FULL Ride-Through Video of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure in Magic Kingdom
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure at Magic Kingdom is almost there. With the reimagined ride’s official opening on June 28, 2024, construction on the reimagined ride is now finished. Not only that, but Walt Disney World has shared a full ride-through video of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.
This is the longest and most spoiler-heavy sneak peek at Tiana’s Bayou Adventure to date. The biggest update before this was the First Look at Imagineering’s Innovative Audio Animatronics in Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. This featured a look at Audio Animatronics of Mama Odie, Louis the Alligator, Eudora, Charlotte, Ralphie, Prince Naveen, Byhalia the Beaver, and Princess Tiana in person and they are incredible.
Well, now we have footage of those impressive Audio Animatronics actually installed inside Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, so we can see how they look in the refreshed and brand-new show scenes. Together with the first critter crew, second critter crew, and the third critter crew of musicians, these characters bring to life Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.
With previews are slated to begin in the coming days, Walt Disney World has now released a full POV ride-through video of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. This is a relatively unprecedented move for a new attraction that features staged show scenes and Audio Animatronics, so it’s somewhat surprising.
Less surprising is that first reactions to the ride-through video are decidedly mixed. In fact, that’s probably charitable. We’re anti-spoiler and thus not only have we not watched the video, but we also have ‘spoiler shields’ (e.g. keyword muting) on social media. Despite our best efforts, reactions have broken through our defenses, and most haven’t been exactly positive.
We’re still withholding judgment until riding Tiana’s Bayou Adventure ourselves next week, but it’s still disappointing to hear such a high volume and intensity of negative assessments. Our hope is that it presents better in person or that the ride-through is being review-bombed (obviously that wouldn’t be ideal for Disney, but it’d be better than the alternative).
Regardless, our full review is coming soon. For now, you can watch the full ride-through POV of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure–and pick up a pitchfork or sing its praises, as the case may be. Here it is:
We’d still recommend watching the second episode of the Walt Disney Imagineering YouTube series, which takes viewers behind-the-scenes of how music is created for Disney attractions and entertainment including at the finale of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, featuring the new original song “Special Spice.”
Watch the “We Call It Imagineering: Soundscapes” video for yourself here:
The Soundscapes episode isn’t merely marketing for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. It delves into the history of music in the parks, starting with how Walt Disney understood the power of music and what it could convey. When he established Walt Disney Imagineering to help build Disneyland, Walt brought his filmmakers on board, envisioning the parks as immersive versions of his films.
The Imagineers’ approach to music is deliberate and meticulous, and has stood the test of time as a result. This attention to detail is evident in the work of songwriters like the Sherman Brothers, who were among the first songwriters for Disneyland attractions, creating classics like “The Tiki, Tiki, Tiki Room” and “It’s A Small World (After All),” which debuted at the 1964 New York World’s Fair and has been an earworm ever since.
The illustrious careers of the Sherman Brothers continue to be remembered and revered by generations of fans, and with the passing of Richard last weekend, the release of Soundscapes this week offers a lovely tribute to the Disney Legends.
Turning to Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, there’s an extensive and (fair-warning) spoiler-heavy look inside the attraction starting at 16:16 of the “Soundscapes” episode. I’m not posting screenshots here because I’m pretty anti-spoiler…and because I stopped watching the video myself once it became clear there would be major spoilers.
With a new story, there was a need for new music to go along with it. Imagineers worked with Grammy-winner, PJ Morton, in New Orleans to score a lyrical love letter to the city for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. These recording sessions resulted in both new renditions of favorite tunes from the film and an all-new, original song, “Special Spice” with vocals by Anika Noni Rose, the original voice of Princess Tiana and Disney Legend.
This is a new chapter for Tiana as she grows her business and as a thank you to her community for their support, she’s throwing a party during Mardi Gras season. When it turns out there’s been a mix up in the preparations and she’s missing a band, Tiana invites us on a journey through the bayou discovering both friends familiar and anew for this last ingredient: musical critters. (Not literally–Tiana is not catching and cooking adorable animals in this attraction.)
After the thrilling drop, you’ll soon approach Tiana and friends at her mansion, where Louis conducts a jazz band filled with all the critters we met on our journey. They play “Special Spice” along with Prince Naveen playing his ukulele and Prince Ralphie the drums. We’ve discovered the “Special Spice” making this joyful, one-of-a-kind celebration complete is you. The melody continues as we approach Mama Odie, who acknowledges that this party wouldn’t be what it is without you.
As we near the attraction’s opening on June 28, 2024 at Magic Kingdom, PJ recently stopped by to hear his song alongside the Imagineering project team. “Seeing my song on the ride for the very first time was mind blowing to me,” recounted PJ. “It’s surreal to be in this world after a long time writing this song and finally seeing it in action, it’s a dream come true.”
Not only does the latest episode of “We Call It Imagineering” feature a sneak peek of this catchy song, but the full version of “Special Spice” will also release on Walt Disney Records this Friday, May 31, 2024 across all streaming platforms.
Before even boarding the attraction, you’ll hear a radio program on a New Orleans station playing authentic jazz versions of familiar songs, including “Down in New Orleans,” “Ma Belle Evangeline” and more from “The Princess and the Frog”! Listen closely, you might catch the radio host sharing an important message to listeners, Tiana needs help finding musicians for her big party tonight.
Terence Blanchard, a featured musician in “The Princess and the Frog,” seven-time Grammy-winner and twice-Oscar nominated composer, helmed the music in the attraction’s queue. This is just one of the many ways Imagineers have leaned into local New Orleans voices to tell Tiana’s story — both artists are natives to this musical city.
“We really wanted to showcase New Orleans music, give people who are going to be in the queue line an experience of being in New Orleans,” shared Terence. “It will hopefully create a lasting memory and a relationship with the city.”
The Chase family is another center stone of the city and provided inspiration for “The Princess and the Frog.” Singer Leah Chase Jr. and daughter of Chef Leah Chase who was one of the inspirations of Tiana, sings “Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans.”
In other Tiana’s Bayou Adventure news, Walt Disney World has taken down the construction walls from in front of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, revealing the attraction marquee out front. This is the first time we’ve seen the signage in real life, but it was first revealed in the attraction model (albeit the Disneyland version) for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure back at the 2022 D23 Expo.
The construction walls coming down and marquee being revealed almost a month in advance are not particularly surprising. Although Tiana’s Bayou Adventure doesn’t officially open until June 28, there are pretty much non-stop previews between now and then. In just a few days, previews for Cast Members begin in early June.
Following that, there are previews for Annual Passholders, Disney Vacation Club Members, D23 Gold Members, and more Cast Members. Magic Kingdom park reservations for the Annual Passholder preview dates filled up fast, but as we explain in How to Register for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure Preview Dates (STILL OPEN!), you can still ‘register’ for the previews (hence the parenthetical in the title).
With these previews starting soon, we wouldn’t be surprised if Walt Disney World releases even more footage soon. It’s expected that Cast Members will be allowed to take photos and video on the ride (and even if they weren’t, something would inevitably leak once one of their guests “accidentally” broke the rules), so the floodgates on footage are opening next week one way or the other. It probably makes sense for Disney to get out ahead of that and release official video that isn’t shot like a found footage horror movie.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think of the ride-through footage of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure at Walt Disney World? Surprised by the quality and quantity of Audio Animatronics in Tiana’s Bayou Adventure? Excited for the new-look ride? How much ‘inspiration’ from the former Splash Mountain are you expecting to appear in the reimagined version? Agree or disagree with our assessment of the attraction? Hearing your feedback—even when you disagree with us—is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
looks awful. what dog doo doo
Very disappointed cast member. Forget the new format… get the thing to work. I waited hours as the ride was temporarily down. Gave up and went home. Closed for weeks to renovate but is it asking too much to make it work? Sad.
I, too, am reserving judgment. I thought some of the Splash Mountain AudioAnimatronics were being recycled into the new storyline – not recycled to the curb. The gators, the frogs, the geese could have tried out for the Bayou Band. It is also sad that with all the talk about Beyond Big Thunder that an entire New Orleans Square did not arrive with a unique Pirates-esque, Tiana-themed attraction. Plenty of land in the NW backstage to make a remarkable attraction. Also considering the downtime of the WDWRR during Tron construction, they could have built almost anything over or under the tracks. Oh well. Time to be movin’ along.
I like another poster was able to ride it during a preview on Tuesday (June 4th). I personally enjoyed the queue more than the actual ride. So much detail to Tiana’s family life that I would love to just go through the queue to see it all again. As for the storyline of the ride, I think I missed it being said what was happening and thankfully I had read what the storyline was going to be prior to riding it so it helped. Sadly I don’t think my kids understood the storyline and just wanted the big drop at the end. Overall it was cute and hope they get things worked out.
Looks really pretty. Appears pretty boring. I love Tianna but not New Orleans. Some slightly scary parts would be nice. Sigh.
I am very disappointed in the new incarnation of this once classic ride. Splash Mountain was one of our favorite rides at Disney World, but now it’s just very blah. The animatronics are okay but I don’t get the storyline of riding through the swamp to a mansion. And what is the 50 ft drop supposed to represent? I at least understood the idea of dropping down into the briar patch. I thought I would like it better because I really love New Orleans. On our next trip to Disney, I think I’ll just skip this. “If it ain’t broke, don’ fix it.”
I was really disappointed. I just don’t understand how the creative team thought that monotonous nothing of a storyline would be dynamic enough for a flume ride with a 50 ft drop. It feels so flat and uninspired. Some of the animatronics are great (although a bit over-gesticulating), and I like how the outside portions were livened up. But overall – this is a huge miss for me.
Well, that is ‘something’. No journey, no stakes, no story or character development, no completion or achievement. New set-pieces and translation of new characters from 2D into 3D is very Six-Flags. Would have been far better to transform the Liberty Belle / Mark Twain into a ‘celebration cruise’ with live jazz band, character interaction, and activities to draw the guest into the Tiana story, rather than telling the guests a story that feels forced and unnecessary.
But it exists, I don’t think anyone expected this to be a classic ride experience, and soon (or already) people will be defending it. One day we will be told it is what Walt would have wanted.
I think the ride looks fun, but as others have said, including Dr. Facilier would have been great. Loved the suggestion about having his “Are You Ready?” right before the drop. The spooky side has always been an essential part of New Orleans, along with the music and food and fun atmosphere.
Personally, I always thought Splash was a little boring, with fun songs and audioanimatronics plus a big drop for the thrill seekers, which sort of contradicted the rest of the ride that seemed aimed towards little kids. This seems sort of the same way, with more for the grownups during the main part of the ride.
I was more than pleasantly surprised after watching the ride-through on YouTube! The movie isn’t a favorite so I didn’t have great expectations. Now I’m really excited to ride it. The music, animatronics, and visuals all look great. And they even kept the bloop-bloops, those leaping water jets! I had been afraid that they’d feature Dr. Facilier and make it too creepy for kids, but I didn’t even see him–was he there? I’m guessing it’ll be a worthy and popular replacement for Splash Mountain, which had been one of my all-time favorite rides.
I’m reserving my final opinion until I’ve been able to ride it and see it in person, but from watching the video it looks to me like the change from Splash Mountain is a lateral move.
I’m reminded of when I attended the premiere night of Luminous at Epcot; I loved it and while walking out of the park all the crowd conversations around me were of the “Wow, that was terrific!” genre— and then the next morning I saw a lot of blogs and fan sites trashing it and declaring how awful it was. I don’t think the Tiana ride is a wow-terrific upgrade but the Unpleaseable Fanbase would be reacting the same way even if it was.
They didn’t do anything special. It’s the same ride, with a rebrand. Doesn’t help that the rebrand is in response to manufactured PR noise so some are predisposed to hate it. Conversely, there will be some that fawn over it because they’re “supposed to”
They needed to just build out a full Tiana land.
I managed to have pretty good luck and it was up during my preview. It’s cute…. I won’t add any spoilers (hopefully). The animatronics, what they had anyway, were very nicely done. The music was fun. The story is pretty nonexistent in my opinion. If I didn’t know the story, I doubt I would have figured it out by riding. And I ride 3 times. All effects and animatronics appeared to be working during all 3 of my rides but the ride itself felt very sparse. I enjoyed the ride itself. Always have. But much preferred Splash. In the interest if full disclosure, I’m not a Tiana fan. Movie was eh for my crew. Big Splash fan but also not opposed to updates/changes. And I can even overlook not being a fan of the story behind the ride. Case in point: love both guardians rides, can’t stand the movies. I guess the really sad part is that not only did the ride not impress, but it’s been having SIGNIFICANT down times just during previews. I know people who waited over 3 1/2 hours before finally getting tossed out of the queue. Hopefully they get the bugs worked out…
Good Luck waiting to ride before reviewing since the ride has been down more than up since previews with several evacuations. Its pretty much DOA. Pixie dust isnt fixing this one which of course will effect wait times for other rides.