Tiana’s Bayou Adventure at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom opened today, June 28, 2024. Last weekend, D23 Gold Members had a special preview of the new attraction so I wanted to share with you my review and pictures of the newly reimagined attraction.
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure Queue
To start, here is a picture of the outside of the attraction. If you have been to the Magic Kingdom at the Walt Disney World Resort in the last few weeks, chances are that you have taken a peek at the outside of the newly reimagined attraction.
The queue line takes visitors at Tiana’s Bayou Adventure into Tiana’s Foods main headquarters.
In front of the Tiana’s Foods building is a Tiana’s Foods truck.
Inside Tiana’s Foods, guests will see Tiana’s desk, lots of storage areas for the food and Tiana’s kitchen with some freshly made beignets. And there are a lot of pictures on the wall as well as a few framed letters from Tiana’s Daddy.
The Attraction
Once you are on the attraction and in a ride “log” vehicle, you are greeted by Princess Tiana. She tells guests to meet up with Louis who is looking for a band to play at their upcoming party.
Look for the two frogs on a log when you first go outside of the bayou building. It’s not Tiana and Naveen but these frogs are a reminder of just how small the two were during their adventure in the bayou.
Welcome to Tiana’s Foods! Here you will see Louis the Alligator along with a lot of fresh vegetables that are growing along the river banks. Louis is looking for a band to play at their party.
This is also where we are first introduced to Lari the Armadillo. You will see him several times throughout your bayou adventure.
This is the outside of Mama Odie’s boathouse with her colorful bottles hanging around the entrance. I sure do like these colorful bottles.
When you enter the inside of the bayou, Louis greets you and he’s found a critter band to play at the party! Next, you will see those critters who have formed a band in the bayou.
These critters are exactly what Tiana and Louis are looking for. They will have these critters play at their party. They are sure to be a hit!
Tiana likes what she hears. She wants these critters to play at her party.
Then, we are shrunk by Mama Odie to the size of frogs. Now we know what Tiana and Naveen felt like when they were frogs. But don’t worry, Mama Odie will make us big again!
Isn’t this little frog the cutest thing!
And here we go, Mama Odie says it’s time for us to be big again.
Warning: You will get wet!
But as soon as you are back to your normal size, beware of a big drop ahead. And you will get wet!
Lari has the right idea! Everyone gets wet during that big drop! And if you don’t get wet enough during the drop, a little water just might get magically splashed into the boat.
Final Party Scene
It’s time for Tiana’s big party! At the party, you will see Charlotte, Eudora, Princess Tiana, Prince Naveen, Louis and more. And somehow, Lari made it to the party too! I think he just wants a few beignets.
After the party scene, you will see those two frogs again. They decided to head on down to New Orleans. And at the end of the attraction, you will see Mama Odie who has a plate of freshly baked beignets. But, don’t get too excited. She is keeping those beignets for herself!
My Review
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is really cute and has some great new animatronics. The music definitely gives you the New Orleans feel. And the new critter band is awfully cute!
Overall, the ride itself is exactly the same as Splash Mountain. Nothing about the ride itself changed. Except for maybe a little extra water getting splashed into the ride “log” vehicle.
The scenery that you see throughout the ride is now themed to the story of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. The ride features a lot of colorful scenes and the Walt Disney Imagineers did a great job of retheming the attraction to Tiana’s story. I do think that they used a lot of unnecessary screens in the attraction whereas I don’t think Splash Mountain had any. I can where the screens worked for the firefly scene but I would prefer a few more animatronics over some of the other screens that were used. And, I did think that there were a lot of dark areas that could have been lightened up a bit more with a few extra animatronics. Maybe add Naveen in the bayou?
I really liked the party scene at the end of the attraction. It was filled with a lot of characters including Charlotte, Eudora and Prince Naveen which is the only time you see these three characters in the attraction. It would have been nice if they could have at least added another Prince Naveen animatronic somewhere else in the attraction. Maybe in the bayou like I mentioned above?
Also, if anyone is hoping to see Dr. Facilier or even a reference to the “Shadow Man”, I didn’t notice anything throughout the attraction. I know he went to the “other side” at the end of The Princess and the Frog movie, but even a shadow of him would have been fun.
Final Thoughts
In conclusion, I’m sure the attraction will be a hit at both the Magic Kingdom and Disneyland park. I do think the Imagineers could have added a few more animatronics and used a few less screens – and even lightened up a few areas that are really dark – but with that said, I still loved the attraction and loved seeing The Princess and the Frog characters throughout the attraction. The critters that play in the new band are really cute but the log vehicles move really fast and the area where the critter band is located is so dark that it is really hard to see them. At least Disney made plush of a few of the critters so we can take a few home with us.
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure POV Video
If you want to experience Tiana’s Bayou Adventure before heading to the Magic Kingdom, watch my POV video of the attraction that takes you from the queue line to the end of the attraction.
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And as always, I’ll “see ya real soon” Mouseketeers!
