First look: On-ride POV for Tiana's Bayou Adventure

I want to like this but to me it just came across as "cringe." NGL there's something very odd about "Zipadee Doo Daa" being intentionally removed from Disney World, and to me it makes Disney not feel as Disney. Also I feel like Splash Mountain had a self-evident plot, whereas this...does not.

I'm sure it will be hugely popular, however.

“It’s literally the same ride layout, it’s gonna be the same ride”

:(

Have to reserve full judgement before I ride it but overall looks good. Sure a change but then Norway into Frozen was rough at first too so can see it working out.

I wanted to keep an open mind but…what a disjointed mess this thing was. I will say that the Tiana, Odie and Louis AA’s are impressive but the rest are at BEST limited movement figures on the level of the Monsters Inc ride at Disney California Adventure. It tells you something is wrong when the original 50 year old America Sings figures had more movement than these replacements.
It was a huge mistake by the Disney folks to post the whole ride online, why make a bee line to ride it to see what the fuss is about when they just posted it for free in HD.
The storyline is so jumbled and unintelligible that if I hadn’t read about what was supposed to be the plot (as thread bare as it is) in these articles I’d have zero clue to the concept.
When Princess and the Frog came out I quite enjoyed it and appreciated the look and feel of the film. It also didn’t hurt that New Orleans is one of my favorite cities in the world. The film and characters deserve so much more than this half baked (beignet) of an overlay.

I add again how it's frankly amazing Splash Mountain lasted that long as 35 years without any big makeover is hard for any Disney attraction. This theme still fits and again see how it feels to ride on it.

From my experience with dark rides and POV videos, I feel like the difference between the TBA physical on-ride experience and watching this video is going to be especially significant. The show lighting and soundscape here strike me as going feel very different in person than on any video, even one Disney produces itself.

That said, we have another version of Radiator Springs Racers here, narratively. Instead of getting ready for the race, we're putting a band together for a party. And nothing goes terribly wrong - there's no villain - we just get to the finale with a thrill element included.

I am curious to hear from Imagineers about Mama Odie role's here to shrink us for a reimagined version of the Laughin' Place scenes, then bring us back to size for the party. I suppose that's a way to get us to feel Tiana's and Naveen's predicament in TPATF.

And I will defend the AA quality in the finale. Having seen the DL versions of all these up close, they do move - and well. But there is a visual limit to how much motion you can program into a scene without making look disturbing. Again, I want to see it in person, but I like how Disney wrapped this story.

Also, as for the timing, there are cast and media previews of the ride that are starting... soon. POVs were going to get out, so Disney released its own first.

Can’t really comment since I’m going next month and want to experience it with fresh eyes.

As always, I will withhold final judgment until I've experienced the attraction (which will likely happen much sooner in California), but from the POV I have to say I'm not finding this one compelling. I don't think what they've done for the attraction is bad in isolation, but more that it is a really poor fit as an overlay to Splash. If you took the exact same scenes and storying and stuck them on a three minute Fantasyland dark ride, I think it would be a really solid C/D ticket level attraction. However, for a twelve minute flume ride that is one of the most thrilling attractions in the park, a low stakes story about finding performers for a party is just such a mismatch. Not only does there appear to be a lot of dead space between these scenes (though it's a little hard to tell since the video cuts between major scenes), but the action of the story is far flatter than the flume, making the drops into disruptions rather than incorporating them into the flow of the tale. It feels like the middle section of the attraction with Mama Odie was their attempt at explaining why sudden plunges occur, but its weak and weird.

Since the beginning, my concern has been that this project was something conceived as a reaction to a vocal minority at the time rather than an organic development that arose out of a desire to improve the existing offerings, and thus I've remained skeptical of the end product. Based on what I can no see, I feel that skepticism was warranted. At best, this feels like a project that did the best they could with the budget they were given, but for redoing what is arguably the most iconic Disney ride, that budget should have been significantly higher. At worst, it feels like drafting a generic ride concept onto an existing attraction without giving any consideration to how the final experience will flow. For me, I think this is a good way to sum it up: I'm frustrated with the VQs for Guardians and Tron because those are likely attractions I'd want to experience several times on a visit to Walt Disney World. For Tiana's, I don't mind the VQ because I'll probably be satisfied with one ride, and if I didn't get the chance to experience it, I'd be far less disappointed than I would have been missing Splash Mountain.

@AJ Humell: I'd argue on the list of most iconic Disney rides, Splash Mountain would barely crack top ten. I mean, it was only created in 1989.

Watching the side-by-side ride comparison videos I've found, Tiana's seems oddly empty. The finale scenes looks great, but the overall aesthetic of the entire ride looked better on Splash, as well as that having a better storyline. I feel there must have been budget cuts, looking back to the original concept art with the boat lodged in the tree at the top of the mountain would have at least made a more impressive outside view. I was hoping to like it, but it looks ho-hum to me. At least I'm going to Tokyo Disney next year and can ride the original!

Mike, I'm curious which nine other Disney attractions you'd consider more iconic to the casual visitor (not the superfan), because I'm having a hard time thinking of even three that would be more instantly recognizable as Disney.

Space Mountain
Big Thunder Mountain
It's A Small World
Dumbo
Haunted Mansion
Pirates of the Caribbean
Spaceship Earth
Matterhorn
Monorail
Peter Pan
Jungle Cruise
Tower of Terror
Expedition Everest
Star Tours
Rocket Jets/Astro Orbiter

Mike, I'll give you Small World, Dumbo, Mansion, and Pirates, and maybe Spaceship Earth or Matterhorn depending which coast someone grew up with. As for the others...

Space - The building is iconic, but probably not the experience itself
Thunder - Iconic, but probably not as iconic as Splash
Monorail - Honestly probably forgettable to the average visitor as they don't see it as a ride
Peter Pan - The biggest question mark on the list, though when people think about Disney attractions, I'm guessing this isn't among the first that come to mind
Jungle Cruise - Far more iconic to hardcore Disney fans than casual park visitors
Tower/Everest/Star Tours - If Splash is too new to qualify as iconic, so are these (plus personally I feel most associate the third with Star Wars more than Disney)

So while Splash might not be the first one that comes to mind if you asked random people to name a Disney ride, I'm guessing a majority would reach it within five and few would go ten without hitting it. I'd definitely consider that among the most iconic Disney attractions, and I don't think Tiana's Bayou Adventure will have quite the same level of resonance.

I wanted to write a response to the video, but I feel like AJ has perfectly captured my feelings about the reasoning for a new concept, the budget, and the overall feel of the ride. Splash Mountain was an iconic ride with an earworms that were stuck in my head all day. This appears to be a disjointed ride that has a nice flume drop at the end...no different that 100 of these around the country. Splash Mountain was different: the music, the story, and the drop elements so seamlessly fit together (especially when Disney was doing more routine maintenance, and ride elements were not broken.) I am curious about this ride 18 months from now... are wait times the same? Are people re-riding it with the same frequency? Do people love the ride, or is it "just a ride" to take up time while in the park?

I feel like “it’s a small world” has to be the most iconic Disney ride of all time. No other attraction has been parodied so much in other media and it’s been cloned in all resorts outside of Shanghai.

>>NGL there's something very odd about "Zipadee Doo Daa" being intentionally removed from Disney World, and to me it makes Disney not feel as Disney.

It is sad. There's nothing wrong with the Uncle Remus stories themselves, people do still make cartoons and books about em. I think Disney missed an opportunity to reboot/remake the framing story in a way thats acceptable to modern standards, whilst keeping the stories themselves.

I honestly think you are all looking at this through a 'fan lens'.

I'm not an obsessive Disney fan - just a guy who loves theme parks and has visited Disney World three times. I've therefore ridden the old Splash Mountain maybe 6 or 8 times and frankly this new version looks heaps better. The old SM had a story you say? Really? As a casual rider if you didn't know in advance frankly you'd be hard pushed to pick it up as you went along. It was a great flume ride past some nice scenes from Brer Rabbit, with a strong reference to the most iconic tale at the summit of the final lift hill. But a coherent narrative? Nothing like. I loved SM for what it was - a great flume past some pretty scenes - but pretending it was some sort of irreplaceable narrative is ludicrous.

The new overlay a) looks fantastic. The old SM looked its age. Creaky animatronics and static scenery. b) the new animatronics are great - next generation Disney and a joy to see, plus the whole ride now sparkles and glistens and the background use of screens adds loads of movement and interest. c) there's actually some sense of narrative as you progress because Tiana keeps popping up to tell you what's happening. And d) this is going to be massive. Huge. Mega-popular. And the only people complaining about it are going to be old-school Disney fans.

I doubt this post will make me very popular but I'm writing it as a casual Disney user, not a hard-core fan boy.

And David Brown nails something folks forget that I've heard over and over from Imagineers over the years: "We're not developing for the folks who go to the parks every other week but the ones who go once in a lifetime."

I think the attraction looks fine, though I think the IP presented far more potential than it appears to show in Disney's POV. Obviously, audio tracking will be much more recognizable on the ride, so aspects of the dialogue, music, and story will be clearer when you're physically riding. However, my biggest gripe here is the use of shrinking/growing to fill the Laughing Place and main drop sequence. To me that was an extremely LAZY decision on the part of Imagineers, and isn't a motif really seen anywhere in the original IP (including the classic fairytale). As Robert noted, great attractions have some point along the course where "something goes terribly wrong", and the layout of the flume allows for this trope to be leveraged to its max. Yet, instead of tapping into the IP or utilize an original way to create some tension, Imagineers make guests feel like they're riding Alice in Wonderland (giant mushrooms and all).

I do think the animatronics look amazing, and they've done a lot of improvements on the attraction as a whole. I agree that Splash was already pretty lacking in the plot category, but that doesn't mean it's an aspect of the attraction that shouldn't be improved as part of this retheming. In general, Disney has been injecting more plot and story into their dark rides, and whether they deliberately wanted to keep this attraction more open ended would be counter to their recent trends. I again go back to the potential that the IP presented here, and all of the aspects of this reskinned attraction that appear to have been missed.

There's nothing horribly wrong with what Disney has done here, and the attraction will still serve as a great place to cool off on a hot day, but for the amount of effort, publicity, and energy (especially in Disneyland where they're expending the ride theming into New Orleans Square), I feel that Disney could have done so much more with this IP. It feels a bit half hearted and just good enough to touch the bar instead of establishing a new bar for themed entertainment, which Disney has attempted to do in so many projects over the past few years. In that respect, I'm a bit disappointed in what I see here. To me they had a the opportunity to really hit this out of the park, and instead I feel like they got a 4-pitch walk.

I won't be watching the POV since I'm set to ride this in less than two weeks, might as well go unspoiled, but I am pretty shocked at the unanimity of the negative response I've seen online, including in this comment section. Obviously there were always going to be people review-bombing TBA either in bad faith for political reasons or because they were attached to Splash Mountain, but I figured there would also be a counter-response of positivity from people viewing the ride on its own merits.

That has not happened. The reaction has been, across the board, swiftly and brutally negative. Nothing about the marketing or build for this attraction has given me particularly high hopes for it, but now I'm almost perversely curious to see just how bad it is. If you dropped the Splash Mountain flume in the middle of a field with absolutely no theming or story it would still be a great ride, so there's a pretty high floor here, but they must have really messed up royally to engender such widespread vitriol.

Looks good to me!

I also have to agree with David Brown & MikeW. Viewing through the lens of casual fan or general visitor is going to be different than the super fan or them park expert. A family on a vacation to either resort during the summer months or warm weather will line up for this no matter. Plus, its new & with a Disney princess.

It still has all the drops, so guest will still get wet. Its "new" so there's new AA's, visuals, lights, music, etc.

Splash Mountain needed a fresh coat of paint...as time goes on, & things settle in, it will continue to be a popular attraction, because its the only water thrill ride in MK parks.

I think it is easy for us super-Disney park fans to forget not everyone has that connection. I loved Splash Mountain since first going on it in Disneyland in 1990 and in WDW in '93. So I get the worries of the change but again, not all guests go in there looking for super details on rides and such, just to enjoy it and this could fit the bill.

Wait for actual ride-on reactions because so many in the past have looked rough just off video but actual ride much better.

Are there fresh-baked beignets in the exit gift shop? 'Cause this ride would get my vote for new attraction of the year if there are.

The new animatronics look fantastic. I'll reserve judgment on the rest of the ride until I experience it in person.

I love PATF, but I also love Splash. It was always in the top 3 of my favorite attractions so this is bitter sweet. Luckily though I can always re ride splash mountain in Tokyo, and it's the best version of the ride anyhow.

The lack of a Dr Facilier spooky appearance is surprising to me. Maybe there’s the potential for a Halloween overlay??