Disneyland is showing off the Princess and the Frog retheming of its iconic ride Splash Mountain, taking the wraps off a scale model of its refurbishment plans. Tiana’s Bayou Adventure will be hitting Disneyland in late 2024, with imagineers speaking Sunday at Disney’s D23 Expo in Anaheim, California, to describe the concept of the ride.
The ride will be set in 1927, when Tiana is hosting a party at her restaurant, Tiana’s Palace, for the people of New Orleans. Tiana discovers her celebration is missing a “special ingredient,” which sets her off on a journey through the bayou with Louis the alligator.
The original voices of Princess Tiana, Prince Naveen, Mama Odie and Louis will be used on the ride. Anika Noni Rose (Tiana) appeared live at D23 to sing the movie’s iconic songs Almost There and Dig A Little Deeper. Notably missing from the ride plans is Dr Facilier, the villain of Princess and the Frog, who perished at the end of the movie.
“Music is going to be a huge part of the experience,” Disney Parks chair Josh D’Amaro said Sunday during the Parks and Experiences Panel at D23.
The exterior of the ride will be lit up and glowing at night, with what the imagineers called New Orleans and bayou magic.
The scale model of the ride shows the briar patch removed from the bottom of the 49-foot drop, a new water tower painted with a “Tiana’s foods” logo, and colored glass bottles — like those in Mama Odie’s boathouse — hanging from the top of the drop. The tree stump crowning the top of the attraction has been replaced with a thicket of bayou trees, but the log boats look like they’ll stay the same.
Also announced during the Disney Parks and Experiences Panel at D23 were the Avengers Campus multiverse expansion at Disneyland, the opening date for Tron Lightcycle Run at Disney World, the name of the next Disney cruise ship, San Fransokyo at California Adventure and a potential villains, Coco and Encanto area at Magic Kingdom.
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