by Beth Keating
News
DisneyBizJournal.com
February 13, 2024
Today is Mardi Gras – the festive celebration that takes place in cities like New Orleans just before the somber season of Lent, which begins tomorrow with Ash Wednesday. It’s fitting, then, that Disney chose today to announce the planned opening for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure (sort of).
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure at Disney World will be opening sometime “Summer 2024,” and “later in 2024 at Disneyland Park in California.” Not terribly specific, but a narrower window than we had before, and earlier than originally anticipated.
The attraction is being constructed on the footprint of the former Splash Mountain, with the original ride track staying the same. Yes, the 50-foot drop at the end of Splash Mountain will still be part of the attraction! There will be lots of changes to the vignettes along the ride path, however. Now, you’ll be floating down the bayou, surrounded by musical critters, playing instruments they’ve made from natural bayou materials.
The new ride follows Tiana just after the events of the 2009 animated The Princess and the Frog movie. In “Tiana’s Bayou Adventure,” it’s Mardi Gras, and Tiana is throwing a party to thank her family and friends for helping her to get her new business, “Tiana’s Foods,” up and running. There will be lots of New Orleans-inspired music, and appearances from a number of the characters from the movie, in the form of dozens of fresh animatronics, including Tiana, Naveen, Louis, and Mama Odie. Music legends PJ Morton and Terence Blanchard created upbeat original music for the ride, but there will also be some of the fan-favorite songs from The Princess and the Frog. Tiana herself has a special new adventure outfit for the occasion.
With construction continuing on a daily basis at the Magic Kingdom, and new signage popping up for the Mardi Gras season, it’s nice to see that they’re “almost there.”
__________
Beth Keating is a theme parks, restaurant and entertainment reporter for DisneyBizJournal.
Get The Disney Planner: The TO DO List Solution by Ray Keating. More information at
https://raykeatingbooksandmore.com/shop/ols/products/disneyplanner.
No comments:
Post a Comment