The Louisiana Swamps Meet the Disney Springs
It was at South by Southwest last year that I first
came into contact with the Walt Disney Company's parks division. Having
previewed some of their theme park technology over cocktails in Austin, I'd
remembered something that turned the conversation from Disney's world-class
engineering ("imagineering") to its world-class design and storytelling.
"You guys are developing the new project around Tiana
from Princess and the Frog, right? How's the progress on that going—when
can we learn a bit more about that?"
About 15 years later, I touch down in Orlando on the
Mouse's dime. The Walt Disney World Resort's premiere summer press and social
event "This is Magic" focused on several additions and experiences at Disney,
most important among them is Tiana's Bayou Adventure, a water log ride filling
the big shoes of the Magic Kingdom's decades-long mainstay of Splash Mountain.
Despite taking the place of a very large mainstay attraction that a lot of park
attendees have some very fond memories of (Splash Mountain is still good at
Disneyland in Tokyo!), Tiana's Bayou Adventure goes beyond being a simple
retheming. It's a fully-immersive ride that combines some of the most
state-of-the-art animatronics ever produced by Disney with original music,
effects, and enhanced engineering. Moreover, it's thoroughly and authentically
New Orleanian.
New Orleans is no stranger to Disney and its
parks—it's perhaps among the most important real-life locations to the
company's brand and heritage, a sort of lodestar of both exotic charm and true
Americana since the days of Walt Disney himself. Bourbon Street was a broad
inspiration for the Magic Kingdom's Adventureland, and New Orleans Square was a
founding area within Walt's original California Disneyland. Both the rides for
Pirates of the Caribbean (which spawned one of the biggest movie franchises of
all-time) and The Haunted Mansion (which spawned two different films, 20 years
apart, with less conclusive results) are varyingly set around New Orleans. A
mechanical singing bird found in a French Quarter antiques shop served as one
of Walt Disney's earliest inspirations for the Disney company's legendary
animatronics, and Jelly Roll Morton records warmly haunt the lobby of the Grand
Floridian Resort. The influence is most visible in the 2009 Disney animated
musical The Princess and the Frog, which, of course, was the raison
d'etre for our current outing and the company's lavish accommodations.
Experiencing the Ride
Our group arrives at Epcot through the industry
backlot behind World Showcase. Inside the American Pavilion, we are treated to
a private reception for the unveiling of President George W. Bush's expansive
collection of veteran servicemen portraits, complete with classical Americana
music honoring each branch of the military (yes, even the Space Force).
Afterward, we're taken to a preview party for the Communicore Plaze closer to
the front of the park—a space which intends to be something of a permanent
fixture for Epcot's legendary Food and Wine Festivals. The soft launch's
atmosphere is exclusive yet protean, with local press, international press,
executives, friends and family—and Drew Brees and Cam Jordan somewhere in the
background—all mingling over international cuisine and a preview performance of
Epcot's Encanto-themed musical stage show. Members of the Chase family
and friends, whose late matriarch Leah Chase served as the real-life
inspiration behind Princess Tiana, can be seen in a Conga, with the sisters
active well into their 80s and 90s.
"Have they been experiencing the rides?" I ask one of
the Parks Division executives.
"Oh yes," he responds. "They did better on the rides
than I usually do."
Next morning brings with it the main event—advanced
previews of Tiana's Bayou Adventure. The Splash Mountain queue has been fully
transformed to evoke the feelings of 1920s New Orleans, with imagined
odds-and-ends, news clippings, and props setting the scene of Tiana's Foods and
a massive upcoming party, winding around as the advanced audience of
journalists discuss the intricacies of theming in French and Japanese. As the
ride sets off, Tiana, in specially-designed bayou-traversing gear, accompanies
riders to find the perfect sounds and music for her upcoming New Orleans Mardi
Gras celebration. Dr. John sets the soundtrack as riders enter the interior of
the mountain, just as in the original film.
Along the waterways, you meet various musicians of
various instruments and various species. Eventually Mama Odie, the Voodoo
matriarch of the original film, sends riders into a shrunken-down state to find
the perfect sound of bugs and critters. Tiana herself stays fully human in this
continuation of the film, comedically recognizing riders' transformation with a
sardonic charm, "Been there, done that." Mama Odi's reversal of her spell might
depend on something akin to the final climactic drop of Splash Mountain, and
riders are treated to a musical finale of the New Orleans Carnival.
After letting out, press riders are directed towards
special events to get in the spirit of the attraction. Disney has set up
special arrangements with Dooky Chase to have their spices sold near the
PhotoPass booth. Imagineers and executives field questions and elaborate on the
tone and creation of the piece.
"Our desire for this was to create a story that feels
both fantastical and real," explains Imagineering EP Charita Carter. "If
someone has never seen New Orleans, we want the experience to resonate with a
real immersive sense of culture. This ride expands upon the world of Princess
and the Frog that we saw in the movie itself, but it has a grounded sense
of culture and place as its core."
Stella Chase's Influence
That afternoon, I take my time off to ride Pirates of
the Caribbean and try the brandy-spiked coffee at the Coronado Springs
Resort—off-schedule ephemera that in hindsight feels right at home in the
shadow of the Cabildo.
Tiana's Bayou Adventure is a celebration in its own
storyline, but that evening, the partying gets real. A private reception honors
the ride's opening, featuring stage performances and a second line jazz
performance mingling through the crowd. Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen take
photo-ops with influencers, press, executives, and girls in their own matching
Princess Tiana dresses. There was no organized dress code, but somehow a
majority of the attendees instinctively have showed up in thematic shades of
frog-green attire.
The heiress of the Chase family, Stella, is announced
on-stage for her assistance with the ride's development and pronouncement of
something of an honorary Imagineer. The crowd calls out for her harder than any
Stella's been called for since the pages of Tennessee Williams. As the
reception winds down, I have a chance to ask her about the ride's development:
"I never could have imagined the day we get to see it completed like this. It's
been four years getting to this point on the family's end, and on the business
end, I know Disney's been at it longer than that."
"And you know, I'm glad you came from New Orleans to
come see it," she tells me. "We're trying to create this whole New Orleans
party here, and it wouldn't be real without people from Louisiana to help us
celebrate."
Realistically, it'll take a little time before the
park crowds acclimate to the new ride, the simple previous title of "Splash
Mountain" being a hard muscle memory to override. That said, for what it is, I
can hardly think of any better way that Disney's team could have handled the
style of this new attraction. Starting this month at Walt Disney World and
later this year at Disneyland, Tiana's Bayou Adventure is worth checking out.
