First Detailed Look Inside Tiana's Bayou Adventure at Walt Disney World

May 29, 2024 in "Tiana's Bayou Adventure"

'We Call It Imagineering' Tiana's Bayou Adventure sneak peek
Posted: Wednesday May 29, 2024 7:38pm ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

The latest installment of Disney's 'We Call It Imagineering' YouTube series takes us behind the scenes of how music is created for attractions and entertainment and includes the first detailed look inside Tiana's Bayou Adventure.


These first glimpses inside Tiana's Bayou Adventure confirm the mixed use of Audio-Animatronics, detailed physical sets, and projections.


The ride's story marks a new chapter for Tiana as she grows her business and as a thank you to her community for their support, she's throwing a party during Mardi Gras season. When it turns out there's been a mix up in the preparations and she's missing a band, Tiana invites us on a journey through the bayou discovering both friends familiar and anew for this last ingredient – musical critters!

After the thrilling drop, you'll soon approach Tiana and friends at her mansion, where Louis conducts a jazz band filled with all the critters we met on our journey. They play "Special Spice" along with Prince Naveen playing his ukulele and Prince Ralphie the drums. We've discovered the "Special Spice" making this joyful, one-of-a-kind celebration complete is in fact YOU. The melody continues as we approach Mama Odie, who acknowledges that this party wouldn't be what it is without you.



The sneak peek video from Imagineering, which you can watch below, shows the ride's loading area, show scenes, animatronics, the finale scene, and a listen to the all-new original song "Special Spice," composed for the ride by PJ Morton with vocals by Anika Noni Rose, the original voice of Princess Tiana.

Disney has announced preview opportunities for Tiana's Bayou Adventure at Magic Kingdom, which will run from June 2 through June 26, 2024, for various groups, including Cast Members, DVC members, media, Club 33 members, and Annual Passholders. The official opening for all guests is set for June 28, 2024.

Watch another short video below from Walt Disney Imagineering that shows more views of the ride during composer PJ Morton's visit.

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EagleScout6105 hours ago

I completely forgot they're planning on closing Big Thunder. That'll be disasterous for Frontierland if Bayou can't operate for a full day and BTMRR is down.

monothingie6 hours ago

BTM is planned to be closing for an extended refurbishment imminently. TBA as a new ride was unlikely to close this winter. Without TBA you have an entire land without a major attraction and a severe hit to capacity. They've painted themselves into a corner in terms of what they can do.

Mike S9 hours ago

Finally rode it myself. What a downgrade. Splash Mountain was a ride I could go on again and again every trip. This? Once is enough if I’m even feeling like it. Can’t wait to go to Tokyo one day just to see it again.

EagleScout61010 hours ago

The way I see it, they have two options - A. Shut down TBA less than a month after opening it to fix the bugs B. Wait until winter (when they would usually refurbish Splash) to take it down and fix it then. The issue becomes, do they admit their new ride can't function properly when the old one worked (admittedly less so at the end), or let it close multiple times a day for a good chunk of its debut season?

EricsBiscuit11 hours ago

IIRC it took them a while to fix FEA too. Within a couple months they’ll fine tune it.

monothingie14 hours ago

The problem with TBA is that they are unable or unwilling to fix it at this point. Unable because the problem can not be resolved without extended downtime. Unwilling because shutting it down for a month or more would be a tremendous embarrassment. Ironically I think more guests would be less critical of an unplanned refurbishment to get it working properly, than to have it breakdown for half the day on a constant basis. But I guess that would bruise some pretty inflated egos at the company.

EricsBiscuit22 hours ago

FEA is a very apt comparison. Both rides are enjoyable but had rough openings and are objectively not as good as what they replaced.

co1006422 hours ago

This attraction’s opening reminds me of FEA in so many ways. I wasn’t following the opening of FEA very closely, but I remember there being substantial downtime and ride evacs early on. I don’t know what changed to get the ride more reliable, but hopefully they can fix it soon! It’s very disappointing when you plan to experience a new attraction on a (very expensive) vacation but don’t get that opportunity.

MisterPenguin22 hours ago

MisterPenguin22 hours ago

BrerFoxesBayouAdventure22 hours ago

One can only hope DL's version isn't as pitiful in terms of operation.

lightningtap3471 day ago

This is egregiously bad too as today's a day where we didn't have any rain. Today was the day NOT to have this happen.

monothingie1 day ago

7 hours of total downtime today. Just the latest continuing example of a day in which the ride was down just as much as it was up. They can’t fix this thing and they can’t shut it down for an extended refurbishment so soon, so they’re just going to let it limp along and get progressively worse and downplay any vocal complaints about these problems. This was so predictable. Shame on the shills who gaslighted anyone critical of this mess. Congratulations Disney you built a mediocre attraction\

Professortango13 days ago

Roasting big wigs is a big part of industry events.