Tianas Bayou Adventure - Disney Releases POV Ride Through

[80sTerraceCafeFan]

I'll wait to ride to judge fairly and see if it evokes more emotions than the POV - but sure gives the vibe that it's missing the creativity and soul of the classic attractions.

Here are my concerns:

-Holy darkness - Navi river journey with less cool effects. Gone are the sunny bright scenes,

-Splash gave you the feel of being inside the action. Here we get to view a scene (often nicely advanced animatronics), then a gap of nothing, then action again. This ride is too long for this ongoing pattern, gets old quickly.

-Strange cheap looking signage - 'Tiana's Foods' as you are traveling down a river in the woods, not in her establishment.

-Tiana's soundtrack is great - why am I bored of the music in parts? - particularly within the middle. The original song isn't terrible but asking too much to replace all time classic Zip in the finale, probably should have used an existing popular track from the film.

-Leans too hard on those new animatronics. They are cool evolution in many ways, but just because they can flail their arms around in a more lifelike manner doesn't replace the kinetic energy lost by removing all the other moving pieces and smaller animatronics.

-Lastly and most importantly, there is no Adventure in planning a party, no suspense, no range of emotions, they even somehow found a way to reduce the thrill of the drop.


Feels like Disney removed Splash as much to reduce the maintenance cost (similar to Great Movie Ride ) as they postered for social reasons.

 

[fatmanatee]

Feels like Disney removed Splash as much to reduce the maintenance cost (similar to Great Movie Ride ) as they postered for social reasons.

Sorta. It was a 30 year old ride that was deteriorating badly and at that point you have a choice: a moderately expensive refurb that keeps everything in tact, or a more expensive replacement. They’re facing a similar problem in Animal Kingdom and I certainly wonder about the discussions had about Rock n Roller Coaster, given the fact that it’s now undergone two extensive refurbs recently.

 

[Newsies]

Just watched the POV and I loved it! I think the animatronics and greenery are so pretty. Like everyone else I hate the transition to screen-based effects in rides versus classic animatronics, but I think the way they incorporated screens into the penultimate scene is really fun. I can't wait to ride it this September

 

[Smugpugmug]

Sorta. It was a 30 year old ride that was deteriorating badly and at that point you have a choice: a moderately expensive refurb that keeps everything in tact, or a more expensive replacement. They’re facing a similar problem in Animal Kingdom and I certainly wonder about the discussions had about Rock n Roller Coaster, given the fact that it’s now undergone two extensive refurbs recently.

Not related to the topic but there are rumors right now that Rock N Roller Coaster is entering the end of life stage given that it's a 25 year old coaster and Vekoma coasters typically do not stand that long, especially one that runs 365 days a year.

 

[DisneyGuy]

I’ve watched it twice and it looks ok, no better or worse than any other overlay they’ve done. I’m also in the disappointed group that Dr. Facilier is nowhere to be found - we all wanted him and his song represented before the drop and had that in our heads as soon as we heard the announcement that PatF was the new theme - but having some sort of villain or sense of adventure/fear/anticipation is definitely needed here at some point.

I get not wanting to scare kids, but with a ride with a big drop, you really do need a little a something extra - we’re just taking a big drop to get to a party? Perhaps I’m missing a part of the storyline from the videos, and I’ll get it when I ride it in person.

I’m not surprised people are being hard on Disney with their opinions on this because a nostalgic ride was removed - they had big shoes to fill and were never going to satisfy everyone. I’m still looking forward to riding this and we’ll see if it becomes a must-do every visit or not. The animatronics look great though.

 

[gharter]

I watched the video, and it looks better than what I expected (maybe had low expectations). The animatronics look good. What it seems to be missing is a story unless I missed it. It just seemed to be a lot of scenes thrown together. However, the end party looks fun. Will hold final judgement until I ride it.

 

[Nimbus]

I keep hearing “TBA lacks narrative compared to Splash”. Again, like earlier in this thread, I will preference my take with the fact that I never rode Splash until I was an adult. The fact that Splash has a story is news to me. I’ve been to WDW and DL 9 times between the two of them; I’ve probably ridden Splash 3 times, maybe? (It wasn’t compelling enough of an attraction to make it one of our regulars)

I never got a coherent, tightly-bound narrative. It was several vignettes of a rabbit getting into sticky situations, getting caught, and then we dropped into some thorns. And then there were a bunch of singing chickens in a riverboat because…just because. Now, I’m not saying there wasn’t a narrative—clearly there was—but unless you rode it A LOT, had someone tell you what the story was, read up on the ride, or had familiarity with the source material, the average guest probably didn’t come away with a clean narrative other than tricky rabbit gets in trouble, tricky rabbit winds up okay.

The narrative of TBA seems to be helping Tiana find ingredients and musicians for some party she’s throwing. We travel through the bayou to find them and we end up at the party. Is it is a basic narrative? Yes, but it’s a narrative that riders 4 to 40 can follow, and it’s certainly no less coherent than Splash. Neither one of them is The Count of Monte Cristo, so I don’t think it makes a whole lot of sense to treat them as if they are worlds apart, narratively.

That’s my 2 cents on the narrative.

 

[mdmost]

I too didn't ride Splash Mountain till I was an adult. I didn't get the narrative of Splash until I listened to the Disneyland CD that the full song suite on it. Honestly, I could never really hear the music all that well on the ride so the CD helped. I recognized the briar patch/drop portion because that was straight from Song of the South which I knew because I had seen the movie a few times when I was a kid in the 80s. The ride didn't seem like a thematic masterpiece like Haunted Mansion or Pirates. It was enjoyable to me because the animatronics were good, it was colorful, and the drop was fun.

I think Disney will always face an uphill climb when they go against people's nostalgia. Eventually, I think people will hop on board and give it a shot. People still ride Winnie the Pooh when it replaced Mr. Toad. People still ride Frozen, Test Track, and Mission:Space given the beloved attractions they replaced. I begrudgingly ride Journey Into Imagination when the superior version has been long gone. It doesn't change the memories I have of the former version.

 

[Karin1984]

You can find a narrative in splash Mountain without doing research. You might have not realized it was a narrative. It is not done in a very obvious "once upon a time"-way.

But you probably have noticed it starts very happy outside, everyone playing and getting along, and that changes into something darker the further you get. That change comes through story.

Even with some of the dialogue being drowned out by the music or the sound of the water. One sentence that is usually clear enough to hear is the sentence by another rabbit. "There goes that Br’er Rabbit, being chased by Br’er Fox and Br’er Bear." That sentence summarizes everything.

In the end he escapes and we all live happily ever after and celebrate.

Very generic and classic ending, and in a way it is a three act structure. Like: Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy finds girl again, it is not a great original story, but it is a story.

With TBA it might also be a story, but very less compelling: girl looks for band, girl finds band.
There is something missing.

And now that I watched it again, if the aim is to find a band for the party, then why is the band not the center of attention in the finale? This could improve the current narrative to conclude the story better.

 

[80sTerraceCafeFan]

People still ride Frozen, Test Track, and Mission:Space

2 out of 3 ain't bad

 

[0FF TO NEVERLAND]

Their post in 2022 about the new ride said

" For the first time, they’ll be using mist inside the attraction for “true Bayou magic.”

Where is that? Maybe in person

 

[godfather927]

Hard to find a good comment on that ride video. Someone said it perfectly on there with a ton of likes

" Ngl, this comment section gives me hope. Glad to see Disney fans are refusing to settle for mediocre trash now and are actually demanding better from the company. "

If someone is genuinely that put off by the retheme of a ride to be calling it "trash", then I can't really fault them for not wanting to go on it, or maybe skipping the park altogether. That's the real hope I'm looking for; less crowded parks, shorter lines, and cheaper prices.

 

[80sTerraceCafeFan]

I would not characterize this ride as 'trash' - It's not a complete embarrassment, but just disappointing based on what they had to work with -

-The fantastic ride system offering longer than average ride time, indoor/outdoor scenes, several drops and a substantial thrill followed by a big closing finale.

-Source material: good movie/characters, excellent soundtrack which seemed tailor-made for an attraction, and setting in an interesting NOLA location.

-All of the updated technology options

Given all of the above, it's really hard to make a terrible ride and they didn't - they just didn't make a great one (and unfortunately replaced an attraction that was immensely popular for reasons this one didn't deliver).

 

[palavra]

And I should add…it took YEARS. Universal doubled their park on same timeline.

It took one year

 

[godfather927]

If my 5-year-old granddaughter can ride it and has a big smile at the end I will love it.

Right? It's almost like many of the disappointed adults posting here have forgotten that these rides are supposed to appeal to young kids, and they've failed to realize the nostalgia they have is likely based on their own experiences with the parks as kids. I say this as an adult with kids who didn't know who the br'er rabbit was and didn't really get the "story" of splash but still loved the ride itself. And they will no doubt love the Tiana version of the ride even more because of the familiarity they will have with the new setting.

 

[xdan0920]

So glad to see this re-theme is getting the reception it deserves. Not that I expect TWDC to learn anything from it.

 

[SealedSeven]

Their post in 2022 about the new ride said

" For the first time, they’ll be using mist inside the attraction for “true Bayou magic.”

Where is that? Maybe in person

Top of the Drop. They were testing it before this week, but don't think it's turned on fully.

Right? It's almost like many of the disappointed adults posting here have forgotten that these rides are supposed to appeal to young kids, and they've failed to realize the nostalgia they have is likely based on their own experiences with the parks as kids. I say this as an adult with kids who didn't know who the br'er rabbit was and didn't really get the "story" of splash but still loved the ride itself. And they will no doubt love the Tiana version of the ride even more because of the familiarity they will have with the new setting.

"You're dead if you aim only for kids. Adults are only kids grown up, anyway." Walt Disney

 

[Frank4202]

I think the exterior at night looks way better. The interior does not have as much to look at compared to Splash.

I really hope Universal makes Iger eat his words and kills attendance at the Disney parks.

 

[Mrjoshua]

I think the exterior at night looks way better. The interior does not have as much to look at compared to Splash.

I really hope Universal makes Iger eat his words and kills attendance at the Disney parks.

You have mild and strong feelings regarding this new ride... I think.

Are you hoping that Disney's attendance tanks because of this new ride? Or are there reasons not related to this thread?

 

[brightlined]

And I should add…it took YEARS. Universal doubled their park on same timeline.

It took one year

I really hope Universal makes Iger eat his words and kills attendance at the Disney parks.

The Epic Universe comparisons are just straight-up mean.

For starters, it wasn't "one year". That park has been in development for years. (Take point of how long the two Super Mario Lands have been open.)

Plus, comparing a newly-opened ride to a park that no one has been to yet is kind of ridiculous. To be fair, I'm expecting it to be great. (I can say first-hand that Super Mario Land at USH is pretty amazing, if a bit small.) But, for all we know at the moment, Universal could be "doubling their park" with the equivalent of Fast & Furious 3D Nightclub Theatre and Jimmy Fallon's OMG CGI Nightmare.

Keep in mind, too - this ride may be the one monument to the "Lake Nona" era of WDI. (In quotes because it wasn't actually developed there.) During almost the entirety of TIA's development, WDI was actively under assault from Disney management. They lost a lot of key creative folks who didn't want to move to Florida (and/or retired).

The "Lake Nona" era really only ended with ascent of Bruce Vaughn to CCO. A bunch of folks are back, and some of the legacy folks are willing to be around to lend a hand.

But, by that point, this ride was well into construction - too late for any real adjustments. That's especially true if it turns out that WDW management pushed the timeline to get it out for the summer season. That decision would have been made months ago.

That's why I'm hopeful that the delay at Disneyland will give WDI more time to tweak the DLR version, especially with WDI now firmly in Glendale. (I'll say out loud - I'll be pretty disappointed if they up being essentially the same.)

But, god, please stop with the Universal astroturfing. There are no teams here - it's okay to criticize Disney and or WDI without being cruel about it. I'd rather these two companies be constantly striving to out-do the other - not wishing for one of them to go down in flames.