Disney gives reporters a first look inside Tiana's Bayou Adventure at Magic Kingdom

Jan 17, 2024 in "Tiana's Bayou Adventure"

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Posted: Wednesday January 17, 2024 3:30pm ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Disney is entering the final stages of transforming Walt Disney World and Disneyland's Splash Mountain attractions into Tiana's Bayou Adventure, and a few lucky reporters have been given a hard-hat tour inside for a look at the progress.

First look inside Tiana's Bayou Adventure

Mike Scott from NOLA.com was one of the reporters to go inside Tiana's Bayou Adventure, and you can read his full report at NOLA.

Here are some takeaways from the tour, led by Ted Robledo, Executive Creative Director of Walt Disney Imagineering.

Concept and Design: The retheme starts from the ride queue area, with storytelling elements integrated throughout. A mural by Malaika Favorite and various New Orleans-inspired artistic touches are featured. The first floor of the barn, that was the entrance to Splash Mountain, now houses the main offices for Tiana's Foods business.

Malaika Favorite mural at Tiana's Bayou Adventure

Integration of New Orleans Culture: The attraction includes a soundscape with New Orleans music, scents like beignets, and contributions from local artists and musicians like Terence Blanchard, Darryl Reeves, P.J. Morton, and the Chase family. In the outdoor queue, speakers will broadcast an old-timey radio show featuring reimagined New Orleans classics.

Ride Changes and Features: The ride maintains the same track and ride vehicles as Splash Mountain but incorporates new elements like native Louisiana flora, animatronic swamp animals, and scenes involving Tiana and other characters from the movie.

First look inside Tiana's Bayou Adventure

The loading area where guests board the ride vehicles includes cranes hoisting pallets of crates marked "Tiana's Foods," reinforcing the notion that it is a working food operation which Tiana founded after the events of The Princess and the Frog movie.

Tiana's Bayou Adventure set-piece delivery

Advanced AA Technology: The attraction uses advanced animatronics similar to those in Hong Kong Disneyland's World of Frozen, meaning we should see real physical faces, not projections. Tiana will make multiple appearances, seeking guests help to find a missing element for a Mardi Gras celebration she's planning.

Louis Audio-Animatronic figure at Walt Disney Imagineering

Tiana's Bayou Adventure - Concept art of first drop into the bayou

Preservation and Adaptation: While much of the interior architecture will be retained from Splash Mountain, new additions have been made. According to Walt Disney Imagineering, the tree trunk from the old attraction was removed to accommodate new elements.

Tiana's Bayou Adventure construction - January 10 2024

Final Surprise: Reporters were not allowed into the finale scene, and the tour stopped just before the Laughing Place scene. Robeledo said, "I'll just say it's got a lot to do with magic. It's a magical moment that happens down there."

Tiana's Bayou Adventure opens in 2024 at Walt Disney World and Disneyland. The earliest and most optimistic estimates place opening around Memorial Day (late May) at Magic Kingdom, but Disney has yet to make any announcement beyond "2024."

Tiana's Bayou Adventure logo

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celluloid8 hours ago

. It has been the trend with many attractions recently, either new or what they were replaced by. The attraction's throughline does not mimic the events of the movie. This is different than directly recreating like a retelling. In many a theme park design, this is mimic through putting guests in similar conflicts that will evoke or put them feeling like the protagonist shoes of those stories. So often the guests will have a call to celebrate or emotional triumph moment. A key in emotional storytelling for the medium. Nothing that has been shared publicly have given this about the attraction (and nothing I and some others have seen have done this either) and it is par for the course as the post I quoted in my original post you are asking about mentions. It has a property with a nice invitation to have all of these things that made the film a good story and translate well, and not many of them were utilized.

_caleb10 hours ago

I’ve read all the pages in this thread (and in the other 2 TBA threads). Your post didn’t make sense to me, which is why I asked. What I’m especially curious about, though, is your statement that TBA does not include conflict or “substance triumphs when invited to mimic the success.” You posted it as a statement of fact, but I suspect it’s more of an assumption. I’m eager to learn what WDI has put together for the storyline of TBA. Despite all the teasers and snippets they’ve shared, there still seems to be a lot that’s unknown (case in point, the speculation about the fog effect at the top of the drop).

celluloid10 hours ago

There are about 500 of the 615 pages here that do a pretty good job of it. Or the quote directly above my post if you want a quick summary.

Homemade Imagineering10 hours ago

This is what I’m hoping most for TBA so as long as it delivers strong on this front, I will be far more forgiving towards a weak storyline

_caleb10 hours ago

Would you explain what “substance triumphs when invited to mimic the success” means, and how you know TBA doesn’t have it?

ToTBellHop10 hours ago

Well that’s fair. Maybe it‘ll work better than I imagine. Excited to see it, regardless. They don’t give us AA tour-de-forces any more.

Bayou10 hours ago

Storylines of rides should never too complicated. That's why Frozen Journey in Tokyo Disney doesn't work super well as a standalone ride without the context of the film it was based on.

Epcot82Guy13 hours ago

Gas Mountain...

ToTBellHop14 hours ago

Now that you mention it, this will be to the left of the log on the final lift hill:

SilentWindODoom14 hours ago

I remember it sweeping over everyone, and thought it way being released from the wheels as well to emulate braking. Perhaps, in the end, it's merely a matter of weather patterns? If I'd seen the effect on a windy day, then the mist out the back could fill everything and even be blown forward with the train and there you go.

𝕴𝖒𝖆𝖌𝖎𝖓𝖊𝖊𝖗9715 hours ago

Actual dialogue from the attraction: "Thanks, Mama O--oh dear, "

mickEblu15 hours ago

Mama Odie had a little too much gumbo last night?

𝕴𝖒𝖆𝖌𝖎𝖓𝖊𝖊𝖗9715 hours ago

To the extent that anything in this attraction "makes sense," it seems like something like this SHOULD happen. I mean, otherwise, what's the point of going to Mama Odie's house and having steam blown in our faces?

mickEblu15 hours ago

It's either a tiny snippet buried in one of her universal podcasts or she deleted it. But then again did she ever make the initial claim? I think it was the guest on her show who said that.