A host of musical critters will help Princess Tiana throw a Mardi Gras party when Disney’s first Black princess takes over the controversial Splash Mountain ride based on Disney’s 1940s “Song of the South” film criticized for perpetuating racist stereotypes.
The new Tiana’s Bayou Adventure water ride will open to the general public on Nov. 15 with employee previews beginning in late October.
A nearly identical version of the ride debuted in June at Florida’s Magic Kingdom.
The new Princess Tiana rides take over the former Splash Mountain attractions on both coasts.
Disneyland closed Splash Mountain in May 2023 so Walt Disney Imagineering could begin the 18-month process of transforming the classic log flume ride. The final days brought long lines and sales of Splash Mountain water on eBay with bids topping $200.
Disneyland has not yet announced whether Tiana’s Bayou Adventure will employ a virtual queue when the attraction opens. The Magic Kingdom used a free virtual queue and an upcharge Lightning Lane line-skipping option when the sister attraction opened earlier this year. A traditional standby queue was not available during the initial opening of the Florida attraction.
The cost of converting Splash Mountain to Tiana’s Bayou Adventure at Disneyland and Walt Disney World could be one of the most expensive ride updates in Disney history, according to Forbes.
Forbes estimates the total spent on Tiana’s Bayou Adventure over the past four years at $142 million. Disney rarely discloses the costs of creating or updating theme park lands or attractions.
Ride backstory
The twin Tiana’s Bayou Adventure rides tell an extension of the “Princess and the Frog” story that picks up after the final kiss between Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen. The new backstory for Splash Mountain follows Tiana and Louis the trumpet-playing alligator as they prepare for their first Mardi Gras performance.
The ride’s backstory finds Tiana in need of a band for her bayou party and in search of a missing ingredient as she prepares to host a one-of-a-kind Mardi Gras celebration. As you might expect, that missing ingredient is you — the “Special Spice” she’s been looking for.
Tiana, Naveen and Louis are joined in the new attraction by Mama Odie, Eudora, Charlotte, Big Daddy, the King and Queen of Maldonia and Naveen’s younger brother and aspiring drummer Prince Ralphie.
Audio-Animatronic beavers, opossums, racoons, bobcats, frogs and other bayou critters play “Gonna Take You There” and other songs from the “Princess and the Frog” animated film in Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.
An eclectic group of 19 bayou critters fill out the rosters of three bands that play Zydeco, Rara-style and Afro-Cuban music on makeshift instruments.
Imagineering installed 48 cutting-edge audio-animatronics in the Magic Kingdom version of the ride with Tiana, Louis and Mama Odie making multiple appearances.
The “Tiana-matronics” are part of Imagineering’s new line of state-of-the-art, all-electric audio-animatronics used in the Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast at Tokyo Disneyland and Frozen Ever After at Hong Kong Disneyland.
Musical soundtrack
Walt Disney Imagineering collaborated with a pair of Grammy-winning musicians on the soundtrack for the new attraction during recording sessions in New Orleans.
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure soundtrack arrangers PJ Morton and Terence Blanchard boast a combined total of 11 Grammy Awards. Morton is best known as the keyboardist for pop band Maroon 5 while Blanchard is a longtime film composer who regularly collaborates with director Spike Lee.
Die-hard Disney fans may not know Blanchard’s name, but they know his music — he played all of Louis the alligator’s trumpet parts in “The Princess and the Frog.”
Morton’s new song “Special Spice” with vocals by Princess Tiana voice actress Anika Noni Rose is prominently featured in the new attraction.
A radio program playing in the queue of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure features jazz versions of “Down in New Orleans” and “Ma Belle Evangeline” from the film.
Scene by Scene
A tiara-topped water tower poking out of the former Splash Mountain hillside will be emblazoned with the logo for Tiana’s Foods.
According to the backstory, the employee-owned food cooperative will be housed inside the aging salt mine within the former Splash Mountain with growers planting crops along the waterway that flows around the famed mountain peak.
Disneyland visitors will smell the sweet scent of frying beignets in the queue of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. Disneyland has used machines called Smellitizers to pump scents into attractions and themed lands for decades.
Riders will spot an audio-animatronic version of Tiana for the first time on the lift hill of the log flume ride. The Disney princess — dressed in adventure gear for our journey through the bayou — will appear to smile at riders as they pass by.
In the middle of the ride, a trio of bayou bands will audition to play at Tiana’s Mardi Gras party as riders float past.
The former Splash Mountain drop into the Briar Patch will be transformed with yellow and purple lighting and special effects to evoke a Mardi Gras vibe.
The big finale scene will feature Tiana hosting a party at her Fleur du Bayou mansion with Louis conducting a jazz band of audio-animatronic bayou critters with Prince Naveen on ukulele and Prince Ralphie on drums.
Near the end of the ride, a Mama Odie animatronic will remind riders the party won’t be complete without them while the “Special Spice” song plays in the background.
Bayou Country
Disneyland has begun transforming Critter County into Bayou Country in anticipation of the arrival of Princess Tiana and her new ride.
Two retail shops in the reimagined Bayou Country will be rethemed to the “Princess and the Frog” animated film.
ALSO SEE: The history of Disneyland’s Critter Country from Indian War Canoes to Bayou BBQ
Louis’ Critter Club will take over the half of Pooh Corner closest to the former Splash Mountain log ride while Ray’s Berets will replace the Briar Patch shop. The half of Pooh Corner closest to the Winnie the Pooh attraction will remain as a candy shop.
Louis’ Critter Club — named for the animated film’s jazz-loving alligator — will offer apparel, accessories and home decor themed to the audio-animatronic critters in Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.
Ray’s Berets — named for the film’s Cajun firefly — will sell hats, clothes, toys and accessories themed to the new Princess Tiana attraction.
The Hungry Bear restaurant will become the Hungry Bear Barbecue Jamboree restaurant when Bayou Country officially debuts on Nov. 15.
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh dark ride, Davy Crockett Explorer Canoes and Pooh Corner candy store returned in August ahead of the rest of rethemed land.
Tiana’s takeover of nearby New Orleans Square has been underway for a while.
The former French Market restaurant in New Orleans Square has been transformed into Tiana’s Palace — the New Orleans restaurant run by Tiana in the “Princess and the Frog” animated film.
The theme park eatery and the restaurant run by Tiana in the animated movie share a long history. Filmmakers took inspiration from the exterior of Disneyland’s French Market when designing Tiana’s Palace for the movie.
Nearby in New Orleans Square, Eudora’s Chic Boutique retail store — named for the seamstress mother of the animated Disney princess — took over the former Le Bat en Rouge gift shop.
Controversial history
Imagineering has been developing a “Princess and the Frog” backstory for Splash Mountain since 2019.
The move by Disney in 2020 to announce changes to the rides followed a flurry of social media uproar calling for the parks to update Splash Mountain’s controversial backstory amid social justice protests across the United States sparked by the death of George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis.
The reimagining of the Splash Mountain rides will remove thematic elements related to “Song of the South” — the controversial 1946 film criticized for perpetuating racist stereotypes that has been disowned by Disney.
Splash Mountain featured characters and songs from Disney’s “Song of the South” based on the “Uncle Remus” stories — a collection of folktales from the Southern plantation era compiled by Joel Chandler Harris and published in the 1880s. Disney shelved the controversial live-action/animated musical film in the 1980s and CEO Bob Iger said the movie would not appear on the Disney+ streaming service.
The 2009 “Princess and the Frog” was celebrated as Disney’s first animated depiction of an African-American princess. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for best animated feature and received two nominations in the best original song category for “Almost There” and “Down in New Orleans.”
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