Tiana's Bayou Adventure (Now Open)

[Nick]

I think this also is happening due to limited capacity and tourism being down and such. What I mean is, they may have wanted to do this for awhile for all we know, but there's no perfect time to close one of the mountains for an extended period of time at the busiest park in the world. With travel and attendance being low right now, this is the perfect time to get something like this done and it won't really effect daily ops much.

While we're at it, lets fix Space Mountain while the crowds are still low.

 

[WaterToWade]

I don’t know if it’ll show up, but hearing dig a little deeper on this ride would be SPECTACULAR

 

[Nick]

I don’t know if it’ll show up, but hearing dig a little deeper on this ride would be SPECTACULAR

Dig a Little Deeper at the finale seems like a no brainer to me.

 

[belloq87]

I mean, it may suck. But it also could be GREAT. We don't know, but you seem determined to hate it before we really know anything.

There's no "hate" here. Just disappointment that one of my favorite rides is getting axed, and it's been my experience that the instances where I like a replacement as much as what it replaced are exceedingly rare.

 

[Nick]

There's no "hate" here. Just disappointment that one of my favorite rides is getting axed, and it's been my experience that the instances where I like a replacement as much as what it replaced are exceedingly rare.

I mean, obviously PatF has a lot to live up to which is pretty unfair. As I said in the other thread last week, I would've preferred PATF get a brand new ride. But I think it can fit here and be very good. It has all the ingredients needed (great characters, music, environment, etc), it's just all going to be in execution.

 

[Brian G.]

There's no "hate" here. Just disappointment that one of my favorite rides is getting axed, and it's been my experience that the instances where I like a replacement as much as what it replaced are exceedingly rare.

I think this one of those instances where the replacement may exceed the original. They aren't changing the layout, they aren't changing the drop. They are just exchanging characters. PatF offers some great visuals in the bayou, Mama Odie's, and hopefully, "the other side".

Or what Nick said...

 

[Sledge]

Breaking News: Jungle Cruise's Native Village To Be "Plussed" To the 'Kingdom of Wakanda'

 

[ThemeParks4Life]

This is mostly good news. My only question is how PATF will fit into Frontierland, but otherwise, the concept art looks great. I'll miss Splash Mountain only for nostalgia reasons.

 

[Jerroddragon]

There's no "hate" here. Just disappointment that one of my favorite rides is getting axed, and it's been my experience that the instances where I like a replacement as much as what it replaced are exceedingly rare.

I love the ride too my favorite ride at the Parks...but man has that ride seen better days and even day one the AA's were reused.

I'm hoping they make it a Modern Day E Ticket, until I see it as a cheap reskin I won't get upset.

Maybe its because we heard rumors and I've had time to get ready for this but I'm not as sad as i thought I would be, I'm a little excited because Tony is behind this and he has done great work in the past and unless Disney wants to get some bad press they will need to put money into this ride.

You can't make a ride celebrating African American's Dreams and half ass it.

 

[MrBlonde]

No one should feel uncomfortable in a Disney park, so if this helps so be it. I hope Disney can afford to do this right given the circumstances especially with tourism being hurt for the medium-term at the current looks of COVID.

I'll miss the music, but personal nostalgia doesn't override a unpleasant truth that's always been at the core of this ride.

 

[Mad Dog]

Splash is my fav Theme Park attraction, anywhere, and I'm sad to see it leave. That said, I think the Princess theme probably fits as the best retheme possible. The attraction can still have that same bayou feel for the most part. As I said before, my only real concern is that they do a quality job utilizing a high proportion of AA's, many that can be reskinned from Splash. A few well hidden screens would be fine, but I'd hate to see it transformed into a primarily screen attraction....and I like screens for the most part, but I wouldn't want too many here.

 

[Jamesh22]

I wonder if a live action PATF movie has just been moved up, would be great advertising to launch in 2022 along with the reimaginned mountains?


I don't think this will become screen based. If we look at TOT they actually added some pretty advanced animatronics to it.

 

[CyborgDinosaur]

I hope they nail the music. I love the twangy Bluegrass on and around the Florida version of Splash Mountain, and I think they'll really have to lean into those New Orleans Jazz influences if they want to live up to its successor.

 

[PerceptiveCoot]

I think this also is happening due to limited capacity and tourism being down and such. What I mean is, they may have wanted to do this for awhile for all we know, but there's no perfect time to close one of the mountains for an extended period of time at the busiest park in the world. With travel and attendance being low right now, this is the perfect time to get something like this done and it won't really effect daily ops much.

While we're at it, lets fix Space Mountain while the crowds are still low.

Fix yours but keep Disneyland's, that one is still gold, but Orlando's I would never go on from what I've heard.

EDIT: Also I just realized, maybe they can use this opportunity to make Splash Mountain's queue more exciting. Maybe we enter through a Tiana's Palace facade (perhaps with attached restaurant) that leads outside to the water where we board the log and make our way to the bayou.

 

[Nick]

Splash is my fav Theme Park attraction, anywhere, and I'm sad to see it leave. That said, I think the Princess theme probably fits as the best retheme possible. The attraction can still have that same bayou feel for the most part. As I said before, my only real concern is that they do a quality job utilizing a high proportion of AA's, many that can be reskinned from Splash. A few well hidden screens would be fine, but I'd hate to see it transformed into a primarily screen attraction....and I like screens for the most part, but I wouldn't want too many here.

I think if they do like in NRJ where they are used for depth, then i'd be cool with that. I also think there's a very good opportunity for a mix of AAs and projection mapping on the ascent before the drop. That could be a very cool, visually spectacular moment.

 

[Tobias]

Well this was quite the news to wake up to!

Splash Mountain is one of my favorite attractions, so of course I'll miss it.
That said, I can still also acknowledge that while the ride did a fairly good job of distancing itself from SotS, there's still the elephant in the room of Zip a Dee Do Dah which took the chorus from Zip Coon, a song with a very unsavory history. Considering it's the big bombastic finale, I can totally understand that's a problem.

So at the same time, I'm not opposed to Princess and the Frog taking over. I still feel that's a very underrated film, and that is gonna' fit pretty easily right next to New Orleans Square in DL. An yes, I would've preferred a PatF ride built from the ground up, but I also feel the bones of Splash Mountain are way better suited for overlays than say...Maelstrom. There's a lot they can work with and they won't run into a capacity problem. Not only that, I do like that they're going with a sequel story instead of trying to retell the movie. There's a lot more freedom on what they can do, and make it fit nicely.

Finally, knowing who's on board the project, I have a lot more faith in this. Tony Baxter coming back to work on this is huge, so if it's got his blessing, I look forward to see it.

Not to mention, I remember when Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout! was announced and many had a meltdown. But then it opened, and it surprised the heck out of people on how good it was, myself included...to the point where that ride is one of my favorites! Ultimately, when it comes to any overlay (or any ride in general), it all comes down to the execution. Which none of us know until we ride it.

 

[Nick]

Fix yours but keep Disneyland's, that one is still gold, but Orlando's I would never go on from what I've heard.

That's what I meant. Orlando's Space Mountain is a mess.

 

[JawsVictim]

That's what I meant. Orlando's Space Mountain is a mess.

If I had to vote, I would have fixed Space over this retheme. I don’t know if they have the budget to do both, but Space needs it bad. In fact, I would have preferred to have Tron straight up replacing Space.

Edit: And now that Disney’s feeling super woke, let’s get Jack Sparrow out of Pirates.

 

[Nick]

Just checked and yup, WDWMagic is officially having a meltdown over this.

 

[viking_wizard_eyes]

Honestly, this is the logical conclusion to this entire saga. The fact is Disney has kept aspects of Song of the South alive while simultaneously acting like it never existed, and they can’t have it both ways anymore.

Look, we all love what the parks have done with convergence and transmedia with Disney’s properties (none of us would be here if we didn’t), but in the case of Song of the South and Splash Mountain specifically, all it’s done is obscure the source material’s racism while allowing Disney to keep profiting off of it. The company has never really owned up for this blatantly racist content. And that’s to say nothing of the original Br’Er Rabbit stories and how they were divorced from their African origins and recast by a white novelist during Reconstruction. A lot of people who love the cartoon characters they see on Splash Mountain are unaware of their problematic origin, let alone the racist aspects of the film itself. All of this allows us to look at the ride as nothing more than a bunch of cute animals singing happy songs, but there’s dark past behind it all that deserves to be brought to light.

It’s unfortunate that Splash Mountain is part of a long and ugly racist history, but it is. Again, kudos to Disney for acting.