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

[akileese]

That's what I thought, but since we're seeing videos of lights flickering, blank screens, and static AAs, I wasn't sure.

We're seeing a lot more static AAs today, but also the ride isn't taking four hour outages either so there may be a bit of a correlation there. If I had to guess, they made some heavy tweaks to the sensor activations to prevent it from shutting down, but I'm basing this on absolutely nothing other than seeing the same AA behavior in a lot of videos today.

I saw the one blog mickey video with the blinking lights, were there others or just that one?

 

[_caleb]

We're seeing a lot more static AAs today, but also the ride isn't taking four hour outages either so there may be a bit of a correlation there. If I had to guess, they made some heavy tweaks to the sensor activations to prevent it from shutting down, but I'm basing this on absolutely nothing other than seeing the same AA behavior in a lot of videos today.

I saw the one blog mickey video with the blinking lights, were there others or just that one?

I’ve been following these updates:

 

[AdventureHasAName]

I've noticed the show scene troubles are well documented at this point so I apologize if this has already been mentioned among those. But a recent video from a vlogger I saw had a broken Mama Odie on the final lift hill, too. Only her mouth was moving, the rest of her was static.

Somehow, this super advanced animatronic has ended up with less movement than Brer Rabbit did in this moment. The heck is going on over there?!

Get the strobe light (and the excuses).

 

[co10064]

Unfortunately I’m afraid they tried a bit too hard with the new log-activated animatronic synchronization. Hopefully they can get it worked out. At worst, maybe they could reprogram the animatronics to loop continuously and independently of the log vehicles.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

At worst, maybe they could reprogram the animatronics to loop continuously and independently of the log vehicles.

If the other attractions are any indication that is far from the worst that WDW is capable of.

 

[Mr. Sullivan]

I understood it just fine when I was 11. To make it even more clear, the drop led into the briar patch. His home at the start was the briar patch.

Some people did it get it. Many did not, myself and my whole family included. And that’s even with my parents riding it in its opening year.

The storyline and events of Splash just were not all that clear to a large portion of the audience. Some got it most definitely, but I’ve experienced conversations with many people who were unaware there was even a through narrative and not just a bunch of disconnected vignettes.

 

[Mr. Sullivan]

So what, exactly do we think is the problem? Computers? Electrical? Sensors?
Whatever it is, it seems like it's affecting multiple systems...

I saw a tweet today mentioning that some CMs have said some of the lighting issues are the same ones Splash was having in its final years. So it seems to me that there’s some carry over of the original attraction’s problems that are being amplified by and playing out alongside the issues with the new modern systems that have been introduced during the refit.

As I’m sure many have noted it isn’t uncommon for an attraction with new systems to have headaches during its opening (especially when its not a ground up system). Unfortunately it just seems that they’re struggling to troubleshoot it right now. The new systems they’ve applied are a fair bit more complex than what was originally there and I’m sure its a challenge to correct them while also correct decades old issues at the same time.

 

[Tha Realest]

I saw a tweet today mentioning that some CMs have said some of the lighting issues are the same ones Splash was having in its final years. So it seems to me that there’s some carry over of the original attraction’s problems that are being amplified by and playing out alongside the issues with the new modern systems that have been introduced during the refit.

As I’m sure many have noted it isn’t uncommon for an attraction with new systems to have headaches during its opening (especially when its not a ground up system). Unfortunately it just seems that they’re struggling to troubleshoot it right now. The new systems they’ve applied are a fair bit more complex than what was originally there and I’m sure its a challenge to correct them while also correct decades old issues at the same time.

Should have built a different, or new, ride.

Or, figured it out over the last year and a half. Oh well.

 

[brettf22]

One question I had after my ride. We got stopped right before the shrinking drop, right past the sitting Tiana. I was directly across from the Louis animatronic with his head stuck in the ground. As we sat there, I noticed a vertical piece of tree/rock work directly off the right hand side of the vehicle that was so close, I could easily touch it with my whole hand, without leaning out at all. It was, at most, a foot from the log, at face level. Was this there during Splash? I can’t imagine why they would place something so close to the human envelope of the ride.

Another interesting thing was that the Tiana and Louis animatronics stopped talking after a minute or so of logs being stopped in this area. But they didn’t freeze. They just made subtle movements, bopping along with the music, as if they were just waiting for things to start back up. Very cool. The Mama Odie animation, however, never stopped.

 

[gerarar]

Recap on the second operational day for the public (technically APs..):

• 7am drop lasted for 24 mins, versus yesterday's ~2 hours. Seems like APs with a MK reservation were more proactive to getting a BG right away after yesterday's situation.
• 1pm drop only lasted for about 1 sec. This is somewhat of a surprise because there were no extended downtimes leading up to the 1pm drop. Maybe the afternoon 1pm drop really only has a limited allotment/supply to account for any downtimes in the afternoon.

Now for the downtimes:

• It failed to open with the official park open again at 9am. Opened for BGs at 9:39am.
• Then at around 1:45pm, it closed for another ~1.5 hours.
• Around 4:30pm, it closed for 30 mins.
• Then at 6:29pm, it stopped calling BGs and would not call anymore BGs for the rest of the night. The park closes at 11pm, so there was about another 4 hours of operational time. Could also be they ran out of BGs to call, but I doubt.

So in total, 376 mins, or ~6 hours 16 mins of total downtime today.
Magic Kingdom was open for 14 hours today, so it was closed for ~44% of the day.

A little bit better than yesterday's downtime of 7 hours, but still not good and ideal.
There are no AP previews tomorrow 6/15.

Day 2 Stats Recap in TBA VQ thread:

Final Day 2 Stats (6/14) [Day 2/6 AP previews]:
7am: 1413.2 secs, or ~24 mins
1pm: 1.4 secs*
*the morning 7am drop lasted longer than afternoon 1pm drop

BG 119 (+19) is the last BG called for the day at 6:29pm.

Notable stoppages:
9:00 - 9:39am
1:45 - 3:17pm
4:36 - 5:10pm
6:29 - 10:00pm (could be no more BG's left to call?)

Average pace: 5mins/BG until 5pm, 2mins/BG from 7pm to close.

VQ Drop Mean/Average:
7am: 24m -> 24m (+0)
1pm: 1.4s -> 1.4s (+0)

That does it for Day 2 of Tiana' Bayou Adventure!
View attachment 791930

 

[FinallyThereTiana]

Jennifer Lewis, Mama Odie's voice, got stuck on the ride and she ended up singing Dig a Little Deeper.

I love Jennifer Lewis and I love Mama Odie! I'm glad to see she's enjoying herself and enjoying the ride! Wish I was there with them having fun... *sigh*

 

[Tha Realest]

I love Jennifer Lewis and I love Mama Odie! I'm glad to see she's enjoying herself and enjoying the ride! Wish I was there with them having fun... *sigh*

Welcome to the boards! Enjoy your time here.

 

[easyrowrdw]

There were storms in the area in the early evening that shut down the outdoor rides. They cleared the queue at Tiana’s at some point. I was in the 6:29 callback group. When I arrived at 7:25 I think they had just reopened. It was essentially a walk-on. As I exited the ride I heard guests arriving at the line saying they’d been cleared earlier. I saw the line at 4:00 and it was winding all around outside. I wonder if they didn’t call more groups because so many people were sent off throughout the day?

 

[wdwgreek]

Two quick questions which I have not seen discussed. 1. Can you see the finale scene from the train station?
2. Have they updated the riverboat narrative to address the Salt Dome or Tinana in any way?

 

[Brer Panther]

In regards to everyone wondering if Disney will improve the ride or tweak it or whatever, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say no.

You're on thin ice Mr. Toad, Twilight Zone, Tiki Room, and Aerosmith.

You joke, but I'd be shocked any of those attractions survived under Iger's leadership.

Rides tend to look better in person, what a shocker. Though actually, not always. Some actually look worse (Little Mermaid is one such example as all of the flaws with the lack of detail, exposed ceiling structure, poor scale of scenes/characters and lighting are magnified tenfold). And i've seen at least a few people who HAVE ridden TBA who say it looks worse in person. Flat video projection tends to look much worse in person, since it contrasts poorly and looks much more dim and blurry against 3-dimensional sets.

The complaints that most people have levied about the ride however are not things that would be improved by riding in person. You're not fixing the lack of AA's, basic moving props, empty stretches of nothing, the stupid dialog and story, worse songs etc by riding it in person.

Yeah, I'm not buying the "oh, you can't judge it from a ride video, you have to go on it!" excuse. The Ratatouille ride didn't look any more impressive to me when I rode it when it did in the POV. It feels like just another excuse for pro-rethemers to move the goalposts and shut up any criticism of the ride.

The animatronics are exceptionally impressive.

Yeah, the Louis ones, maybe. The miscellaneous animals are about as "impressive" as the ones in the Little Mermaid ride.

Nowhere do they talk about trying to make this ride more fun and entertaining than Splash Mountain.

Well said.

View attachment 791307
The original Mondo

Y'know what? A Princess and the Frog attraction in the style of "Timon and Pumbaa's Virtual Safari 1.5" would be a lot more fun than Tiana's Bayou Adventure.

Imagine it: Louis decides to build his own ride, and he invites us, Tiana and Naveen to go on it. The entire thing is filled with plywood cutouts and obviously fake sets, there are spoofs of other Disney attractions along the way, and none of the effects are working. And eventually the vehicle goes off the track and smashes through the wall and out of the building. But at least you get an on-ride photo!

That projection is complete cringe.

The way Tiana and Louis move their heads in that projection, and the looks they have on their faces, just looks weird. And definitely cringy.

The CG model of Tiana doesn't even really look like her, imo.

That CGI animation is so bad (even Chicken Little had better animation than that!). Tiana - both the animatronics and the CGI version on that screen - looks tremendously off-model. I'm beginning to doubt that Walt Disney Animation Studios actually did the animation for this ride like that one press release claimed.

 

[Incomudro]

Some people did it get it. Many did not, myself and my whole family included. And that’s even with my parents riding it in its opening year.

The storyline and events of Splash just were not all that clear to a large portion of the audience. Some got it most definitely, but I’ve experienced conversations with many people who were unaware there was even a through narrative and not just a bunch of disconnected vignettes.

I got it to the extent of that the rabbit was being perused by the fox and bear, and ultimately escaped and found his way to Home Sweet Home again.
I didn't get that he live in the briar patch and used reverse psychology on the fox to get tossed back into it again.
Chalk that up to the dialog not being clearly audible, and rides spaced a minimum of one year apart from each other.

 

[HonorableMention]

Can’t post the video here but a certain site uploaded a ridethrough yesterday and it had the most animatronic issues I’ve seen so far:

- First Louis and Tiana figures in the bayou didn’t trigger, and instead did their idle animations while their dialogue played (may have been intentional to help with sensor issues and to keep the ride operating)

- Finale Tiana only had movement in her head (which looks creepy)

- Finale Mama Odie was completely static

I really think Disney should reframe this as a technical rehearsal rather than an AP preview.

 

[Mr. Sullivan]

Should have built a different, or new, ride.

Or, figured it out over the last year and a half. Oh well.

Agree to disagree, I suppose.

I look forward to them getting it sorted and enjoying this the way its intended to be seen.

 

[ConfettiCupcake]

Technical rehearsal would imply this attraction isn’t always going to be running with some AAs and effects at less than 100%. I’m not sure this isn’t going to somewhat be the norm.

 

[DisneyHead123]

Random thought - I was watching the Imagineering documentary on D+ yesterday and saw the moving sparkly light effect in Mystic Manor. Wonder why they didn’t use that for the fireflies in TBA? It seems like an obvious fit. Also could have filled in some of the quieter areas with cool effects.