Disney has revealed new storyline particulars for Tiana’s Bayou Journey, the reimagined Splash Mountain at Magic Kingdom and Disneyland. This shares the entire particulars, ‘firm’ idea artwork, and commentary concerning the backstory of the attraction and Imagineering’s use of storytelling.
As beforehand shared, the reimagined experience shall be named Tiana’s Bayou Journey, and can carry friends into the world of Walt Disney Animation Studios’ movie The Princess and the Frog. In line with the corporate, Tiana’s Bayou Journey will open at Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World and Disneyland in California in late 2024.
In the course of the D23 Expo in Anaheim final yr, Walt Disney Imagineering shared extra particulars concerning the reimagined experience, together with a mannequin showcasing how Splash Mountain could be remodeled. See our Photographs & Video of the Tiana’s Bayou Journey Mannequin, which affords a complete take a look at the brand new exterior, queue, and on-ride particulars that’ll be added to the attraction because it turns into Tiana’s Bayou Journey. (Notice: that’s particularly the Disneyland model of Splash Mountain. Minor adjustments, just like the queue and log experience autos, are anticipated to vary.)
The newest backstory that Walt Disney Imagineering has shared issues the queue for Tiana’s Bayou Journey. At a younger age, Tiana developed a deep ardour for cooking, and commenced to dream of at some point proudly owning her personal enterprise. Her father, James, taught her that good meals brings of us collectively. Throughout Tiana’s Bayou Journey, we’re going to see the place life has taken her following the success of Tiana’s Palace, a restaurant she had dreamed of proudly owning and labored arduous to perform.
Walt Disney Imagineering is creating an authentic, subsequent chapter story for Tiana. Throughout the queue, friends will uncover that she continues to develop her enterprise with Tiana’s Meals, which is an employee-owned cooperative. Combining her abilities with these of the area people, Tiana has remodeled an growing older salt mine and constructed a beloved model.
The endeavor started when Tiana bought the salt mine and the realm surrounding the big salt dome from which it operated. With the assistance of her mom Eudora, Naveen, Louis, and fellow homeowners of the cooperative, Tiana revived the outdated salt mine and the encompassing land. In so doing, she grew a big selection of greens, herbs, and spices for her recipes.
This elaborate enterprise has turned the growing older salt mine into an area that has come alive. Full with a boutique farm and each a working and educating kitchen, Tiana’s Meals is the place Tiana and her colleagues create all kinds of recent merchandise that they’re bringing to the world, together with a line of authentic sizzling sauces.
Tiana desires to provide a giant due to her household and buddies and your entire neighborhood for all of the assist they’ve given her by throwing a tremendous celebration throughout Mardi Gras season. When it turns on the market’s been a little bit of a mix-up with the celebration preparations, Tiana invitations us to fulfill her at Tiana’s Meals to assist with the lacking ingredient for the celebration.
Once we arrive, we might even see that Tiana spruced up the corporate’s amenities with vibrant artwork from native artists. Meals for the celebration is being ready and beignets are being loaded into crates for the celebration. All types of preparations are underway for the journey into the bayou with Tiana, together with new and acquainted buddies from the animated movie.
Tiana’s Bayou Journey picks up the place the film’s story left off. Tiana continues bringing folks along with Tiana’s Meals, one other treasured assembly place to spend time collectively and have a good time a various neighborhood. Tiana can also be working with cooperative members to show gardening and cooking to kids of all ages, and galvanizing different ladies to run profitable companies because the model grows nationwide.
With the Tiana’s Meals backstory of the reimagined experience established, let’s flip to commentary providing our ideas on how this units the desk for Tiana’s Bayou Journey, plus varied ranting concerning the obsession with story and so forth…
Our Commentary
I’ve a love-hate relationship with backstory. I really like that Imagineering writes extensively to tell their storytelling, and you’ll find pages upon pages of inside lore and details about sights outdated and new. Based mostly on what I’ve seen, this phenomenon started throughout the Eisner period–you’ll find backstory for Pleasure Island, Hurricane Lagoon, and different additions from the late Eighties and early Nineties.
Though followers would possibly assume in any other case, Imagineering’s obsession with story is just not a brand new factor. Followers merely have larger entry to it, and normally earlier than ever experiencing the attraction, as a result of it’s used as advertising and marketing within the lead-up to new rides debuting. Maybe WDI is using extra present writers in consequence; I don’t know. It’s nonetheless nothing new.
When backstory turns into one thing for friends to come across in queues, all through lands, and elsewhere, it may be an amazing enhancement to the expertise. At its finest, backstory informs what’s already there, offering added texture and richness to what might be readily understood by context cues, visuals, and many others. One of these backstory is principally icing on a cake that tastes fairly nice with out icing–which means that it wasn’t essential to start with.
I hate backstory when it’s essential to clarify away deficiencies, and engages in storytelling that will come as a shock to the typical customer. If the backstory causes a reevaluation of the experience or land, it’s not good–it’s dangerous. Which means the factor itself can’t stand by itself, or is at odds with its backstory.
The notorious instance of that is Dino-Rama, with its “lipstick on a pig” backstory. As I’ve ranted dozens of instances, that land is just not good, it’s a dumpster fireplace. Some followers simply like it as a result of they’re a part of the in-group that supposedly “will get” Dino-Rama and why it’s “really” good. (It’s not.)
That is one thing I cowl at size in Tom’s High 7: Backstories at Walt Disney World. I received’t belabor the purpose right here–in the event you’re inquisitive about good and dangerous backstory at Walt Disney World, that article covers it.
At this level, the backstory for Tiana’s Bayou Journey might go both approach. I don’t learn the above particulars about Tiana’s Meals and assume, “that is good, I can’t wait to see how the story is resolved!” The factor is, I’m completely high-quality with that. Splash Mountain had/has a really lengthy queue, and I feel the case might be made that though stunning, it handed up stage-setting alternatives that might’ve enhanced the attraction. (Not that it wanted to do that–it was a traditional attraction, regardless.)
One of many issues I beloved about Splash Mountain was the entire critters, completely unrelated to the story being informed, that inhabited Chickapin Hill. Why have been they there? What was their deal? They weren’t simply nameless animals that spontaneously gathered to observe Brer Rabbit’s try kidnapping.
Actually, the alligator band–The Swamp Boys–had a live performance poster within the queue. It will’ve been nice to know extra about these critters, even when wholly immaterial to the attraction itself. Whereas wholly pointless, it could’ve been added coloration, world-building particulars for the keen fan. (I additionally vividly recall inspecting the entire birdhouses as a child, questioning who/what lived inside.)
I can’t say the Tiana’s Meals backstory does a lot for me. On the contrary, I actively dislike it and want it have been one thing completely different that really “hooked” me. Nevertheless, I’ve additionally discovered to not criticize backstory prematurely. On this web period, followers are thirsty for a relentless trickle of data, and Disney largely obliges us. Within the Eighties and Nineties, backstory leaked out after the very fact, and was judged in opposition to the completed attraction, land, and many others. Now, it comes out forward of time and is judged by itself.
My large lesson about prematurely judging backstory got here through the latest reimagining of Jungle Cruise. I’ll admit that I rolled my eyes at rather a lot of the backstory for that, and I used to be frankly involved that Imagineering was getting approach too heavy-handed with story for the sake of story on a experience that basically didn’t want it. My concern was that it could bathroom down the attraction, overwhelm friends, and are available throughout as contrived. There was simply a lot story within the lead-up to the reimagining.
The top consequence with Jungle Cruise was very completely different from that. These backstory particulars are peppered across the queue, and there for the invention of friends. That’s an asset, because it offers friends one thing to have interaction in that beforehand primary and generally very lengthy standby line. You possibly can uncover nuggets of data that illuminate and hook up with different adventurous experiences, however should not in the slightest degree essential to having fun with the attraction.
As for the experience itself, the massive change to Jungle Cruise is that they added a plethora of primates. It would as nicely be referred to as Jungle Cruise: Monkey Insanity. I’m sorry, however in the event you dislike that, you’re distinctly unpatriotic. Monkeys doing ape antics are superior, and that’s only a reality. For the entire hand-wringing about altering Jungle Cruise, the top result’s principally simply that–extra monkeys. Different stuff did change for ‘up to date audiences,’ however the large discernible factor is the monkeys. It was a giant win for lovers of simian shenanigans, which ought to be everybody.
With Tiana’s Bayou Journey, the element I’ve zeroed in on is the road that “there’s been a little bit of a mix-up with the celebration preparations, Tiana invitations us to fulfill her at Tiana’s Meals to assist with the lacking ingredient for the celebration.” I might be incorrect, however this strikes me as an apparent MacGuffin. For many who aren’t followers of Alfred Hitchcock or Pulp Fiction (why not?), a MacGuffin is an seemingly-significant merchandise that advances the plot and motivates the characters, however finally ends up being irrelevant or unimportant. Muppet Haunted Mansion additionally makes use of this gadget, cleverly calling it The Nice MacGuffin.
In any case, “the lacking ingredient” might be a perfect MacGuffin as a result of it could permit Tiana and friends to come across a bunch of various animals–the present critters in Splash Mountain, like The Swamp Boys, that have been created for the attraction and are completely divorced from the supply materials–and sing or do no matter with them. Given the quick turnaround time and idea we’ve already seen, I’ve already gone on document to say that I feel a whole lot of what’s inside Splash Mountain is staying up, and I’m going to double down on that right here.
We already know that Tiana’s Bayou Journey will decide up the story of The Princess and the Frog after the ultimate kiss, becoming a member of Tiana and Louis on a musical journey as they put together for his or her first-ever Mardi Gras efficiency. Throughout this celebration, friends will hear authentic music impressed by songs from the movie. Tiana is main the best way and friends will be capable of encounter outdated buddies and make new buddies alongside the best way as nicely.
Encountering “new buddies” strongly suggests to me that at the least a few of the authentic characters from Splash Mountain shall be making appearances. With the intention to make that work, the attraction essentially must be set after the film. Regrettably, The Swamp Boys weren’t featured in The Princess and the Frog.
In fact, that’s merely hypothesis on my half, and might be completely incorrect. Even whether it is, my perspective on this nonetheless stands–that the lacking ingredient is probably a MacGuffin. The Tiana’s Meals angle might be performed up within the queue for the astute observer, however wholly immaterial to the experience itself.
Given the “musical journey” getting ready for Mardi Gras whereas encountering buddies setup, that looks like a robust chance. In any other case, there may be going to be rather a lot–an excessive amount of–story being informed all through the experience. As a lot as Imagineering loves “story” lately, I don’t assume they’ll make that mistake.
Many followers have puzzled why Tiana’s Bayou Journey isn’t merely revisiting the story of The Princess and the Frog, its villains and music. In spite of everything, that might make sense with the present ‘pacing’ of Splash Mountain and its climactic raise hill. It is a honest level, and positively looks like the much less dangerous strategy.
With that stated, I vehemently (however respectfully) disagree with these of you who assume that. I’m very glad that Tiana’s Bayou Journey is just not merely a “guide report” type attraction. Retelling the film in CliffNotes trend typically falls flat, and makes the visitor really feel like passive observers moderately than energetic members.
That is one thing Imagineer Tony Baxter has ranted in opposition to for years, and also you’ve most likely heard his ideas on it in the event you’ve heard him communicate at a D23 occasion or on a podcast. If he’s really an advisor on Tiana’s Bayou Journey, I believe he would’ve pushed arduous in opposition to the reimagined experience doing that.
Personally, I’ll take the potential gamble of the “lacking ingredient” narrative gadget and one thing recent. This strategy does have greater potential danger than merely retelling the film, however it additionally has larger potential reward.
Finally, it’s attention-grabbing to listen to particulars about Tiana’s Meals and the way that’ll play out within the queue for Tiana’s Bayou Journey. Though the broad strokes of this story does completely nothing for me, it additionally doesn’t fear me. There’s a whole lot of backstory that I wouldn’t take care of if solely studying a synopsis, and but, works nicely in its precise setting and for the needs of building a backdrop or leaping off level for the attraction itself.
My hope is that that is the case with Tiana’s Meals. I’d personally favor the queue change into a Spinal Faucet-style documentary about how Princess Tiana met The Swamp Boys, helped reinvent the group, and so they all turned the primary female-led boy band. (The plot of the experience might be a caper about their disappeared drummer!)
That’s, sadly, not what we’re getting. The Tiana’s Meals setup not interesting to me at this level additionally doesn’t imply it’ll be poorly executed or uninteresting. I’m in full ‘wait and see’ mode with Tiana’s Bayou Journey. It’s a excessive stakes venture, and each Imagineering and firm executives undoubtedly perceive this and are going to do the whole lot of their energy to make sure that the top consequence delivers.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Ideas on the Tiana’s Meals backstory for the queue? Disillusioned that the backstory isn’t a Spinal Faucet-style documentary about The Swamp Boys and Tiana? Do you agree or disagree that the lacking ingredient is probably going a MacGuffin? How a lot of the present attraction (e.g. random musical critter AAs) are you anticipating to seem within the reimagined model? Excited for Tiana’s Bayou Journey? Expectations concerning the Splash Mountain reimagining timeline? Suppose they will end it by late 2024? Maintain the feedback civil, as this isn’t the place for politically-charged arguing, tradition wars, antagonism, private assaults, or low-cost pictures. We shall be heavy-handed in deleting any feedback that cross the road, no matter viewpoint. You aren’t going to vary anybody’s thoughts through the feedback part on this weblog, nor are you going to vary Disney’s priorities. In the event you want to shout your outrage into the web abyss, that’s why Fb was invented.