Ever since Disney announced that it would be closing Splash Mountain to convert the popular log flume into a “The Princess and The Frog” ride, many fans have been worried about the result. Would Disney ruin a beloved experience?
The new Tiana’s Bayou Adventure ride will open at Disneyland later this year, but the ride is now in previews at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom in Florida. I rode it during a press event last week, and am pleased to report that Disney’s Imagineers not only preserved the fun and the thrills of Splash Mountain, but they also improved the entire experience.
Disney chose to retheme Splash Mountain because it finally decided that it no longer wanted to have anything to do with “Song of the South,” the 1946 movie that provided the characters and music for the 1989 attraction. Many Disney fans did not see a problem with Splash Mountain, but just because something does not trouble you does not ensure that it does not bother or offend other people.
Still, much of what Tony Baxter and his team accomplished on Splash Mountain deserved the love of a generation of theme park fans. That team combined a classic thrill ride experience with the storytelling of a dark ride to produce something that resonated with millions of fans.
But that source material continued to disturb many, so Disney did the right thing by calling for a do-over. This time, Imagineers Carmen Smith, Charita Carter and Ted Robledo led a team that honors their predecessors’ work by improving it. Tiana’s Bayou Adventure celebrates a community marginalized by Splash Mountain. But this time, no one is excluded from the party.
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure offers the latest generation of Disney’s Audio-Animatronics, bringing to three-dimensional life many of the characters from one of Disney’s last traditionally animated films. The ride is a sequel to 2009’s “The Princess and The Frog,” so fans should not go in expecting a “book report” recitation of that movie’s plot. Indeed, the movie’s main character is nowhere to be found on Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, which avoids the “and then something goes terribly wrong” story model that drove Splash Mountain, not to mention plenty of other theme park attractions.
I won’t spoil the specifics, but fans can look forward to a celebration that includes plenty of time with Princess Tiana and her alligator accomplice, Louis. Cute critters still fill the ride, but this time they’re accepted for their differences and not shunned.
Music drives Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, with tunes from Randy Newman’s original score along with a new composition, “Special Spice,” by Grammy-winning New Orleans native PJ Morton and sung by Disney Legend Anika Noni Rose, the original voice of Tiana in the movie.
As fun as the ride was in Walt Disney World, where it resides in Frontierland, it should be even better at Disneyland, where it will stand next to the park’s New Orleans Square and just steps away from Tiana’s Palace restaurant.
It’s rare to improve a classic, but Disney has done just that with Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.
