Disneyland has done a beautiful job taking the beloved Splash Mountain with a problematic backstory from the 1940s and turning the thrill ride into a tribute to Disney’s first Black princess that will delight generations to come.
I rode Tiana’s Bayou Adventure on Monday, Oct. 21 during the first day of Magic Key annual passholder previews at the Anaheim theme park and found the refreshed water ride to be a worthy and welcomed successor to Splash Mountain.
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Disneyland added a new Princess Tiana backstory, a host of adorable animatronic critters and a toe-tapping soundtrack while keeping the splash that made the attraction famous during the extensive makeover of the log flume ride at the Anaheim theme park.
ALSO SEE: Everything you need to know about Tiana’s Bayou Adventure
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure tells an extension of the “Princess and the Frog” story that picks up after the final kiss between Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen. The new backstory for the former Splash Mountain ride follows Tiana and Louis the trumpet-playing alligator as they prepare for their first Mardi Gras performance.
The reimagined Splash Mountain ride removes thematic elements related to “Song of the South” — the controversial 1940s film criticized for perpetuating racist stereotypes that has been disowned by Disney.
One thing that hasn’t changed during the transformation of Splash Mountain is you will still get wet — and even drenched from head to toe if you happen to be sitting in the wrong spot.
I sat in the back seat wearing a rain poncho and managed to only get a light misting on my hands and arms. The people sitting in front of me weren’t so lucky. They got soaked. But they still seemed to enjoy themselves — based on the screams they let out during every splashdown.
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Disneyland has not turned down the splash despite the new ride officially debuting to the general public during the park’s winter holiday season starting on Nov. 15. Big waves of water crashed into our log flume at the bottom of every drop.
The fun new ride with a great soundtrack from Disney’s 2009 “Princess and the Frog” animated movie has a ton of amazingly lifelike animatronic characters along with a mercifully restrained use of digital screens to help propel along the story.
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Princess Tiana is the star of the show and appears throughout the ride in various forms and looks. Louis the trumpet-playing alligator and Mama Odie the voodoo priestess play supporting roles and also make multiple appearances.
Plenty remains unchanged with the mountain, queue, logs and flume route largely staying the same. But inside the mountain, everything has been updated with a fresh new storyline and show scenes.
The nature of the log ride means you’re traveling a little too fast to pick up on the entire storyline on your first ride. But that just means you’ll have to hop on again to delve deeper into the story. The good news is you’ll want to ride Tiana’s Bayou Adventure over and over — especially when temperatures rise during the spring and summer.
The story is pretty simple to follow: Tiana’s is searching for a band to play her Mardi Gras party. We have been asked to serve as talent scouts during our ride through the bayou. We come across a series of musical groups starring beavers, opossums, racoons, bobcats, frogs and other animatronic bayou critters.
There are a few spots along the way where you may need a little more backstory to understand what’s going on.
Walt Disney Imagineering has come up with a convoluted concept to explain why Tiana is inside a mountain in the bayou.
As the story goes, the culinary-loving princess has set up a food co-op in a salt mine — which explains the oversized versions of Louisiana crops you’ll spot growing on the mountainside at the beginning of the ride.
Deep inside the mountain, Mama Odie shrinks riders to the size of a frog — which explains why we see massive versions of Tiana and Louis peering at us via video screens.
My favorite parts of the ride were the critter bands playing instruments made of discarded things you might find in the bayou.
I loved the hypnotic lighting effect on the final lift hill created by Mama Odie just before we made the 52-foot drop down the frontside of the mountain.
The highlight of the ride comes after the big drop when riders float into the biggest show scene in the attraction. The riverboat grand finale from Splash Mountain has been transformed into a lavishly spectacular scene at Tiana’s bayou party with all the critters characters we’ve met on our journey serving as the orchestra.
The thing I will miss most about Splash Mountain is the earworm “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” soundtrack that was as contagious as “It’s a Small World.” Fortunately, Tiana has plenty of great songs in her catalog to fill the void.
ALSO SEE: The history of Disneyland’s Critter Country from Indian War Canoes to Bayou BBQ
Unfortunately, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure struggled with downtime issues on the first day of passholder previews — something that often happens during test-and-adjust previews before the official opening of an attraction.
Additional Disneyland Magic Key previews for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure will be held on select dates through Nov. 12 before the new attraction opens to the general public on Nov. 15.
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Disneyland passholders hoping to ride Tiana’s Bayou Adventure during the preview period will need to wake up before sunrise to snag an elusive spot on the ride via the Disneyland app.
Those spots disappeared in seconds on Monday morning at 7 a.m. and once again at noon when a second batch of virtual queue spots vanished in the blink of an eye.
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