I would really love to know what your thoughts were! Do you plan to post anything on Youtube about it? I have so enjoyed following your updates on here throughout the process.

One question that I have, and I feel silly for asking it-- what is the storyline? I have watched 3 different POV videos and I can't make out what the characters are saying in any of them, so it is very hard for me to figure out what is going as far as the story goes.

I will say, from what I can SEE in the better videos, I think it looks amazing. I loved Splash Mountain. It was my family's favorite ride by far. But I never loved it for its story. I barely understood the story in Splash, I just had fun looking around at the scenes, falling down the drops, and getting wet. I realize I must be in the minority (especially on a board like this one), but it seems like the ride will still be a big favorite for me and my family when we go in 2025 and I am super excited about it!

 

[Sir_Cliff]

STORY
Many here complain about the story, but the POV video skipped the queue and loading area, where a great deal of story information is often provided. Can you imagine trying to follow the story on Indy without the info given in the queue and loading areas? People got so bent out of shape about the Co-op backstory, even though it just served (like all attraction backstories) to help guide coherent placemaking; this is why there are crops on the exterior, kitchens and food storage in the queue, and the salt mine is how they explain the exterior setting and drop.

I don't think, though, that the criticism of the story has been related to needing to know the co-op backstory for the ride to make sense. The criticism has been more that the rather convoluted backstory is barely relevant to the story of the ride itself. For example, what does the food co-op element add to the ride? Tiana could just as easily be still running her restaurant as in the film and be throwing a party for which she, for some reason, needs a band comprised of animals from the bayou. Similarly, the personality sketches of the animals provided beforehand aren't used in any way within the ride, so it makes no difference whether you know them or not.

Having now seen the ride and its very simple story supported by a lot of exposition within the ride, it just seems a head scratcher that they spent more time thinking through the story for the queue than the ride itself.

 

[monothingie]

I think it needs to be the good old fashioned way of not having it fail in the first place, and if it does, down the ride until its fixed.

In that same spirit, I'm sort of glad they didn't go with Individual LL for this. The potential for lost revenue caused by fixing show elements would have forced them to prioritize attraction uptime at the expense of show.

 

[doctornick]

Same for me with Tokyo. Wish they’d bring more to WDW from TDL since I imagine VERY FEW guests visit those two. Many more make it to DL and DLP.

I feel like pretty much any major ride from Asia should be cloned to WDW. The overlap in guests between WDW and those parks is exceedingly small.

 

[HonorableMention]

To add some positivity to the discussion, I really like the brief moments we hear the critter bands playing “Gonna Take You There” in the bayou and the arrangement of “Dig a Little Deeper” in the shrinking section.

I wish they had Tiana and Louis (plus Naveen maybe) singing instead of disembodied Ray in the first indoor section.

 

[ChrisFL]

I realize this is going to be a deep cut that a lot of people won't be familiar with, but for those who are...this reminds me of the changes that they did from the first version of the Sindbad ride at Tokyo DisneySea to the second one.

The original version was more dramatic with a storyline and villains, etc. like a huge troll, then after a year or so(?) they changed it to a whole musical instead and the same huge troll is now friendly and sings along with you. I enjoyed both versions of it, but the second version was much more lighthearted and fun.

It's clear that's the vibe they were going for here, and I DO like all of the music in TBA, but also realize how much people loved Zip as a theme.

 

[LittleBuford]

I agree that a strong attraction should not depend on the backstory or queue, those have come to be effective tools in themed attraction storytelling. I'm glad we've moved beyond switchbacks (as in classic Fantasyland dark rides) to immersive themed queues. I look at updates to the Jungle Cruise queue as pretty significant to the storytelling and placemaking of that attraction. It seems newer, "you're in the story" attractions tend to use the queue as major storytelling devices (with differing degrees of success, in my opinion).

Yes. And like I mentioned, pacing is hard to gauge based on an edited, fixed-gaze POV video, and story can be difficult to discern based on muffled audio.

I wanted to avoid spoilers ahead of my first ride later this year, but I went ahead and watched other/better videos (like the 360º video) and like a total nerd, I paused the video multiple times to examine scenes. I'm not sure if this gives me a better or worse idea of how the story is conveyed through an actual ride through, but there do seem to be things that support rider's understanding and experience of the story that were not obvious or even visible in the initial POV video.

I think we’re talking about fundamentally different things. My dissatisfaction with the story has to do with the big picture, not the little details that fail to come across in a video.

 

[Incomudro]

This is the company that built and operates little mermaid as built. I doubt you will see a change

How many years has it been and essentially nothing's been added to Galaxies Edge?

 

[gorillaball]

Perhaps this is too much of a conspiracy theory, but I feel like the Disney executives purposely approved a poor storyline to make the attraction fail.

They did this so that when they revert back to Splash Mountain, they could show the negative feedback and say “at least we tried…”

You had it right preceding the comma.

 

[Trauma]

The discussion about the story being better communicated in other videos or in person is a strange argument.

Even if the ride conveyed the story perfectly it’s not a good story.

It might be a great story for a different layout but for a ride containing a 50 foot drop it truly misses the mark.

So when we say “hey this ride would be great if it was this or that” well it’s not. It’s in Splash Mountian.

The story is a huge miss and just puzzling considering how many cool stories they could have told with the source material, that would have better matched the ride layout.

So now we not only lost Splash, but we lost what could have been a great Tiana ride if they didn’t put it in a ride layout that doesn’t fit its story.

So many unforced errors it’s bizarre.

 

[UNCgolf]

I'm still baffled that they're selling several Tiana related packaged food/spice/sauce items and none of them have any kind of Tiana's Foods branding.

It's actually a perfect use for the synergy they espouse and they're not doing it!

 

[ThemeParkTraveller]

I realize this is going to be a deep cut that a lot of people won't be familiar with, but for those who are...this reminds me of the changes that they did from the first version of the Sindbad ride at Tokyo DisneySea to the second one.

The original version was more dramatic with a storyline and villains, etc. like a huge troll, then after a year or so(?) they changed it to a whole musical instead and the same huge troll is now friendly and sings along with you. I enjoyed both versions of it, but the second version was much more lighthearted and fun.

It's clear that's the vibe they were going for here, and I DO like all of the music in TBA, but also realize how much people loved Zip as a theme.

That's a comparison I never thought of. I've grown to enjoy the new version but still lament the loss of the original, which captured the spirit of the park perfectly (pre-IP version at least). It was changed in 2007, but I think fans always feared the original was not long for this world given it was a walk-on even on crowded days. In the end, I was happy they kept basically all the original bones (unlike TBA) and just made minor tweaks. I'm not sure the new version is significantly more popular either than the original, but I guess it pushes more merch (Chandu the Tiger) and is much more appealing to kids.

 

[ChrisFL]

That's a comparison I never thought of. I've grown to enjoy the new version but still lament the loss of the original, which captured the spirit of the park perfectly (pre-IP version at least). It was changed in 2007, but I think fans always feared the original was not long for this world given it was a walk-on even on crowded days. In the end, I was happy they kept basically all the original bones (unlike TBA) and just made minor tweaks. I'm not sure the new version is significantly more popular either than the original, but I guess it pushes more merch (Chandu the Tiger) and is much more appealing to kids.

That's the difference, Sindbad can easily call itself a "kid friendly" attraction, but Splash/TBA can't as easily due to the thrill ride aspect

 

[Smiley/OCD]

What do they teach undergrads in creative writing class on day 1? Show, don’t tell.

I thought it was “I before E except after C”…

 

[SuddenStorm]

If they're putting her and Louis right before the dip-drop at Disneyland too, that has them putting them roughly where the hitch-hiking crocodile was, since the rest of the area is evac path which I doubt they'd turn into show scene-
View attachment 789445
It's possible they combined them for space purposes.

Man, there's way more charm with that crocodile singing "why don't you take me along?" on an endless loop then Tiana sitting on a log telling us she's gonna keep looking for musicians

 

[ChrisFL]

Tiana's dialogue definitely feels extremely simplified, I will say that could be improved