Tiana's Bayou Adventure: The Ride With Impossible Expectations 

Not having Dr. Facilier on the ride at all feels really odd to me. I feel like adding him could add some kind of stakes to the ride.

The ride's biggest problem is its lack of story and repetitive dialogue, but I actually think it would be quite easy to fix: Just add one line early on mentioning that there's a scary part of the bayou you should steer clear of. Change the section of the ride where you're shrunk down to the size of a frog (formerly the Laughing Place) into the scary part of the bayou. Put a villain in there - maybe a scary predator animal that you "escape" from during the big final drop. You really just need to change that one section to build tension for the drop, and the rest of the ride can stay the same. And there you go, massive improvement. As is, it's just going from one happy scene to the next, and a proper story that does not make. I have the same criticism toward Frozen Ever After. Some part of me is always going to miss Splash Mountain, because it was the first Disney ride I ever went on, and it's what first introduced me to animatronics and the concept of dark rides. It was my favorite ride as a kid, and I have a lot of childhood nostalgia tied to it. But that doesn't mean I want Tiana's Bayou Adventure to fail. I think it just needs some tweaking, because the recent trend of Disney dark rides having nothing but happy scenes in them is pretty lame. On a positive note, the new animatronics are really impressive, especially Louis.

I think the only problem is the lack of a villain. It needs urgency. What worked for the old ride was you have this scary moment of the drop emphasizes with scary music and animatronics. And then the zip a do scene was a release “you made it” Here it would have been wonderful to have a villain that makes you shrink and then go to the drop. But the animatronics look epic

“Tiana’s errand running river cruise”

i just hate the way tiana addresses the audience and makes the whole ride feel like an episode of dora the explorer. "Can YOU help us find the band in the bayou?" the writing is so strange, alien and lazy. They could have invented like… an evil brother of doc f to get revenge on tiana! That could have been fun! That tunnel is the perfect place for momma odie to save you at the last minute from getting dragged to the other side lol. I know splash mountain’s writing wasn’t great but it feels like the bar was pretty low and they still tripped over it.

I like how their solution to empty show scenes was just turning off the lights

So the ride is like... Tiana: "We need to find a band!" Louis: "We need to find a band!" Tiana and Louis: "Look, we found a band!" ...and you're only a third of the way into it. It really feels like they struggled to re-theme a whole mountain here.

Splash Mountain felt like you were going into a world that is LIVED in, that despite not seeing critters in every corner, the set dressings give you the impression that something exists there. Tiana's Bayou Adventure feels like you're going through an abandoned swamp and the characters only show up to remind you they exist before disappearing into the darkness, which feels very unwelcoming. Really a major metaphor of modern Disney doing the bare minimum to entertain you and then making you find your own fun out of the lack of effort they put out.

What I agree with most and frustrates me a lot is that Tiana's Bayou Adventure's tone is massively different from what Splash Mountain's was. While I also dislike what it's based on, Splash Mountain had a threat, rising tension, and a climax. It doesn't feel like Tiana's Bayou Adventure has that, and it perplexes me because Dr. Facilier is just... right there. Featuring him could've added a good villain and an important addition of "oh crap, we're being dunked down a 50 ft drop by an evil guy" that the original ride had. That tension is what got me so scared yet so enticed by the ride as a kid, and it's really disappointing that new riders won't be able to get that experience. It reminds me of a lot of recent Disney films it feels like they're so afraid to feature a big antagonist and that just makes the experience so much worse for me. Personally this difference is enough for me to prefer Splash Mountain, and I really wish it could've been translated into the new ride.

I find it really funny that people's excuse for Facilier not being here is because he's dead. When did theme parks feel like committing to rigid canon? The fun of theme parks is meeting your favorite characters, the fact that you have to tell your kid he can't meet Luke at Star Wars Land because he's canonically a ghost doesn't equal fun. If anything it just limits what they can show in the park, like why have meet and greets of dead characters if it "goes against canon" by their logic?

I don't find empty scenes of bushes and screens very detailed. Is removing 70% of the classic animatronics that take up the ride and replacing them with quite literally nothing count as detailed?

Was never really a fan of the original, but I feel like removing the tension heading up to the drop really kills anything that makes the ride notable, and a lot of water getting spashed into the boat basically removes any intruge I have for it as a dark ride.

Recent Disney rides have two main problems - overuse of trackless ride vehicles, and a complete lack of any sense of danger or fear. I mean, this ride has the word "Adventure" in it, but it is not an adventure. The definition of adventure is "an unusual and exciting, typically hazardous, experience or activity". Old Disney had enough faith in its audience to put them through a brief moment of fear, even flirting with the concept of death, with the promise of a big payoff of relief at the end. Recent rides don't do this at all.

It's really just Frozen Ever After again. You have these incredible animatronics that don't work half the time. Then there's a very generic story that's difficult to understand. Dr. Facilier was one of their most popular villains, and they really pushed him for a while, yet he's completely absent from the ride, just like Hans is missing from Frozen Ever After (though he's not quite as popular). There are long stretches with nothing going on and no theming because all the budget went into impressive animatronics that are a coin toss as to whether or not they're working that day due to being so complex. That's the new Disney standard, apparently.

This ride really had potential to be a worthy successor to Splash. I think the mandate preventing Facilier from being used in the ride really held it back.

My personal disagreement with this is giving the lack of story depth a pass because "the atmosphere has always been its strong point." I think its pretty disingenuous to undermine the vitality of a ride's narrative structure and strength so long as it looks pretty. And in the case of Splash/Tiana's, I've gotten really tired by this excuse used over and over by people who want to shrug of valid criticism. While Splash Mountain's plot wasn't anything groundbreaking, it still followed the basic structure of exposition, conflict, and resolution. Br'er Rabbit wants to find his laughing place, Br'er Fox and Br'er Bear chase him, catch him, and are thrown into the Briar Patch, and we see Br'er Rabbit being welcomed back by the rest of the critters. It's a solid narrative that - along with the atmosphere - further aids the log-flume ride system, especially the final act of going up the lift hill. Meanwhile, Tiana's story is just... exposition. There's not much really going on; all that's there is seeing one highlighted show scene to the next. When you compare the two (which is going to be an inevitability and - if I'm being quite honest - valid), Splash's story has better cohesion with its ride system, while Tiana's fumbles the bag. That's why many people bring up the want of an antagonist like Dr. Facilier - so it can bring back the suspense and tension, and thus the lighter scenes are even lighter. I get it, not every ride needs to be a book report in rideable form. But this is Disney's Princess and the Frog we're talking about, a very beloved story by many that people were really excited to see be given a spotlight as a ride. Is it really that bad to want to hold Disney accountable for having a standard in good storytelling in their rides? The very thing that made their theme parks elevated from the rest?

Respect the nuance...but personally, I think the ride is awful. The lack of any tension whatsoever in the story just makes it fall so flat. Even though Splash's story was hard to follow, you still get the sense of being in danger and needing to escape. I also really wish they kept some of the America Sings animatronics to fill out some of the emptiness, as well as contribute to preserving park history. This video did help me to see some of the positives though. The ride could have been so much worse and it does feel like Disney at least tried in some respects.

I still think a Kermit's Swamp Ride with the Muppets would have been a better way to go. They're fun, energetic characters, they could've had a fun easter egg with Fozzie dangling like Bre'r Bear, Gonzo or Crazy Harry blows something up before the big drop. Disney's owned the Muppets for how many years now, and they still dont have their own ride, or much of anything really.

If I was in charge of this, I would have either done a muppets ride, or move the country bears into splash mountain, with a plot involving the bears on a road trip to the west, with a few nods to the oregon trail thrown in, with all the country bear music being played throughout

Poseidon is one of the most vocal against the rock-work and greenery being a positive on Seven Dwarfs. To see similar execution being praised here is a bit strange.

The plot to this ride honestly baffles me. Not in how it's told (although it is told very poorly) but why they chose what they did. "Let's go put together a critter band" has absolutely NOTHING to do with The Princess and the Frog. Louis wanted to be a jazz trumpeter, but specifically wanted to join a *human* jazz band and was upset people were scared of him. No other animals were invested in becoming musicians. This wasn't remotely part of the movie. If you're a big fan of The Princess and the Frog and were looking forward to this ride, I can't imagine the experience is particularly cathartic. Some of the scenes are pretty cute (and I really like the part where you're shrunk down, what a neat perspective) but the queue is a much better sendup to the movie than the actual ride is.

I don't think the ride is /that bad/ by itself, but as a replacement for Splash Mountain, and as a Tiana Ride, I just don't think it met its potential. It totally could have - with more of a story, I think this ride could have been absolutely great. I think as is, the story just isn't enough to meet the thrills of the ride. At the same time, I think the animatronics and atmosphere are really great, and I'm a sucker for jazz music... Just wish the ride had a better story,, because as it is it seems like a little kid ride and not a thrill ride.

Disney omitting Dr. Facilier for the sake of a dumbed down, more "child friendly" experience is so perplexing to me. It would have fixed so many flaws currently present.

I think that one of the under-discussed aspects of what made Splash Mountain so great is that it was a fully-fledged musical experience. I cannot think of any ride before or since (maybe Sinbad at DisneySea?) that has used music so thoughtfully. For example: the exterior section before Slippin' Falls did not have much happening visually, but what it did do was gradually ease you into the world of cartoon singing animals (layering in the How Do You Do melody, teasing you with character voices singing along as you pass the critter houses). When you reach the full-blown musical numbers, the lyrics have been rewritten to convey the plot. There is nothing incidental about the songs; the songs ARE the ride and dictate everything from the tone to the ride layout. I was intrigued to see what Bayou Adventure would do musically, since the promotional materials made such a big deal out the song production. It was honestly kind of shocking that the ride immediately hits you with not one but TWO completely/mostly unaltered movie tracks (Down in New Orleans, Almost There) that exist to fill dead air and nothing else. If the songs were switched off nothing would be lost, and that is a problem for a supposed musical. Gonna Take You there is especially bizarre, since the instrumentation is diegetically played by the critters and appropriately unique to the ride, yet the vocals are still sung by the extremely dead Ray. Why would the designers leave it like that?? Is this a musical or not?? Special Spice is cute but it comes and goes so quickly that you can barely appreciate it, since the ride opts to lead into it with Almost There (again) for some reason. The lyrics are also unrelated to the story, and I honestly wonder if it was commissioned for an unused version of the plot.

I respect your opinion, particularly as I know you've tended to dislike most things they've done lately and I'm happy that you like something. I like many of the things you've recently criticized, like Remy's, Galaxy's Edge, and Runaway Railway. This, however, I find lifeless, empty, and devoid of a compelling story. You go out looking for a band, immediately find them, and go home. Oddly passive for one of the park's biggest thrill rides. Instead of Tiana's Bayou Adventure, it should be called "The Least Eventful Day Tiana Ever Spent in the Bayou."

It’s the runaway railway situation, the fact that Tiana replaced splash mountain instead of being a new ride concept. Of course it’s gonna draw flak. Definitely more effort could have gone to fill the empty parts between each show scene…

It is funny that Dr. Facilier was not in the ride because he is dead but the going down the bayou song is unchanged and the character who sings that died as well. Also voodoo is a legit reason as to why Facilier could be in the ride 😭

Can’t get over the name though. Not only did they remove the mountain motif that tied Splash Mountain to Space and Big Thunder Mountain, I don’t like the ‘Adventure’ part. Modern Disney loves calling their rides ‘Adventures’ Do something like Mardi Gras Mountain or something like that

For someone whose videos are all about maintaining quality in the theme parks, it is really surprising to see you say "the story is dumb but I don't care". The story is the attraction, otherwise just put some IP on a rollercoaster and call it good like Six Flags. If the story is dumb that makes the whole foundation of the attraction dumb... I feel like you are more happy at the physical props making a return to the ride and ignoring the glaring, massive issue, and what has the general Disney guest scratching their head. Its a princess and the frog ride, with no semblance of the characters personalities from the movies, no plot that actually has stakes (this is a thrill ride after all) and leaves you wondering at the end... What did I just ride when you get off.

“The drop is the drop.” Why doesn’t this lead to a bad review. The drop was integral to the storytelling in the original SM. You were being thrown into the briar patch with Brer Rabbit. There does not seem to be any real story element to the drop in TBA. The drop is the key to any flume ride.

I was ten years old when i rode splash (and now i guess ill never ride it again) and I'd never seen the characters before, but I still remember the story. The classic "i want a more exciting life, went out there, was careless, gets caught up in dangerous situation, then gets home and decides a quiet life is okay'. I even remember that the rabbit was clever, tricking the fox to throw him into the thorns so he could get away. It's a very simple, but effective, story, it isn't hard to understand.

Singing the songs was one of the best parts of Splash…I really wish they just did the movie so we could sing “almost there”

Tiana’s Broken Adventure…

I don't need Facilier (though that would have been nice) and I don't need more animatronics (though that would be nice too). Tiana is my favorite Disney Princess by far due to her grit and stick-to-itiveness , but for me, Splash was the better attraction because it had a complete hero's journey, a range of emotions, and more things to look at (which is what I value *most* on a dark ride). None of what makes Tiana a great character (or at least the kind of character with values we want kids to emulate) comes through in the attraction because there's no obstacles for her to demonstrate those values. Bayou Adventure falls short on the things I valued most from Splash and the things I value most about Tiana. I hope they revisit it in 10 years and overhaul the narrative to address what I feel are relevant shortcomings, but I certainly wouldn't want them to remove her IP from the attraction. To be clear - Tiana deserves an E-Ticket attraction; I just think she deserved better than she got.

So…we basically have Dora (Tiana) the explorer episode in the bayou.

Love your content man, but I think you missed or skipped over a few major issues here that I'd like to to point out to get your opinion on. Lets start when you described the animatronic of "Louis, who didn't seem to be working when I rode." It must be acknowledged that this is a bad sign. Already the ride is facing cascading breakdowns and delays, with many evacs occurring during AP previews and lots of on ride footage showing whole set pieces of animatronics being fully static. Its obvious that, in Disney World at least, they are rushing the opening of the ride when clearly they could use a few more months to iron out the software and dispatching flow. The fact that they are "in previews" doesn't excuse this - the major operational errors such as these should be ironed out of new ride before the public is allowed in - that is what is expected from a multi million dollar company like Disney. I also disagree with the sentiment that no one "knew the story being told on splash mountain unless they really liked theme parks." It was a simple story that was told through not only the songs of the ride but the set pieces as well - Brer Rabbit wants adventure, Brer Fox and Brer bear want lunch, loony toons-esque hijinks ensure. The new "mission" of finding musical critters seems overly simplistic and, as you mentioned, doesn't lend itself to creating the feeling of peril that was inherent to Splash that was a major part of the ride. This could've been fixed with the addition of a villain (and yes I know its a sequel to the movie but Dr. Facilier would've fit perfectly into this role), an opposing force, a visible time crunch, anything, but instead, the ride seems almost purposely sanitized in a manner where no one riding it will get that feeling of "oh no, something might go wrong!" Essentially, imagine if they remade Tower of Terror, but they made it a magical fun elevator that loves to dance by going up and down the floors. Lastly, it seems that very often in the video you make sure to conflate anyone who dislikes the ride, or prefers splash, with bigoted people that have co-opted the "Save Splash" movement for their own malicious purposes. This is very much not conducive to allowing for discussion around the ride to happen at all, and it saddens me to see it happen so often. Some people do prefer Splash, myself included, and I acknowledge the bias that the nostalgia I have may impart on my opinions, but when people's innocent opinions of their like of a theme park ride are associated with being being a racist or a bigot, it can make them feel afraid to voice those opinions or critiques, even if they are valid points. Overall, its great that you enjoyed the ride, and for all intents and purposes, it seems right up my alley as well - I love jazz music and the princess and the frog was, in my opinion, among the best movies Disney has put out in the past 20 years, so I'm glad it's finally represented in the parks. That being said, major issues like this in terms of ride storytelling and operational failure must be pointed out and critiqued thoroughgoingly as so that better rides and experiences are produced in the future by learning from the mistakes made in the past and present.

It's just got no story. I dont get why they didn't bring the doc in. I know it's supposed to be after the movie, but when your villain practices voodoo, you could easily have him come back in some spirit form. Its almost like they wanted to recreate the Pandora boat ride but forgot that unlike Pandora, New Orleans is a real place so that mystical feel of going through a different planet's wilderness that Pandora offers is out the window.

I loved the original. The story, the songs, the thrills, the animals, the perilous drop, etc. I also loved the lesson at the end about how there’s no place like home. I’ll always remember it and it will always have a special place in my heart. The bayou adventure seems boring by comparison. If they had included scarier elements, voodoo, and Doctor Facilier, it would have made the ride much more awesome. I do not know if any of the songs will be near as memorable, though.

I'm sorry but lack of a decent story or any sense of tension is a MAJOR issue on a ride that literally has "Adventure" in the title. Princess and the Frog deserves better.

You can set aside all consideration of Splash Mountain or the Princess and the Frog movie, and pretend that this attraction was a non-IP ride and judge it on its entertainment merits: It's weak. It has a dumb "story" (why even bother?), redundant scenes (Tiana and Louis...again??), and a bizarre overall theme (food co-op in a salt mine with a ride about finding an animal band??). No need to compare against past rides, or compare to a movie people may or may not have seen. Just ask: Does this reflect excellence in theme park entertainment?

I hate seeing The Princess and the Frog characters on screens in CG. I'm wiling to give the benefit of the doubt and assume that it was to keep them more visually consistent with the animatronics, but I feel like it's more jarring to see a 3D animated Tiana than a 2D animated one. Quick edit: The ride does look good on the whole! I just hate to see the last 2D princess like… that…

Splash Mountains cultural context was never an issue for anyone and ignoring was perfectly fine, it was when miserable people wanted something to complain about that it seemed like an issue. Silencing those who want to discuss this and have differing opinions from you is just childish honestly

I think the lack of a story is really what gets me here. I haven’t been to Disney in nearly 10 years but the impact splash mountain left on me was huge. The story made more sense to me as a 13 year old than this one does as a 22 year old. I think the excuse that splash mountains story wasn’t that meaningful is bs.

The ride and the story seems like it's geared towards toddlers. Was that the intention?

Usually agree with your criticisms but cannot agree that this is a strong ride. It's a noticeable step down from something that was built 20 years ago and the only area where Disney put any effort in was the final room. I strongly disagree about the empty areas being good atmosphere in a ride that is supposed to be an adventure. This should have been an improvement in every way to Splash but it still uses all of the same areas in between the animatronics and adds little. I'm not giving Disney any credit for doing more than they usually do when it comes to replacing something as iconic as Splash Mountain. And the rides biggest fault is there is no story. There is nothing to leave with. The ride could be summed up in a sentence while Splash had so much world building.

I never knew Splash Mountain was based off of a film until everyone kept talking about it being about a film. Splash had many speaking and singing characters, whereas Tiana's Bayou foregoes this and leaves a lot of dark and dreary dead space in between. I don't see why some of the Splash characters from America Sings couldn't have been in Tiana's band, too (they are currently out of work rn, and could use the gig).

Total Snoozefest. This is up there with the 'remake' of Journey into Imagination.

my big complaint - it has no point. every other ride let's you jump into the story you know. Peter pan doesn't take you to what happens after the kids leave - you relive the story we saw in the movie. Same with every other ride, except this one. Going to a party after the events of the movie feels like the designers missed the point

Positives: +The lighting was nice. +The miniature part was neat and visually interesting. +The big party looked nice and visually interesting. Negatives: -What was the theme? I felt like I didn't really know what was going on the entire ride. -There is absolutely no sense of danger, build up, evocation of emotion, and finally victory. -The outside scenes look obviously repurposed and not themed for the ride at all. This looks super cheap. You can't put a banner up and call it theming. -Why was there absolutely nothing on the climb up to the drop? Is this nap part? -The big party didn't last nearly as long as it should have. You get to see it for like 5 seconds and you can't take in anything. I think this had to do with Disney not wanting to do any major renovation of the ride so design decisions were more of "how can we fit this in" rather than "we're making this area specifically for this." This could have been a decent ride but more thought and money needed to be spent prior to the "renovation." I use air quotes because again putting up a banner and calling it theming isn't a real renovation. More time should have been put into the story and theme which is like a movie that you need three acts essentially to make it engaging. Then, more money should have been spent on the outside portions to make it actually feel like you're really in a bayou and not a briar patch. This move just seems like the typical new Disney decision making where "hey it's new therefore it will draw in X% new ticket sales over the next Y quarters" and not "will people be able to enjoy this for generations to come?"

I'm sorry, but I have to disagree on your repeated assertation that most guests couldn't follow Splash's story because it was "conveyed terribly." That just feels like revisionist history to excuse the current drop in most people's media literacy. TBA is THIS close to being a worthy successor to Splash, but without a single element of danger or peril? It's not even an adventure.

I definitely prefer the original Splash by a long shot, and it's not just because of nostalgia, either... the new ride has no climax, the plot is literally a Dora the Explorer plot. Entire story feels like they used an early version of ChatGPT to write it.

To me, the problem is Tiana's is a great dark ride/boat ride like It's a Small World or Navbi River Journey, but it's been awkwardly and inelegantly placed on a log flume track where it doesn't belong. This means that there's a disconnect between the story/atmosphere and the course the ride takes. The big drop is now something that takes the guest out of the experience rather than the climax the ride has been building up to. This would be better if that drop was removed entirely and what story there is would make more sense. The other smaller drops could stay, but that big one does not work at all with the new story. They really should have put more thought into working with the layout they had, because the drop absolutely needs there to be some sort of tension in the story to build up to it. Because of the story they went for, the drop went from the best part of the ride to the worst part.

Epic universe opens in one year and this is all Disney can do after 3 years?? They’re cooked

I have been on this ride already and I can confirm this was one of the most disappointing revamps I’ve ever ridden. They took everything out and added 1 small scene in each large room. Very disappointed at Disney.

It’s not even a good Princess and the Frog ride. It’s an even lesser version of one of the most iconic rides in Disney history. I just think it plays things too safe.

I think the part that makes this worse is that your comparison basically ended up with a 1:1 ratio with Splash Mountain and Tiana's Bayou. The amount of the things improved vs taken away makes it seem like Disney wanted to mimic Splash Mountain by doing the bare minimum to copy it, instead of making the ride better. If they wanted to win over the fans of Splash Mountain, they should have tried to take all of the elements of Splash Mountain and just make it better as a whole. Instead, they improved some things by sacrificing others, creating a very boring looking and feeling ride. Even with a weak storyline, Splash Mountain did an excellent job with conveying emotion and providing contrast. The high moments were very high, the scary moments were very scary, and the silly moments were very silly. And without even knowing what was happening, riders could still get a feeling of the exposition, rising action, climax, and resolution of the ride. Tiana's Bayou mimicked all the elements of Splash Mountain except the elements that made it cohesive and exciting. It's another Na'vi River Journey but with drops. They created a loud storyline but did not fill in the gaps or create emotion to follow that storyline, which only exaggerated the fact that their storyline is dumb. People enjoy Small World because it has a calming and whimsical atmosphere, but that is to be expected from a small indoor boat ride for families. Splash Mountain was known for its' excitement and thrill as a flume ride in the South, and Tiana's Bayou took that away to replace with a boring plot and bland theming. It had so much potential to be exciting using the plot from Princess and the Frog, but yet again they chose to do the bare minimum. Disney rose in popularity because it always provided quality for its' consumers, and now it is cutting every corner to gain extra profit. Because the company knows that people will still support them regardless thanks to nostalgia and the big name of Disney. I wish people would unanimously stop supporting them until they make better choices.

15:05 I whole heartily disagree with this one I'm gonna be honest. I was paying attention to the story ever since I rode it my first time. The lesson of the ride was really interesting. Sometimes it's important to remember where you came from and appreciate the good in life. I picked up on that since I was at least 5 or 6... I'm only saying this as a huge fan of your channel, in fact I've almost always agreed with you but I STRONGLY disagree with this sentiment. You always say to respect the audience that rides the ride... But then you essentially said they're too dumb to pay attention to the story of splash mountain... which is so blatantly spelled out to the audience through reiterated story beats to ensure the audience pays attention. Might I also add that this was one of your bigger complaints about Mickey and Minnie's, a lack of story with random scenes strung together. That's all Tiana's is. A mishmash of random scenes that ultimately mean nothing. I love your channel but I disagree with you on this one. The ride overall just feels lazy. They couldn't bother to have an actual story, the songs are; and it pains me to say this, mediocre at best with some incredibly clunky lyricism. They have you shrink down on the ride... And then do nothinbg fun with the concept because they don't give you enough scale throughout the ride for the shrinking to mean anything. The only thing they did was use screens to make tiana and louis big... Which is... Disappointing. Yeah they have like two frogs... But frankly that's not enough. Don't turn us into frogs if it's not in the budget to follow through on that concept. Overall I appreciate you looking on the bright side, especially since most of your Disney stuff has been negative recently which I completely understand, but I just don't think it's the right fit. And you said the theme is more in line than splash with the surrounding area, but I strongly disagree (when it comes to disney world, I think it actually fits perfectly fine at Disneyland). Time period, I would say, is the most important factor on whether something or someone fits a setting. And I just can't accept Tiana's being in frontier land, NOTHING about that movie screamed western. At least Splash Mountain fit the overall aesthetic of the land even if it was flawed. I'm not saying they shouldn't have changed splash mountain... But this wasn't the right choice. It's not an excuse to say it fits the theming because subjectively you felt it fit more than the other ride, that's not an argument... Or at least not the strongest of arguments. If it doesn't fit, it doesn't fit. No western film would have the radio playing music as they drive their cars... That's as unwestern as you can get... Sorry if this came across as harsh... But... Clearly I'm passionate about this stuff 😂 and like I said, love your channel subscribed and everything, I even still liked the video... But... I disagree 🫤

If you watch a video of Splash Mountain from when it opened in ‘92 (with all the animatronics fully functional) this new ride doesn’t hold a candle to it, story elements not withstanding. There’s just so much more “going on” in the old ride, where in the replacement it’s just replaced with static show scenes to fill the space. Not much of an argument to be made for the new version, outside of the outstanding A1000s

Going to have to hard disagree here.. This ride is an insult to both Splash Mountain and the Princess and the Frog. I love the Princess and the Frog film and it deserved it's own brand new attraction.

I just can't forgive the absence of any tension or story. It was Splash Mountain's strongest aspect. The feeling you get from finally conquering the drop and floating into the finale scene was absolutely one of a kind. I agree that most people wouldn't have been able to follow Splash's story super closely (for the reasons you mentioned) but I'm pretty sure everybody picked up on the fact that brer bear and fox were repeatedly trying to "get" Brer Rabbit. It was like an atmospheric and charming road runner and coyote-esque cartoon that you rode your boat through. The story telling wasn't in the dialogue, it was in the visuals. Bayou Adventure has no visual storytelling whatsoever. Even with the weak premise of just searching for critters to be in the band, they could have easily created memorable scenes that portrayed something more than just randomly seeing the characters scattered about. The only thing that comes even close to successful in this regard is when you are shrunk down, which was actually a cool idea and seemed promising at first, but once you are shrunk after the drop the ride just goes right back to being slow and uneventful. You are small for the sake of being small and nothing creative or interesting came out of it. The exterior of the mountain is pretty. The animatronics are very nice. The queue actually is a huge upgrade, too - I'll 100% agree with that. However, the ride overall is just so full of missed opportunities and disappointing execution... it's very difficult to see this as a worthy Splash replacement. It's also not fair to generalize people with negative opinions of the retheme as either "unable to let go of the past" or "using Splash as a platform for their prejudices". It's easy to let go of a bad ride. Splash was a masterpiece. And 99.9% of people who loved splash have no idea what Song of the South is (or at least they didn't until all of this happened). Wanting the ride to stay does not have anything to do with being racist or insensitive, in my opinion. All of that being said, I LOVE this channel and your content. I agree with a vast majority of your videos. And I I have no problems with your opinions or points made in this video. Agree to disagree and complete respect.

Be mindful of shifting baselines. 'Some parts are improved' does not mean it's good. Years of degraded attraction development can erode expectations.

The most egregious error Disney made was the lack of a story with an antagonist (Dr. Facilier) and sense of danger. The ride was literally designed as a story arc with exposition (beginning bayou section), rising action (lift hills and middle section) climax (final drop) and resolution (Tiana Palace scene) and they ignored it all. I’m happy they invested the money on all the amazing animatronics but without the creativity and immersion of a good story, they are wasted. Storytelling used to be Disney’s greatest strength and it’s sad to see.

Universal : we’re opening up a whole new theme park Disney: we have a new coat of paint…and a copy of a roller coaster

I'm sorry, but since I was 6 years old I was able to understand the story of Splash Mountain. I'd certainly rather have something a little more complex that not every three year could understand first ride, than have such a lack of a story like Tianas does. I also feel like all of the critter band animatronics are a downgrade from their splash mountain counterparts with an extreme lack of motion.

So, there's voodoo in the movie but not on the ride? Do they think people haven't seen the movie? That's really weird.

I miss the Zip A Dee Do Da song, it was such an iconic song not only in Splash but throughout the park.

For me, the big problem is the Music, they use Jazz, Zydeco, Gospel the works, yet the ride is so empty it creates a cognitive dissonence since you're on a slow moving boat ride. another thing is the use of said music, which seems to have no bearing on the story, as compared to splash mountain which used just three songs for the 3 acts with matched up with the context. Tiana just feels like they shoved a jukebox into the ride with no rhyme or reason. (Here's what I mean by acts) Act 1: How do you do (Introducing the Briar patch and it's inhabitants) Act 2: Laughing place (Brer Rabbit out and about and having a good time before getting captured and outsmarting Brer Fox) Act 3: Zip-a-dee-doo-dah (Everyone's celebrating being back at home)

I really don't think you're giving the original splash mountain enough credit, The story is pretty easy to follow and it was shown visually. It wasn't as much the volume of the animatronics as it was you felt like you were traveling through a lived in world of critters. The ride needed to be changed but splash and Tiana deserved better than this.

Love you Poseidon, but it seems like you are being contrarian and "yeah, but"ing criticism. You showed a segment of Splash as an example of empty show scenes, but the scene you showed had AA's overhead singing, far from an empty sing. The original attraction really used the outdoor portion to allow guests to vibe with the attraction a bit. It played an instrumental version of the song you are going to dive inside of and you even got to preview two upcoming drops. This new version has Tiana singing Almost There despite the fact we just saw and it doesn't feel like we are hearing her actually sing, but a soundtrack pumped in. The added show scenes are awkward since the space isn't designed to carry story elements and certainly doesn't feel like a farm. We lose the view of Slip N Falls and the view of the big drop is now mostly obscured. Instead of the drop opening the world up and seeing it come alive with the music growing and expanding with voices and orchestration, its just a different song. We immediately find that we have succeeded in our task of finding musicians. They are all assembled and already playing as a band. We float on without purpose. We then find another band of animals. And a third. Who knew that finding animal bands in the bayou was so easy? Louis certainly didn't make that seem the case in the film when he wanted to be human and get out of the bayou to play. Whoopsie. The Splash down used to be met with an instrumental version of Zip which would expand into the full musical finale that lasted the entire end of the ride. Instead, we get Almost There a second time. With vocals again. We transition into Special Spice and the song is over before it began. Instead of the transition tunnel under the train and the Brer Rabbit ending scene continuing the song and making it feel like a full finale, the song dies out almost immediately and we see a dakride style painted plat and a lightly dressed Odie scene detached from the celebration. If this had replaced Pooh or a C/D ticket ride, this would be great. But this feels like they took a pretzel ride and spread it thin over an E-Ticket thrill ride. The plot also suffers from the same issues as Frozen Ever After with it being nothing but an excuse to see familiar faces and locations without any compelling staging. All of the nice AA's do the same thing of gesturing and talking to the boat. All of the limited figures to the same thing and play an instrument. Imagine floating through Pirates and it was nothing but auctioneers and people playing instruments. Where are different scenes and gags and story beats? And compare the designs. The turkey playing the spider-web in Laughin' place is far more interesting and impressive looking than any of the animals playing instruments. The simple movement of the animals on the boat made it look like a choreographed musical finale. Now, everyone is doing different things and the scene looks messy. This is a clear downgrade and a miss for Disney and all too similar to their recent misses, which you have been critical of. But folks are dunking on this ride, so I suppose you felt the need to take the counter-point instead of being consistent in your criticism.

Impossible? My expectations were almost 0 and I'm still underwhelmed

You really said you prefer the facade of TBA over Splash Mountain? That was a wild comment.

I never got to ride Splash Mountain while it was still open, so that's a regret I'll always have. Also, the appeal of Splash Mountain to me were the talking animals, specially Br'er Fox, that cutie~

A couple of things about Splash Mountain, in my opinion. It's true that it was hard to follow the story, but you FELT the story even if you couldn't follow it. Also, the many scenes were varied and funny and evoked curiosity. I'll without hold final judgement on Tiana until I ride it, but my initial opinion is that the story is boring and the scenes are generally not interesting. It sounds like the music is excellent and the final scene is great.

I'm very surprised as you being one who always points out details, that you didn't mention the ridiculous number of signage the imaganeers used in the ride & queue, you know, constantly telling you this is "TIANA'S FOODS". Like ok we get it by know - this is not Splash anymore, and yes we know who owns this New Orleans mountain now. I'm talking about the queue signs (do we really need "Main Entrance"?), the Friends & Family sign above the first lift hill entrance (not to mention the food paintings on that wooden wall are tacky/ugly), the sign right after the hill where you turn into the garden, and the Fleur d'Bayeu or whatever it is at the end, it looks like a tacky cheap restaurant sign for seating. However, my "signage gripe" wouldn't be so strong if they painted the signs to not be so damn perfect/computer printed... just like the car in the queue, 1920s New Oreans did not have a sleek, shiny new aesthetic on cars and signs. Brayden from Mickey Views pointed this out, that they should have hand drawn the Tiana Foods logo on the car vintage style. All the signs should like semi-worn and weathered, as if you know this is a muggy bayou environment. But overall, the ugly tacky water tower & signs everywhere are "TIANA'S" overkill.

so question, the racial problems wasn't the ride, but the rides source material? or am i missing something that the ride had because when i rode it i didn't see any issues personally, but i also wasn't focusing on the ride's elements either.

How did they NOT play “ARE YOU READY” just before the drop?!??! Literally the most obvious design choice ever. But no, let’s SUBVERT EXPECTATIONS.

You’ve acknowledged the shortcomings of modern Disney design for years but when it happens in Tiana’s you seem to miss all of it. Those new critters are hardly AAs, they just sway back and forth and don’t even blink. They’re more like moving figures.

I feel like you smoked something heavily. I’m genuinely nicer to Disney than you are in almost every instance, and I still think this is possibly the worst ride they’ve ever made.

I am sorry, but this review of yours feels off and your final verdict unjustified. I am happy you liked it so much, ultimately a positive or negative verdict is subjective. But I did not quite grasp from this review what makes Tiana better than Splash. What are the improvements in the story, story telling and atmosphere? The clear positives are the better looking queue line, the undoubtedly more sophisticated animatronics and that one part in the vegetable garden. But does this make the whole ride better? It did for you, but it did not for many others and those ppl have strong arguments. Fewer animatronics, a silly and boring story, poor use of screens, underwhelming climax, fewer story bits, poor naming and more. These are strong points and to me it is a clear downgrade. I agree with the ppl claiming that Splash needed an update and Tiana deserved its own ride. I still can't believe that Disney shoots money at silly Marvel attractions and decides to go fir a cheap rebrand with this one.

I believe you are totally sincere, but there really is no comparison. My crude take? They tore out a functioning art piece, and replaced it with a bunch of banal plastic ivy.

I think Disney did this ride a major disservice by having inconsistent theming, art/art styles, mediums, and the use of fonts/typography not existent during any of the periods represented. It is an unfortunate departure from the higher standards of theming we could expect from the company in the past. Not sure if it was time or budget or both, but Disney should have given WDI the time to no cut so many obvious corners. Of course at 32 years newer it is going to be the better ride, but for their respective opening dates, I think splash still has the edge in my book. Comparing May 2021 Splash to June 2024 TBA is intellectually dishonest. If any of the leaked stories were true (the song going along with the second one) I think that would have been a much better than the story in the ride. My conclusion. It feels ridiculously rushed and needed another 30% budget, it needed another year or two in preproduction and another 6-12 months of downtime. It likely could have benefited from more static set design instead of so many dark areas, especially the ones that had flat walls with ghillie blankets draped across them. They left the door open to easy criticism when they didn't need to, or maybe they knew they would get it regardless so they decided to accept it as a cost-cutting measure.

I feel like everyone is afraid to say anything bad because of the situation happening when they announced this ride. Yes the animatronics are good I will give it that, but the overall problem is its boring. I mean it took them about 4 years and all they did was just gut the attraction and make it feel lifeless. When you try to appeal to everyone you appeal to no one, should be the Disney motto now.

Look, im glad you enjoyed the new ride, but Splash just felt so much more lively to me, and while the story was absolutely not conveyed very well, at least there was buildup and tension leading to the big drop. Tiana's is too safe imo, I really wish we could've seen Dr Facilier on this ride.

Lotta dead space and no peril for the drop.

I enjoyed Splash Mountain as a kid, but honestly haven't touched the ride or Disney in years so I wasn't too attached to it. That said this ride seems "okay" at best and I think the money would been better spent creating the ride in another area, or replacing a less important shop or something to increase capacity of the park, and not tearing down a popular ride to replace it with another. Also not a huge fan of WHY it was taken down, as this new ride has some culturally sensitive topics tied to it as well. Like just who worked in those salt mines and what not. For a ride built to remove that issue, they seemed to have done a poor job in being 100% culturally accurate and safe.

The ride design is fantastic but I honestly believe whole heartedly that they should’ve made this a story book attraction. Having us shrink down to the size of frogs alongside Tianna and Prince Nadeem would’ve been so much fun and would’ve made more sense for why we could interact with anthropomorphic animals. It also would’ve added more thrills considering how scary Dr Facilier and his voodoo magic is. That was probably the reason why he was excluded from the ride and why they completely replaced Voodoo with “Bayou Magic” which for some reason sounds more racially insensitive. Anyways the point is that I hope in the future they do add upgrades to the ride and change it to be a storybook attraction in order to improve the one thing that’s really holding the ride back, which is the story.

I think people are upset to see this go because it's New Disney replacing a classic Old Disney ride. Whatever your thoughts on Splash Mountain's history may be, it was a good ride that was constructed in an era of Disney where there was no doubt they wanted to create good experiences. The Disney as of late, however, is unanimously agreed to be disconnected and distant at best, with some saying that it has more sinister intentions. Again, whether you agree with those people or not, the perceived intentions behind a company, in my opinion, does have an effect on the experience a guest will have at the parks. What's happening to Splash Mountain is essentially what's happening to Epcot, in a way. The Old Disney that understood the park and its distinctly "un-disney" experience were able to craft an experience only Disney could craft, and the new renovations seem disconnected and hollow.

I just think the biggest flaw with the ride is that there’s practically no conflict and build up especially with just having this random big drop and the fact that they remove dr facilier but kept mama odie makes no sense to me why make fake limitations if your not gonna even follow your own rules?

HOW DO YOU MAKE THIS RIDE PRINCESS AND THE FROG AND NOT HAVE “Friends on the other side” PLAYING DURING THE DROP???!!!!😭

I'm surprised you like Tiana's, especially with all the dark empty space found throughout the ride with nothing going on. At least with Splash, it felt like there was always something to look at. It was bright, colorful, and all the critters were doing some action to grab your attention. Even when there wasn't animals to look at, the set design was something that caught your eye. With Tiana's once you pass a show scene you basically have to sit in darkness for a while before arriving at the next scene. Even using the long slow stretch you show clips of in the video, the Splash side shows the critters homes and land, which gets your mind think about them. WIth Tiana's you just see her sitting on a stump at the end of a long hallway, and the everything on the left and right of your log is just darkness. It feels like the imagineers seriously underutilized this space. This is in no way ment to go after you or your opion, but rather offer a counterpoint to your crtitique.

I finally was able to watch this video after riding it myself a couple days ago and Im actually surprised by how positive you are if this ride. I agree the theming of the queue and the “mountain” itself are really well done, but I’m really surprised by how much praise you have the ride for its atmosphere. When I was riding it I kept thinking to myself “this is it?” as there’s so much dead space in the ride just filled with plants and in the dark, where as in Splash, I felt like the “dead space” between animatronic set pieces was lit up and full of little details like the animals houses helping the ride to feel more lived in, at least to me. I kind of felt like I was watching a Disney Junior show with commercial breaks, just waiting to get to the next generic task which I think is why I don’t like this version of the ride as much. For me Splash Mountain while not telling the story perfectly at least had that sense of worry and conflict with Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox/Bear. You might not have been able to tell what exactly was going on but you knew that Brer Rabbit was in danger and yet outsmarting the bad guys, giving you someone to root for, and characters to be weary of. Tiana on the other hand to me seems insanely boring and juvenile which was probably what they were going for and it would be fine as a pirates style dark ride but as you stated, Splash was seen as a thrill ride, so fundamentally that’s what the track layout was designed to do and not leaning into that especially with a villain as good as Dr. Facilier and leaving him out for one reason or another seemed like a strange decision. I think younger audiences will love this ride as they get to see Tiana a bunch and the young girl and her family in the log with me seemed to be enjoying it, but for someone who is not a young girl, I found it to be very boring. I don’t think it’s a “bad” ride like make are labeling it as but I do think it’s just very average.

Spoilers of a ride I will never go on? Bring it on

I think people were pretty aware of the Splash Mountain storyline, it was pretty straight forward. The bear and the fox were attempting to catch the rabbit, with the backdrop of the rabbit wanting to leave home and eventually finding out that home is where he belonged. The main issue is the lack of tension. Its a beautiful ride with excellent animotronics but the issue for me is a boring story and lack of tension…. The laughing place was my favorite part of the ride and I'm disappointed that its missing the energy.

Always love your videos Poseidon, it’s clear you have such passion for quality them parks, but this ride just seems to do so much you normally hate it seems odd to enjoy it so much. Incoherent story, a boring drop, most animatronics removed and replaced with screens, and more Disney IP lazily added to attractions. Once again, not trying to hate but that’s like a hate bingo for you lol

When it was announced that Splash Mountain would be rethemed into The Princess and the Frog, I think maybe this would work out really well. Well I really don't think it did. One of my biggest issues with the ride is that lack of build up before the drop, and I guess its story plays a part of it. I think maybe if they had based the ride on the story of the film rather than a epilogue with a weak story. The Laughing Place scene should had been Dr, Facilier, and full of friends on the other side. The new one, while colorful, it seems kinda barren with just four large frogs all spread out and some screens. Imagine projection mapping with the shadow demons, singing masks and drum banging voodoo dolls. In the film before his demise we get a reprise of his song Friends on the Other Side with the chanting of "Are you ready?!". You hear that chanting as you start climbing the top, building up that tension, and plunge into the mouth of the mask that swallowed Dr. Facilier. So I really much prefer Splash Mountain after seeing how tPatF IP turned out. However I'm not sure where I am when I eventually ride it, will I continue to ride it again? This is how I treat Runaway Railway and Frozen Ever After, very drastic rethemes that I tend to skip now on unless somehow the line is short. Between SM and tPatF are not too drastic in comparison, they both have their cartoony southern critters, but I really love the build up before the drop in Splash.

It just feels so empty and dead on the inside

We've rode Tiana's Bayou Adventure 2x now and my opinion hasn't changed its OK, it has a few standout moments but overall this ride is very underwhelming. The long stretches of just darkness and very confusing story make this ride a 6/10 IMO.

̶B̶u̶d̶g̶e̶t̶s̶ ̶S̶l̶a̶s̶h̶e̶d̶ Mountain II, i was rather unimpressed with the ride as a whole, i feel like they could have done better in about every aspect. i wasnt even a big fan of the original splash but i think they rather dropped the ball here. The story is off, i feel like the animatronics are impressive but poorly integrated into the rides plot.

I honestly think Disney is going to lose millions per year simply for losing the name “Splash Mountain,” regardless of the retheme. The name honestly drew more people than Brer or Tiana ever could.

Oh boy more ip slop. You guys think thisll last or will it get gutted and reskinned in a few years?