I Love That I Can 'Ride' Tiana's Bayou Adventure On Disney+ Now, But It's A Bit Too Realistic To The Disneyland Experience

As somebody who gets to cover the theme park industry professionally, I love to visit any park I can as often as possible. Any day I’m not in a theme park, I’m wishing I were. This is part of why I was quite excited for today, Disneyland’s 70th anniversary, because today, more than a dozen “POV” videos of various Disneyland attractions and locations are now available to experience with a Disney+ subscription. Now, if I can’t be on the ride, I can feel like I am, hearing the music and seeing everything the attraction has to offer.

So that’s what I did first thing when I woke up this morning. Overall, the new POV experiences are solid, but when I was “riding” Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, I had an experience that felt a little too real because the attraction wasn’t fully functional.

Tiana’s Bayou Adventure Audio-Animatronics Are Not Fully Functional On Disney+

It’s not uncommon when going on any theme park ride for it not to be fully functional. Things break down, and so sometimes animatronic figures are broken, or other effects may not be working. However, I wasn’t expecting that to be the case for a POV available to stream directly on Disney+. And yet, that’s exactly what I found.

The audio-animatronic of Tiana during the finale party sequence is standing stock still. Her eyes and mouth appear to be moving, but her arms and body should be moving around as well, and they’re not. The POV camera is clearly working to avoid drawing attention to this.

The audio animatronics on Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World, have already built up a reputation as unreliable. It’s far from uncommon to be on the ride and have one of them not working. It’s just a bit wild that this POV was put up if that was the case.

Another Disney Parks POV Got Fixed Before The Ride-Through Went Live

Last month, for May the Fourth, the first Disney Parks POV features were added to Disney+, and that included a full ride-through of Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. One of the features of that ride that had been broken for a long time, large cannons that move in front of the ride vehicle, had been repaired shortly before the ride went on the streaming service. It’s unlikely this was a coincidence.

And yet, the same care wasn’t given to Tiana. It’s a bit disappointing, to say the least. Tiana is a great ride, even when it’s not working perfectly, but it’s obviously best when everything is functioning as intended.

Considering I just got back from seeing Disneyland's new Walt Disney audio-animatronic, the most advanced and impressive creation of its type, I know just how incredible these figures can be. Whatever the reason that fixing this couldn't be done before, I certainly hope that this gets replaced down the road with a new version with a functioning Tiana, even if that might not be the case the next time I go on the ride.