Disney has released some new information about Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. The replacement for Splash Mountain will feature Tiana from The Princess and the Frog following her success with Tiana’s Palace restaurant.
From the Disney Parks Blog, we now know the background of the story guests will experience during Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.
Let’s start with the ride’s setting.
Walt Disney Imagineering is creating an original, next chapter story for Tiana. Within the attraction queue, guests will discover that she continues to grow her business with Tiana’s Foods – an employee-owned cooperative. Combining her talents with those of the local community, Tiana has transformed an aging salt mine and built a beloved brand.
The aging salt mine is the new “mountain” from the old Splash Mountain. The story goes that Tiana bought the salt mine and the area around it, and started growing vegetables, herbs, and spices. Tiana’s Foods has completely revitalized the old salt mine.
This multi-faceted enterprise has turned the aging salt mine into a space that has come alive. Complete with a boutique farm and both a working and teaching kitchen, Tiana’s Foods is where Tiana and her colleagues create all sorts of new products that they are bringing to the world, including a line of original hot sauces.
Now, let’s get into the story that guests will be brought into during Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.
Tiana wants to give a big thanks to her family and friends and the entire community for all the support they’ve given her by throwing an amazing party during Mardi Gras season. When it turns out there’s been a bit of a mix–up with the party preparations, Tiana invites us to meet her at Tiana’s Foods to help with the missing ingredient for the party.
The hook of the attraction is a missing ingredient! A bit of a twist on the “something goes wrong” ride trope, but close.
When we arrive, we may see that Tiana spruced up the company’s facilities with vibrant art from local artists. Food for the party is being prepared and beignets are being loaded into crates for the celebration. All kinds of preparations are underway for the journey into the bayou with Tiana, along with new and familiar friends from the animated film.
Picking up where that story left off, Tiana continues bringing people together with Tiana’s Foods, another treasured meeting place to spend time together and celebrate a diverse community. Tiana is also working with cooperative members to teach gardening and cooking to children of all ages, and inspiring other women to run successful businesses as the brand grows nationwide.
This new information from Disney should put to rest any remaining speculation that Tiana’s Bayou Adventure will be a simple retelling of The Princess and the Frog. It should also crush the hopes of those hoping Dr. Facilier will somehow make an appearance. It’s definitely going to be something different – for better or worse.
Disney is aiming to tell a new story for Tiana, and we think that’s a fun idea. However, the backstory and general synopsis sounds a bit overly complicated. That’s an area Disney has been criticized about in recent years, with their rides requiring lengthy backstories for guests to understand before boarding the attraction.
Ultimately, we’ll have to wait and see how Tiana’s Bayou Adventure plays out (we already know it has a great drop!) when it’s scheduled to open in 2024.
