SuddenStorm
Well-Known Member
Even if the ride was in perfect mechanical condition, that doesn't help the poor set design, story design, and sound design.
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News Tiana's Bayou Adventure - latest details and construction progress
- Thread starter wdwmagic
- Start date
Even if the ride was in perfect mechanical condition, that doesn't help the poor set design, story design, and sound design.
Tha Realest
Well-Known Member
I think maybe you missed the subtext of my original post.
When the project was announced, I and others viewed Baxter’s supposed buy in as window dressing and cover to push back against the expected antagonism towards the change.
As time went on, and people kept implying the ride had Tony’s seal of approval, I kept expressing my skepticism. It’s telling that he’s nowhere to be found when it had its grand opening. And I agree that he chose to distance himself as much as he could publicly.
SuddenStorm
Well-Known Member
Someone needs to do a proper retrospective on the development of this ride. Go over what was advertised, and what actually was built and delivered by Disney.
I don't believe for a second this was in serious development prior to the 2020 announcement.
I don't believe for a second that Tony was involved in any meaningful way.
The insider rumors that the ride initially had a much lower budget but Disney had to beef it up when they received more backlash than praise for this decision makes complete sense.
All of the research trips, 'authentic art', etc turned out to be meaningless and unrelated to the final product.
But this whole project reeks of people in way over their heads- I'm sure Carmen and Charita were genuinely enthusiastic about the project, but it's clear they didn't have the creative chops needed to actually design a successor to Splash Mountain.
I don't believe for a second this was in serious development prior to the 2020 announcement.
I don't believe for a second that Tony was involved in any meaningful way.
The insider rumors that the ride initially had a much lower budget but Disney had to beef it up when they received more backlash than praise for this decision makes complete sense.
All of the research trips, 'authentic art', etc turned out to be meaningless and unrelated to the final product.
But this whole project reeks of people in way over their heads- I'm sure Carmen and Charita were genuinely enthusiastic about the project, but it's clear they didn't have the creative chops needed to actually design a successor to Splash Mountain.
Disgruntled Walt
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
Even if everything on the attraction were functioning as it's supposed to, it still wouldn't be good.
@ToTBellHop did you end up getting on?
@ToTBellHop did you end up getting on?
SuddenStorm
Well-Known Member
Ya know, the sound design on Splash was so strong you could probably ride it with your eyes closed and still feel like it was a great experience. The set design was so strong you could ride it with no sound and while it'd be much less, it'd still be great.
I don't even know what Tiana's does. The sound is grating and elementary. The sets are bland and confusing, and reminiscent of elementary school shoebox dioramas.
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
Yes, twice, as we also had Lightning Lane. It was…charming, I suppose. My wife said she felt the AAs (except broken Odie at the end) were impressive but the story was very thin and it was ridiculous to not include Facilier. She is not a member of these boards and is a reasonably casual Disney fan, so I’d imagine others feel similarly.
The kids loved it.
At least the ride system is still a blast!
What’s with the motionless armadillo statues?
SuddenStorm
Well-Known Member
That's Lari! An important part of the attraction, this armadillo necessitated his very own blog post!
Who is Lari the Armadillo? | Disney Parks Blog
You’ve seen him on Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, and he’s seen you, too. Learn more about Lari the Armadillo and his love of umbrellas and beignets.
disneyparksblog.com
My goodness WDI is lost.
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
He’s supposed to be alive? They did better in 1950s Disneyland.That's Lari! An important part of the attraction, this armadillo necessitated his very own blog post!
Who is Lari the Armadillo? | Disney Parks Blog
You’ve seen him on Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, and he’s seen you, too. Learn more about Lari the Armadillo and his love of umbrellas and beignets.
My goodness WDI is lost.
SuddenStorm
Well-Known Member
Well, yeah. 1950s Disneyland was designed by the best of the best.
Sure it was undeveloped, and didn't have a lot of the inherent knowledge that goes into developing themed attractions today- but the bones were strong.
Peter Pan's Flight as it was in 1955 is better than just about anything WDI has done in the last 10 years.
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
I feel dumber for having read an article where an Imagineer suggests they could only include an animal that they actually saw during a bayou research trip. What complete nonsense. It’s a ride with animals that can sing, speak, and play musical instruments set in one of Louisiana’s world-renowned mountains. Not a National Geographic special. I would have rather they canceled one of their Lewis and Clark-esque expeditions and installed Laris that could at least twitch their tails or wink at us. We can just trust Wikipedia if they tell us armadillos live there.That's Lari! An important part of the attraction, this armadillo necessitated his very own blog post!
Who is Lari the Armadillo? | Disney Parks Blog
You’ve seen him on Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, and he’s seen you, too. Learn more about Lari the Armadillo and his love of umbrellas and beignets.
My goodness WDI is lost.
While the advanced AAs are certainly among WDIs best, other figures are less impressive than what we find on Jungle Cruise. The dichotomies on display on this attraction made for an overwhelming sense of disappointment for me. It was “fine” but it replaced one of WDIs crowning achievements. As a novel build at DHS, I’d probably like it much more.
SuddenStorm
Well-Known Member
I disagree here. I don't care how advanced something is, if it doesn't reliably work for the 15 hours a day it's supposed to, it isn't good.
Advances in animatronic technology should have led to these things being more reliable and easier to maintain than the old ones. It seems that isn't the case.
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
That’s fair. This ride’s overall reliability is unacceptable.
EricsBiscuit
Well-Known Member
100%. Walt used to walk the park very frequently. Eisner would also walk the parks frequently. None of today’s leadership team is ever seen just casually enjoying the parks or walking around. They’re so separated from the experience they can’t be the check on quality that they need to be.
Sir_Cliff
Well-Known Member
Do we know if the issue is with the audioanimatronics, the sensors, or both? My understanding of the initial leaks about the ride's problems is that the censors were not dealing well with the humidity and, as the AAs are supposed to be activated by the censors, that also resulted in dead AAs.
Does anyone know if that is close to what's happening here or whether it is more that they just can't keep the AAs in working order?
Does anyone know if that is close to what's happening here or whether it is more that they just can't keep the AAs in working order?
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Epcot81Fan
Well-Known Member
You’re proceeding from the false assumption that quality was ever a goal here.
From the particular theme chosen, to the specific Imagineers placed on point, to the endless lecturing about “authenticity” along the way, “quality” was never the goal.
What we eventually got was a perfect (if unintentional) monument to their misguided intent.
Sir_Cliff
Well-Known Member
Ugh, do we really need these kinds of ugly political talking points here?
SuddenStorm
Well-Known Member
What we got is what happens when these designers get some misguided idea that their work has meaning beyond entertainment. They spent so much time trying to make this important and groundbreaking that they forgot to make it fun.
I do believe themed entertainment as a form of escapism is valid art and important. And that a level of authenticity is important to make that happen. But these people went off the rails.
bwr827
Well-Known Member
Censors is an apropos typo.
God I hope Tony isn't first to ride. Knowing they took his creation and butchered it would probably devastate him, and people already have him nearly crying on closing night.
That's Lari! An important part of the attraction, this armadillo necessitated his very own blog post!
Who is Lari the Armadillo? | Disney Parks Blog
You’ve seen him on Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, and he’s seen you, too. Learn more about Lari the Armadillo and his love of umbrellas and beignets.
My goodness WDI is lost.