Eve ChenUSA TODAY
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“People gonna come here from everywhere, and I'm almost there.”
Tiana’s prescient lyrics are about to become a reality at Walt Disney World.
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure will open June 28 at the Florida resort, Disney announced Sunday during Disney Songbook night on ABC’s “American Idol.”
The opening date is almost exactly four years after Disney first announced that it would be replacing Splash Mountain with a story inspired by “The Princess and the Frog.”
The reimagining is also underway at Disneyland in California, which will open its Tiana Bayou Adventure later this year.
Here are five things to know about the highly anticipated ride:
This is not “The Princess and the Frog”
While inspired by “The Princess and the Frog," Tiana’s Bayou Adventureis set after the events of the film.
Having achieved her dreams, Tiana is now giving back to her community through a new co-op called Tiana’s Foods, which is built into a new incarnation of Splash Mountain's mountain. Guests will learn all about it in the ride's queue, which will smell like beignets.(For a limited time starting opening day, Golden Oak OutpostandThe Friar’s Nookwill serve beignets, too.)
Guests will then travel along the bayou as Tiana prepares to throw a big Mardi Gras bash and everyone is invited.
From the music to the art to the inspiration for Tiana herself – late James Beard-award-winning Chef Leah Chase of Dooky Chase's Restaurant – Tiana’s Bayou Adventure will pay tribute to the spirit of New Orleans.
"She's fantastical, but she came from a very real place," Walt Disney Imagineering Executive Creative Producer-VP Charita Carter said in 2022. She hopes guests from Louisiana will ride Tiana's Bayou Adventure and say, "Yeah, this feels right."
Guests may get wet
Tiana's Bayou Adventure is a flume-style water ride with a 50-foot drop and splashdown.
Guests who want to stay dry should pack a poncho, which is always a good idea anyway with the ever-present chance of rain in Central Florida.
Tiana's Bayou Adventure will open with a virtual queue, Genie+
Like other new attractions Disney World has debuted in recent years, namely Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind and TRON Lightcycle / Run, Tiana's Bayou Adventure will debut with a virtual queue instead of a traditional standby line, which anyone can enter just by showing up.
"Guests can request to join the virtual queue via the My Disney Experience app at one of two times: 7 a.m. or 1 p.m.," Lori Besig, senior manager of Communications at Walt Disney World, posted on the Disney Parks Blog Tuesday. "While a standby queue will not be available during the attraction’s initial opening days, we expect to open a standby queue soon after the attraction’s opening."
Joining the virtual queue is free. Alternately, guests can purchase Genie+ for expedited Lightning Lane access to the ride. Genie+ is Disney's paid service for cutting wait times on attractions. Pricing varies by date and park.
Is Genie+ worth it? What Disney guests should know before buying the service
Will Tiana's Bayou Adventure have animatronics?
The cutting-edge audio-animatronics created for Hong Kong Disneyland's World of Frozen, Shanghai Disney Resort’s Zootopia, and Tokyo DisneySea’s Fantasy Springs are finally coming to Disney’s U.S. parks in Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.
In sneak peeks shared by Walt Disney Imagineering, Tiana, Mama Odie and Louis the Alligator are seen fluidly moving their arms and swiveling their heads and hips with ease.
In addition to familiar characters from the film, the attraction will feature new musical critters created just for the attraction.
Why did Disney close Splash Mountain?
Splash Mountain's Br'er Rabbit story was inspired by "Song of the South," a 1946 Disney film, which had long been criticized for its idealized portrayal of plantation life.
Disney has not tied Splash Mountain's closing to "Song of the South," the way an online petition garnering more than 21,000 signatures did in 2020.
That June, Disney announced plans to reimagine Splash Mountain at Disney World and Disneyland with a "Princess and the Frog"-inspired theme, noting plans had been in the works since 2019.
However, when Disney CEO Bob Iger was asked at a shareholders meeting that March if the film would be added to Disney+, he said, "I've felt, as long as I've been CEO, that 'Song of the South' was – even with a disclaimer – was just not appropriate in today's world."
The attraction remains open at Tokyo Disney Resort, which is owned by The Oriental Land Co.
