It’s been a little over two years since it was first announced that Splash Mountain is getting an overhaul themed to the 2009 animated musical The Princess and the Frog. While there have been pieces of information revealed here and there, no concrete timeframe had been officially given to when this new ride would open. The most we’ve had is the voice of Tiana herself, Anika Noni Rose, supposedly “leaking” news of a 2024 opening.
Well, it looks like she was spot on, as Splash Mountain’s successor finally has an opening set, as well as a new name! Announced during the ESSENCE Festival in New Orleans, this brand-new experience is entitled Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. The attraction is slated to come to both Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom in late 2024.
What’s even better is that not only did the Disney Parks blog break these details for those that couldn’t attend the event, there was even an informative video included for added texture. Showing off the research trip that Disney Imagineers went on for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, you can watch that extended look for yourself below:
Introduced by Charita Carter, the Executive Producer of Relevancy Activations for Walt Disney Imagineering, this field trip is a crucial part to the re-theming in Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. Sending its team of Imagineers through cultural touchstones and the bayous of New Orleans, authenticity is the name of the game.
From the look of this quick clip, Walt Disney Imagineering certainly has done its homework. While this video doesn’t share the concept art for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure that you can spot in the official blog, we do get to see this logo treatment for the ride:
Intense public pressure, as well as a Change.org petition, led to Disney’s big retheming of Splash Mountain. Thanks to the attraction’s historic roots in the controversial and complicated legacy of Song of the South, the outcry to transform the ride into a Princess and the Frog-centric experience became a reality. Now that we’ve got an official timeframe to expect the opening of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, let’s hope it’s not too much longer before we get our next update on what this grand undertaking will include.
It won't be long before Tiana's Bayou Adventure invites us along to tell a new Princess and the Frog story. In the meantime, you can already see how Song of the South is being removed from the Disney Parks in preparation for the planned late 2024 debut staked out for the Disneyland and Magic Kingdom. Which, as luck would have it, is after Disney+'s planned 2023 premiere of the Tiana series. Research for this attraction sure does look like it's going to be a breeze.
