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

[Brer Panther]

I realized something after watching a video of Disneyland's version. Splash Mountain had a bit of variety to its scenes. The "storyline" scenes with Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox, and Brer Bear had scenes without those characters sandwiched in between them - before seeing the Brers, we saw the Geese. Then after the first scene with the Brers, we saw the porcupine, raccoon, and young bunnies sweeping. Then after the scene with Brer Bear in the rabbit trap, we had Brer Frog and Brer Gator, the roadrunner, and the possums. In the Laughin' Place, after we saw the Brers, we had the scene with the frogs, turtles, and weasels.

Here, it's just scene after scene of Tiana and Louis encountering animals. Sandwiched in between them, we have... nothing, until we get to Mama Odie shrinking us for whatever reason. Even in the Laughin' Place with the oversized frogs, we have creepy CGI Tiana and Louis staring at us. It makes for a very repetitive ride.

Also, is it just me, or are the animatronics bigger than Splash Mountain's? Was that intentional?

 

[Tha Realest]

Been busy in real life so still catching up, but did the Imagineers use all this extra time to plus up this version over WDW or nah?

 

[mickEblu]

Been busy in real life so still catching up, but did the Imagineers use all this extra time to plus up this version over WDW or nah?

They added Dr Facilier but it doesn’t really work for me and I kind of like MKs version more.

 

[Brer Oswald]

Been busy in real life so still catching up, but did the Imagineers use all this extra time to plus up this version over WDW or nah?

It's as close to a clone as you could get between the two. Which is surprising given that the original Splash and MK's Splash were anything but clones of each other.

 

[EricsBiscuit]

I just got back from a WDW trip, during which I was able to ride Tiana’s Bayou Adventure twice. Some aspects of it were better in person, others worse. I’ll start with the positives:

The attraction looks very good from the rest of Frontierland. I was never particularly worried about whether it would blend in, but it does, and it actually adds something quite beautiful to that particular corner of the land, especially when lit up at night.

As for the ride itself, the part before you’re shrunk is much more effective than it comes across on video. The bayou environments are all very lush (I don’t really get the complaints about empty space), and the musical critters are charming and move as they ought to (it’s been brought up repeatedly that they’re not true animatronics, but they’re perfectly well-suited to the job as they are).

Now for the less positive things:

The signage and graphic work are truly dreadful. I didn’t think they could look worse in real life, but they really do, with the exception of the main attraction sign, which is rather pretty, and everything in Critter Co-op, which was clearly worked on by a different (and superior) team.

With a couple of exceptions, the screens really don’t look good, especially in the “shrunken” scene. The worst offender, as others have noted, is the screen showing a giant Tiana and Louis looking in on us—and it doesn’t help that the computer-animated Tiana looks off (on which note, while I don’t think she should have been wearing her princess gown during the bayou scenes, I did come away from the attraction feeling she appears somehow bland and charmless among all those animals).

Most of the animatronics were working, but each of the Mama Odies had its own issues both times I went on the attraction (on two separate days). Even with the animatronics that do work, you experience that weird and awkward pause as they wait for your log to approach.

I have no fundamental issue with the plot of the ride (threadbare though it is), but the way it’s conveyed leaves a lot to be desired. Both times I rode, the timing of the first Mama Odie screen (one of the few that looked good) was off, such that one couldn’t hear the dialogue properly before being shrunk. Had I not already known the story, I would have been mystified as to what what happening.

All in all, it’s about what I expected based on the ride-through videos, even if certain elements were better or worse firsthand. Experiencing it in person certainly hasn’t made me miss Splash Mountain less—quite the opposite.

Same here. Now, each time I ride TBA, all I can think about is “that’s where Brer Frog used to be,” or something similar about each scene. It’s hard to enjoy what’s there now when I know what used to be there.

 

[Professortango1]

I think Disneyland's is even worse honestly. The vast reduction in the amount of figures (which was already a problem at WDW) is even more glaring at DL due to the sheer number that it had and are now gone and leaving empty space. And the environment detail IMO is a noticeable step down from our variant too. There appears to be an even greater amount of dark empty space and comparatively less foliage in some areas too. Here's an example-

View attachment 821711

The Tiana's Foods banner atop the second lift is also somehow even more ugly and inappropriate than WDW's-

View attachment 821713

Both signs are ugly and forced. The WDW frog log does look better, but that's about all that looks better at WDW's. I like the WDW frog log, the decor around the Odie door while circling the exterior, and the jumping fountains in the old Laughin' Place. The rest is clearly better in Disneylands for me. The slow nature of WDW made Splash feel dragged out as it was, but with the lack of other characters and scenes, it makes TBA so boring.

 

[Brer Oswald]

Same here. Now, each time I ride TBA, all I can think about is “that’s where Brer Frog used to be,” or something similar about each scene. It’s hard to enjoy what’s there now when I know what used to be there.

The only scene I was able to take myself out of the Splash context was the party scene at the end. That lasts for all of 10 seconds before the unfavourable comparisons to Splash started back up once I hit the tunnel to where Brer Rabbit used to be.

 

[EricsBiscuit]

The only scene I was able to take myself out of the Splash context was the party scene at the end. That lasts for all of 10 seconds before the unfavourable comparisons to Splash started back up once I hit the tunnel to where Brer Rabbit used to be.

That’s the worst one for me. I miss the riverboat!

 

[mickEblu]

]

That’s the worst one for me. I miss the riverboat!

Which they could have easily kept.

 

[Brer Oswald]

That’s the worst one for me. I miss the riverboat!

I miss it too. But the atmosphere of the scene is different enough that I was able to convince myself I was in a different ride (as opposed to the fairly obvious gutted Splash vibe given off by all the other scenes).

 

[Epcot81Fan]

Just checking:

Why in the pointless “shrink to get inaudible frog band” portion are the fireflies 2D animation and Tiana/Louis 3D in the exact same scene?

 

[James Alucobond]

Just checking:

Why in the pointless “shrink to get inaudible frog band” portion are the fireflies 2D animation and Tiana/Louis 3D in the exact same scene?

I think that, IIRC, the fireflies might be taken directly from the film? Someone can correct me on that if I’m wrong, but yeah, it doesn’t look great. The 3D stuff should be cel-shaded way more to blend it in better, but 3D graphics across the parks have frequently been poor with a few exceptions.

 

[EagleScout610]

Here's all the dialogue for Tiana's Bayou Adventure. Made because I was bored and had some time to kill-

Scene 1- Mill
[Tiana] “Hey there y’all are! Louis is up ahead, let’s join him and find a band for our celebration! To the bayou!”
[Tiana] “Welcome y’all! Let’s meet up with Louis and find some musicians for our party! Look out bayou, here we come!”
[Tiana] “Hey y’all, thanks for helpin’ me look for musicians for our party tonight! Louis, they’re on their way!”


Scene 2 – Garden/Slippin’ Falls
[Louis] “Yoo-hoo! Any bands down there?! Come out, come out, wherever you are!”
[Louis] “Yoo-hoo! Calling all musicians! Man, it’s hard to find a band in the bog!”
[Louis] “Hello? Anyone down here who can blow a horn and jam? Hello?!”

[Mama Odie] “If you’re lookin’ for musicians, ya don’t have far to go! Tell the people Mama told ya so! Ah-hahaha!”
[Mama Odie] “Gumbo gumbo in a pot. We need a band, whatcha got?”

Scene 3 – Zydeco
[Louis] “Tiana was right! There are musicians out here, and they are cooking!”
[Tiana] They’re the bee’s knees! I would love for y’all to play at my party!”

[Louis] “Tiana wasn’t kidding y’all! This zydeco band she found sure can play! Hallelujah!”
[Tiana] “They sure can play! We’ll ask them to join the band for sure!”

Scene 4- Rara
[Louis] “Tiana you were right! The bayou’s got just what we need!”
[Louis] “My, my! This Rara band can jammmm!!!!”
[Louis] “Mmmm, listen to this! These cats CAN PLAAAY!!!”

Scene 5 – Louis Butt
[Tiana] “I’m asking all of them to play at the party! But we need to keep searching high and low!”
[Louis] “How low can I go?!”

[Tiana] “I hope they all come to the party to play, but let’s explore a little more!”
[Louis] “How’s this?”

Scene 6 – Dip Drop
[Mama Odie] “Time to think big! Time to get tiny!” (Tiny echoes as the log drops)
[Mama Odie] “Y’all ready to get down to business? Ah-hahah!!!”
[Mama Odie] “Unusual places hides unusual talent!”
[Mama Odie] “Talent’s everywhere if ya dig down deep enough! Ah- hahaha!”

[Tiana] “Where’d our friends go?”
[Louis] “I dunno!”
[Tiana] “We have to find them!”

Scene 7 – Tiana and Louis Peer In

[Louis] “Hmmmm, y’all got itty bitty little buddies!”
[Tiana] “But you found the sound I was craving!”

[Louis] “Y’all small as frogs!”
[Tiana] “Ha! Been there, done that! But you found the sound I was craving!”

[Louis] “Wow! This joint is hopping!”
[Tiana] “These tiny musicians you found really bring the heat!”

[Louis] “Huh?! How’d you get so teeny-weeny?”
[Tiana] “These tiny musicians you found really bring the heat!”

Scene 8 – Big Lift Hill

[Mama Odie] “Let’s getcha big again, ‘cause the bigger you are, the bigger the Splash you’ll make at the party!”
[Mama Odie] “Ah-haha! Hope y’all enjoyed getting tiny! Now let’s get y’all back to your big, beautiful selves!”
[Mama Odie] “Juju says its time I getcha back to size! Invite all your tiny friends to tag along too!”

Scene 9 – Big Drop

[Mama Odie] “Now let’s getcha to the party! You’ll get there in no time, guaranteed! Hang on y’all! This is gonna be good!”

Scene 10 – Finale
[Mama Odie] “I knew y’all would make a big Splash at this party! Ah-haha! See y’all again soon!”
[Mama Odie] -Juju pops up- “Juju! Beignets are for guests!”
[Mama Odie] -Juju pops up- “Juju! Be careful with my beignets you bad boy!”
[Mama Odie] “Remember, this party wouldn’t be what it is without you! Ah- Haha! Bye!”
[Mama Odie] “Tiana sure knows how to make a party special! Hee-hee!”
[Mama Odie] – Juju pops up- “Juju!”
[Mama Odie] “What a band!”

 

[mickEblu]

Just checking:

Why in the pointless “shrink to get inaudible frog band” portion are the fireflies 2D animation and Tiana/Louis 3D in the exact same scene?

They must have wrote that part of the script the day they were doing AA Tiana’s hair with an authentic hotcomb.

 

[JohnD]

So why’s this ride broken down so much? Looks like it was running a total of 90 minutes from 9-6 yesterday.

I'm reading this in late October and you wrote this in late August. The reason is that these AAs react due to the motion of the logs coming near them. This wasn't needed with Splash. Guests could figure out what was going on. But Tiana needs AAs to describe the plot as you float through. Bad concept IMHO.

 

[ᗩLᘿᑕ ✨ ᗩζᗩᗰ]

Just checking:

Why in the pointless “shrink to get inaudible frog band” portion are the fireflies 2D animation and Tiana/Louis 3D in the exact same scene?

#truebayoumagic

 

[ᗩLᘿᑕ ✨ ᗩζᗩᗰ]

I think that, IIRC, the fireflies might be taken directly from the film? Someone can correct me on that if I’m wrong, but yeah, it doesn’t look great. The 3D stuff should be cel-shaded way more to blend it in better, but 3D graphics across the parks have frequently been poor with a few exceptions.

Ray's firefly kin and the fireflies swirling through the log are 100% recycled from the movie.

 

[WorldExplorer]

Imagine the amount of things they could have done to improve the park with that 140 million dollars if they hadn't invested it in making the park worse.

 

[Brer Panther]

it’s hard to find a band in the bog!

Then why are you looking for a band IN THE BOG, Louis? There are other places in New Orleans to find musicians, aren't there?

they are cooking

Oh, good! Because with Tiana's luck, Naveen probably forgot to invite caterers for the party too.

but let’s explore a little more

"Why? We've already got a pretty good band."
"Yeah, but what we really need are tiny musicians most of the people at the party probably won't even notice. Like, I dunno, frogs."
"...why do we need music-playing frogs?"
"Because shut up, that's why."

Invite all your tiny friends to tag along too

This line implies that she's going to make the musician frogs gigantic too. That's a pretty amusing mental image.

“Juju! Beignets are for guests!”

Is she implying that Juju isn't a guest? And is the Juju animatronic even in the Disneyland version?

 

[BrerFoxesBayouAdventure]

Is she implying that Juju isn't a guest? And is the Juju animatronic even in the Disneyland version?

He is but the animatronic's been broken during testing.