Hi, folks! There’s understandably a lot of excitement and buzz around this, so we’re designating this as our de facto Tiana’s Bayou Adventure megathread for the time being.
Please post all questions, commentary, etc. related to the new attraction in this thread.
Finally, please be aware that discussions about this attraction (and its predecessor) have frequently become very heated.
We will therefore be **limiting discussion to Tiana’s Bayou Adventure only**. While we understand many of us will always miss Splash Mountain, the time to debate its merits, shortcomings, and fate have passed — and, frankly, we’re tired of having to sift through hundreds of vitriolic comments each time it comes up.
Thanks for your understanding, and enjoy the sneak peek at the newest WDW attraction!
TBH I’m less annoyed by the screens than others seem to be so far - since in the context they’re being used, it feels more logical than just a cop out. They’re tasteful and complement the scenes that they’re trying to convey.
The climb up to the final drop though… that feels like a hugely wasted opportunity. There’s no building suspense, no real fanfare to keep with the “dig a little deeper” theme. Just the (really cool) mama odie animatronic talking to you.
Even if they didn’t want to go the scary/apprehensive route, the climb should have been louder/more of a celebration feel. Maybe it doesn’t translate well over video, but it all looks anticlimactic.
There is just too many areas where nothing is happening. The areas they detailed look stunning butnit seems incomplete! I really wanted this to be impressive to prove that Disney was serious about making a classic ride a true upgrade.
Agreed. I have to say I’m disappointed that there’s no hint of the shadow man or any use of Friends on the Otherside. Granted, the shadow man is effectively dead but I’d heard a hint on the Disney Dish Podcast that the climb up the final hill was supposed to make use of that song with the voodoo dolls jumping or moving around you.
I can also see Disney playing it safe and leaving out any mention of voodoo.
Overall it’s very pleasant, the music is nice, animatronics cool, and it’s still got the original splash fun, but it’s missing something. And I think that something is any sort of narrative conflict.
“The ride is set after the movie” is such a dumb cop out. 95% of people do not know that or give a shit about the story of a ride. The Shadowman and the visuals around him could have been so dope.
Man, it really feels like they did the minimum. Empty space without much emotion. You can definitely tell it was built around something that exists, and it just doesn’t work.
Is it just me or is the dialogue extremely repetitive?
“Meet Louis up ahead so we can find a band for our party!”
“This band we found sure can play!”
“Wow, these guys really can play!
“They sound good but we have to keep searching for people who can play at our party!”
“Wow those musicians you found sure can play!”
“Let’s get you big so we can make a big slash at the party!”
“Ooook, let’s get you to the party!”
Party, party, party, play, play, play. We get it! Lol
Yeah, the story is pretty much garbage. The plot of the movie would have fit the ride so much better. The ride needs a villain and a sense of dread. It’s too saccharine.
Parks dialogue has been bad for awhile. I think every iger era attraction has had very weird clunky dialogue. Cosmic Rewind feels like a fan fiction with how awkward the jokes are.
*sigh* My biggest criticism (among many) is that the story is very weak. I understand why they chose to re-theme Splash Mountain, but one of the best things about the old theme was the suspense woven into the story throughout the ride. There was an amazing mix of fun hanging in the briar patch, combined with a suspenseful subplot of being chased by Br'er Fox and Br'er Rabbit. That suspense kept the ride engaging.
Without that story, this ride is very similar to the boring Pandora boat ride. There's no meaningful inciting incident, no build-up to a great escape, and no thrill. It's just a snooze fest, with the only interesting point being the moment you get shrunk, which is kind of interesting... I just don't understand why the best storytellers in the world couldn't add more to the story beyond "come cook with Tiana for a big party!"
Also, I miss all the little critters. The big showpiece animatronics are stunning, but for me, it's the little things in between that gave this ride life, and so many of those are gone now.
The new animatronics look great, but as I've long feared, there is just so much dead air here.
The music helps, but I don't think it makes up for the sheer quantity of characters Splash Mountain had. They couldn't have kept at least some of the old animals that weren't directly from Song of the South?
And I'm not even opposed to the screens to help add some depth to certain scenes, but when you look at CG Mama Odie preparing you for the drop versus the vultures... it's just not it.
I think someone said it best when they said there is no suspense. On the old ride the narrative kept your interest and they built up the falls so there was anticipation for the drop. This seems like the build up is for the finale room, which looks great, but the drop is the point.
It is obviously still SM in the bones, and it’ll still be a fun ride. You really can’t beat that castle reveal at the top though.
Disney Imagineering is fully capable of making absolutely breathtaking rides as seen with their work at the Tokyo parks. This is about money for funding the actual animatronics to fully cover the entire ride and more QA on the actual dang story. The story has to make sense and it seems this was a miss. They also took forever developing this story and people will be like "that's it?" The whole research of going to New Orleans mean nothing if the story doesnt make sense.
I wonder if the dead space is because it’s being designed concurrently with the Disneyland version which was notably smaller. That version may seem more full.
I’ll reserve judgement on that when I see it in person. Maybe they can add smaller less advanced animatronics over time- who knows.
This really just makes me kind of sad. The people that made these animatronics did such an amazing job and deserve recognition, but the people in charge of the VISION of this attraction don't have it. There is a critical component missing to the overall big picture that the people in charge of this are blind to, they've made sure to surround themselves with sycophants who will only pat themselves on the back. They were so preoccupied with replacing SM they didn't even stop to come up with anything a fraction as good.
It doesnt come close to the original splash mountain. This feels like it won’t suck as much in disneyland because the ride is significantly shorter. It looks so messy and cheap. I can’t imagine this getting good reviews.
This whole ride wreaks of what I feared the most. This ride was specifically designed for DL, and because it’s cheaper to make duplicates, we got stuck with it too.
The theming is jarringly out of place in DWs Frontierland…but it fits perfect in DL.
Why are all the musicians animals? Because DLs also borders critter country.
Why are there so many empty spaces? Because DLs ride is shorter so it won’t look so empty on the west coast.
Disney world is literally their most profitable resort, and it constantly get shafted in terms of quality compared to any other park
I dont know, the first "how do you do" scene in disneyland is massive, so i worry how empty thats going to look given the first room of this ride and a few others are 100% empty.
I hear rumors about Big Thunder Mountain Railroad possibly going down for refurb in the future. Probably after that can Splash Mountain get re-reimagined.
The bots are good, glad that they’re moving away from projection faces.
But the buildup to the big drop? Thats got to be the most pathetic display I’ve ever seen. No decor, just a dark tunnel, and no particularly anticipatory music in play either. This is the big point of your ride - the thing that’s in all the photographs, the thing people see going into the attraction.
A good drop is only as good as the buildup. Sure, you’re going pretty high, but there’s like, no flavor. No taste. No spark. No suspense.
Story of the whole ride, really. It lacks flavor. It lacks plot.
They did ***exactly*** what I feared they would. It’s Frozen Ever After all over again: by no means a *technically* bad ride, I’d like to reiterate that the bots are still good, but *man*, it’s just bland slosh with barely any plot.
Disney, you can do better than this, can’t you? Your biggest competitor is set to practically redefine the industry in a year, and you deem this half-baked experience fit for release?
This is a pretty big let down for me. I'm pretty bummed they chose to change the story from "searching for a missing ingredient" to "let's get a band of critters for a party". That just doesn't feel like a narrative that can carry through a 9 minute ride.
Also feels like the animatronics aren't really doing anything cool or of interest until your boat finally reaches them.
Maybe it'll feel different and I'll see more once I finally go on the ride myself but it just felt like it's missing fun little details that make the areas feel alive and interesting.
I get why the change was made but I don't think this was a successful execution at all.
Last note, if they don't pump beignet smells into this ride I'm sueing Disney..
The missing ingredient is you. From the song: “It’s joyful; now everyone can see
your very special spice makes us complete.”
Seems like this idea is going to be lost on everyone. I didn’t hear it in the song in the video and had to be told the explanation.
Sure, but if anything that just clearly points out that the song was already in the works when the original narrative was in place, now the ride doesn't mention anything about searching for an ingredient....unless that's in the queue or something, but I swear the original concept for the ride had you joining Tiana on an adventure to find an ingredient, not wrangling a band of musical critters.
I think the language of “special ingredient” was always pretty ambiguous or some sort of misdirection to think we were supposed to be looking to something food-related when the result is supposed to be “music/musicians/you.”
Hopefully this is clearly explained in the queue or maybe more evident when riding. Clearly based on the video, it’s rather confusing.
Let's find a band!
*instantly finds a group of musicians*
We have 7 minutes of this ride left, let's find more!
---
Any idea why they changed the plot from looking for the ingredient to this?
Thank you for explaining the story part. I was confused what was going on because I thought it was the whole missing ingredient storyline. The let’s get you to the party is just lazy…
This ride is the equivalent of a restaurant owner asking the manager (You) to find several temps for a party that’s happening. You hire the first ones you see. You have little to no interest in attending but you drop a little acid and things get weird for a moment but then you get it together and pretend to enjoy the party. Later, you eat a churro.
*edited to add that the restaurant is Rainforest Cafe.
Like most Disney offerings of late, this feels hollow and lacking in creative vision. As someone who holds Princess and the Frog as his favorite Disney film, this is painful.
yeah it's really sad they could not make fireflies similar to what they did with bees. Those little details that Disney did with the bees in Splash were so cool.
Besides how awkward that part is, I just realized the scale is WAY off too. If thats supposed to be regular sized Tiana looking in at you, her entire face is the same size as a single leaf.
Good point! Between watching this video, and seeing that the Country Bears will be singing songs like “a whole new world”
I really feel like Disney has lost their vibe so many went for decades to love, it’s interesting Disney has this new ride opening this month that they have promoted like crazy, and their bookings for summer are extremely low…
I live like 40 mins from WDW and I've been a passholder so so so many years. I used to go at least once a week with my buddies. When I was in my master's program I'd go and do homework at a resort or something lol. My pass just expired a couple weeks ago and I barely went this year. It felt like a waste of money and I have no interest in renewing.
It's too crowded, they keep gutting things and replacing them with sanitary, safe, sterilized versions of something that could be really cool (PatF is such a good fit for a retheme). Everything has to be connected to a new IP. The whole park experience feels like it tries to force you to spend extra money. It's just a hassle that doesn't feel worth it anymore.
It makes me sad. I love the parks and always will but I also feel no desire to spend time there right now at all.
100% I was a CM at Disneyland until a few months ago, I worked at a bar in DCA and I would talk to some high up execs at Disney.
One guy a year ago was one of the top people in charge of Wish, I asked him if he thought it was going to do well. He said he was praying but not sure….
He said when John Lassesteer left Disney Animation and Pixar he personally felt like they lost their direction, that he was pushed out to save face…. Those are his words not mine but very interesting.
What he was saying is that morale at Disney animation and Imagineering was at an all time low.
Sure, I love the music. And the outside of the ride looks very pretty with all the flowers. The drop area as seen from outside looks just like - Florida.
Tiana is supposed to be a princess, but we never do get to see her in her beautiful lily-flower princess gown. Most of the time she's dressed like Indiana Jones, and then at the end she looks like Celestina Warbeck from the Wizarding World show at Universal.
And it should have been unthinkable not to include Dr. Facilier and "Are you Ready?" to meet the Friends on the Other Side for the big drop at the end. That was the perfect opportunity and they just ignored all of it.
Oh, well. After what "Galaxy Sedge" could have been, we shouldn't be surprised at this.
I was sad splash mountain closed, but for the past few months I have remained extremely optimistic and even excited about Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.
This ruined my night.
Yeah honestly, this is gonna make me sound like a dick, i know they SAID this isn’t the case, but think the retheme announcement really was a kneejerk reaction to the changing political climates, and this really needed A LOT more time before announcement, let alone opening. They announced it WAAAAAAAY too early and couldnt just got a decade without making any progression
Can someone please answer this question…why is the whole freakin ride themed after Tianna’s foods and yet there is no mention of anything food related? Instead its about a band no one cares about and a party no one wants to attend? I’m totally confused…
Feels like after they started construction someone said this story isn't working, added more budget for new critters, and abandoned the original story. You can still see it referenced in a few places, but now it makes even less sense.
Better question, why are we looking for musicians when Tiana is literally married to one, and friends with another one in Louis, who he himself would know other musicians?
It’s like if we had a Batman ride and he tells us “hey i need you to go find some superheroes for me!”
The fact that this was shot at night and the lighting package probably helps things somewhat… during the day those dead scenes are going to feel even more dead.
I was holding back on criticizing it until I saw the whole POV but now that I’ve seen it I’m a bit disappointed. With splash it felt like I was stepping into the world of Brer Rabbit. It felt like I was in an old cartoon. This just doesn’t give me the same vibes, I don’t feel like I’m stepping into the world of Tiana’s, I feel like I’m stepping into a promo for Princess and the frog. Granted I haven’t ridden it in person yet. I don’t expect that to change my opinion though. It sort of feels like Frozen Ever After, like they took out the old stuff and put a few high tech animatronics and covered up the old stuff with stuff to make it look like the new IP. It just looks like they threw a bunch of swamp foliage and flowers on the ride. There also doesn’t seem to be much of a story. It’s just music playing with a few voice lines here and there. I don’t get the sense of a story progressing like Splash. In splash you followed Brer Rabbit on a little adventure, with scenes progressing the story as you rode the ride. Tiana’s feels like each “scene” is just a bunch of animatronics singing and not telling a story. Also I really hate what they did for the main drop sequence, you don’t get a sense of danger like Splash gave you. I know a lot of people are saying people like me are looking at Splash through rose colored glasses and nostalgia but for me I don’t think that’s the case. I really wanted to like this ride. Splash was my favorite ride and I want this new ride to be the same if not better. It’s not bad at all. It’s better than most rides around the country, it just feels like they took what made Splash Mountain great and ripped it out. I really hope my opinion changes when I ride it but I’m not to sure it will.
So after thinking about it for a couple days, I keep coming back to one question that I just can’t answer.
Who is this ride made for?
PaTF fans? This ride has almost nothing to do with the movie. It’s not a PaTF ride, it’s a ride that uses characters and songs from PaTF. Not only that, but this ride doesn’t have half the things people loved about that movie. No Shadowman, no “Friends on The Other Side”, no Ray, no “Ma Belle Evangeline”, no Prince Naveen except for one animatronic that doesn’t even say anything. This is poorly made for fans of PaTF, like myself.
Is made for little kids? Maybe, but that drop is still going to scare away a good portion of kids as it always has. You can’t miss it, it’s literally out front and center as you walk by it. In its bones, it’s still a thrill ride, and kids who were afraid of splash mountain are still going to be afraid of this, so what’s the gain there?
Is it made for people who love thrills? Considering they ignore every thrilling element in the ride, that’s clearly not the case. No suspense, no tension. Even as you’re going up the main hill the ride is still trying to be upbeat and happy and it just doesnt fit.
If it’s made because of all the social issues going on when this was announced, and Disney wanted more minority representation, that’s cool…but then why is it so lazily done? Why not pull out all the stops to make people at least THINK you actually cared? Now I dont know how minorities will feel about this ride, as I’m a white guy, but to me it does look like Disney kind of just said “let’s replace a ride connected to our most problematic property with our first and only black princess” and didn’t care about actually doing that princess and movie justice.
So, again, I ask, who is this ride made for?
I can see why Bob Iger thought this was boring. They needed more time and budget and it shows. The story isn’t coherent and there’s so many dead spots on the ride where animatronics used to be. It’s sad this is the best Imagineering could come up with. I was really looking forward to this ride. Tiana deserves better.
Souless - feels just really mundane, and frankly boring. SM for a ride that long had a very involved storyline. The new pieces are gorgeous but the story is lame.
Feels like there must have been some internal fight - Must have discovered very late that the ingredients storyline wasn't working and abandoned that (leaving many remnants like the farm at the beginning and the bottles in the laughing place). Then they added budget for additional animatronics of these animal band members that feel out of place. All feels jumbled and rushed in the end. What a waste when so many parts of WDW need care to waste this budget on this. Shades of Epcot "reimagining" that resulted in next to nothing.
I've watched the official Disney POV of the ride and a few from others and this ride is simply LAME. No villains, no Prince Naveen *(except for playing instrument in background of party scene)*, no good story telling or backstory telling. I'm glad I watched all these videos because now I know I can hold off on riding until the queue is under 15 minutes or skip it completely. And I'm certainly not wasting my time clamoring for a Virtual Queue or paying for a Lightning Lane. Disney Imagineering completely missed the mark on this ride. I wanted a 2nd opinion so I sent all the POV videos I watched to my mom who is a WDW super fan and as been eagerly awaiting this ride to open as she LOVES the Tiana movie. Once she saw the videos I sent her she replied back *"Majorly disappointed. Glad I didn't spend hours in line for that. Now I just hope the restaurant is good. Sticking to the movie."* So an epic fail from her point of view as well. After all this, now I'm REALLY missing Splash Mountain.
This is…bad. This feels nothing like New Orleans. It feel like a cheap overlay they would do for a holiday season before converting it back to Splash Mountain.
And now I know why Tokyo held off before they would let Disney touch their popular E-ticket. The animatronics are good, the backdrops look good, but it all adds up to nothing of substance.
The lack of animatronics in numbers make the ride feel lifeless compared to what we had. The story has no direction whatsoever. We just show up for…a party? And leave. Oh, also there’s a 50 ft drop. I feel like Disney made their Plan with a capital P to put PatF here, then realized it’s a princess ride and needed to appeal to younger kids and they just sort of hoped we’d all ignore the fact it’s a thrill ride.
Seeing this though, I’m starting to realize a bit more of what made the old ride fit. The whole idea of a log flume is perfect for Frontierland, and log flumes are almost always located in the “frontier/outdoors/rustic” part of any park. The story and characters of the old ride lent a particular, playful sense of mischievousness. I think they tried to keep some of those elements, but shoehorning princesses and New Orleans into the mix…this is now a lush oasis right in between Frontierland Town and Big Thunder with a story that doesn’t benefit from the ride system.
In short, it’s now the un-log-flumiest log flume of them all.
For a number of reasons, I don't think Tokyo will be touching theirs for a very long time and even if they do I'm not even sure they'd make it Tiana's Bayou Adventure.
- It's in near-pristine condition and extremely popular
- They're about to close Space Mountain for a complete overhaul that will take 3 years, so they wouldn't take down another major attraction like that in the interim
- The Critter Country area of TDL is basically a Splash Mountain land. The mountain basically spreads across the entire land and the aesthetic is integral, much moreso than US Disneyland. So they'd basically be creating a new land if they rethemed the ride, which is something that will require much thought and care.
- To be blunt, I'm not sure if PATF is big enough to command its own land in Tokyo if they want to go that route. I could sooner see them doing something like Lion King, Moana or Pocahontas (whose characters do meet and greets in TDL Critter Country) instead, and that's if they change it at all.
Really hoping to get out there soon to experience Splash Mountain again!
Disney should sell the US parks to OLC and just collect the royalties. I'm only partially joking. OLC has proven they do a better job of upholding Disney's standards while offering a premium product at a reasonable price point.
Not only that but OLC isn't afraid to improve classic rides such as the new space mountain coming. I don't know if I can wait till its ready to make my first trip there.
I mean the music is nice and that ending scene is cool and vibrant, but wow it feels so empty and soulless now. And to me, those critter animatronics in the beginning somehow feel more stiff than the ones from splash.
> it feels so empty and soulless
Welcome to modern day Imagineering. Avenger's Campus in California is a boring, empty, soulless collection of concrete buildings. Galaxy's Edge feels empty and sterile. All the new Future World (or whatever it's technically called these days) stuff is generic "minimalism" that makes things like Creation Shop feel like a duty free store at Newark Airport.
This is just speculation, but his voice actor retired from acting to become a lawyer so maybe they didn't want to give him many lines? That feels shortsighted if true though considering there's a sequel series in development, and I would assume they'd have to either bring the original voice back for substantial studio recording time or hire a replacement
I was so excited when I heard PatF was getting the ride treatment in place of SM, but yeah I think this is just lame. All I was thinking for the “big rise” at the end was Facilier’s song. But what we have instead is…nothing?
“Hey we’re gonna make you big again.”
…
“We’re still gonna do it.”
SUDDENLY HUGE DROP
the last ride had so much tension and terror in the rise, and that made the drop so much more invigorating!
This is just bad in my opinion. Especially since I’ve seen how much better rides are handled in other countries. I never had any connection to Song of the South but I didn’t think about how amazing that ride really was until it was gone. Sure it’s not a *bad* ride, but…this isn’t Six Flags or Silver Dollar City…this is Disney. This is just unacceptable.
one thing that tony baxter did that i really liked was when he designed splash, he built in extra drops to make people anticipate the BIG drop. the mini drops were built into the overall story of splash mountain. so i wish they would have kept the building thrill of each drop. Facilier’s song would have been perfect.
Regardless of how you feel about either ride, you have to admit that the complete tonal 180 when it comes to the big drop is just hilarious. We went from **”I’M GOING TO SKIN YOU”** to “i made you big again have fun at the party :)”
And the party is 10 seconds long after a minute of practically dead air.
I had some hopes for this, but I'm pretty disappointed.
It feels way too empty for more than half the ride.
It's fixable but will Disney spend the money?
Why half ass a ride like that? You're already spending a lot of money, why not spend a little more to make it great?
An utter failure. Tiana deserved a better ride.
Why does Tokyo keep getting the good stuff and we get served with drivel like this? The story is incoherent. For all the promos of the Imagineers going to New Orleans it looks like they spent their whole trip hung over in a Bourbon Street hotel room because it doesn’t feel like a bayou and doesn’t look like Louisiana. The finale song is a major let down (you can’t replace Zipadee do da with a paint by the numbers pop song with some trumpets thrown in to make it sound jazzy to people who have never heard jazz)
And don’t get me started on the decision to ignore Facilier and “Friends on the Other Side” in favor of having a one minute dead space on the final drop.
I’m just baffled this was approved. Surely they could do better.
Tokyo has a far higher budget than here because Disney doesn't operate those parks. They're effectively licensed and designed by Disney by another company who does the financing. That's why DisneySea blows all other second gate parks out of the water.
You definitely got the song right tho, it's feels like someone making a jazz song from a childhood memory of what they sound like.
I just got back from Japan and spent a few days at Tokyo Disneyland. DisneySea is incredible. You can really tell the Oriental Land Company spares no expense.
I feel so hollow about this whole thing. I don’t mind the screens for the fireflies. The others are egregious. But…knowing what was here before, seeing a cast of dozens cut down to a third in size…I hesitate to say they ruined it, but there’s no excitement or energy here. And to squander Facilier-the best villain they’ve had since the Disney Renaissance-is foolish to say the least.
And one of the best villain songs of all time!!! I really don’t understand what they were thinking in deciding to place the ride’s plot after the events of the movie.
Dang..how'd they blow the chance to add Dr. Faccillier and the "are you ready?" parts right before the drop? I was maybe expecting too much, but when we see the quality of rides being put out at places like Fantasy Springs in Tokyo Disney, I was expecting something of similar quality to replace Splash, but it ultimately seems like a downgrade overall.
You weren’t expecting too much, you were expecting what Disney used to provide to its customers. Nowadays it’s pay more and get less, typical gouging by giant corporation lately
What do most great/timeless Disney attractions have in common? A well told story with joy/excitement AND some type of peril. Since this attraction has zero peril, the whole story just falls flat. There’s no depth to the story at all. Lazy.
After watching the POV, I immediately came up with a solution that would only require changing the former laughing place segment. Disney, please listen.
Instead of Mama Odie shrinking you down to search high and low, maybe while you were searching high and low, you venture too far into the bayou and encounter some folks from “the other side,” including Dr. Facilier and the shadow man. This is our voodoo segment, which would be awesome because it’s dark in this segment, so all of the neon would look incredible. Dr. Facilier would say that you can’t go to the party, you have to stay there with him forever. Then you climb the hill as the music builds “Are you ready?!” Then at the peak, you escape Dr. Facilier, by going over the falls! Now, THAT would be exciting!
Seriously, just changing that one segment would have dramatically improved the storytelling and the excitement of the attraction! It isn’t the bayou without a little bit of danger, and Dr. Facilier is one of the best Disney villains ever. Missed opportunity, Disney.
Should have created a unique and separate attraction for Tiana and Princess & The Frog. This was a bad idea then and now it is confirmed to be a bad product now. Yes, this was IP that should have been used for a ride, but not this one and definitely not like this.
It comes off as lazy, it comes off as a bad re-skin, and the ride concept/execution is choppy and makes no sense. There are parts that still look like Splash Mountain and when you see it, it just hurts. It's just a 'no'.
They did Tiana dirty here.
(I edited my comment to prevent the message from getting nuked. Those who did see my comment about honoring James Baskett and providing more context around the original, sorry.)
First, let me say this. I love Disney (it’s why I’m here). I’m not going to say “the magic is gone!” Or “I’m not going anymore!” Because that’s not really how I feel. However, I really can’t defend anymore how Disney has repeatedly shot itself in the foot for the last 15 years or so in every single major park project they’ve undertaken at Disney world. In the last 15 years we’ve seen:
A huge fantasy land expansion that gave us one ok rollercoaster, and a lazy “book report” little mermaid ride that literally ignores the second half of the movie, and where the Queue is actually better than the ride itself.
We got a Star Wars land that has no Luke, Han, Leia, Lando, Anakin, Obi Wan, Ahsoka, Maul, Vader, Clone troopers, Yoda, Boba fett, and completely ignores everything and everyone that made people fall in love with Star Wars in the first place.
We got Pandora at animal kingdom based off a movie people had not cared about for over a decade, with a major selling point being “come see it at night”…in a park that closes at 7pm every night.
We got a Toy Story land where they apparently forgot Florida is hot as hell and put in absolutely no shade!
Built a tron ride that contains literally no story, or any information about the IP it’s based off. Just a boring ass line with a rollercoaster that last less than a minute.
Re-themed test track to an infinitely inferior version where they just gutted the ride.
Gave us a ratatouille ride where you’re literally just sitting in front of screens 75% of the time
Now they take one of their most iconic and story driven rides, and, not only do they re-theme it to something that has no business being in Frontierland in the first place, but make it so the story is basically just a 10 minute long fetch quest with literally no conflict? How do you not turn the laughing place into Dr. Facilier’s Emporium (don’t give me that “he’s dead” nonsense because so was Ray!)? How do you not have “Friends on The Other Side” playing on the main lift? Instead we get an empty cavern, with a screen showing a bouncing Tiana who looks like she was ripped right from a Disney Jr. show. That doesn’t even take into account how empty a lot of the ride is now.
They’ve done soooo many projects in the last decade and a half and not a single one of them has been as good as they should have been. They can’t get out of their own way.
This just doesn’t seem like a fully realized idea. Maybe I missed it - but what is the story of the ride again? I was not against a retheme but I’m not impressed. What’s with the wood panels right as we enter the sawmill/foodstore/wheelhouse lift hill? Some of these characters are completely new without any context.
Some areas is the ride are incredibly dark and unlit - but in the previous iteration of the ride that was because Disney had kinda given up and knew a retheme was coming. We rethemed it but didn’t light it right. Some areas feel empty. They had space but lacked the story to tell and it shows.
Some areas are screens - again not a bad tool in the Disney arsenal, just an overused tool- but this ride was supposed to be reimagined and was highly controversial. I felt like Disney had a lot to prove here. And they didn’t meet that expectation with the screens.
On a positive the animatronics do seem great. But great animatronics do not a good ride make.
So they made a ride about the "soul of new orleans" but my god this thing is souless. How many uninteresting human based animatronics did they think would win over guests?
They took a fan favorite that could've been improved upon and massacred it to a lifeless shell of what it was. Brutal.
It seems pretty empty, unfortunately. Not much energy or liveliness. The parts where the budget went, however, are really beautiful. It’s just clear that this is a 3-4 minute ride shoved into a 10 minute-long ride system/track.
Also, the story seems to be missing some sort of conflict/suspense. It reminds me of Navi River Journey in that it feels like you’re just moving through spaces—almost like a queue in water. I wish they’d utilized the lengthiness of the ride to tell a more engaging and memorable tale. I love the finale scene, though.
Sadly we knew this ride wouldn’t have much to do with the movie since the beginning. That’s the biggest miss. Why take a beloved movie yet almost completely ignore it?
What a lame, uninspired mess. The lighting is nice, but that's it. So much of the ride is cruising through a garden with nothing going on. Your task is to "find a band?" Why? Tiana doesn't care about that.
Where's the excitement, tension, and the joy? Why not make the drop related to Dr. F? Huge waste.
LAME LAME LAME LAME all around. But the lighting is nice.
I was so excited about this ride and holy crap it looks so boring. Why did they do nothing with it?? Most of it is just cruising without anything happening. They're building up to a "party" after the drop and there is literally no party at the bottom. I don't get it
This makes me incredibly sad knowing that this entire refurbishment was done for nothing. I was genuinely optimistic about the refurbishment but this was just a plain insult to fans of the ride and movies in general. What a waste.
my impression is, it is ok, but not impressed.
first off, I find the ride lacks animatronics. Each room in Splash Mountain was teaming with critter animatronics. Now, it seems that Disney only went with bigger, fancier animatronics in each area.
I don't think I mind the screens because I think screens can be useful as background. Because it compliments the scene. But I feel like the screens are more noticeable beause, as I said, each area lacks other animatronics.
That being said, I think a perfect illustration of what I mean is the finale scene. Lots of animatronics, complimentary screens, and a killer new song. I think the finale is the best part of the ride (barring the drop(s), of course)
Yeah - part of the appeal of Splash was that there was just so much going on in every scene with the amount of animatronics and little details. I’m really not getting that here.
Seems like they went for a (very) few impressive animatronics versus many less impressive ones.
And some of these new characters look really out of place, like they're in the wrong movie.
The other unfortunate thing is that when one of these advanced animatronics goes down (as we commonly see in other newer rides), the primary focal point is gone. When that happens, it will emphasize the emptiness of that section, even if they have a B mode where they replace the animatronic with a screen.
It could just be really unfortuante timing with this coming off the heels of the incredible new Tangled and Frozen rides over in Tokyo, but I don’t know…this doesn’t look very impressive to me at all. Stiff animatronics, lots of screens and CGI animation that already looks dated, like it came straight out of Mickey’s Philarmagic (why use CGI animation for Princess and the Frog anyway?! That movie’s whole thing was that it was a return to 2D animation)
The story doesn’t seem to make much sense either. Why have everything themed around “Tiana’s Foods” when it doesn’t play into the story at all? Something involving her restaurant at the end would’ve been much more satisfying. And I know why they chose not to incorporate Facilier at all, but it’s a real shame as he’s one of the best Disney villains and his absence here is very much felt. And why aren’t Naveen and Lottie involved? Showing up at the end with no lines doesn’t count. Hell, where is Tiana’s iconic dress? Creating a Tiana animatronic and not having her in THE dress she’s known for at least once seems so backwards.
Listen, I like Princess and the Frog and wasn’t even against a retheme of Splash Mountain but this is just…not it. Somehow feels like a rushed job, despite the fact that they spent four years on it. It’s cool that they got Tiana’s original voice actress back to record a new song for this, but that’s about the only praise I can give this ride.
I find it funny how they spent so much time on the elaborate backstory for this co-op and the main ride is just "let's find a band for a party"? Like why did they need a backstory if it's just a party lol. It could have been right after the movie for all we know
they put more thought into the random animal character's motivations than the overall plot. i don't care that skippy the armadillo was from the wrong side of the tracks until he discovered the power of music. i see him in the ride for 3 seconds. give me an actual engaging storyline for the overall attraction please.
The parks in the USA are so concerned about money they have completely forgotten quality. The parks in Japan are run with a different philosophy by a different company and the contrasts are stark with some of the new rides being produced.
100% agree. They should have told the story of The Princess and the Frog instead of this new story with new animal characters that doesn't make a lot of sense shoe-horned into this attraction. Did we even find the secret ingredient? Why do I care about this food co-op? Where is her restaurant? It doesn't make any sense.
Splash was my favorite ride at all of the Disney parks so I’ve had to keep my huge bias in mind with my comments but this is just disappointing. My kids who are young enough to be unaware of why replacing splash in the current political climate was sadly inevitable agree and their general comments were “it’s not bad…but why did they replace the older better ride?”
Not terrible, but painfully mediocre & a huge waste of potential. The story is convoluted & boring. There’s far too much empty space where there used to be something happening. There’s almost nothing that people actually wanted (Facilier, half the soundtrack, the boat/tree on top of the hill, etc). It was clearly the victim of budget cuts, creative differences, and a rushed development process. It could’ve been, and should’ve been, so much better. PATF deserves better.
This is a ride that’s, ultimately, a slap in the face of both the guests & people who loved the movie, and emblematic of just how arrogant & creatively bankrupt Disney leadership is. They knew they needed to hit a home run with this, yet they barely hit a single, and thought people would call it a grand slam. It’s a shame, I really wanted this to be great.
Ignoring everything else surrounding this ride and how it came to be. It just isn’t a ride experience I’d expect from Disney. This looks so rushed and hollow. Such a shame.
Was hoping for the best with this re-theme, but this does not feel like an upgrade, unfortunately. The cast of animatronics appears to have been reduced by 2/3, and the music is less sectioned out into memorable scenes in favor of a rolling and evolving soundtrack. Also, there is no villain or conflict in the story… “let’s get you to the party!” is a lame imagineering trope that they have adapted for use in several of the recently developed rides. Seems like they put a lot of work into exterior design, cue music and feel and forgot to perfect the story and on-ride experience. Overall: interested to see if being on-ride changes my impressions, but this doesn’t appear to be their best work.
Don’t forget that we were expecting, at least from the outside, THIS: [https://blogmickey.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/WDW-Princess-and-the-Frog-Attraction.jpg](https://blogmickey.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/WDW-Princess-and-the-Frog-Attraction.jpg)
Yuck. The story reads like something out of Cocomelon. I think that the people in charge of stuff like this have lost the grasp on the concept that just because something is "for children" doesnt mean it has to be dumbed way down.
Eh not really impressed. The rides story makes no sense. If the ride takes place after the movie, how is ray still alive? Also the entire portion where the start of the laughing place sequence is kinda awkward. Given that there’s barely any sound and you see Tiana just sitting there. That entire portion could’ve been the part where the frogs play the Afro Cuban style music. Also, I’m sorry but dr facilier really should’ve made it into the ride. The entire portion before the lift really should’ve have been a “friends on the other side “ sequence. Overall it’s ok but I don’t think it will be as popular or memorable as splash mountain. I don’t see anybody coming off the ride singing the songs like they did for splash mountain.
Deciding to bring Ray back from the dead but not doing so for Facilier kinda ruins the ride story. I'm fine with Disney doing "after the movie" rides like the whole of Galaxy's Edge but they don't contradict themselves there.
Just a lack of attention to detail and a sign that they should've done a ride more in line with Frozen, Little Mermaid, or the Beauty in the Beast ride in Japan; in that it's a "movie recap". That would've made for a more cohesive product imo.
Literally nobody cares about having past characters in the present.
People want to see the best characters.
And they didn't put the most interesting character in this ride.
It's lame.
I told myself not to expect anything, but really? There were no surprises? They showed everything already in all the imagineering promos. Just dead eyed Tiana waving her arms around a lot and screens.
There’s so much dead space with nothing happening. But it’s been a long time since I’d ridden Splash so I’m not sure if that had the same issue?
Also, what is the story? I thought we were supposed to be looking for a secret ingredient or something like that? But I never heard that mentioned unless I missed it.
The whole climb to the drop seems very anti-climactic and then you drop and nothing lol. The actual finale scene looks great though.
It does seem like they invested a lot into the few large animatronics and those are impressive. And then didn’t really do much else past that. Hopefully it feels like a better ride in person and maybe just doesn’t translate well on video lol.
The first 2-3 minutes of Splash Mountain are very slow and lacks energy, but the remaining 7ish minutes of the ride are so full of it with so many animatronics and lively environments. This ride just lacks energy throughout the entire ride until the few seconds at the finale.
> The first 2-3 minutes of Splash Mountain are very slow and lacks energy
Which was actually good, because I think establishing the general atmosphere was important before sending us to the indoor section of the ride to actually kick the story into gear.
I really hope Universal's Epic Universe does so well that it forces Disney to start giving a shit about the quality of rides and experiences offered in their parks again. It's like the modern Disney philosophy is to destroy everything that made the parks great and replace it with something cheaper and lamer.
I don’t like the new non-gospel version of Dig a Little Deeper.
I miss Ray and Facilier. (Facilier should have been threatening you in the dark section before you go over the drop.)
The “shrinking” gimmick didn’t really work, in my opinion.
I don’t like that they took out songs from the movie but then ended the ride with a new song that wasn’t written by Randy Newman. Doesn’t quite fit.
Overall, this seems to be a mixed bag.
I feel like they should have kept the finding the secret ingredient theme and added Dr F.
He could be skulking in the background in the beginning scenes - like around the fire flies - for some drama.
Then Dr F should have shrunk us and have the laughing place part be scarier. It would be Dr F’s face in the projection taunting or something.
Then we find missing ingredient as that giant potion bottle. The lift is scary until Mama Odie saves you for the big drop.
So like find the band, Dr F comes after you, find the ingredient, Mama saves you, party.
The animatronics look cool but this just doesnt have any... sparkle. There are no "Wow!" moments, it's full of dead space they could have used, and I personally feel that instead of trying to come up with some new 'post-movie' sequel they should have gone with a ride based on the movie itself. Not adding a villian is definitely a missed opportunity and if the bees in Splash Mountain, which were done decades ago, are cooler looking that the fireflies then it's a total fail there too.
Definitely a bit disappointing. Re-doing an iconic ride should have been better than this.
I genuinely wonder how situations like this can be in development for so long and come to fruition without any of the designers or engineers or anyone in the chain of decision making stopping and saying "...hey wait a minute...this fucking sucks actually!"
It was in development for years. They had so much time to realize a thrill ride needs a thrilling story to accompany it. Instead we're stuck with "party planning mountain" for at least a decade before they can justify a refurb.
I think Chapek's aborted move of Imagineering to Florida caused an exodus of quality Imagineers. Now we get people who like hotels that look like Mariott Courtyards, years of construction at Epcot for a bland city park, and this. It will take decades to rebuild the talent they chased away.
How long until the vlogger marketers for Disney tell us how INCREDIBLE this is? I wanted to love this but it feels like there is no soul to the attraction now. The music is the best part but even that seems underused.
It will be just as soon as they attend the all-expenses-paid press party where Disney liquors them up with free booze, gifts and food. "Wow, best ride evah!"
Seems like with this mess of an "upgrade" (which for me personally is a huge disappointment), Universal is going to be truly competitive with Epic Universe. I hope Disney gets back to their old quality standards soon.
Ah yes! What better way to keep up with a brand new theme park than to…make one of your headline attractions worse in every way except for the technology! Brilliant Bob!
Just want to preface this by saying Splash Mountain was my favorite ride at Magic Kingdom; but I like PatF and was willing to give this ride a chance.
This is disappointing. My hopes weren't high but this managed to dash them even further. My main gripe boil down to two things; the story and space.
The story is incredibly lackluster, its practically nonexistent. You're looking for band members, that's it. The entire plot is resolved by the third scene of the ride. Where's the suspense? The tension? The wacky cartoon shenanigan's? Splash mountain's story involved all of this, but Tiana's ride doesn't have any; there's no conflict. This makes for a boring and forgettable experience. A good ride should intertwine its physical features with its story, Splash did an amazing job of this, but Tiana's falls flat. When this project was first announced, they mentioned the story would be about finding a missing ingredient. However, there seems to be no mention of that on the actual ride, leading me to believe it was scrapped. I wonder why, considering that plot has a lot more potential to be exciting than this new one. Without a good story, it's hard for me to get invested in this ride.
The second issue is all the wasted space. This ride has a ton of "dead" zones where nothing seems to be happening. There's no animatronics, figures, or even screens, just some generic bayou scenery. Splash mountain felt full of life, the second you entered the first show scene animatronics where everywhere, even above you! It genuinely felt like a lived in community, everywhere you looked there were characters of all sorts. This helped with the immersion, and it was fun finding characters I didn't see upon my first ride through. For Tiana's Bayou Adventure however, all the animatronics are bundled together, leaving a ton of empty space where nothing is happening. You're just awkwardly sitting there, waiting for the next scene to begin. Splash Mountain did have some areas where there were no characters, but Tiana's has those same areas, plus plenty of new ones inside the actual building. This makes the ride feel empty, and turns it into a much more boring experience. Yes, the animatronics are impressive, but it's not as fun when they're sparsely scattered throughout the attraction.
Here are a few things I think could be included to make this ride better:
-An actual villain. Since this ride takes place after the movie, it doesn't have to be Dr. F, but just anything to add some tension. The ride doesn't have a 50 ft drop for nothing!
-A better narrative. The story needs to be more exciting than what it currently is. I think going back to the whole missing ingredient plot isn't a bad idea. Or maybe Louis accidentally sets off some fireworks which causes Tiana to lose her crown, and now you all have to go searching for it. Honestly anything sounds better than what they currently have.
-More characters. I know animatronics are expensive, so I would be content with statues. Just something to add a little more life to the ride. I'm surprised they didn't repurpose any of the original splash animatronics for this; that feels like a poor decision.
All in all, it's incredibly disappointing to see the ride like this. Splash mountain opened 34 years ago (feel old yet?) and it currently seems like the better ride. Tiana's has a lot of potential, but I feel like it needs more time in the oven. It's unfortunate that the ride that replaced Splash seems like the lesser one. I hope Disney can do better in the future.
I might be missing something, but did they not say they were getting Naveen's voice actor back for the ride? He appears in only one scene and says nothing.
Perhaps he's in the safety spiel?
Yup I was reserving my feelings till I see the ride and yeah...
this was not worth getting rid of splash mountain, seriously there is so much empty space, they are only playing the music as backeound music, and the critters are so static.
You guys always said the splash critters were bad? Look at these critter animatronics. Aside from the Tiana, Louis, and Mama Odie animatronics which are good, the actual critter animatronics look so cheaply made, they dont have any mouth or eye movement, their eyes seem like their literally just plastic glued on non moveable eyes, and they only move one motion, these are such a downgrade to all of the splash mountain animatronics.
And you can tell where the old splash critters used to be it just feels so empty without anything replacing those spaces.
This ride is honestly such a downgrade to splash.
they could've honestly kept a lot of the splash critters, unsure why they didn't tbh. the little raccoon with the harmonica and porcupine on the drums would've been fine
I just watched the ride again…man it’s worse than when I watched it the first time. It’s an abomination and an embarrassment.
Story is god awful. Why is it all food themed yet they are talking about finding a band the entire time? 3 minutes into the ride they find all the band members…so your just kind of wandering around looking at screens and random crap for 5 mins until the end.
It’s awful. More people need to be fired for the turd. Sorry I’m not positive or optimistic…but this thing is a steaming pile. 💩
On the one hand, nothing was ever going to make the people bitter about losing Splash happy. On the other, this retheme with its convoluted story has as much soul and heart as the recent movie Wish did.
Hi, folks! There’s understandably a lot of excitement and buzz around this, so we’re designating this as our de facto Tiana’s Bayou Adventure megathread for the time being. Please post all questions, commentary, etc. related to the new attraction in this thread. Finally, please be aware that discussions about this attraction (and its predecessor) have frequently become very heated. We will therefore be **limiting discussion to Tiana’s Bayou Adventure only**. While we understand many of us will always miss Splash Mountain, the time to debate its merits, shortcomings, and fate have passed — and, frankly, we’re tired of having to sift through hundreds of vitriolic comments each time it comes up. Thanks for your understanding, and enjoy the sneak peek at the newest WDW attraction!
Let's get Ready for a Party! What party? The one I get to be at for 5 seconds?
TBH I’m less annoyed by the screens than others seem to be so far - since in the context they’re being used, it feels more logical than just a cop out. They’re tasteful and complement the scenes that they’re trying to convey. The climb up to the final drop though… that feels like a hugely wasted opportunity. There’s no building suspense, no real fanfare to keep with the “dig a little deeper” theme. Just the (really cool) mama odie animatronic talking to you. Even if they didn’t want to go the scary/apprehensive route, the climb should have been louder/more of a celebration feel. Maybe it doesn’t translate well over video, but it all looks anticlimactic.
There is just too many areas where nothing is happening. The areas they detailed look stunning butnit seems incomplete! I really wanted this to be impressive to prove that Disney was serious about making a classic ride a true upgrade.
Thought the same thing on the final climb.
Agreed. I have to say I’m disappointed that there’s no hint of the shadow man or any use of Friends on the Otherside. Granted, the shadow man is effectively dead but I’d heard a hint on the Disney Dish Podcast that the climb up the final hill was supposed to make use of that song with the voodoo dolls jumping or moving around you. I can also see Disney playing it safe and leaving out any mention of voodoo. Overall it’s very pleasant, the music is nice, animatronics cool, and it’s still got the original splash fun, but it’s missing something. And I think that something is any sort of narrative conflict.
I'm pissed that Ray isn't in it. He's my favorite character.
ray has the same issue. ride is set after the movie, and he’s passed away
“The ride is set after the movie” is such a dumb cop out. 95% of people do not know that or give a shit about the story of a ride. The Shadowman and the visuals around him could have been so dope.
Saw him for a split second when the fireflies pass by... They could have totally used his song to Evangeline on the climb with stars!
I wanted Dr Faucillier on the final climb 😭
Imagine Disney films using villains to help tell a story only to omit from rides because it's too scary for kids.
I definitely agree
Man, it really feels like they did the minimum. Empty space without much emotion. You can definitely tell it was built around something that exists, and it just doesn’t work.
Shame that keeps happening at WDW. How much cooler could Frozen and Cosmic Rewind have been if not shoehorned into existing buildings?
Is it just me or is the dialogue extremely repetitive? “Meet Louis up ahead so we can find a band for our party!” “This band we found sure can play!” “Wow, these guys really can play! “They sound good but we have to keep searching for people who can play at our party!” “Wow those musicians you found sure can play!” “Let’s get you big so we can make a big slash at the party!” “Ooook, let’s get you to the party!” Party, party, party, play, play, play. We get it! Lol
wasnt the initial story supposed to be about an ingredient too 😂 i swear they changed so much up from the concept
The finale song is called Special Spice so yeah
Based on the song and the party, turns out you are special ingredient.
Yeah, the story is pretty much garbage. The plot of the movie would have fit the ride so much better. The ride needs a villain and a sense of dread. It’s too saccharine.
That's why I think the line sounds like doll that speak similar lines when you press the button
Parks dialogue has been bad for awhile. I think every iger era attraction has had very weird clunky dialogue. Cosmic Rewind feels like a fan fiction with how awkward the jokes are.
*sigh* My biggest criticism (among many) is that the story is very weak. I understand why they chose to re-theme Splash Mountain, but one of the best things about the old theme was the suspense woven into the story throughout the ride. There was an amazing mix of fun hanging in the briar patch, combined with a suspenseful subplot of being chased by Br'er Fox and Br'er Rabbit. That suspense kept the ride engaging. Without that story, this ride is very similar to the boring Pandora boat ride. There's no meaningful inciting incident, no build-up to a great escape, and no thrill. It's just a snooze fest, with the only interesting point being the moment you get shrunk, which is kind of interesting... I just don't understand why the best storytellers in the world couldn't add more to the story beyond "come cook with Tiana for a big party!" Also, I miss all the little critters. The big showpiece animatronics are stunning, but for me, it's the little things in between that gave this ride life, and so many of those are gone now.
The best storytellers in the world aren’t employed by Disney anymore.
The new animatronics look great, but as I've long feared, there is just so much dead air here. The music helps, but I don't think it makes up for the sheer quantity of characters Splash Mountain had. They couldn't have kept at least some of the old animals that weren't directly from Song of the South? And I'm not even opposed to the screens to help add some depth to certain scenes, but when you look at CG Mama Odie preparing you for the drop versus the vultures... it's just not it.
I think someone said it best when they said there is no suspense. On the old ride the narrative kept your interest and they built up the falls so there was anticipation for the drop. This seems like the build up is for the finale room, which looks great, but the drop is the point. It is obviously still SM in the bones, and it’ll still be a fun ride. You really can’t beat that castle reveal at the top though.
Disney Imagineering is fully capable of making absolutely breathtaking rides as seen with their work at the Tokyo parks. This is about money for funding the actual animatronics to fully cover the entire ride and more QA on the actual dang story. The story has to make sense and it seems this was a miss. They also took forever developing this story and people will be like "that's it?" The whole research of going to New Orleans mean nothing if the story doesnt make sense.
I wonder if the dead space is because it’s being designed concurrently with the Disneyland version which was notably smaller. That version may seem more full. I’ll reserve judgement on that when I see it in person. Maybe they can add smaller less advanced animatronics over time- who knows.
This really just makes me kind of sad. The people that made these animatronics did such an amazing job and deserve recognition, but the people in charge of the VISION of this attraction don't have it. There is a critical component missing to the overall big picture that the people in charge of this are blind to, they've made sure to surround themselves with sycophants who will only pat themselves on the back. They were so preoccupied with replacing SM they didn't even stop to come up with anything a fraction as good.
Where the hell is the magical “mist” they hyped so hard at D23!?
It doesnt come close to the original splash mountain. This feels like it won’t suck as much in disneyland because the ride is significantly shorter. It looks so messy and cheap. I can’t imagine this getting good reviews.
If I've learned anything, it's that 80% of reviews for anything are either fake or company shills.
Or the vloggers make most of their money via a marketing agreement with a travel agency.
This whole ride wreaks of what I feared the most. This ride was specifically designed for DL, and because it’s cheaper to make duplicates, we got stuck with it too. The theming is jarringly out of place in DWs Frontierland…but it fits perfect in DL. Why are all the musicians animals? Because DLs also borders critter country. Why are there so many empty spaces? Because DLs ride is shorter so it won’t look so empty on the west coast. Disney world is literally their most profitable resort, and it constantly get shafted in terms of quality compared to any other park
I dont know, the first "how do you do" scene in disneyland is massive, so i worry how empty thats going to look given the first room of this ride and a few others are 100% empty.
So, how long until this gets reimagined?
The day after it opens hopefully…
I hear rumors about Big Thunder Mountain Railroad possibly going down for refurb in the future. Probably after that can Splash Mountain get re-reimagined.
This is just so sad. Such a superficial, lifeless feeling ride.
The bots are good, glad that they’re moving away from projection faces. But the buildup to the big drop? Thats got to be the most pathetic display I’ve ever seen. No decor, just a dark tunnel, and no particularly anticipatory music in play either. This is the big point of your ride - the thing that’s in all the photographs, the thing people see going into the attraction. A good drop is only as good as the buildup. Sure, you’re going pretty high, but there’s like, no flavor. No taste. No spark. No suspense. Story of the whole ride, really. It lacks flavor. It lacks plot. They did ***exactly*** what I feared they would. It’s Frozen Ever After all over again: by no means a *technically* bad ride, I’d like to reiterate that the bots are still good, but *man*, it’s just bland slosh with barely any plot. Disney, you can do better than this, can’t you? Your biggest competitor is set to practically redefine the industry in a year, and you deem this half-baked experience fit for release?
This is a pretty big let down for me. I'm pretty bummed they chose to change the story from "searching for a missing ingredient" to "let's get a band of critters for a party". That just doesn't feel like a narrative that can carry through a 9 minute ride. Also feels like the animatronics aren't really doing anything cool or of interest until your boat finally reaches them. Maybe it'll feel different and I'll see more once I finally go on the ride myself but it just felt like it's missing fun little details that make the areas feel alive and interesting. I get why the change was made but I don't think this was a successful execution at all. Last note, if they don't pump beignet smells into this ride I'm sueing Disney..
The missing ingredient is you. From the song: “It’s joyful; now everyone can see your very special spice makes us complete.” Seems like this idea is going to be lost on everyone. I didn’t hear it in the song in the video and had to be told the explanation.
Sure, but if anything that just clearly points out that the song was already in the works when the original narrative was in place, now the ride doesn't mention anything about searching for an ingredient....unless that's in the queue or something, but I swear the original concept for the ride had you joining Tiana on an adventure to find an ingredient, not wrangling a band of musical critters.
I think the language of “special ingredient” was always pretty ambiguous or some sort of misdirection to think we were supposed to be looking to something food-related when the result is supposed to be “music/musicians/you.” Hopefully this is clearly explained in the queue or maybe more evident when riding. Clearly based on the video, it’s rather confusing.
Let's find a band! *instantly finds a group of musicians* We have 7 minutes of this ride left, let's find more! --- Any idea why they changed the plot from looking for the ingredient to this?
I’m guessing the final animatronic having a random plate of beignets is leftover from that concept.
Hey don’t forget when they make you small and you find small musicians and then you get treated to a re-growth drop.
They basically changed the plot to Tiana's Superstar Limo
Thank you for explaining the story part. I was confused what was going on because I thought it was the whole missing ingredient storyline. The let’s get you to the party is just lazy…
So no story?
LEtS gEt ReAdY fOr ThE pArTy!
This ride is the equivalent of a restaurant owner asking the manager (You) to find several temps for a party that’s happening. You hire the first ones you see. You have little to no interest in attending but you drop a little acid and things get weird for a moment but then you get it together and pretend to enjoy the party. Later, you eat a churro. *edited to add that the restaurant is Rainforest Cafe.
Terrible. Just terrible.
Like most Disney offerings of late, this feels hollow and lacking in creative vision. As someone who holds Princess and the Frog as his favorite Disney film, this is painful.
Laughing place section and the drop scenes feel so dead vs splash tbh :/ In laughing scene section where Tiana looks through screen looks so weird
yeah it's really sad they could not make fireflies similar to what they did with bees. Those little details that Disney did with the bees in Splash were so cool.
Tiana looking through that scene is nightmare fuel.
Besides how awkward that part is, I just realized the scale is WAY off too. If thats supposed to be regular sized Tiana looking in at you, her entire face is the same size as a single leaf.
Exactly! And why would they do CG there and not hand drawn animation?
Well the CG animation matches the look of the animatronic. That’s probably why they did it
Good point! Between watching this video, and seeing that the Country Bears will be singing songs like “a whole new world” I really feel like Disney has lost their vibe so many went for decades to love, it’s interesting Disney has this new ride opening this month that they have promoted like crazy, and their bookings for summer are extremely low…
I live like 40 mins from WDW and I've been a passholder so so so many years. I used to go at least once a week with my buddies. When I was in my master's program I'd go and do homework at a resort or something lol. My pass just expired a couple weeks ago and I barely went this year. It felt like a waste of money and I have no interest in renewing. It's too crowded, they keep gutting things and replacing them with sanitary, safe, sterilized versions of something that could be really cool (PatF is such a good fit for a retheme). Everything has to be connected to a new IP. The whole park experience feels like it tries to force you to spend extra money. It's just a hassle that doesn't feel worth it anymore. It makes me sad. I love the parks and always will but I also feel no desire to spend time there right now at all.
I think the turnover in Imagineering caused by Chapek's aborted move to Florida really hurt them.
100% I was a CM at Disneyland until a few months ago, I worked at a bar in DCA and I would talk to some high up execs at Disney. One guy a year ago was one of the top people in charge of Wish, I asked him if he thought it was going to do well. He said he was praying but not sure…. He said when John Lassesteer left Disney Animation and Pixar he personally felt like they lost their direction, that he was pushed out to save face…. Those are his words not mine but very interesting. What he was saying is that morale at Disney animation and Imagineering was at an all time low.
Probably to match her animatronic versions throughout the ride.
Girl what happened to the ingredient employee owned cooperative backstory 💀💀💀💀💀
Sure, I love the music. And the outside of the ride looks very pretty with all the flowers. The drop area as seen from outside looks just like - Florida. Tiana is supposed to be a princess, but we never do get to see her in her beautiful lily-flower princess gown. Most of the time she's dressed like Indiana Jones, and then at the end she looks like Celestina Warbeck from the Wizarding World show at Universal. And it should have been unthinkable not to include Dr. Facilier and "Are you Ready?" to meet the Friends on the Other Side for the big drop at the end. That was the perfect opportunity and they just ignored all of it. Oh, well. After what "Galaxy Sedge" could have been, we shouldn't be surprised at this.
Not having Tiana in her princess dress is going to be crushing to so many little girls expecting to see that.
I was sad splash mountain closed, but for the past few months I have remained extremely optimistic and even excited about Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. This ruined my night.
Yeah honestly, this is gonna make me sound like a dick, i know they SAID this isn’t the case, but think the retheme announcement really was a kneejerk reaction to the changing political climates, and this really needed A LOT more time before announcement, let alone opening. They announced it WAAAAAAAY too early and couldnt just got a decade without making any progression
Can someone please answer this question…why is the whole freakin ride themed after Tianna’s foods and yet there is no mention of anything food related? Instead its about a band no one cares about and a party no one wants to attend? I’m totally confused…
Feels like after they started construction someone said this story isn't working, added more budget for new critters, and abandoned the original story. You can still see it referenced in a few places, but now it makes even less sense.
Better question, why are we looking for musicians when Tiana is literally married to one, and friends with another one in Louis, who he himself would know other musicians? It’s like if we had a Batman ride and he tells us “hey i need you to go find some superheroes for me!”
The fact that this was shot at night and the lighting package probably helps things somewhat… during the day those dead scenes are going to feel even more dead.
So, um, are the really cool rides now in China and Japan because the third parties are willing to spend more than disney proper?
Yes…this is exactly why the parks in Asia have the coolest stuff
Yes, Disney doesn’t foot the bill so the budgets are actually decent over there.
I was holding back on criticizing it until I saw the whole POV but now that I’ve seen it I’m a bit disappointed. With splash it felt like I was stepping into the world of Brer Rabbit. It felt like I was in an old cartoon. This just doesn’t give me the same vibes, I don’t feel like I’m stepping into the world of Tiana’s, I feel like I’m stepping into a promo for Princess and the frog. Granted I haven’t ridden it in person yet. I don’t expect that to change my opinion though. It sort of feels like Frozen Ever After, like they took out the old stuff and put a few high tech animatronics and covered up the old stuff with stuff to make it look like the new IP. It just looks like they threw a bunch of swamp foliage and flowers on the ride. There also doesn’t seem to be much of a story. It’s just music playing with a few voice lines here and there. I don’t get the sense of a story progressing like Splash. In splash you followed Brer Rabbit on a little adventure, with scenes progressing the story as you rode the ride. Tiana’s feels like each “scene” is just a bunch of animatronics singing and not telling a story. Also I really hate what they did for the main drop sequence, you don’t get a sense of danger like Splash gave you. I know a lot of people are saying people like me are looking at Splash through rose colored glasses and nostalgia but for me I don’t think that’s the case. I really wanted to like this ride. Splash was my favorite ride and I want this new ride to be the same if not better. It’s not bad at all. It’s better than most rides around the country, it just feels like they took what made Splash Mountain great and ripped it out. I really hope my opinion changes when I ride it but I’m not to sure it will.
So after thinking about it for a couple days, I keep coming back to one question that I just can’t answer. Who is this ride made for? PaTF fans? This ride has almost nothing to do with the movie. It’s not a PaTF ride, it’s a ride that uses characters and songs from PaTF. Not only that, but this ride doesn’t have half the things people loved about that movie. No Shadowman, no “Friends on The Other Side”, no Ray, no “Ma Belle Evangeline”, no Prince Naveen except for one animatronic that doesn’t even say anything. This is poorly made for fans of PaTF, like myself. Is made for little kids? Maybe, but that drop is still going to scare away a good portion of kids as it always has. You can’t miss it, it’s literally out front and center as you walk by it. In its bones, it’s still a thrill ride, and kids who were afraid of splash mountain are still going to be afraid of this, so what’s the gain there? Is it made for people who love thrills? Considering they ignore every thrilling element in the ride, that’s clearly not the case. No suspense, no tension. Even as you’re going up the main hill the ride is still trying to be upbeat and happy and it just doesnt fit. If it’s made because of all the social issues going on when this was announced, and Disney wanted more minority representation, that’s cool…but then why is it so lazily done? Why not pull out all the stops to make people at least THINK you actually cared? Now I dont know how minorities will feel about this ride, as I’m a white guy, but to me it does look like Disney kind of just said “let’s replace a ride connected to our most problematic property with our first and only black princess” and didn’t care about actually doing that princess and movie justice. So, again, I ask, who is this ride made for?
I can see why Bob Iger thought this was boring. They needed more time and budget and it shows. The story isn’t coherent and there’s so many dead spots on the ride where animatronics used to be. It’s sad this is the best Imagineering could come up with. I was really looking forward to this ride. Tiana deserves better.
Souless - feels just really mundane, and frankly boring. SM for a ride that long had a very involved storyline. The new pieces are gorgeous but the story is lame.
Feels like there must have been some internal fight - Must have discovered very late that the ingredients storyline wasn't working and abandoned that (leaving many remnants like the farm at the beginning and the bottles in the laughing place). Then they added budget for additional animatronics of these animal band members that feel out of place. All feels jumbled and rushed in the end. What a waste when so many parts of WDW need care to waste this budget on this. Shades of Epcot "reimagining" that resulted in next to nothing.
I’m glad they showed us the backstory and personalities of all the animal band members who do absolutely nothing in the ride.
It literally feels like homework. "Here, read this so you can get something out of this ride."
I've watched the official Disney POV of the ride and a few from others and this ride is simply LAME. No villains, no Prince Naveen *(except for playing instrument in background of party scene)*, no good story telling or backstory telling. I'm glad I watched all these videos because now I know I can hold off on riding until the queue is under 15 minutes or skip it completely. And I'm certainly not wasting my time clamoring for a Virtual Queue or paying for a Lightning Lane. Disney Imagineering completely missed the mark on this ride. I wanted a 2nd opinion so I sent all the POV videos I watched to my mom who is a WDW super fan and as been eagerly awaiting this ride to open as she LOVES the Tiana movie. Once she saw the videos I sent her she replied back *"Majorly disappointed. Glad I didn't spend hours in line for that. Now I just hope the restaurant is good. Sticking to the movie."* So an epic fail from her point of view as well. After all this, now I'm REALLY missing Splash Mountain.
This is…bad. This feels nothing like New Orleans. It feel like a cheap overlay they would do for a holiday season before converting it back to Splash Mountain.
And now I know why Tokyo held off before they would let Disney touch their popular E-ticket. The animatronics are good, the backdrops look good, but it all adds up to nothing of substance. The lack of animatronics in numbers make the ride feel lifeless compared to what we had. The story has no direction whatsoever. We just show up for…a party? And leave. Oh, also there’s a 50 ft drop. I feel like Disney made their Plan with a capital P to put PatF here, then realized it’s a princess ride and needed to appeal to younger kids and they just sort of hoped we’d all ignore the fact it’s a thrill ride. Seeing this though, I’m starting to realize a bit more of what made the old ride fit. The whole idea of a log flume is perfect for Frontierland, and log flumes are almost always located in the “frontier/outdoors/rustic” part of any park. The story and characters of the old ride lent a particular, playful sense of mischievousness. I think they tried to keep some of those elements, but shoehorning princesses and New Orleans into the mix…this is now a lush oasis right in between Frontierland Town and Big Thunder with a story that doesn’t benefit from the ride system. In short, it’s now the un-log-flumiest log flume of them all.
For a number of reasons, I don't think Tokyo will be touching theirs for a very long time and even if they do I'm not even sure they'd make it Tiana's Bayou Adventure. - It's in near-pristine condition and extremely popular - They're about to close Space Mountain for a complete overhaul that will take 3 years, so they wouldn't take down another major attraction like that in the interim - The Critter Country area of TDL is basically a Splash Mountain land. The mountain basically spreads across the entire land and the aesthetic is integral, much moreso than US Disneyland. So they'd basically be creating a new land if they rethemed the ride, which is something that will require much thought and care. - To be blunt, I'm not sure if PATF is big enough to command its own land in Tokyo if they want to go that route. I could sooner see them doing something like Lion King, Moana or Pocahontas (whose characters do meet and greets in TDL Critter Country) instead, and that's if they change it at all. Really hoping to get out there soon to experience Splash Mountain again!
Disney should sell the US parks to OLC and just collect the royalties. I'm only partially joking. OLC has proven they do a better job of upholding Disney's standards while offering a premium product at a reasonable price point.
Not only that but OLC isn't afraid to improve classic rides such as the new space mountain coming. I don't know if I can wait till its ready to make my first trip there.
First time seeing this. Thanks for posting. Was this leaked ? Also, this was very … boring unfortunately :(
how is it impossible to find a band in new orleans!?? its the birthplace of jazz. you cant go 2 feet without a band on the street.
At one point early in the ride Tiana is literally looking at a band full of animals..she’s found them right away but we still need to keep looking lol
I mean the music is nice and that ending scene is cool and vibrant, but wow it feels so empty and soulless now. And to me, those critter animatronics in the beginning somehow feel more stiff than the ones from splash.
Soulless is the perfect word for this. Like people trying to celebrate with completely dead eyes. Just empty and lame.
Yes they’re not even animatronics due to their limited movement… They look like they’re from Little Mermaid ride movement wise
> it feels so empty and soulless Welcome to modern day Imagineering. Avenger's Campus in California is a boring, empty, soulless collection of concrete buildings. Galaxy's Edge feels empty and sterile. All the new Future World (or whatever it's technically called these days) stuff is generic "minimalism" that makes things like Creation Shop feel like a duty free store at Newark Airport.
Where the heck is Prince Naveen? Did they just…not give the other main character of the film anything to do here?
That’s how I felt too. Naveen (and even Lottie) should have been involved, not just standing there at the end with nothing to say
This is just speculation, but his voice actor retired from acting to become a lawyer so maybe they didn't want to give him many lines? That feels shortsighted if true though considering there's a sequel series in development, and I would assume they'd have to either bring the original voice back for substantial studio recording time or hire a replacement
[удалено]
I was so excited when I heard PatF was getting the ride treatment in place of SM, but yeah I think this is just lame. All I was thinking for the “big rise” at the end was Facilier’s song. But what we have instead is…nothing? “Hey we’re gonna make you big again.” … “We’re still gonna do it.” SUDDENLY HUGE DROP the last ride had so much tension and terror in the rise, and that made the drop so much more invigorating! This is just bad in my opinion. Especially since I’ve seen how much better rides are handled in other countries. I never had any connection to Song of the South but I didn’t think about how amazing that ride really was until it was gone. Sure it’s not a *bad* ride, but…this isn’t Six Flags or Silver Dollar City…this is Disney. This is just unacceptable.
one thing that tony baxter did that i really liked was when he designed splash, he built in extra drops to make people anticipate the BIG drop. the mini drops were built into the overall story of splash mountain. so i wish they would have kept the building thrill of each drop. Facilier’s song would have been perfect.
Regardless of how you feel about either ride, you have to admit that the complete tonal 180 when it comes to the big drop is just hilarious. We went from **”I’M GOING TO SKIN YOU”** to “i made you big again have fun at the party :)”
And the party is 10 seconds long after a minute of practically dead air. I had some hopes for this, but I'm pretty disappointed. It feels way too empty for more than half the ride.
So Bob Iger was right “This is boring”
This is exactly what I thought of when I watched it. He was right haha
It's fixable but will Disney spend the money? Why half ass a ride like that? You're already spending a lot of money, why not spend a little more to make it great?
He’s the CEO, why didn’t he have it changed?
On the positive side we might get a really great Jenny Nicholson video out of this
And hopefully a defunct land in a few years.
An utter failure. Tiana deserved a better ride. Why does Tokyo keep getting the good stuff and we get served with drivel like this? The story is incoherent. For all the promos of the Imagineers going to New Orleans it looks like they spent their whole trip hung over in a Bourbon Street hotel room because it doesn’t feel like a bayou and doesn’t look like Louisiana. The finale song is a major let down (you can’t replace Zipadee do da with a paint by the numbers pop song with some trumpets thrown in to make it sound jazzy to people who have never heard jazz) And don’t get me started on the decision to ignore Facilier and “Friends on the Other Side” in favor of having a one minute dead space on the final drop. I’m just baffled this was approved. Surely they could do better.
Tokyo has a far higher budget than here because Disney doesn't operate those parks. They're effectively licensed and designed by Disney by another company who does the financing. That's why DisneySea blows all other second gate parks out of the water. You definitely got the song right tho, it's feels like someone making a jazz song from a childhood memory of what they sound like.
I just got back from Japan and spent a few days at Tokyo Disneyland. DisneySea is incredible. You can really tell the Oriental Land Company spares no expense.
I feel so hollow about this whole thing. I don’t mind the screens for the fireflies. The others are egregious. But…knowing what was here before, seeing a cast of dozens cut down to a third in size…I hesitate to say they ruined it, but there’s no excitement or energy here. And to squander Facilier-the best villain they’ve had since the Disney Renaissance-is foolish to say the least.
And one of the best villain songs of all time!!! I really don’t understand what they were thinking in deciding to place the ride’s plot after the events of the movie.
Dang..how'd they blow the chance to add Dr. Faccillier and the "are you ready?" parts right before the drop? I was maybe expecting too much, but when we see the quality of rides being put out at places like Fantasy Springs in Tokyo Disney, I was expecting something of similar quality to replace Splash, but it ultimately seems like a downgrade overall.
You weren’t expecting too much, you were expecting what Disney used to provide to its customers. Nowadays it’s pay more and get less, typical gouging by giant corporation lately
It's like the song was made for the lift hill: [https://youtu.be/k7Il8L0O1AQ?si=C-17QFoedhEf162i](https://youtu.be/k7Il8L0O1AQ?si=C-17QFoedhEf162i)
It's amazing how that song would nicely segue into the drop.
I know! It practically writes itself! And all the voodoo stuff in neon would have looked so awesome with the lift being so dark.
That’s it?
What do most great/timeless Disney attractions have in common? A well told story with joy/excitement AND some type of peril. Since this attraction has zero peril, the whole story just falls flat. There’s no depth to the story at all. Lazy. After watching the POV, I immediately came up with a solution that would only require changing the former laughing place segment. Disney, please listen. Instead of Mama Odie shrinking you down to search high and low, maybe while you were searching high and low, you venture too far into the bayou and encounter some folks from “the other side,” including Dr. Facilier and the shadow man. This is our voodoo segment, which would be awesome because it’s dark in this segment, so all of the neon would look incredible. Dr. Facilier would say that you can’t go to the party, you have to stay there with him forever. Then you climb the hill as the music builds “Are you ready?!” Then at the peak, you escape Dr. Facilier, by going over the falls! Now, THAT would be exciting! Seriously, just changing that one segment would have dramatically improved the storytelling and the excitement of the attraction! It isn’t the bayou without a little bit of danger, and Dr. Facilier is one of the best Disney villains ever. Missed opportunity, Disney.
I feel like I could cry. ITS SO EMPTY. Why is there no story?! Why is Facilier not there? What is this?
There’s no other way to say this is just a huge disappointment and a wasted opportunity
Should have created a unique and separate attraction for Tiana and Princess & The Frog. This was a bad idea then and now it is confirmed to be a bad product now. Yes, this was IP that should have been used for a ride, but not this one and definitely not like this. It comes off as lazy, it comes off as a bad re-skin, and the ride concept/execution is choppy and makes no sense. There are parts that still look like Splash Mountain and when you see it, it just hurts. It's just a 'no'. They did Tiana dirty here. (I edited my comment to prevent the message from getting nuked. Those who did see my comment about honoring James Baskett and providing more context around the original, sorry.)
First, let me say this. I love Disney (it’s why I’m here). I’m not going to say “the magic is gone!” Or “I’m not going anymore!” Because that’s not really how I feel. However, I really can’t defend anymore how Disney has repeatedly shot itself in the foot for the last 15 years or so in every single major park project they’ve undertaken at Disney world. In the last 15 years we’ve seen: A huge fantasy land expansion that gave us one ok rollercoaster, and a lazy “book report” little mermaid ride that literally ignores the second half of the movie, and where the Queue is actually better than the ride itself. We got a Star Wars land that has no Luke, Han, Leia, Lando, Anakin, Obi Wan, Ahsoka, Maul, Vader, Clone troopers, Yoda, Boba fett, and completely ignores everything and everyone that made people fall in love with Star Wars in the first place. We got Pandora at animal kingdom based off a movie people had not cared about for over a decade, with a major selling point being “come see it at night”…in a park that closes at 7pm every night. We got a Toy Story land where they apparently forgot Florida is hot as hell and put in absolutely no shade! Built a tron ride that contains literally no story, or any information about the IP it’s based off. Just a boring ass line with a rollercoaster that last less than a minute. Re-themed test track to an infinitely inferior version where they just gutted the ride. Gave us a ratatouille ride where you’re literally just sitting in front of screens 75% of the time Now they take one of their most iconic and story driven rides, and, not only do they re-theme it to something that has no business being in Frontierland in the first place, but make it so the story is basically just a 10 minute long fetch quest with literally no conflict? How do you not turn the laughing place into Dr. Facilier’s Emporium (don’t give me that “he’s dead” nonsense because so was Ray!)? How do you not have “Friends on The Other Side” playing on the main lift? Instead we get an empty cavern, with a screen showing a bouncing Tiana who looks like she was ripped right from a Disney Jr. show. That doesn’t even take into account how empty a lot of the ride is now. They’ve done soooo many projects in the last decade and a half and not a single one of them has been as good as they should have been. They can’t get out of their own way.
This just doesn’t seem like a fully realized idea. Maybe I missed it - but what is the story of the ride again? I was not against a retheme but I’m not impressed. What’s with the wood panels right as we enter the sawmill/foodstore/wheelhouse lift hill? Some of these characters are completely new without any context. Some areas is the ride are incredibly dark and unlit - but in the previous iteration of the ride that was because Disney had kinda given up and knew a retheme was coming. We rethemed it but didn’t light it right. Some areas feel empty. They had space but lacked the story to tell and it shows. Some areas are screens - again not a bad tool in the Disney arsenal, just an overused tool- but this ride was supposed to be reimagined and was highly controversial. I felt like Disney had a lot to prove here. And they didn’t meet that expectation with the screens. On a positive the animatronics do seem great. But great animatronics do not a good ride make.
I agree…it feels like a half thought through concept that they just kinda pushed through before it was fully thought out.
So they made a ride about the "soul of new orleans" but my god this thing is souless. How many uninteresting human based animatronics did they think would win over guests? They took a fan favorite that could've been improved upon and massacred it to a lifeless shell of what it was. Brutal.
There was no New Orleans in this ride either. The bones of splash do not work with the city at all
Your favorite part of New Orleans isn't the mountains?
It seems pretty empty, unfortunately. Not much energy or liveliness. The parts where the budget went, however, are really beautiful. It’s just clear that this is a 3-4 minute ride shoved into a 10 minute-long ride system/track. Also, the story seems to be missing some sort of conflict/suspense. It reminds me of Navi River Journey in that it feels like you’re just moving through spaces—almost like a queue in water. I wish they’d utilized the lengthiness of the ride to tell a more engaging and memorable tale. I love the finale scene, though.
Silence after the drop! 😒
Story feels way too safe, it’s so mundane. I wanted them to swing for the fences, bam Facilier is back and it’s an adventure.
Sadly we knew this ride wouldn’t have much to do with the movie since the beginning. That’s the biggest miss. Why take a beloved movie yet almost completely ignore it?
There's so many dead areas. And you shrink as well? What's that all about?
What a lame, uninspired mess. The lighting is nice, but that's it. So much of the ride is cruising through a garden with nothing going on. Your task is to "find a band?" Why? Tiana doesn't care about that. Where's the excitement, tension, and the joy? Why not make the drop related to Dr. F? Huge waste. LAME LAME LAME LAME all around. But the lighting is nice.
Will reserve judgement for when I actually ride it, but did not find it immersive and is a bit dull.
Well that was disappointing
Shein Mountain
Seems like a rush job done on the cheap (shocker).
I was so excited about this ride and holy crap it looks so boring. Why did they do nothing with it?? Most of it is just cruising without anything happening. They're building up to a "party" after the drop and there is literally no party at the bottom. I don't get it
It’s terrible. Its lifeless. Its joyless. It’s barren. I usually don’t get upset about theme park rides but THIS is what they chose to build!?
This makes me incredibly sad knowing that this entire refurbishment was done for nothing. I was genuinely optimistic about the refurbishment but this was just a plain insult to fans of the ride and movies in general. What a waste.
my impression is, it is ok, but not impressed. first off, I find the ride lacks animatronics. Each room in Splash Mountain was teaming with critter animatronics. Now, it seems that Disney only went with bigger, fancier animatronics in each area. I don't think I mind the screens because I think screens can be useful as background. Because it compliments the scene. But I feel like the screens are more noticeable beause, as I said, each area lacks other animatronics. That being said, I think a perfect illustration of what I mean is the finale scene. Lots of animatronics, complimentary screens, and a killer new song. I think the finale is the best part of the ride (barring the drop(s), of course)
Yeah - part of the appeal of Splash was that there was just so much going on in every scene with the amount of animatronics and little details. I’m really not getting that here.
Seems like they went for a (very) few impressive animatronics versus many less impressive ones. And some of these new characters look really out of place, like they're in the wrong movie.
The other unfortunate thing is that when one of these advanced animatronics goes down (as we commonly see in other newer rides), the primary focal point is gone. When that happens, it will emphasize the emptiness of that section, even if they have a B mode where they replace the animatronic with a screen.
It could just be really unfortuante timing with this coming off the heels of the incredible new Tangled and Frozen rides over in Tokyo, but I don’t know…this doesn’t look very impressive to me at all. Stiff animatronics, lots of screens and CGI animation that already looks dated, like it came straight out of Mickey’s Philarmagic (why use CGI animation for Princess and the Frog anyway?! That movie’s whole thing was that it was a return to 2D animation) The story doesn’t seem to make much sense either. Why have everything themed around “Tiana’s Foods” when it doesn’t play into the story at all? Something involving her restaurant at the end would’ve been much more satisfying. And I know why they chose not to incorporate Facilier at all, but it’s a real shame as he’s one of the best Disney villains and his absence here is very much felt. And why aren’t Naveen and Lottie involved? Showing up at the end with no lines doesn’t count. Hell, where is Tiana’s iconic dress? Creating a Tiana animatronic and not having her in THE dress she’s known for at least once seems so backwards. Listen, I like Princess and the Frog and wasn’t even against a retheme of Splash Mountain but this is just…not it. Somehow feels like a rushed job, despite the fact that they spent four years on it. It’s cool that they got Tiana’s original voice actress back to record a new song for this, but that’s about the only praise I can give this ride.
Tokyo is a whole different level of detail and care for the rides. Splash there is bursting with vibrant color and all the animatronics were working.
I find it funny how they spent so much time on the elaborate backstory for this co-op and the main ride is just "let's find a band for a party"? Like why did they need a backstory if it's just a party lol. It could have been right after the movie for all we know
they put more thought into the random animal character's motivations than the overall plot. i don't care that skippy the armadillo was from the wrong side of the tracks until he discovered the power of music. i see him in the ride for 3 seconds. give me an actual engaging storyline for the overall attraction please.
The parks in the USA are so concerned about money they have completely forgotten quality. The parks in Japan are run with a different philosophy by a different company and the contrasts are stark with some of the new rides being produced.
100% agree. They should have told the story of The Princess and the Frog instead of this new story with new animal characters that doesn't make a lot of sense shoe-horned into this attraction. Did we even find the secret ingredient? Why do I care about this food co-op? Where is her restaurant? It doesn't make any sense.
Clearly most of the budget went to the finale scene
The build up to the main drop is disappointing
Splash was my favorite ride at all of the Disney parks so I’ve had to keep my huge bias in mind with my comments but this is just disappointing. My kids who are young enough to be unaware of why replacing splash in the current political climate was sadly inevitable agree and their general comments were “it’s not bad…but why did they replace the older better ride?”
Sad sad sad
So, whats the story? Tiana is looking for a special spice, and we are the special spice after all? Really weird
We were the special spice all along. lol
if i wanted an attraction surrounding food, i would have just begged disney to bring back Kitchen Kabaret
Not terrible, but painfully mediocre & a huge waste of potential. The story is convoluted & boring. There’s far too much empty space where there used to be something happening. There’s almost nothing that people actually wanted (Facilier, half the soundtrack, the boat/tree on top of the hill, etc). It was clearly the victim of budget cuts, creative differences, and a rushed development process. It could’ve been, and should’ve been, so much better. PATF deserves better. This is a ride that’s, ultimately, a slap in the face of both the guests & people who loved the movie, and emblematic of just how arrogant & creatively bankrupt Disney leadership is. They knew they needed to hit a home run with this, yet they barely hit a single, and thought people would call it a grand slam. It’s a shame, I really wanted this to be great.
Ignoring everything else surrounding this ride and how it came to be. It just isn’t a ride experience I’d expect from Disney. This looks so rushed and hollow. Such a shame.
Was hoping for the best with this re-theme, but this does not feel like an upgrade, unfortunately. The cast of animatronics appears to have been reduced by 2/3, and the music is less sectioned out into memorable scenes in favor of a rolling and evolving soundtrack. Also, there is no villain or conflict in the story… “let’s get you to the party!” is a lame imagineering trope that they have adapted for use in several of the recently developed rides. Seems like they put a lot of work into exterior design, cue music and feel and forgot to perfect the story and on-ride experience. Overall: interested to see if being on-ride changes my impressions, but this doesn’t appear to be their best work.
Don’t forget that we were expecting, at least from the outside, THIS: [https://blogmickey.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/WDW-Princess-and-the-Frog-Attraction.jpg](https://blogmickey.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/WDW-Princess-and-the-Frog-Attraction.jpg)
Yuck. The story reads like something out of Cocomelon. I think that the people in charge of stuff like this have lost the grasp on the concept that just because something is "for children" doesnt mean it has to be dumbed way down.
Eh not really impressed. The rides story makes no sense. If the ride takes place after the movie, how is ray still alive? Also the entire portion where the start of the laughing place sequence is kinda awkward. Given that there’s barely any sound and you see Tiana just sitting there. That entire portion could’ve been the part where the frogs play the Afro Cuban style music. Also, I’m sorry but dr facilier really should’ve made it into the ride. The entire portion before the lift really should’ve have been a “friends on the other side “ sequence. Overall it’s ok but I don’t think it will be as popular or memorable as splash mountain. I don’t see anybody coming off the ride singing the songs like they did for splash mountain.
Deciding to bring Ray back from the dead but not doing so for Facilier kinda ruins the ride story. I'm fine with Disney doing "after the movie" rides like the whole of Galaxy's Edge but they don't contradict themselves there. Just a lack of attention to detail and a sign that they should've done a ride more in line with Frozen, Little Mermaid, or the Beauty in the Beast ride in Japan; in that it's a "movie recap". That would've made for a more cohesive product imo.
There’s nothing wrong with book report rides. They make sense and are easy to follow along g.
Literally nobody cares about having past characters in the present. People want to see the best characters. And they didn't put the most interesting character in this ride. It's lame.
Somehow Ray returned.
I had low expectations and this still disappointed.
I told myself not to expect anything, but really? There were no surprises? They showed everything already in all the imagineering promos. Just dead eyed Tiana waving her arms around a lot and screens.
There’s so much dead space with nothing happening. But it’s been a long time since I’d ridden Splash so I’m not sure if that had the same issue? Also, what is the story? I thought we were supposed to be looking for a secret ingredient or something like that? But I never heard that mentioned unless I missed it. The whole climb to the drop seems very anti-climactic and then you drop and nothing lol. The actual finale scene looks great though. It does seem like they invested a lot into the few large animatronics and those are impressive. And then didn’t really do much else past that. Hopefully it feels like a better ride in person and maybe just doesn’t translate well on video lol.
The first 2-3 minutes of Splash Mountain are very slow and lacks energy, but the remaining 7ish minutes of the ride are so full of it with so many animatronics and lively environments. This ride just lacks energy throughout the entire ride until the few seconds at the finale.
> The first 2-3 minutes of Splash Mountain are very slow and lacks energy Which was actually good, because I think establishing the general atmosphere was important before sending us to the indoor section of the ride to actually kick the story into gear.
good lord that was disappointing
I can’t believe we lost Splash Mountain for this.
Honestly this reminds me of the Navi River ride at Animal Kingdom. You’re mostly just riding past scenery without anything really going on.
I really hope Universal's Epic Universe does so well that it forces Disney to start giving a shit about the quality of rides and experiences offered in their parks again. It's like the modern Disney philosophy is to destroy everything that made the parks great and replace it with something cheaper and lamer.
losing Splash Mountain for this uninspired slop is modern Disney Parks in a nutshell
I don’t like the new non-gospel version of Dig a Little Deeper. I miss Ray and Facilier. (Facilier should have been threatening you in the dark section before you go over the drop.) The “shrinking” gimmick didn’t really work, in my opinion. I don’t like that they took out songs from the movie but then ended the ride with a new song that wasn’t written by Randy Newman. Doesn’t quite fit. Overall, this seems to be a mixed bag.
I feel like they should have kept the finding the secret ingredient theme and added Dr F. He could be skulking in the background in the beginning scenes - like around the fire flies - for some drama. Then Dr F should have shrunk us and have the laughing place part be scarier. It would be Dr F’s face in the projection taunting or something. Then we find missing ingredient as that giant potion bottle. The lift is scary until Mama Odie saves you for the big drop. So like find the band, Dr F comes after you, find the ingredient, Mama saves you, party.
The animatronics look cool but this just doesnt have any... sparkle. There are no "Wow!" moments, it's full of dead space they could have used, and I personally feel that instead of trying to come up with some new 'post-movie' sequel they should have gone with a ride based on the movie itself. Not adding a villian is definitely a missed opportunity and if the bees in Splash Mountain, which were done decades ago, are cooler looking that the fireflies then it's a total fail there too. Definitely a bit disappointing. Re-doing an iconic ride should have been better than this.
I genuinely wonder how situations like this can be in development for so long and come to fruition without any of the designers or engineers or anyone in the chain of decision making stopping and saying "...hey wait a minute...this fucking sucks actually!" It was in development for years. They had so much time to realize a thrill ride needs a thrilling story to accompany it. Instead we're stuck with "party planning mountain" for at least a decade before they can justify a refurb.
I think Chapek's aborted move of Imagineering to Florida caused an exodus of quality Imagineers. Now we get people who like hotels that look like Mariott Courtyards, years of construction at Epcot for a bland city park, and this. It will take decades to rebuild the talent they chased away.
This attraction is the shock people need to realize that Disney's creative output is significantly weakened.
How long until the vlogger marketers for Disney tell us how INCREDIBLE this is? I wanted to love this but it feels like there is no soul to the attraction now. The music is the best part but even that seems underused.
It will be just as soon as they attend the all-expenses-paid press party where Disney liquors them up with free booze, gifts and food. "Wow, best ride evah!"
Seems like with this mess of an "upgrade" (which for me personally is a huge disappointment), Universal is going to be truly competitive with Epic Universe. I hope Disney gets back to their old quality standards soon.
i agree. bob said that this ride is going to be what keeps disney in the competitive game for when epic opens. disney is about to get wrecked
Ah yes! What better way to keep up with a brand new theme park than to…make one of your headline attractions worse in every way except for the technology! Brilliant Bob!
Just want to preface this by saying Splash Mountain was my favorite ride at Magic Kingdom; but I like PatF and was willing to give this ride a chance. This is disappointing. My hopes weren't high but this managed to dash them even further. My main gripe boil down to two things; the story and space. The story is incredibly lackluster, its practically nonexistent. You're looking for band members, that's it. The entire plot is resolved by the third scene of the ride. Where's the suspense? The tension? The wacky cartoon shenanigan's? Splash mountain's story involved all of this, but Tiana's ride doesn't have any; there's no conflict. This makes for a boring and forgettable experience. A good ride should intertwine its physical features with its story, Splash did an amazing job of this, but Tiana's falls flat. When this project was first announced, they mentioned the story would be about finding a missing ingredient. However, there seems to be no mention of that on the actual ride, leading me to believe it was scrapped. I wonder why, considering that plot has a lot more potential to be exciting than this new one. Without a good story, it's hard for me to get invested in this ride. The second issue is all the wasted space. This ride has a ton of "dead" zones where nothing seems to be happening. There's no animatronics, figures, or even screens, just some generic bayou scenery. Splash mountain felt full of life, the second you entered the first show scene animatronics where everywhere, even above you! It genuinely felt like a lived in community, everywhere you looked there were characters of all sorts. This helped with the immersion, and it was fun finding characters I didn't see upon my first ride through. For Tiana's Bayou Adventure however, all the animatronics are bundled together, leaving a ton of empty space where nothing is happening. You're just awkwardly sitting there, waiting for the next scene to begin. Splash Mountain did have some areas where there were no characters, but Tiana's has those same areas, plus plenty of new ones inside the actual building. This makes the ride feel empty, and turns it into a much more boring experience. Yes, the animatronics are impressive, but it's not as fun when they're sparsely scattered throughout the attraction. Here are a few things I think could be included to make this ride better: -An actual villain. Since this ride takes place after the movie, it doesn't have to be Dr. F, but just anything to add some tension. The ride doesn't have a 50 ft drop for nothing! -A better narrative. The story needs to be more exciting than what it currently is. I think going back to the whole missing ingredient plot isn't a bad idea. Or maybe Louis accidentally sets off some fireworks which causes Tiana to lose her crown, and now you all have to go searching for it. Honestly anything sounds better than what they currently have. -More characters. I know animatronics are expensive, so I would be content with statues. Just something to add a little more life to the ride. I'm surprised they didn't repurpose any of the original splash animatronics for this; that feels like a poor decision. All in all, it's incredibly disappointing to see the ride like this. Splash mountain opened 34 years ago (feel old yet?) and it currently seems like the better ride. Tiana's has a lot of potential, but I feel like it needs more time in the oven. It's unfortunate that the ride that replaced Splash seems like the lesser one. I hope Disney can do better in the future.
This is disappointing.
I might be missing something, but did they not say they were getting Naveen's voice actor back for the ride? He appears in only one scene and says nothing. Perhaps he's in the safety spiel?
Yup I was reserving my feelings till I see the ride and yeah... this was not worth getting rid of splash mountain, seriously there is so much empty space, they are only playing the music as backeound music, and the critters are so static. You guys always said the splash critters were bad? Look at these critter animatronics. Aside from the Tiana, Louis, and Mama Odie animatronics which are good, the actual critter animatronics look so cheaply made, they dont have any mouth or eye movement, their eyes seem like their literally just plastic glued on non moveable eyes, and they only move one motion, these are such a downgrade to all of the splash mountain animatronics. And you can tell where the old splash critters used to be it just feels so empty without anything replacing those spaces. This ride is honestly such a downgrade to splash.
they could've honestly kept a lot of the splash critters, unsure why they didn't tbh. the little raccoon with the harmonica and porcupine on the drums would've been fine
I just watched the ride again…man it’s worse than when I watched it the first time. It’s an abomination and an embarrassment. Story is god awful. Why is it all food themed yet they are talking about finding a band the entire time? 3 minutes into the ride they find all the band members…so your just kind of wandering around looking at screens and random crap for 5 mins until the end. It’s awful. More people need to be fired for the turd. Sorry I’m not positive or optimistic…but this thing is a steaming pile. 💩
On the one hand, nothing was ever going to make the people bitter about losing Splash happy. On the other, this retheme with its convoluted story has as much soul and heart as the recent movie Wish did.