Walt Disney Imagineering offered a first look at the new Tiana’s Bayou Adventure audio-animatronics coming to Disneyland and Walt Disney World as the former Splash Mountain rides continue to undergo extensive “Princess and the Frog” makeovers.
Video posted to TikTok by Imagineering shows the Princess Tiana animatronic in her “adventure outfit” wearing a lime jacket with a ruby red scarf, olive pants and brown leather boots.
@disneyparks FIRST LOOK 👀 at one of the new Audio-Animatronics figures coming to Tiana’s Bayou Adventure ✨💚 #Disney #DisneyParks #DisneyWorld #Tiana #TianasBayouAdventure #DisneyNews #MardiGras #Technology
The “Tiana-matronic” is part of Imagineering’s new line of cutting-edge, all-electric audio-animatronics used in the Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast at Tokyo Disneyland and Frozen Ever After at Hong Kong Disneyland, according to WDW News Today.
The Princess Tiana figure will be joined by animatronic versions of Prince Naveen, Louis the trumpet-playing alligator, Mama Odie, Eudora, Charlotte, Big Daddy, the King and Queen of Maldonia and Naveen’s younger brother and aspiring drummer Prince Ralphie.
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Throughout the new ride, a whole swampful of friendly critters will play jazz and zydeco music on instruments made from natural materials found in the bayou.
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure will open this summer in the Magic Kingdom at the Walt Disney World resort in Florida. Disneyland’s version of the revamped attraction will debut in the fall or winter of 2024.
The reimagining of the Splash Mountain rides will remove thematic elements related to “Song of the South” — the controversial 1940s animated film criticized for perpetuating racist stereotypes that has been disowned by Disney.
The twin Tiana’s Bayou Adventure rides will tell an extension of the “Princess and the Frog” story that picks up after the final kiss between Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen. The new backstory for Splash Mountain will follow Tiana and Louis the trumpet-playing alligator as they prepare for their first Mardi Gras performance.