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

[Brer Oswald]

With all due respect . . .

He’s definitely an influencer. Not dissing his site or his work or any of that. I’ve just noticed there has been a trend to be positive about this particular attraction from all of the theme park “media” websites and personalities.

 

[Agent H]

Disagree. It gave Universal a big boost to attendance when it first opened but it has leveled off since. I'm not saying it's no longer a draw but it's not the same draw as it was when I first opened.

attendance may have leveled off somewhat but the land still sells tons of merchandise and food and it universals perception in the eye of the average guest forever so yeah I’d say it was a success.

 

[Disstevefan1]

@lentesta has shared guest feedback which shows respondents are generally very happy with the ride as is.

Len collects data without bias.

The folks who are generally very happy with the attraction who spent thousands on their Disney vacation are more likely to say positive things rather than, "I spent thousands of dollars on my Disney vacation and all I got was a broken Tiana"

 

[Jrb1979]

attendance may have leveled off somewhat but the land still sells tons of merchandise and food and it universals perception in the eye of the average guest forever so yeah I’d say it was a success.

I didn't say it's not a success. I'm saying they don't have sustained boost to attendance year over year.

 

[Agent H]

I didn't say it's not a success. I'm saying they don't have sustained boost to attendance year over year.

No boost to attendance lasts forever. That doesn’t mean people “don’t like ip based lands”

 

[SamusAranX]

It’s everywhere. I’ve seen it on YouTube. On twitter. And on instagram. Really it makes this forum seem tame in comparison.

For better or for worse, there was much more riding on this retheme then say GMR —> MMRR, given the passions and opinions associated with this were much more inflamed.

Disney HAD to hit a home run. They bragged about the AA; the advances; the cultural authenticity; and so on. Also, many people who bemoaned SM’s demise were bagged on heavily across the web for reasons we’re not going to rehash. So while perhaps not the best way to go about it, the opposite reactions regarding the failure(s) of TBA were going to be just as passionate

 

[andre85]

I have accepted this the new Disney. I don't like it at all. I'm not sure the IP focused way of things is going to have the nostalgia factor the original parks had. Look at Universal Hollywood and Nintendo. They go a big bump in attendance it's first year and since then have gone back down.

IMO it's the big issue with these IP lands. People will flock to see them once but they will lose their appeal after the first time.

I don't think you can use that one data point to draw any reasonable conclusion. For instance, that drop may have been a lot steeper were it not for Super Nintendo World.

Furthermore, USJ had seen a steep growth trajectory since SNW opened in early 2021, with 2023 (nearly 3 years after the land's opening by Dec!) being an all-time record for the park, putting it ahead of Tokyo Disneyland for 2 years in a row. Couldn't find 2024 figures, but this already shows your "1 year temporary bump" theory to have problems.

 

[UNCgolf]

I feel like Harry potter world kinda disproves this

As we were discussing in another thread, Harry Potter was the major exception -- both parks have been chasing something that's basically unrepeatable since. There's probably not another IP that offers both the overall market/fan base and settings that are so perfectly suited for theme park translation.

It was unique. That's not to say other IPs can't work as singular lands (Pandora does nicely, e.g.), but it's unlikely any other IP is going to be the kind of hit that Harry Potter was from a theme park perspective.

 

[solidyne]

Len is no pixieduster. Nor is he a doom-and-gloomer. What biases he does have, he makes clear in his podcast. And his data speaks for itself.

 

[SamusAranX]

As we were discussing in another thread, Harry Potter was the major exception -- both parks have been chasing something that's basically unrepeatable since. There's probably not another IP that offers both the overall market/fan base and settings that are so perfectly suited for theme park translation.

It was unique. That's not to say other IPs can't work as singular lands (Pandora does nicely, e.g.), but it's unlikely any other IP is going to be the kind of hit that Harry Potter was from a theme park perspective.

Star Wars had that potential and Disney screwed up so royally. And they aren’t going to reinvest to make it truly what it deserves to be

 

[Chi84]

He’s definitely an influencer. Not dissing his site or his work or any of that. I’ve just noticed there has been a trend to be positive about this particular attraction from all of the theme park “media” websites and personalities.

Could be people like it.

 

[Tha Realest]

He’s definitely an influencer. Not dissing his site or his work or any of that. I’ve just noticed there has been a trend to be positive about this particular attraction from all of the theme park “media” websites and personalities.

Len is not a monolith; Len is legion. There is Len the TP data scientist; this Len shares, through TP and his podcast, and here, the data he collects and what it demonstrates. There is Len the podcaster, which reflects evidence and information he gathers as TP Len and Len, the amusement park enthusiast. There is Len the theme park fan, and that invariably bleeds into his role as podcaster and lastly, Len the message board poster (@lentesta ) where he shares his personal view or snippets of data he collects.

It is worth noting that none of these versions of Len are on a media list, and he often shares data that has cost him a pretty penny to collect.

 

[Agent H]

Star Wars had that potential and Disney screwed up so royally. And they aren’t going to reinvest to make it truly what it deserves to be

I actually really like galaxies edge.

 

[UNCgolf]

Star Wars had that potential and Disney screwed up so royally. And they aren’t going to reinvest to make it truly what it deserves to be

I actually don't think Star Wars did, and I say that as someone who was a bigger Star Wars fan than an HP fan.

While Star Wars has a huge fan base -- probably close to HP, although I'd guess not quite as large -- it doesn't have the setting. There aren't really any major Star Wars locations that most or all fans have desperately wished to visit because it's too transient. It takes place across numerous locations around a galaxy, so there's not a handful of specific iconic places that most people want to see and that also would be easy to translate into a theme park land.

 

[Disstevefan1]

Len is not a monolith; Len is legion. There is Len the TP data scientist; this Len shares, through TP and his podcast, and here, the data he collects and what it demonstrates. There is Len the podcaster, which reflects evidence and information he gathers as TP Len and Len, the amusement park enthusiast. There is Len the theme park fan, and that invariably bleeds into his role as podcaster and lastly, Len the message board poster (@lentesta ) where he shares his personal view or snippets of data he collects.

It is worth noting that none of these versions of Len are on a media list, and he often shares data that has cost him a pretty penny to collect.

@lentesta must be enjoying reading everyone's definition of what @lentesta is

 

[Trauma]

Could be people like it.

This doesn’t matter.

“ Would you rather ride Splash Mountain or Tiana’s Bayou Adventure”

That would be a good question on a survey.

We seem to forget that an attraction was replaced with another using money that could have been spent improving the park elsewhere.

The only justification of this capital expenditure is if the replacement is of higher quality than the original.

So you can like Tiana’s, but if you don’t think it’s a better overall experience than Splash then Disney has wasted their money.

 

[Splash4eva]

This doesn’t matter.

“ Would you rather ride Splash Mountain or Tiana’s Bayou Adventure”

That would be a good question on a survey.

We seem to forget that an attraction was replaced with another using money that could have been spent improving the park elsewhere.

The only justification of this capital expenditure is if the replacement is of higher quality than the original.

So you can like Tiana’s, but if you don’t think it’s a better overall experience than Splash then Disney has wasted their money.

Exactly. I love MMRR but no way would i choose that over TGMR….

 

[Chi84]

This doesn’t matter.

“ Would you rather ride Splash Mountain or Tiana’s Bayou Adventure”

That would be a good question on a survey.

We seem to forget that an attraction was replaced with another using money that could have been spent improving the park elsewhere.

The only justification of this capital expenditure is if the replacement is of higher quality than the original.

So you can like Tiana’s, but if you don’t think it’s a better overall experience than Splash then Disney has wasted their money.

I never cared much for the characters in Splash so it’s an improvement for me.

My kids agree; the grandkids are too young to have experienced Splash.

 

[Disstevefan1]

I never cared much for the characters in Splash so it’s an improvement for me.

My kids agree; the grandkids are too young to have experienced Splash.

There are folks who like Tiana, its not universally disliked.

I wish they could keep it 100 percent functional.

I sincerely thought the main reason for the reskin was to upgrade all the hardware to make the attraction reliable.

Boy was I wrong about that!

 

[Brer Oswald]

I don’t think the question is whether or not it was a waste of money. It obviously was. The question is whether or not it’s bad enough to justify dumping more money into to change it again.

The attraction itself is subpar. Where most of the damage was done was in how they handled the closure and how they took out such a fan favourite to get this attraction “made”. That damage is hard to undo without spending hundreds of millions to revert it to what it was (and then build a new attraction for the PatF fans). I also don’t see them “plussing” the current attraction much cause what’s the point? The people that dislike the attraction won’t suddenly like it. The people that don’t care either way still won’t care either way. Perhaps adding a “certain song” to the finale could change a few minds, but that would be pulling an Imagination 3.0.

I think they will sit on this for a decade or so and then revisit it based on where the park is at. I think it will also depend on the reception of the Villains E Ticket (presuming there even is one).