Tiana's Bayou Adventure BRUTALLY HONEST REVIEW at Magic Kingdom 

Imagine the ride as the original movie. Where Tiana in her blue dress, kisses the frog and then we turn into frogs in the bayou while Dr faciller chases us with his demons! Imagine “are you ready” as you’re going up the hill and dr facillier poofs smoke and his eyes are showing in the dark as you splash down!!!! And then the ending is Tiana and naveens wedding, then a peppers ghost effect of the frogs turning into their human forms. Tiana in her beautiful green dress!!! With mama odie!!!

Advice for Disney, if you make a decision like taking voodoo out of a voodoo story or taking dwarves out of a dwarf story, the first thing you should do is stop and take a breath and realize that you cannot go further with the project. You’re welcome.

nothing like a plot revolving around finding "musicians" that you find almost immediately lol there is no interesting story here, no conflict, no adventure, no tension.

Are we not gonna talk about the first Louis animatronic's mouth is already not working after not even a week! 😮

It's become very apparent that a substantial part of the disappointment comes from people who actually love this movie and its characters and were excited about the ride's potential. That deserves to be highlighted, as I'm already seeing plenty of people pretending it's just a bunch of people hung up on Splash Mountain who were going to hate on Tiana's anyway. Not true and a pathetic way to protect Imagineering from legitimate feedback.

You may not have noticed but the first time you saw the Louis animatronic his lips weren’t moving, not a good sign for how the ride is already doing

Thank you for being the first genuine review of this ride. So far all the other RU-vidrs have been giving it all positives with a defensive “well I walked off smiling a little so that’s all that counts”. You’re the first one to actually say yes this ride has problems. Everyone else is clearly scared to lose their press passes so they say nothing but blue skies and sunshine but their tone and studder says another more genuine story

Imo they should've gone the storytelling route of princess and the frog. I think it would've been a much better ride.

It looks like a rough draft instead of a finished product. The story does not make any sense. Why are we turned into tiny frogs.....There should have been a white versus dark magic element to this to make it more thrilling which fits the actual ride and could have been easily incorporated into this story.

It just looks like there’s so much dead space. There was always something to look at when riding splash. Definitely disappointed. Almost gives me Dudley Do Right vibes with the vacant scenes (not quite as bad but still)

Ironic how the queue line is better than the ride itself. LMAO

Splash closes 'cause of some "problematic" aspects but they can't put in Dr. Facilier because there are "problematic" aspects with him? Got it!

Pocahontas would have been a way better new theme for Splash Mountain because she actually dives off a beautiful waterfall and rides canoes 🛶 on the river

The ride is so bad that even people who were enthusiastic about it are disappointed

Splash Mountain followed the plot and Tiana's Bayou certainly does NOT.

It feels like the people who designed the queue and the actually ride's story itself doesn't quite intermingle, as if something was lost in production. It's all about vegetables and food and ingredients, yet most of the ride is about finding a band. Perhaps it should have intermingled both food and music as a theme?

Mouth already not working on Louis, oh man

Man a non-shill youtuber is like the most refreshing thing. Thank you.

Apparently, Mama Odie makes everyone tiny for no apparent reason and then makes them big again so they can make a big “Splash” at the party? I don’t think so.

I’ve seen a few reviews and this is the first one that seems reasonable. The ride isn’t terrible, but compared to splash it’s underwhelming.

I am a former Splash CM....a disappointing redux is not a surprise....Disney's new MO is water everything down, rip the guts out...they'll still come.....so...........I mean....have you SEEN the new Poly tower and interior decor????????..........🤨

This is why I enjoy this channel. You get an honest opinion of one man. The good. The bad. The ugly. From the footage, it’s a bit underwhelming. No use of Dr. Facilier who is a brilliant villain voiced by Keith David? Yeah, the details in story-telling are lacking which is important tool in keeping you coming back.

So many dark spots with nothing 👎 why Disney can not leave well enough alone is amazing. Everything they refurb is a disaster

RIP Splash Mountain, you died for nothing.

They should have had the villain at the big drop. Hes one of the best villains of Disney.

I feel like they didn't need to get rid of all the old animatronics. With a little sprucing up and some rethemeing, they could have found a home on Tiana's, like the original ones did coming from America Sings to Splash. If they have them in storage, which I hope they do, select a crop of them and fill out this ride.

Imagine if the lift hill played "friends on the other side" and the song gets more intense as you get to the top. That would have been an addition worthy of replacing Splash Mountain.

It just seems like such a missed opportunity. Think of how much better this could have been if there was a Facilier tie-in... like, a real narrative with a hero's journey. So disappointing. That's for the honest take. This is definitely not a "destination" ride. I'll go on it if the line is short next time I'm in MK.

Splash Mountain had a better storytelling, for sure. And more Animatronics. And was more fun, had more color and a real sense of “Adventure”. Princess Tiana deserved a really new ride and not just a sort of makeover. Well, just my opinion. I have 50 years visiting WDW once a year and I think there are some attractions that You can label as “classics”. Pirates, Mansion, Big Thunder, etc… Splash Mountain, for me, had that status. It was a classic! You can improve, add new effects, do such things, but never get rid of them. But, again, It’s just an opinion from an old (and I mean it) Disney fan. Have fun, folks! ✌️

Nobody but people who would NEVER visit Disney anyway were complaining about Splash Mountain. It was insane to reskin a classic and beloved ride like Splash. If you’re gonna reskin it you better make it an improvement in every aspect. And this ride is inferior to Splash in every way except for having better AA technology than a 30 year old ride.

It’s the new “Journey Into A Lack of Imagination Ride”!

I'm not looking forward to this opening in Disneyland, California anymore. In fact, I wish Disney would shut it down, put back Splash Mountain and build a separate, re-imagined Tiana's ride somewhere else in Critter Country or Fantasyland. Like you, I think Disney should quit scrapping brilliant rides that could've just been updated. Disney's California Adventure lost Tower of Terror because it was converted into Guardians of The Galaxy, which I think deserved to be its own ride. In the process, Disney changed the beautiful TOT attraction exterior into a neon-covered junk heap that is an absolute eyesore no matter how you look at it. I did not find anything offensive about Splash Mountain. The entire ride was populated with animals. It was lively, endearing, unforgettable and fun. Tiana's Bayou Adventure makes me wish Splash Mountain was never taken out.

So basically Navi river journey with a drop?

If they didn't want to be associated with Voodoo, then don't do it. The villain in the Princess in the Frog is great!

Even if Tiana's Bayou Adventures is the greatest ride ever, there is no reason that Disney couldn't have built this a as a brand new attraction and left Splash Mountain alone. P.S. I have been to the Louisiana Bayou and don't recall a Mountain.

It’s taken me 4 videos on this to realise they shrink you down to a frog to find the smaller ‘band members’ (I think) not clear at all. The animatronics with the awkward pauses and repetitive phrases to me make them not look anymore impressive than previous animatronic models… they looked much more impressive in the studio. Maybe they come across better in person?

so disappointedddd it just doesn’t scream princess and the frog, with all the missing characters and random storyline. it took me awhile to realize we shrunk, and there was no adrenaline buildup before the drop!! whyyyy disney, tiana deserves better

Tba seems as spicy and fun as boiled chicken and white rice for dinner. Looking forward to going to Japan for splash mountain. Iger co. did Tiana no favors.

So much dead space and wasted potential with no plot. This reminds me of a Sofia the First episode where she needs a princess to help her with her small task

Man i had no idea Disney was so scared to use Voodoo, maybe they shouldnt have made a ride based on a property whose whole thing is VOODOO!?! I think it wouldve been super cool if instead of the frog section have Dr. Facilier pop up and say like "My Friends and I dont think youll be making it to that little party" and have the frog section be us escaping Facilier and his Friends. I love a kinda scary section in a Disney ride especially if the source material has spooky elements i mean Pirates scared me as a kid and i literally refused to ride Haunted Mansion until i was a teenager cause the thought of it scared me and now those are my favorite theme park rides of all time. now all that said i dont think the ride is terrible but if Tony Baxter walks out on the project halfway through i think its proof this reskin was DOA.

You absolutely NAILED it with this review. Why are so many other Disney vloggers seeing this ride through such rose tinted glasses? Is it because they wanted to like it so bad?

I noticed so many signs dotted around the ride to explain what area you are in or whats going on, it shows how weak the story telling is if they have to do this.

What a boring ride. They ruined it.

RESTORE SPLASH MOUNTAIN

Disney you should release a new version of "Song of the South" film, without the racism. This keeps the songs, keeps the fun animal characters, piques curiosity to see it, and you can relaunch Splash Mountain by updating its animatronics. Easy Peasy. You destroy a beloved beloved ride and kill the essence of Princess and the Frog by making a "Dora the explorer: The ride without adventure"

If Disney can re-name Madame Odie as a bayou fairy godmother instead of voodoo queen, then instead of totally abandoning Dr. Facilier due to voodoo connection, Disney should just evolve the character to be a charlatan, schemer, illusionist...whatever is needed. Don't mention voodoo. But keep this fantastic villain character, he's one of the very best and will be helpful in any future Tiana content, including hinting at him (shadow projections, evil laugh) in this attraction.

Think of all the cool animatronics they took out of the great movie ride......just to replace it with a big empty building with screens

Seems weird that the cars just race through the party scene at regular speed. It feels like there's not enough time to take that part in, whereas the rest of the ride feels so empty.

Damn imagine being the original creator/ imagineer of something and then they bring you in to replace the entire ride, sounds like they didn’t let him have any creative freedom when he saw how stupid the rules they would have put on him. No wonder this dude left mid project. They probably gave him zero creativity freedom, on top of making him destroy what he once made. Sounds like a nightmare as a creator/ imagineer.

This ride is super underwhelming. Only the die-hard shills who get kickbacks from Disney think this is any good. If Disney PR, with their huge budget, can't make this ride look amazing, that says something. This ride is pretty garbage overall. No coherent storyline, lots of dead space, crappy decor, and constant mechanical issues. A hard NO on this. Horrible job Disney!!!

It seems like a whole ride just to sell beignets

at the very end, the entire boat should sing zip-a-dee-doo-dah at the top of their lungs. every bost should do this. it will be legendary

Disney is getting THE WORST press on this ride!! They better do something FAST to try get some positive press. Yikes!!

If they wanted to stay away from the voodoo stuff for lord knows what stupid reasons then why in the world did they make a princess and the frog ride in the first place!?

A poor substitute, very sad 😔

Story first - Technology second. This is like a not fully formed band. Yes it may have a few shiny instruments, but it is missing a harmony and several additional band members. Your POV is better than the one released by Disney.

Louis mouth didn’t even move!!!!! 🤣

this is so incredibly cheap

I don’t know anything about the movie, but the ride looked horrendous. To be honest, considering how upset I was with splash closing, I’m glad that I don’t like this ride. Really lazy do over of a ride that should’ve never left. I’m probably skipping this ride in future visits. The scenes look like they just did the bare minimum and the animatronics look really boring. The audio animatronics on splash were better. They did absolutely nothing well in this ride. Makes me really want to sing zip a dee do dah on the ride or in front of the ride. Except I can’t sing. The best part of the ride from the POV seemed to be getting off. Doesn’t look good. I don’t think reviews are going to be very good and I’m probably not the only one who wants this ride to close already.

There are no mountains in the bayou. Can’t wait to walk past this ride

So sad it didnt live up to the expectations that they created, and so sad that with such a good oportunity they missed the ball big time! Tiana and the movie deserve and amazing ride created for it specifically! Hopefully we can get it in the future :/

I simply cannot believe they did not reuse the showboat from America Sings. It would have fit in perfectly. At this point, the only historical/easter egg reference to Splash is Louis' big behind sticking up instead of Br'er Bear's hanging from the snare trap (unless someone else finds something).

Splash Mt: take the movie and make into a ride, complete with "don't throw me in the briar patch.". Art at its finest. Tiana's: take the movie, flush it, create a new lame story, miss the chance to fall into "I've got friends on the other side." Ehhhh Took it from a Home Run to maybe a double or triple. Still good, but missing all the elements that made it awesome.

Why is there so much empty space?!!

Well we finaly found out what happened to the purple roadway signs. They are hanging from tianas. This ride is souless. I feel personally hurt

This is like an episode of a Disney Junior cartoon down to the low quality CGI parts 💀

At the end of the day, they destroyed something great and legendary and replaced it with something mid level with a Disneyesque politicization wrapped in to boot. Of course the public isnt going to be positive on this. Im available for consultancy Disney!

when considering what di$ney has done up to this point and then seeing THIS, the obvious conclusion is this........... di$ney is cutting everything. They dont care what you think, the next gen of guests who dont know better will accept this crap. Dont know if it can ever get better under present management, but dont hold your breath. The parks are on a severe downward trend and it won't come back.

The no vodoo on the ride is definitely so people don’t get mad about it as cultural appropriation, etc. It’s ok in shows and parades because they always can always pull/change it.

The first Luis animatronic at the start of the ride is already brocken on the mouth and the eyes

"Disney didn't really want anything to do with voodoo" cracked me up. Similar to the watering down of Pirates. Looks like Small World level of intensity with the thrill ride final drop. Strange pairing.

The worst Disney mistake would be the NBA experience replacing Disney Quest. But I guess that's a whole different story. 😂

Needs the Dr.

Bring splash back. Wasted time and money

Maybe for anyone that hasn't ridden splash but it's a disappointment! 50 animitronics of Tiana don't make it good,I love that Coco is playing drums at the end! Surprised there isn't some spare Galactic star cruiser stuff😂

I think they should have dedicated a whole new attraction to Tiana's Bayou Adventure. The mountains, rockwork, and waterfalls dont align with a traditional Bayou

I've only seen the POV video, but it feels like a simple Fantasyland kiddie ride with a weak story, but with better lighting and a few good animatronics

didn't louisiana salt mines use slaves?

They did this to appease the masses that were offended by splash. Also I don’t like that a ride like this a virtual que or fast pass pay

I will wear my headphones and play zipadeedoodah while on this ride. Same with the Space Mountain theme playing over the Star Wars theme.

Im a huge splash mountain fan and an even bigger princess and the frog fan. I didnt care how they changed the ride because i understand change. But i was really hoping they would gut and complely redo EVERYTHING about the original ride track/log flumes. It was always broken down, i got evacuated from it twice and once during mnsshp we rode it in complete silence none of the animatronics were making a sound and no soundtrack was playing. Super creepy but sad to see that the wdw splash seemed to not get taken care of. These problems wont go away just because they made it pretty and added great animatronics.

9:28 mouth work no more :(

Yes it is a bad attraction......

This thing cost like $100 million. You know what they could’ve done with that money? They could’ve remade a new movie for Song of the South with just the animal character storyline and not the live action story. It would’ve revitalized the IP for years to come, they could’ve still refurbished the ride to fit closer with the new film (update character designs and whatnot) and it would be good to go for DECADES!! It would’ve been a huge hit and it would’ve been the easiest money they’ve made in YEARS!! Now, because they didn’t want to follow the movie for the Princess and the Frog, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure will be lucky to make it 5 years without them having to sink millions more into it to fix it. What a complete joke 🙄

They destroyed a great ride for this?

I laughed so hard at vagisil 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Imo mission breakout sucks and doesn't match the area like the tower of terror did Disney should of just gave guardians of the galaxy and princess and the frog they own ground up rides instead of these tacky rethemes

He never said if it was better or worse than Splash. Obviously it's far far worse. That's without adding the fact that they destroyed actual Oscar winning NAACP approved Black folklore to put in a race swapped Russian Princess folktale. Disney has gotten so much worse since Bob showed up.

Man, seems like there are several people who do not like this new ride.

The first and easiest change they need to make is swapping out the background music for stuff that doesn’t have lyrics. Characters shouldn’t be talking while their songs play in the background it’s distracting.

I'll never be able to experience Splash Mountain again, unless i fly to Tokyo.

no villain = no fun

It was hard to tell which music was part of the ride and which was added in editing.

I visited back in 2006 when Expedition Everest was in previews, and the Yeti was fully functional. The finale on that ride was AMAZING!!! JAW-DROPPING. But the Yeti has been broken for 18 years, and, instead of fixing it, we get...this. This. This is what we get.

I think people forget that the only reason Splash had so many random animatronics is just because thwy were all salvaged from America Sings. If they would have built Splash originally without that shortcut, it would have had a fraction of the characters and almost certainly would have leaned on cutouts and static figures like Alice. Tiana's had to build every single figure, no shortcuts this time. That said, I do think the story is very thin, and would have liked to see Dr. Facilier, myself. I think the number of animatronics and look of the ride is fine, it's the narrative that needs help.

Nothing about the ride, gives me a New Orleans vibe?? Very Bleh.

Typical Post-Eisner Disney. This should've been a slam dunk change over, but they fumbled the ball by not loosening the purse strings and running away from great material. The build to the big drop in Splash has more impact cause of the spooky music, the creaking ambience like a gallows walk and the buzzards taunting you. Here it's just a nothing tunnel with Mama Odie cause I guess we should change you back from a frog? Imagine instead if they had used Facilier, and then you have a rendition of Friends on the Other Side rumbling in the tunnel, Petro masks glaring you down. Then as you reach the top, Facilier asks if you're ready before you take the plunge. It's watching this slide in quality and attention to detail that drives me to want create my own theme park, anyone got a few million they're willing to invest? :D

I couldn't agree more with this review. I was a huge splash mountain fan and I was disappointed when they first announced its closure but then I rewatched the princess and the frog loved it got excited for the retheme just to end up disappointed. This could have been better if they didn't change the storyline a million times and stuck to the actual movie and not a sequel to it that doesn't even exist lol. I specificaly agree with you that splash had way more animatronics and things to look at and this does not have enough animatronics at all. Its mostly dark and plants and you have to wait awhile to get to the next animatronic. Luis isn't already not working in the first time you see him and Tiana isn't talking when you see her with Luis and the critters. The bears aren't blinking which is creepy. The safari outfit makes no sense and the storyline is kinda all over the place. Its disappointing we don't get to see what was in the concept art like Tiana in that beautiful blue dress and Luis. Then Naveen is hidden in the finale. Charlotte and Tiana's mom don't do anything in the finale scene all they do is wave. its just very underwhelming and disappointing. Tony prob backed out because he saw that this would be a boring and dull ride. what a huge disappointment. :( The exterior is more beautiful then splash though.

It looks and feels so clean that it just feels like a Disney World restaurant.

This thing sucks bro. But don't tell the Disney vloggers that lmao 🤣🤣🤣