Tiana's Bayou Adventure: The Ride With Impossible Expectations
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- Äas pĆidĂĄn 15. 06. 2024
- First, let me state that if you came here to express prejudiced comments about Tiana's Bayou Adventure or Splash Mountain, I'll essentially be banning you from the channel because I really have no tolerance for that. Recently, I was able to experience this new ride, so these are my thoughts on its quality and how it stacks up against the design of Splash Mountain.
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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.
Yeah setting it after the movie is one of those strange modern Disney quirks where they refuse to have an attraction "contradict" the movie it's based on.
Ya I think that is the biggest problem with the ride's story. The actual rework is pretty good for modern Disney and is definitely better than the Incredicoaster rework of California Screamin' but there aren't really any moments of fear like the original did.
Especially when that character and his song were by far the most memorable part of the film.
Yea he's an iconic villain and he deserves better!
The ride âicingâ sucks (the cake part of the ride is obviously exactly the same ride) . They should have simply followed the princes and frog movie, I would have loved it!!!
âTianaâs errand running river cruiseâ
Lol.
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.
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 âyou made itâ
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
It's weird too considering the film has a great choice for a villain.
De todos los lugares en que creĂ que me iba a topar a Sol Carlos, este no era uno de ellos.
PD: que tengas una excelente boda
I think that's far from the only problem. There's no kinetic energy. Not enough animatronics
Jenny Nicholson pointed this out too, so many modern Disney attractions just seem to lack the stakes/sense of danger that past ones have.
@@ailem2707 She's a channel regular. No idea what her channel is about, but very clearly a big fan of Poseidon Entertainment
I like how their solution to empty show scenes was just turning off the lights
Youâre being generous that that turning off the lights thing was intentional, instead of a glitch. XD
Just goes to show how Disney innovates on the wrong areas.
Sure create super complex animatronics but then fail to actually focus on the ride itself
I'm sorry but that is standard procedure on nearly all of the dark rides at that park.
@@Cam4Cameron As to be expected by Disney nowadaysâŠ
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 like your solution a lot
That's a really incredible idea. If I didn't think that you would get attacked by other people, I would otherwise pin your comment because how good of a fix that is.
That's a great suggestion but I don't know what scary animal they can use, since most of the bayou animals are depicted as cutesy and friendly. I guess they didn't use any fish as a potential friendly animal. Maybe something like an alligator gar?
So basically, take a page out of Monster Mansion's book
@@e2daronthat ride scared me real bad so this approach would definitely work lol. Plus Monster Mansion was originally a ride based on Uncle Remus stories so that would be a funny coincidence
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 mountainâs writing wasnât great but it feels like the bar was pretty low and they still tripped over it.
I agree. I like attractions where it feels like I'm just going through their world and not really an active participant. A character may address you directly to set it up (pirates talking skull, haunted mansion ghost host) but everything else is just an experience in another world.
i feel like there could have been something there with Momma Odie saving riders from being dragged to the Other Side- that would have been far more interesting. the ride feels a bit soft as far as stakes go in the ride itself, and i think that may be my biggest complaint as well, but i also think there was someone higher up on the Disney Food Chain that said something along the lines of 'we can't scare the kids in this log ride', so they gave this ride some mittens to play things EXTREMELY safe.
i would have loved some sort of new villain in the ride, even if it was some critter that got its hands on Doc's necklace (i think he had a necklace? it's been a while since i've seen the movie) and was running around accidentally causing chaos. an in-park character would have been really great for them, but alas!
@@icy2523 That's why I don't mind the story of this ride. Yeah, it's stupid, but it doesn't really matter because you otherwise are just going through a lot of fun, well detailed atmospheric scenes.
@@PoseidonEntertainment I was gonna say I'm pretty surprised on this pretty lax review. I don't mind the whole re-theming but I felt like the drop could have been better and that really turned me off. Also, the amount of screens is too much for me. I really just dislike screens.
Tiana doesn't sound like herself on the ride at all, the voice direction seems to have been "enunciate your words slowly like you're on Disney Junior and teaching toddlers how to talk."
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.
Exactly.
Same reason that in film the first Alien and the original Star Wars trilogy are so good. Those worlds feel used
Couldnât have said it better brother
Idk about Florida, but Disneyland actually did have a critter in every corner. That ride didnât have a single area without something going on in it. Only the outdoor sections didnât have critters, and those had houses and plants to set the scene
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.
Agreed - seems very out of character.
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.
They couldn't even include "Princess" in the title.
It's because he's too busy tip-toeing around the cultural dogma.
@@kaitmurphy4719 Exactly right!
agreed. love his content generally but this just felt very different from most of his reviews.
â @@kaitmurphy4719I swear people didnât even know about this âculturalâ drama and now people are pulling it out of their asses as an excuse to attack splash mountain. The ride was already open for quite some time so Iâm not sure why they now want to remove it. Splash mountain is a classic ride, and Disney replaced it for the sake of âinclusivityâ and âsensitivityâ. Tiana could have been a worthy replacement but it seems the only thing that disney can innovate is robots and not the actual tide
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.
Maybe itâs not a popular opinion, but I also think the music from princess and the frog is mid. Not bad, just not great.
I KNEW something felt off about the music placement but just couldn't put my finger on why. You just read my mind
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 doesn't feel like they respect the emotional capacity of adults or especially children. It's very confusing how laid back and aimless the ride is when they have a 50 foot drop boldly displayed as the centerpiece of the exterior. I was actually a little enthusiastic when I heard in May that the lift hill would be like a celebration that has you singing along excitedly with anticipation, I thought the tone change would be an interesting new interpretation of the drop, but after seeing the real ride, I'm underwhelmed. If they didn't make the drop so obvious in the exterior part, there wouldn't be anything in the ride to suggest that a 50 foot drop would even be there
If they didn't do the "are you ready" lift hill with Facilier that literally everyone has suggested, they could've at least made the lift hill and the drop exciting and triumphant... if the ride actually had a story and a feeling of accomplishment or thrill to lead up to it
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
How did they NOT play âARE YOU READYâ just before the drop?!??! Literally the most obvious design choice ever. But no, letâs SUBVERT EXPECTATIONS.
don't you know? any reference to voodoo magic is horribly racist!
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.
Wow, that would have been a great idea!
Bean Bunny could dress like Brer Rabbit he looks like him!
@@Allie_Caan yes!
Also, floating along to the tune of Rainbow Connection just sounds blissful.
Iâm still hoping that if rockin rollercoaster does ever get that retheme that they go with the electric mayhem
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?
The video also alleges that the average park goer will not glean that story from splash mountain but I strongly disagree. Itâs set up from the queue through the attraction, and reinforced through both the dialogue and lyrics of the songs (as opposed to Tianaâs, which slaps music from the film in everywhere but the finale with no thematic coherence whatsoever).
@@Michael-bs5tz yeah, even if you dont get the story, it follows a very clear story structure that you can understand. rabbit wants to leave home > rabbit causes trouble > rabbit gets in trouble > rabbit gets out of trouble lets celebrate
you can feel the emotions they are putting down even if you dont necessary get the story, though the attraction is better knowing what is going on in the climax (brer rabbit tricking them) but to say tianas story is on par is just lying, there is no structure
hi its tiana from The Movie> I need musicians for my band > I need musicians for my band > we almost have enough muscians for our band lets make you small > lets make you big again > 50 ft plummet down a mountian > party time
Tokyo Disney and its three new rides are all just literally rehashes of the stories already told in their respective movies, but in ride form, and every single one of them are getting incredibly positive rave reviews. Nothing but compliments about the pacing of the rides, the animatronics, the atmosphere, everything. The Tokyo Disney Imagineers have no problem seeing a perfect story and deciding to adapt it into ride form, but our American Disney counterparts want to make something "original" so badly that they're willing to ruin a franchise to do it. They didn't need to do this whole critter party thing at all; they could have adapted Princess and the Frog beat for beat into the ride and it would've been highly loved. Tokyo proves that you don't need to expand a story or write a new one if the original story is already good.
Hearing about needing a Dr. Facilier stand-in rubs me the wrong way because they would still have to write a new story about the conflict, and thus far, Disney's new rides don't seem to have the ability to tell good stories anymore. Disney could have just taken the movie as-is and turned it into a ride. The story beats would have meshed perfectly with the layout of the ride.
I mean its not like splash had peak storytelling either lol
@@CosmeAcajor That is true; even I mentioned that the story itself isn't groundbreaking. But how it differs from Tiana's is that it was more coherent and better structured once you lay it all out.
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.
Agreed. You were literally slapped in the face with the stories message at the end of the ride with the lone Brer Rabbit animatronic affirming to the boats there's no place like home.
Agreed.
Yep. Revisionist history for who knows what reason. Credibility down the drain.
It seems to be half and half. I personally never knew there was a story plot until I watched CZcams videos that told me about said story plot. Same for my family and friends who I've ridden Splash Mountain with. For some it was very obvious, for others we were completely oblivious.
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.
Wait there was a mandate preventing him from being used???
He went to the other side at the movie. This takes place after the movie. So there is no mandate.
@@djdsfNo one knows about a mandate but he could have been brought back via magic. They were too afraid of offending people due to voodoo. I think thatâs too much safe space thinking personally but what can you do, the song would have indeed been perfect for a lift hill.
@@Holybeatdown What drugs are you on and where can I get so e if them to hallucinate like you when you say that people are getting offended by Tiana or Voodoo. Gtfoh
@@Holybeatdownâsafe space thinkingâ. Ah yes, refusing to engage with racist misinterpretations of a religion is âsafe space thinking.â Iâm sure Poseidon Entertainment is just delighted to read these kind of comments. Now as for some actual valid criticism: I think they could have depicted his powers as generic âevil magicâ and just not used the word âvoodooâ at all. They do, in the film, simply call him âthe shadow manâ after all, which is pretty vague. You can be culturally sensible while still using his music.
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 đ
That was literally I was going to say! Isn't it weird that Ray is still alive and not dead. This ride makes no sense at all.
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?
Disney Parks will just make whatever excuse they need to in order to justify their (often bad) take on what their park goers want.
Isnt ray dead also but you hear him singing goin down the bayou... uhhh can sum1 explain xD
Disney made so much money off of the MCU during the 2010s that they're now applying ongoing movie franchise logic to theme park design
@@RariettyC You know what's funny, isn't Iron Man and Cap still in the park? I recall hearing it's some sort of neutral universe where everyone lived, if that is true I find it odd they don't just apply that logic to other areas. Correct me if I'm wrong tho.
Rowling was really into canonical accuracy, which is why she didn't put Harry Potter in Disneyland. It seems like Disney has been trying to 1-up her.
âThe drop is the drop.â Why doesnât 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.
Ok, but 99% of the park guests didnât even get that thatâs what was happening, I honestly had to watch Song of the South to even realize that.
Most people didnât even know there was a story⊠it was just funny animals and a drop on a log ride.
@@JavaCake I agreed with Poseidon that most people didnât get the story of the mid-ride scenes, like the laughing place. But I remember riding SM as 7 or 8 years old and understanding that the rabbit tricked the bear and fox into throwing him into the briar patch. The story was told well on the final lift and then the finale. Also the theme of homecoming was not lost on me as a kid.
â@@JavaCakeFrom when I was a kid, maybe I didn't know that Brer Rabbit tricked the other two into being thrown down the briar patch to land safely but I perfectly could tell they were chasing him and we were warned of the danger of the fall ahead since even before boarding. With some signs on the queue, little signs throughout the ride, lines of dialogue and even mentioned every once in a while in the songs (ok, maybe you had to pay more attention to this last part), you could tell the briar patch was dangerous and a fall down there could kill you. I mean, not understanding the "tricking" part actually made you more scared for the rabbit and for yourself... That's why all the previous smaller "mock" falls worked better, you didn't know if this was the big one. And then with the vultures before the drop and seeing they had succeded in capturing Brer Rabbit you were told that was the end for you both. Then there was the relief of the finale zip a Dee doo boat scene. All those story points, I could infer even being a Mexican kid tourist with limited English knowledge.
@@mariotorresgo I was more referring to Brâer Rabbit being thrown into the Briar Patch being the big drop, but yes, I did understand that there was a Fox and a Bear chasing a rabbit. To be fair though, the first time I rode Splash I was more focused on the drops rather than the show scenes.
Your stuff is always quality. You can tell you do your homework. On this brotha, you missed the boat. No pun intended as I hear the ride is actually having a lot issues.
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.
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.
Yeah. There's a pretty glaring mismatch between the ride system and the level of tension that they produce through the theming. Disney can make the ride as lighthearted and tension-free as they want to... but the ride track is still gonna have a 50 foot drop. It's a damn thrill ride, and trying to steer clear of tension to make it more accessible is pointless because littler kids are going to be scared away by the drop anyway. Splash understood how to synergize the story and ride system. Tiana's does not. I'll grant that much of this ride does seem like an improvement. But the story doesn't make sense for this ride, and they completely botched everything between the second and final drops. Poseidon handwaved this issue way too readily.
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.
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?
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
How can you simultaneous not care about the story for Tiana but apply the Song of the South story to the original? I'd say 95% of people who rode Splash Mountain and/or knew of it did just genuinely think that it was a cute little water ride with singing critters. That feels very weird to me.
Double-think is a hell of a drug.
I didn't know it was based on Song of the South until I was an adult. I was always confused as to why there was no movie about Brair Rabbit when I was a kid. đđđ
You are correct
Very few if any of the enthusiasts of Splash Mountain have even seen Song Of The South as it had no vhs release in the states
Agreed - this is a strange and out of character review. He hated Rise of The Resistance and Runaway Railroad which, by all accounts appear better than this, yet liked this Frankensteinian mish mash.
Yeah, it was kinda like the streisand effect for me. I thought it was a park only thing, like figment, before the shutdown was announced.
SoâŠwe basically have Dora (Tiana) the explorer episode in the bayou.
I feel that it's hypocritical to applaud Disney for using modern day animatronics but then try to justify the mediocrity of the story by comparing it to how it was presented in the previous attraction. Disney had a chance to improve upon what was there and push their story telling talents into the modern day, but they failed. An epispode of Dora the Explorer has higher stakes and causes more of an emontional investment.
Agree. But you gotta realize the only story these đ€Ą care about now is the one where you buy your beignets, your small cup of gumbo, your alcoholic drink and your Tiana merch after the ride ends. Preferably taking pics of it that youâll put on your Insta.
i mean, the video is meant to be a comparison. i don't think pointing out the original had some major storytelling issues when discussing the (admittedly flawed) story of the new ride is the same as justifying it. it's just pointing out that people say a lot of stuff about the original that just isn't true because they are blinded by nostalgia and bias, which is a fair point.
Honestly yes, Dora genuinely has more of a story
Respectfully disagree. This is a huge downgrade to a previously great attraction..
I won't say it's a huge downgrade, but at best it's about the same. Not worth all the time and money spent on it. If splash mountain was outdated 30 or so years later, this ride will feel outdated in 10 or less imo.
Ok boomer
Look at a the rides side by side.
There isnât a single moment in Splash mountain that was wasted. Every inch has story, animatronic, or setting. All the music is dynamic and comes from the various characters and in all directions you can see something going on.
That isnât the case in Tiana. Thereâs a ton of black splash to hide how under themed it is, it stops to you to do scene transitions instead of doing them dynamically, and it even used screens for basic effects they could have achieved without. Tiana is a vastly inferior ride even in a technology level.
Yes, Louis and Tiana are better animatronics than any of the ones on splash mountain, but the rest of the ride has worse tech by relying on screens like a shitty universal ride, and we see so few animatronics(and the ones we do see are irrelevant to the staging or the music) that it fails on the basic level of âbe on par.â
Splash mountain was the thesis statement for what it means to be a Disney attraction.
It had set dressing that no one could match. It had music no one could match, it told a cohesive and engaging narrative that no one could match, it had animatronics no one could match, and it had just enough thrills to be enjoyable for adults while also being tame enough for small children. It blended the best of dark rides and the best of thrill rides. Tianaâs Bayou Adventure comes off as a generic boat ride with a random drop that doesnât even fit the narrative
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.
It definitely has issues for sure, but having gone back to Splash to compare them, I realized how flawed that ride was too. To me, it feels like an equivalent replacement and I was surprised how much I liked it after I rode.
Finally. A comment that isn't begging for a dead character.
â@@PoseidonEntertainmentsplash mountain > Tiana's Boring Adventure
@@PoseidonEntertainment I definitely agree, I think all the comments I've seen calling this ride "a disgrace to splash mountain" (literally saw that one verbatim on tiktok) are being disingenuous. Although I don't have any strong feelings about Splash one way or another, so I guess it could be people's nostalgia talking. Either way the hate is way overblown for sure
@@maddiemaccheese8170definitely agree that itâs disingenuous. People are acting like splash mountain was Shakespeare when it was really scattered scenes of forgotten characters from source material Disney tried to bury. Not a bad ride by any means but it was never pirates or haunted mansion. People just cling to tightly to nostalgia or their obsession with newer media being âwokeâ
Be mindful of shifting baselines. 'Some parts are improved' does not mean it's good. Years of degraded attraction development can erode expectations.
1000%
So surprising you like this ride considering its just like the rest of the slop the disney company has been producing. Unexciting rides with terrible story covered in good animatronics and lighting. Ill just stay in Tokyo Disney resort where they utilize the new technology without trying to shove IPs while keeping classic attractions
This truly is a very strange take from Poseidon and one of the few times I truly disagree with him. Makes me wonder just how much value he places on simply being a contrarian.
@@STSGuitar16 I think you're onto something. He also hated Rise of The Resistance and Runaway Railroad, which are genuinely loved.
@@tulinfirenze1990 he trashed Seven Dwarf Mine Train as well. Like I said, I agree with 99% of his takes, but this is one of the rare ones where I flat out disagree with him. While I am able to understand his arguments for why he thinks itâs great, I just totally disagree. I do think he approaches these things from a perspective of being the âoutside the boxâ theme park channel. That is actually usually an angle that I agree with when it comes to his more outlandish takes, but this take is just so off the mark. It is honestly shocking. Like heâs trying his hardest to justify this ride because he thinks Splash and itâs fans are just racists stuck in the past. I must say I did lose a bit of respect for him here. Iâll still watch all of his stuff for sure, but this is just wild.
I'm confused isn't Fantasy Springs 100% IP?
@@cuttinol it's not like the IP rides like the ones in the states. It's using the IP's but in a way more creative manner and as just a source, which is what Disney Sea does best. It's in my opinion the best land in any Disney park.
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."
I want to offer a thesis which Iâm sure will rub some people the wrong way, but I think is a strange pattern. Obviously the Disney/theme park CZcamsr/influencer sphere is very white, and the people I see who tend to like the movie in a vocal way are white people. As a mixed race person who is partially white, I get it. People donât want to be called racist. But I also think many folks are enthusiastically for Princess and the Frog and now this ride because the optics of defending splash mountain are difficult and potentially bad.
Donât get me wrong, I donât think PATF is a bad movie. It has its charms and strong points. But I also donât think itâs the height of cinema or even in the top ten best Disney films. Itâs mid in the most objective sense. I get that some of this is subjective, but prior to 2020, you rarely heard people actually talk about it. Not only that, but many people of color also have mixed feelings about the movie itself (there are a number of good sized black CZcamsrs who have discussed their issues with the film). But the people who I notice tend to be super defensive about it are white progressives.
So, I of course do not know what Poseidon Entertainments heritage is, (but ai suppose my criticism here reveals my assumption that he is white) but I suspect some of this comes into play. Again, trying to say that this ride isnât worthy or good enough can feel like arguing for a problematic material. I understand it, but I do think that many people are being disingenuous saying the overall product is better.
Ultimately, this ride isâŠfine. Itâs just okay. There obviously some welcomed improvements, but I donât feel like itâs really fair to say that Splash Mountain couldnât have been updated and improved. But I feel like many people are trying to use this as the reason that itâs obviously a better replacement. Some are also obviously trying to keep their place on the media list, but overall I think there is a reticence by many to critique this ride too heavily because it may suggest they are racist.
I donât mean for this to be as inflammatory as it is, but I guess that unavoidable. To be fair, I could be entirely wrong but I think the big problem in Princess and the frog is how little it actually talks about or acknowledges race and I think there is a failure to do that here too.
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.
It looks good idk
well said
YES! The ride has no soul. It just feels lifeless. And when you take away all the quirks that made Tiana who she was, she may as well be any generic character. I rewatched PATF after riding (Because I love that movie) and I just realized how movie-Tiana is just a different person. Ride Tiana literally sounds like a member of Disney's PR team on one of those fake Disney shows Jenny Nicholson was talking about
Personally it was worse cause Iâve grown up with Brer Rabbit stories and now Iâve had so many people trying to make up lies about the characters just to justify removing it. Brer Rabbit is just Anansi 2.0, with a smidge less of a dick personality.
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 thereâs no place like home. Iâll 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.
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 personally feel like the story is splash. Mountain looks pretty easy to understand because they literally sing about What is going on in the story.
The new one feels sterile and leave a bad job at representing the last 2D animated movie by disney, They should have thrown in Dr. Facilier since hes the best part of the Movie.
edit: this review reek, kinda disappointed since i love watching your videos on theme parks i'll probably never gonna visit in my life time
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.
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
@FaithElizabeth1981 or give her a restaurant with a audio animatronic band of characters from the movie
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.
Itâs the runaway railway situation, the fact that Tiana replaced splash mountain instead of being a new ride concept. Of course itâs gonna draw flak. Definitely more effort could have gone to fill the empty parts between each show sceneâŠ
Plus Splash Mountain was refurbished in 2020, even if a retheming had demand it'd be way too soon to justify.
They failed their own storyline it was finding animals for a band but in the ride you already have the band if the band was more stretched out through the scenes it would've been so good still I am not here to hate on tianas
I think the empty parts are likely because it was designed for Disneyland, which is a bit smaller. I suspect the MK version will get more scenes over time.
I wish it were just that
â@@ZontarDowYeah, the timing was the sticky part. They said they were already planning on retheming splash, but if they were, why announce it then? Why not announce it at the last D23 when all that other info came out. The announcement for the jungle cruise update came up then; why not announce it at that point? If the plan was to always retheme it to Tiana, and the idea was in place before then, why just an image and a rough summary at that point? I'm sure there was a plan for splash to be rethemed and maybe they were going to do a Tiana attraction, but I doubt it was ever going to be what it was. Especially since the execution seemed so half assed. (By Disney standards)
Runaway is a great ride, with the nods to GMR cheeky and fun. I get the flack for replacing it. I just missed it when I went for the first time.. it was arguably the last Bastian of MGM studios, so it's a good thing the queue was untouched.
Anyway, my thoughts.đ
Epic universe opens in one year and this is all Disney can do after 3 years?? Theyâre cooked
The fact that "Friends on the other side" isn't here is enough to make me hate the ride. The movie and splash mountain were perfect, but nah, lets make a completely irrelevant storyline.
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.
I couldn't have said it better myself. Also I feel like Splash' music was far better.
"I'm very tolerant, and people should be tolerant of differing views. At the same time, anyone who disagrees with me is a r@cist and should be blocked! That will show the world how tolerant I am!" - Poseidon Entertainment
Well said. It's a shame that Poseidon is choosing to ignore so many comments like yours. I am not a bad person for vastly preferring Splash over this sanitized mess.
"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. " is masterpiece !
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⊠thatâŠ
Well get ready because that version has to be coming to D+
right? it looks horrible..
I feel the same. I think especially the screen after you shrink should have been hand drawn animation style.
But also I personally hate Disney (and other Studios) insane reliance on 3D animation.
What once was a Pixar technological wonder is now just completely lazy animation.
My opinion is Disney Animation should have remained 2D hand drawn and the Pixar wing could stay 3D computer animation.
Yeah, the 3D animation is weird, but I get why they did it. I would have just preferred that they eliminated screen characters entirely.
Bro, they are animatronics.
Canât get over the name though. Not only did they remove the mountain motif that tied Splash Mountain to Space and Big Thunder Mountain, I donât like the âAdventureâ part. Modern Disney loves calling their rides âAdventuresâ
Do something like Mardi Gras Mountain or something like that
I find it funnier than I probably should that the acronym is TBA. As if they wrote down the new name a To Be Announced a few too many times and ended up with this as a backronym
I definitely agree with the name. "Splash Mountain" was iconic branding with Space Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain. People often threw in Matterhorn and Everest too. The current name is too unwieldy and could have reasonably kept the Splash Mountain name with an additional word or two added.
@@PoseidonEntertainment or just call it "tiana looks for musicians"
Mardi Gras Mountain would have been interesting.
â@@veritassumma5728đđđ
Splash Mountain without a doubt had a complicated past.
Tianaâs Bayou Adventure just feels like the epitome of Disney mediocrity. They had a silver platter served up with Facilier and simply following the plot of that movie and instead veered into something so vanilla that itâs just uninteresting,
Iâm literally shocked that of all channels, Poseidon Adventure is giving this ride a positive review, but I appreciate your viewpoint and, based on your past videos, know youâre not one of the âpixie dusterâ channels simply trying to be in the good graces of Disney. Youâve never pulled punches before!
̶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.
The plot is dumb, but it doesn't really matter. I think of the strength of Splash was the atmosphere and I think that's the strength of Tiana's too.
Splashs strongest strength and what the old Imagineers got right was the world building. They weren't the most advanced animatronics and some of the sets didn't have any but they all contributed to feeling like you entered that story when you first go in to the climax. This however feels like any random cave with forest sets and a few animatronics. It's not cohesive in its storytelling. You could replace the Tiana animatronics and replace them with any other properties just based on a forest and it would still work. That used to be the Disney magic and it's what makes this come off as something that could have been at a third party theme park outside of the final room where the budget all went.
â@@PoseidonEntertainment
â@@PoseidonEntertainmentthe plot of splash mountain was really cool tho! Like I read the full song of the south book so that made it way more enjoyable! The voice acting was also really good too. This Tiana ride is just sooo meh.
@@graffiti.777Agreed. Having a pathetic story would be completely acceptable for a six flags or cedar fair ride. The problem is, this is Disney replacing a ride that had a great story with one that has barely any
Kids are going to love this ride/refurbishment and honestly that's all that matters. Disney adults aren't the target audience here.
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 get the feeling that Disney wanted to use the film's elements because it serves as better representation as a modern replacement for a ride with more questionable associations, but things have progressed even since The Princess and the Frog's original release that even including some of _that_ films elements, like voodoo and a black antagonist, is considered too risky. They want to include Tiana, but they want to avoid anything that could be remotely considered questionable associated with her.
@@EuroMIX2which always struck me as strange because this is literally the exact same thing they did for splash
@@occultpyromancer I think the main difference is, the stories featured in SotS stand alone pretty well, while for PatF those elements are pretty integral and people like the villain and the voodoo.
i mean there kinda is with mama odie changing your size
â@@livlikesrides2919 well we'll never kno maybe ole ode jus happnd to get sum magic mushroom from alice and jus added it to her big glowy gumbo... cant even say this with a str8 face
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 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.
At least Dora had that fox guy who tried to steal their stuff.
There is no story. Tiana recruiting a bunch of animals to play a band at a party is not a story for what is supposed to be an adventure log ride.
Tiana's Boring Adventure as I always say
@@owivictin4878 SWIPER, NO SWIPING
@@officialmonarchmusic YES, THAT ONE!
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?"
Exactly. I'm honestly surprised that he said that he likes this ride, because it is missing the most important element of all: excitement. Animatronics, atmosphere, and whatever else he liked were all things that Splash Mountain used to build excitement. The ride may not have had an obvious storyline, but it still did a great job of conveying plot. The introduction to the characters' happy lives, the rising action with the fox and the bear, the climax with the fox throwing the rabbit into the briar patch, and the resolution with the joyous boat scene. Tiana's Bayou lacks all of it, and no amount of other elements makes up for it. Disney took the exciting Splash Mountain and turned it into another Na'vi River Journey or Small World ride. Disappointing.
I thought the negatives list would never end
I'd say you nailed it on the head here.
Yes I completely agree this is insane how they can call this a renovation when all they did was paint things and changed some animatronics. The line is nice it has more detail than splash but that was the only thing better. They didnât even change the logs which is absurd since it is in the 1920. They did the bare minimum on which they could do. Iâm wouldnât be shocked if it wonât be nearly as popular as it was before. The ride also doesnât fit in with the frontier theme at all. Even though he said it was still frontier and that may be true it is in the completely wrong time. It would be like me saying that Great Britain is still medieval even though itâs the 21st-century. It Is completely ridiculous that this ride was changed to what it is now. I would rather have them go through and make it themed on big thunder since it would look more visually pleasing than what it is now, and it would fit in more and probably be more thrilling than what it is now.
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.
Same here I was so disappointed because princess and the frog was a really good movie but itâs like Disney spit on it with the making of this ride. It feels the same way as the crappy avengers campus and web slingers, because it feels poorly thought out, lazy, and cheap.
@@dayoldbread1696 id say itâs more like they half-assed it myself. But yeah.
@@battybuddy exactly đ
He wants his virtue points. The ride is just boring now.
@@dr.decker8185 I will admit I kept waiting for a "sponsored by" tag. This is one his hardest "pro Disney" reviews, and he kept going on about how if you disliked this ride it was because of having "out dated views" and being a big R.
All that said I agree this ride did the movie no justice. It was set years after the movie, basically made up what ever it wanted and barely did anything with most the characters. Other than Madame Ode you could probably replace the entire cast with another character and it would change nothing about the ride.
Itâs not even a good Princess and the Frog ride. Itâs an even lesser version of one of the most iconic rides in Disney history. I just think it plays things too safe.
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.
for a 10 year old to figure all that out from one ride-through is the exception, most people would not
@@jamsquan9415 most people I knew heard the story as a bed time story around age 5.
If you think thatâs an exception to some rule then you might as well say the same thing about Pooh Bear.
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.
Couldnât have put it better myself
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.
I have been on this ride already and I can confirm this was one of the most disappointing revamps Iâve ever ridden. They took everything out and added 1 small scene in each large room. Very disappointed at Disney.
Some people just enjoy being unhappy.
Iâm not white, my family isnât either. We never got off the original Splash Mountain and thought âwhat a bigoted experience that was!â People are just allergic to fun and the irony is that 95% people who were complaining about the ride being âproblematicâ are probably white.
@@SometimesCompitent some people just canât handle valid criticism.
â@@SometimesCompitent I love how today, people can't complain or give genuine criticism about something without being called "whiner", "unhappy", "too negative", ect.
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'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.
Princess and the Frog deserves its own land imo. It deserved better at the box office too. đ
I mean technically they already have foundation laid out: New Orleans Square
Total Snoozefest. This is up there with the 'remake' of Journey into Imagination.
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 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.
The ride and the story seems like it's geared towards toddlers. Was that the intention?
Toddlers are too smart for this ride
Toddlers love a 40ft drop!
@@jaquan-stevenulla6335 you just proved my point
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).
Spoilers of a ride I will never go on? Bring it on
I think the lack of a story is really what gets me here. I havenât 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 wasnât that meaningful is bs.
Splash's story worked appropriately with the more thrilling ride system, and its final drop was easily justifiable within the theme. This, on the other hand, purposefully downplays the thrill factor (a fact they flat out admitted to in an LA Times article), which is why the drop feel so weirdly out of place.
My problem with the ride is 2 fold- why is it a random, Pointless and empty sequel to the beloved film, rather than Just being the film? And 2. Why is it so boring?
Disney has been on a "no villain" trend for a while now and it doesnt work and nobody likes it- so when the 4ude had an obvious place for a villain in dr facilier with Are You Ready but no- we get a small light show and then the drop
Wheres the suspense??
Mostly agree, but one note where I think youâre being obtuse - I had no idea what the story of splash mountain was but I knew what I was supposed to feel - calm - intrigued - scared - DROP - relieved - celebratory. All of this was communicated by atmosphere, as well as (poor) narration. By editing out the build up in menacing atmosphere, they made a thrill ride dramatically less thrilling. Thatâs a bigger miss than youâre admitting. Thanks for the thoughtful review.
Respectfully, hard disagree. Tiana deserved better than this.
Really surprised he doesn't see it for the cheap, lazy, thoughtless ride it is.
Same. Even if DIsney stuck with just copying the events of the movie verbatim as a ride, it would've been great. Would it be better than Splash? Probably not, but it'd certainly be better than what we have now.
â @@supersanic1254⊠you think a movie that had a main message of âactually! slaves liked being slavesâ is less problematic than princess and the frogâŠ. Just say you hate black people bruh đđđ
@@Yayojayoful im sure he does, why he wont admit it is beyond me.
How does this affect your every day life Peter?
McDonalds used to have a play place...doesn't anymore, I just don't care because I'm far too old for it now even if it was still there.
Things are going to change, your childhood isn't law my man.
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.
Small World is more exciting than TBA.
@@pilotcritic Small World definitely has more to see than TBA
I find it very hypocritical for the Disney fans, to criticize universal taking the screen based approach on their rides, but give it a pass to modern Disney rides.
Dude there is like 5 screens lol
Screens have their place and can work when not used excessively, that was literally his point here
But I expressed how much I dislike it here?
@@PoseidonEntertainment No, is just an opinion in general, nothing against the video.
Screen based approach means screens are the main tool. screens are used in conjunction with animatronics and physical sets here, something even universal has understood and started implementing.
I was taking back by the insinuation that New Orleans is not âin the southâ
I live here in NOLA, itâs common for people to acknowledge that itâs geographically in the South, but culturally itâs its own thing. The northern most Caribbean City is what I hear a lot, and I agree. The moment you leave the city, it is very southern culturally. But New Orleans really is a little microcosm.
It's because it was under French control for so long and their colonial rules were so different from the stricter racial lines of the Anglo
@@RoyalKnightVIII Goes beyond that, too; you also had the Spanish influence in there (where the racial lines were more "bloodline purity" insanity), plus great survival of indigenous practices, even some from the Caribbean that made it across the Gulf. It's one of the great cultural meshes in the modern western world, just about nothing else like it.
Youâve acknowledged the shortcomings of modern Disney design for years but when it happens in Tianaâs you seem to miss all of it. Those new critters are hardly AAs, they just sway back and forth and donât even blink. Theyâre more like moving figures.
They're "animated props" according to old Disney standards. AAs were synced with the audio and moved according to signals, animated props were basically upgraded versions of the Christmas or Halloween decorations from Home Depot.
Reminds me of Dudleys animatronics at Islands lol
I'm assuming they blew more money than is wise on the super complicated main character animatronics that they plopped down several times.
And the splash ones were???
"Animatronic" is a colloquialism in this case, but that's exactly what Disney should be adding more of into their rides.
Princess and the Frog deserved a dedicated ride built from the ground up
Gonna have to disagree with you on this one, but glad you enjoyed it. I know that this is your true opinion and not one of a âshillâ because of how critical you have been of Disney in the past.
Agreed. You can tell this is genuine passion and he backs up his opinions with footage and context. A lot of us will still disagree with his takes, but that's part of the fun đ
Yeah, I gotta give this one a hard disagree too. This ride just kinda reeks of missed potential imo. No Dr. Faciller? Why is the ride about collecting vegetables? Where is the prince?
@@HeftyDan agreed. Itâs telling that the story is a miss when many fans think itâs about finding the special spice when itâs actually about organizing critters for a band
Yeah when he said "a disguise for their malicious prejudices" I kinda feel like he believes a lot of people who defend splash mountain are secretly racist or something when they are totally not. If you're someone like me who's actually read the book and found the ride really cool because of it then there's nothing wrong with that.
@@graffiti.777 A lot of them are, otherwise he wouldn't have had to make a statement lmfao.
The ride design is fantastic but I honestly believe whole heartedly that they shouldâve made this a story book attraction. Having us shrink down to the size of frogs alongside Tianna and Prince Nadeem wouldâve been so much fun and wouldâve made more sense for why we could interact with anthropomorphic animals. It also wouldâve 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 âBayou Magicâ 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 thatâs really holding the ride back, which is the story.
Yeah but with the current Disney, I don't see that happening anytime soon.
I appreciate your sentiment but I disagree with what I like from this ride. The current story is dumb, but it can just fall into the background. For me, the strength of Splash was atmosphere and that's what I really like about Tiana's.
@@PoseidonEntertainment
True but even though Splashâs story did fall into the background, like you stated in the video, I think it still somewhat made sense to people riding the ride. Rabbit is being chased around by a fox and bear, done. That is what I think is or was so great about Disney. They would adapt their stories for their rides in ways in which it was simple enough for riders to just have the context which eliminates the issue of them getting confused or lost like in recent modern day attractions. Here they sort of do the same but the issue is that the concept of the ride itself isnât great, which is stated in your video. Sure the atmosphere is nice but the story itself doesnât really go well with what the ride was built for. I feel like this ride would work best as a slow boat ride similar to the one in Pandora or maybe as a ride similar to Pirates rather than as a log flume. Maybe Princess and The Frog was too hard to adapt into a ride but if that was the case then why even use the film? As much as I love to see the characters return, theyâre really done a disservice as we only really see Tianna, Louis, and Mama Odie while fan favorite characters like Charlotte and Prince Nadeem only show up in the background of the final scene. As someone whoâs a fan of the original film thatâs really disappointing, especially since the original concept art showed Prince Nadeem as a main character in the ride.
â@@PoseidonEntertainmentit wasn't just the atmosphere man, it was the music, the voice acting, the characters, the suspense, and yes, the story, which was actually much easier to follow and even cooler than what we have now.
@@PoseidonEntertainment I think the atmosphere looks like it COULD be good, but it needs more. If the great setting were repurposed for the story of the movie, I think that would be great
17:29 "The drop is the drop" This little comment about the drop really hurts the overall strength of the argument you're making on Tiana's. You even mention early on how the drop helped build tension before you got anywhere near to it. You cant expect to have a themed thrill ride and have the big final drop just be "the drop". When you're on a ride, you should be thinking about the ride's elements in context of the story, not in terms of the logistics of it. There should be a reason to be afraid of the drop in story rather than just go "oh, it's a big drop, i'm going to get soaked". With Splash you had the threat of Brer Fox throwing you and Brer Rabbit into the prickly Briar Patch. With Tiana's, it's just Mama Odie making you big and the drop just happens?
I just think the ride is very lackluster on every part, and instead closing Splash for the same amount of time it took to build Tiana's and rebuild everything probably would've been better overall.
I miss the Zip A Dee Do Da song, it was such an iconic song not only in Splash but throughout the park.
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 đ and like I said, love your channel subscribed and everything, I even still liked the video... But... I disagree đ«€
Why does Disney want to remove Tiana's princess title?
It's interesting that none of the other princesses are getting this treatment either đ€
I remember your video about the change over NOT going to happen and that it was just a reactionary statement made during a time of great discourse. I was very much a person who spouted that same message to many people. I said it would, "just go away". But here we are. Disney followed through and did it, and I can fully admit that I was wrong, however now we are quite literally in the midst of Disney Fan Civil War of love it or hate it which I think is worse than any original "controversy" the attraction had to begin with. If you love it, you're a shill, if you hate it, you're racist. I think we need to take the "racism" out of the equation, including your own statements, because even if this had been changed to Tangled or Frozen (white movies), people still wouldn't like it. However, here we are, you can't unring a bell, what's done is done. Love it. Hate it. Or be indifferent.
Reminder that Tokyo Disney World still has Splash Mountain. Also, since it's in Japan, which doesn't have the historical hangups that the US parks have, it's safe to say that it's not going anywhere. Also, the Tokyo Disney parks, in general, are supposed to be stronger parks than the US ones.
While I won't address overall issues I have with both versions of the rides that have been in this location, I have to completely disagree with your opinions of this ride. It's absolutely horrible...if you can even get an uninterrupted ride. It's actually down more than it's up. Foregoing that issue, the story is so disjointed that it really makes zero sense. Also it's so spread out with areas of nothing but projected fireflies, it's boring AF. Unless you have a 5 year old with a heavy attachment to Princess and the Frog, this ride is by far not worth wasting your time on...if you can even get an uninterrupted ride through. But this is what Disney parks have become. Definitely not worth my time...or money.
Bro said he was banning people lmao Iâll happily unsubscribe that was corny
Good.
Impossible? My expectations were almost 0 and I'm still underwhelmed
Yep, this overlay is typical of modern Disney. Cheap, Lazy, screen filled mess that they know will appeal to sad "Disney Adults" who have no better way to spend their time/money.
Lotta dead space and no peril for the drop.
Dead space that only last 1 minute
Changing this ride was such a mistake
can confirm I never knew Splash had a story despite going on it multiple times throughout multiple years as a kid to teenager. I can also confirm I thought it was an original concept for the parks, lol.
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 usually agree with you but couldnât disagree with you more on this ride.Iâm not going to get into why because enough people here explained the reasoning which should tell you something.
Princess and the Frog certainly deserves its own attraction, but this shouldâve been a Muppets ride!
It should have remained Splash Mountain.
@@AmyShermanDesign I donât entirely disagree. Iâm saying if Disney were to change it, then The Muppets would fit a lot better than PaTF for a good number of reasons.
They really should have just had the ride follow the plot of the movie. It could've been really memorable.
The most sterile "story" and theming. Disney could have done so many things to add tension, but no. "That might scare children". Also yet another unimaginative corporate sounding name (TBA lol), and that tacky water tower.
Singing the songs was one of the best parts of SplashâŠI really wish they just did the movie so we could sing âalmost thereâ
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 tensionâŠ.
The laughing place was my favorite part of the ride and I'm disappointed that its missing the energy.
iâve been on both versions of splash mountain countless times and could not tell you one plot point from the story. doesnât help that you canât hear a word thatâs said on the ride.
@@jamsquan9415 honestly, that sounds more like a you thing.
I second @jamsquan9415 , I couldnât tell you the plot of Splash Mountain either when I rode it.
@@jamsquan9415 you couldnât tell that the Fox and the bear were trying to catch the rabbit? Did you pay attention to any of the scenes? I mean how did you miss that exactly?
@@jakehess27 maybe Iâm just different for growing up having Brer Rabbit and Anansi the spider read to me as a kidâŠ
But I kind of doubt it. I mean, Brer Rabbit is kind of bugs bunny before bugs bunny.
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 see how Tiana's comes off as boring on video, but in person it's completely different. I went in expecting to not like it and was surprised by how much I did.
It just feels so empty and dead on the inside
Have you been on it
@@jaredfamily123yes