Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is an upcoming log flume ride at Disney that will be opening at Disneyland and Walt Disney World in 2024. The attraction is themed on the 2009 Disney film “The Princess and the Frog”, the ride will be replacing the widely known Splash Mountain ride. 

Splash Mountain was also a log flume ride that was opened on July 17, 1989, being based on the 1946 movie “Song of the South”. The closing of this ride at Magic Kingdom is no short of controversial; some Disney goers claimed that the ride was a family staple and one of the rides people mostly looked forward to because of how much nostalgia it brought to many, while others claimed the closing of the ride was needed because of its racist roots.

In Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, riders will be seated in a log as they are navigated by main characters Princess Tiana and Alligator Louis (a lover and

player of jazz) in a bayou in New Orleans during the Mardi Gras season, as stated by Carmen Smith, Senior Vice President, Creative Development – Product/Content & Inclusive Strategies for Walt Disney Imagineering. Mardi Gras is a carnival festival, mostly known for being in New Orleans, in which people wear bead necklaces and feathers, eat, dance, and play livey music throughout the streets. New characters not seen in the original movie will appear along with fireflies lighting up the bayou. 

According to Smith, as you go into the bayou, Zydeco music will start playing, a key component of the ride’s overall message and theme. Zydeco music is a special type of music that was created in Louisiana – it mixes blues and rhythm. The reason for Zydeco music being used is because it brings together many cultures and styles of music, relating to the overall theme of the attraction of togetherness no matter background or history. 

With Tiana’s Bayou Adventure being implemented into the Disney parks, it also means that the Splash Mountain ride will be closing as well; the ride officially closed on Jan. 23.

Senior Emilce Lozano states that she doesn’t care much for the closing of Splash Mountain, but instead looks forward to the upcoming ride

“I didn’t feel too sad about it, I was just like ‘Oh ok, they’re going to turn it into something new, things change every day… has a mystical feel … I want to see how it is and if it’s good or bad; if people were right about it not being a good idea, all of that,” Lozano said. 

With different generations also comes different opinions; for some, the change is not much of a difference when going to Disneyland but for other generations, it may hit close to home, like Choir Director Tyler Wigglesworth. With the varying opinions, the discussion of the ride replacement still continues in the present. 

“Originally I was kind of bummed because it’s like you’re changing a classic, right? But it’s an interesting use of the IP (Intellectual Property). I think it will actually wind up being a good fit; I like that they’re trying to do some bigger things with New Orleans and stuff like that… is a classic and it has always been there ever since I was a kid. When you went to Disney it was one of those awesome big rides that you conquered as a kid, so there’s a lot of those fond memories,” said Wigglesworth. 

The closing down of the Splash Mountain ride to be repurposed into Tiana’s Bayou Adventure causes many avid-Disney goers to question why the change happened in the first place; Wigglesworth explains why he feels it is occurring in the first place. 

“Walt Disney said that, in his whole idea, the design of Disneyland will never be finished and that it will always be changing and growing. Disney himself put things in there that were popular at the time … maybe the Disney company is attempting to now reach a younger generation and bring in something that they are more used to so that they connect to these rides and start the whole cycle again ,” Wigglesworth said. 

Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is set to open in 2024 at both Walt Disney World Orlando and Disneyland California. As the ride develops, Disney goers now wait to see what will become of the upcoming ride.