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

[SilentWindODoom]

I've mentioned this before, but I think Disney is using "authenticity" (New Orleans-native artists, research trips, etc.) is a way to pre-empt their treatment of any cultural elements/themes.

Sounds like, given... everything, they're taking extra care.

 

[flynnibus]

You're welcome to interpret my comments however you want. They listed a bunch of numbers from most to least. I can't recall the last time a number of something in screens was touted as something to be excited about. They also mentioned the number of feet of the final drop. So? It's the same number of feet as Splash. It's not like that was something new.

They aren't just screens... I'm sure the number was referring to all the lights in the trees/folliage in the ride. But don't let that take the wind out of your sails..

 

[MrPromey]

Years ago I worked the log flume at our local amusement park and it was incredibly popular despite having very basic theming, TBA is going to be popular because it’s a log flume, I agree the vast majority of riders will get off thinking it’s not as good as Splash though.

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My gut reaction is no but I never thought they’d change Harmonious after a year either and they did that.

Hey, they're hiding the fiberglass "river" that's a heck of a lot more theme than I'd expect from any amusement park! (and way more effort than was put into the log flume at Bush Gardens - a genuine theme park of sorts)

The mill water wheel pushes it over the edge in my book.

 

[Rich Brownn]

It's an infantile story concept that's shoehorned into the existing ride system, which it's clearly not designed to take advantage of it, so it just muddles through it.

Developing a Tianna story with its own attraction built from the ground up would have done the character so much more justice, rather than doing what they did.

Except it'd be 5 minutes long, feature screens instead of animatronics, and open in 2045

 

[splah]

Oh im from Nola and lived three blocks from the uptown parade route…technically, the season starts on Twelfth Night. (The Krewe of Joan of Arc rides)

It can be almost two months of parades but yeah January is usually quiet

Would you say you’re throwing a Mardi Gras party or a Mardi Gras Season party?

what bugs me is that if this is supposed to be a Mardi Gras party, Mardi Gras is never mentioned out loud but then all the marketing says it’s happening during Mardi Gras. And none of the visuals are particularly Mardi Gras related.

And I know this is trivial lol.

That extra word “season” doesn’t roll off the tongue and smacks me in the face with clunkiness

 

[DisneyHead123]

what bugs me is that if this is supposed to be a Mardi Gras party, Mardi Gras is never mentioned out loud but then all the marketing says it’s happening during Mardi Gras. And none of the visuals are particularly Mardi Gras related.

To be fair, the visuals may be reminiscent of Mardi Gras in the 20s, when the story takes place. I don’t know that the purple, green and gold color scheme and other common symbols were around at that time.

I agree that the Mardi Gras theme doesn’t seem particularly emphasized though, more like an afterthought.

 

[ᗩLᘿᑕ ✨ ᗩζᗩᗰ]

Seems like a quick fix for the narrative would be to make this a "Grand Opening!" celebration. A tour of Tiana Foods that detours as we're inadvertently diverted into the bayou where with the aid of Mama Odie and the critters of the swamp we're able to rejoin the tour and afterparty.

 

[_caleb]

That's likely, true.

If I'm being honest, I'm just envious that I don't get to expense "research" trips like this where I work.

SAME. I'd love to expense "research" trips to WDW!

 

[JohnD]

Who says it needs to be something new? It's a list of information about the attraction that the public might find interesting and may cause them to want to ride the ride.

Your post comes across like, "Sheesh, now they're pushing how wet the water is!"

You're free to post what you like, but man, it's tiresome reading through post after post like this.

You're telling me. It's a forum where opinions can be offered within reason for the admins, if I'm not mistaken. No one forced you to engage. My opinion stands, thank you.

For those seeing the back and forth my opinion is this: they're bragging. Nay even pushing stats about the number of fireflies, the majority of which are used in screens for empty space. Whoopie. If it helps, I'm beyond the replacement of Splash. The execution of Tiana could have been so much better but fell short.

 

[RenDeVieux]

To be fair, the visuals may be reminiscent of Mardi Gras in the 20s, when the story takes place. I don’t know that the purple, green and gold color scheme and other common symbols were around at that time.

I agree that the Mardi Gras theme doesn’t seem particularly emphasized though, more like an afterthought.

Purple, green and gold stand for Justice, faith and power.

There really IS a king of Carnival. (That would be Rex)
Historically, it’s never the same person twice…so Big Daddy would have only had that one shot. (every parade usually has a royal court and there are some deep rooted socio political issues if you..forgive me..dig deep enough. How Zulu fought for integration decades before the civil rights movement got me some strange looks when I used to conduct walking history tours in the French Quarter)
To enjoy Mardi Gras season, (January 6th til whenever Ash Wednesday falls) some folks have to compartmentalize.

Since most people don’t understand that aspect of Mardi Gras, Disney simplified it.

 

[RenDeVieux]

Would you say you’re throwing a Mardi Gras party or a Mardi Gras Season party?

what bugs me is that if this is supposed to be a Mardi Gras party, Mardi Gras is never mentioned out loud but then all the marketing says it’s happening during Mardi Gras. And none of the visuals are particularly Mardi Gras related.

And I know this is trivial lol.

That extra word “season” doesn’t roll off the tongue and smacks me in the face with clunkiness

So the season itself is called Carnival Season.
Happy Carnival is the correct greeting until Mardi Gras week. (I start saying Happy Mardi Gras that last Thursday when the Muses parade rolls)
Mardi Gras party is suitable for this..I’m assuming it’s supposed to be the actual Tuesday as the ride goes

 

[DisneyHead123]

Purple, green and gold stand for Justice, faith and power.

Were those colors widely used in the 1920s though? It’s difficult to tell because most pictures from that time are black and white.

 

[RenDeVieux]

Were those colors widely used in the 1920s though? It’s difficult to tell because most pictures from that time are black and white.

Since the 1890s..yep. Technically, they started as the colors of the Rex parade and then just trickled into being the colors for the season

 

[MisterPenguin]

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/11/business/disney-world-splash-mountain-princess-tiana.html?unlocked_article_code=1.zE0.kLqb.Luo3lBTJRy8f&smid=url-share

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Disney’s Splash Mountain Set to Reopen With Princess Tiana Theme​

Brooks Barnes, Todd Anderson

Black Disney Princess Ride Replaces Splash Mountain and Its Racist History​

The ride was closed last year because of its connection to a racist film. Disney overhauled it to focus on Tiana, Disney’s first Black princess, drawing praise and backlash.

Disney’s new ride, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, will open to the public at Walt Disney World on June 28.

In the summer of 2020, as a reckoning on racial justice swept the country, Disney said it would rip out Splash Mountain, a wildly popular flume ride with a racist back story.

Some people cheered, saying the move was long overdue: After 31 years at Disneyland in California and 28 at Walt Disney World in Florida, the attraction — with its animal minstrels from “Song of the South,” the radioactive 1946 movie — had to go.

But Disney also faced blowback. Last year, when Splash Mountain finally closed, someone started a makeshift memorial near its entrance — the kind that pops up at scenes of horrific crimes. Distraught fans spirited away jars of the water. More than 100,000 fans signed a petition calling on Disney to reverse its “absurd” decision.

Now, Disney is rolling out Splash Mountain’s replacement, which is based on “The Princess and the Frog,” the 2009 animated musical that introduced Disney’s first Black princess. The lighthearted new ride, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, will open to the public on June 28 at Disney World, with a similar version expected to arrive at Disneyland by the end of the year.

The ride is the first marquee attraction in Disney theme park history to be based on a Black character.

Tiana’s Bayou Adventure uses the same ride tracks as Splash Mountain.

It’s a historic moment for Disney: After 69 years in the theme park business, the company will have a marquee attraction based on a Black character. Disney has spent at least $150 million on the bicoastal project, analysts estimate. (A Disney spokesman declined to comment on the cost.)

“For young Black children, it is, of course, a wonderful and amazing way to show representation,” Anika Noni Rose, who voices Tiana in the film and recorded new lines for the ride, said when the project was announced. “For children who don’t look like Tiana, it is a way to open their eyes.”

Disney has remade rides before, often to howls from devotees, but this particular overhaul is especially delicate. In recent years, Disney has found itself enmeshed in nationwide debates over diversity and inclusion initiatives, with prominent Republican politicians and conservative media pundits pointing to Disney as an example of corporate political correctness run amok.

The pressure has started to die down, in part because Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida is no longer running for president and attacking “Woke Disney” at campaign stops. Robert A. Iger, Disney’s chief executive, has also repeatedly said he has moved Disney away from “agenda-driven” content.

Tiana’s Bayou Adventure could drag Disney back onto the cultural battlefield. Or it could provide more evidence that the debate has moved on.

“Our parks are treasured, and our fans care deeply about how they evolve and change — just as we do,” Josh D’Amaro, Disney’s theme park chairman, said in an interview. “One thing fans always tell me is ‘If you change it, promise to make it even better.’ And I think we’ve delivered on that promise with Tiana.”

In the ride, Tiana and her trumpet-playing alligator pal, Louis, are looking to form a band.
Image

Out of Disney’s entire character roster, Tiana ranks No. 2 in popularity among Black women.

Tiana’s Bayou Adventure uses the same ride tracks as Splash Mountain, and riders still travel in vehicles made to look like hollowed-out logs. But everything else has been redesigned. Instead of a suspenseful story involving Br’er Rabbit’s getting tossed into a briar patch, the new attraction focuses on a Mardi Gras party: Tiana and her pal Louis, a trumpet-playing alligator, are searching for critters to form a band.

Halfway through, the jolly Mama Odie, a voodoo queen in “The Princess and the Frog” and now a “bayou fairy godmother,” casts a spell, supposedly shrinking riders to the size of fireflies.

Tiana’s Bayou Adventure also has a pointed new catchphrase: “Everybody’s welcome.”

As he rode Tiana’s Bayou Adventure with a reporter during a test-opening phase, Ted Robledo, the attraction’s executive creative director, pointed out numerous inclusive touches — decorative items in Spanish and French, reflecting the multicultural history of New Orleans; a diversity of music (jazz, zydeco, blues) playing on the sound system.

“That’s a nod to the Indigenous people in the region,” Mr. Robledo said, referring to a Choctaw stickball racket in a diorama near the ride’s entrance.

“It had kind of run its course,” Ted Robledo, the executive creative director of the new ride, said of Splash Mountain.

The ride’s catchphrase is “Everybody’s welcome.”

“We’re always looking at ways to cast a wider net,” Mr. Robledo said. “With the old property, for a variety of reasons, it wasn’t that relevant anymore. It had kind of run its course.”

“The Princess and the Frog,” about a working-class woman who becomes royalty, was a box office disappointment. Tiana, however, has become crucial to Disney. In consumer polls conducted by the company, she ranks No. 2 in popularity — out of Disney’s entire character roster — among Black women. (Characters from “The Lion King” are No. 1.)

Disney has high hopes for merchandise tied to the new attraction, which expands the movie’s story. (There are two gift shops near its exit.) An animated Tiana series is coming to Disney+ and will continue part of the story set up by the ride.

Jazz, zydeco and blues music plays on the sound system during the ride.

There are numerous touches, including culinary, that nod to the characters’ New Orleans roots.

“Tiana is a modern princess who resonates with everyone,” Mr. D’Amaro said. “She wasn’t born into royalty, but her story of perseverance and pride is timeless. This enduring quality is crucial for our parks’ attractions, as they need to entertain across generations.”

Mr. D’Amaro likened complaints about Splash Mountain’s removal to a prior situation at the Disneyland Resort. In 2017, Disney closed the popular Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, a hotel with malfunctioning elevators, and remade it around Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy.” Fans booed — until they had a chance to ride the replacement.

“It was a controversial decision at the time, but by introducing a modern story with different emotions, we created an entirely new experience,” Mr. D’Amaro said, noting that visitor ratings of the remade Tower of Terror soared.

Of Tiana, one Disney executive said, “Her story of perseverance and pride is timeless.”

One devoted fan of Splash Mountain said the new ride was “just as great.”

This month, Disney posted a nine-minute video tour of the new Tiana attraction on the internet. As of Monday, it had been viewed 625,000 times, with 10,000 people giving it a thumbs up and 38,000 a thumbs down. The ride “seems to lack dramatical tension and stakes,” Jim Shull, a retired Disney parks designer, wrote on X, based on the video. A smattering of Splash Mountain die-hards nicknamed the new ride Tiana’s Bayou Blunder.

The reaction has been much more positive from those who have ridden the attraction, which is in a soft-opening period.

“I loved it,” Victoria Wade, a social media influencer from Baltimore, said on X on Thursday. “I love how this whole attraction adds more to the continuation of Tiana’s story.” She called the ride’s 48 animatronic figures “absolutely incredible.”

Drew Smith, 21, a self-described Disney “super fan” from Windermere, Fla., talked his way onto the ride during a testing phase. “Splash Mountain was my absolute favorite attraction since I was a little kid, and I’m extremely happy to say that the new ride is just as great,” he said in an interview. “Don’t believe the haters!”

 

[MisterPenguin]

 

[DisneyHead123]

Since the 1890s..yep. Technically, they started as the colors of the Rex parade and then just trickled into being the colors for the season

Looking back at TBA, it seems to me that it probably incorporates these colors to the degree that they were incorporated in the 20s though? (Please correct me if I’m wrong on that, again, hard to tell from black and white photos.) They are subtly there, but those were the days when having a brand new fabric for a dress or shirt made would have been very expensive (unlike today where you can run to Dollar Tree for decorations in any season.)

 

[RenDeVieux]

Looking back at TBA, it seems to me that it probably incorporates these colors to the degree that they were incorporated in the 20s though? (Please correct me if I’m wrong on that, again, hard to tell from black and white photos.) They are subtly there, but those were the days when having a brand new fabric for a dress or shirt made would have been very expensive (unlike today where you can run to Dollar Tree for decorations in any season.)

I think you probably see it in the outdoor lighting more than the interior. And you’re correct… the colors would have been used with specific purpose. Mostly for the royal court costumes

 

[monothingie]

“Our parks are treasured, and our fans care deeply about how they evolve and change — just as we do,” Josh D’Amaro, Disney’s theme park chairman, said in an interview. “One thing fans always tell me is ‘If you change it, promise to make it even better.’ And I think we’ve delivered on that promise with Tiana.”

 

[splah]

So the season itself is called Carnival Season.
Happy Carnival is the correct greeting until Mardi Gras week. (I start saying Happy Mardi Gras that last Thursday when the Muses parade rolls)
Mardi Gras party is suitable for this..I’m assuming it’s supposed to be the actual Tuesday as the ride goes

Thanks sounds like you could have been a better advisor. Point is “season” is just clunky for no good reason, like the banner on the mill.

 

[aladdin2007]

“Our parks are treasured, and our fans care deeply about how they evolve and change — just as we do,” Josh D’Amaro, Disney’s theme park chairman, said in an interview. “One thing fans always tell me is ‘If you change it, promise to make it even better.’ And I think we’ve delivered on that promise with Tiana.”

yeah okay, he is totally clueless.