I did a cast member preview for the ride last week. It was a lot of fun, although the heat was terrible and a woman a few switchbacks behind us passed out. The theming in the queue is great, especially towards the end when we get to see Tiana's kitchen and it smells exactly like beignets fresh out of the oven.
The ride itself is a marvel, clearly not as many animatronics as in Splash, but better functioning ones with a lot of smooth motion and movement. Tiana's first animatronic is amazing, lot of fluidity and a very nice rendition of the character. Don't see why there's a complaint about pants, I doubt she'd wear a long flowing skirt while exploring the Bayou. The detail they put in to transform the place from Splash Mountain to the Bayou is amazing, a lot of new plants (fake, obviously) that really sells it as a new locale compared to the Briar Patch and its outlying areas.
The Louis alligator animatronic seems to have inherited some of Br'er Bear's "shake you ass" movements and positioning so that's a funny, possibly intentional, callback to the previous attraction. I'm not really sold yet on some of the screens used, but they do their job. A lot of the generic animals pretty much are just that, so I don't really have a concern for them. Like the screens, they do their job.
My main criticism is that this ride doesn't have any conflict. We're just accompanying Tiana into the Bayou, Mama Odie decides to shrink us (which, I must admit, was a nice surprise I didn't know about as I avoided a lot of spoilers), we get grown back up, and then the finale. There's no looming menace or villain in this ride, I really wished we could have seen some lingering presence of Dr. Facilier or any Friends on the Other Side. But this is simply a tame story without conflict, spread out across an attraction where conflict was sewn into the narrative so well.
The 3D versions of Tiana, Louis, Mama Odie look fine. Would I have wished they were done in 2D to maintain continuity with the film? Yes. But the reality is, we're on a ride. It's not the film anymore, so it can be different. It's allowed to be different and take another approach to animating these characters.
The final drop is still a lot of fun. My brother and I sat in the front row, so we were clear in the splash zone. Aaron sat behind us, so didn't get as much of the splashing. But it still offers a nice thrill at the end of the ride.
The finale is very nicely done, I must say. While I liked the originality of Splash Mountain's Show Boat ending, none of it truly ever had anything to do with Song of the South. So it was cool to see, but with little fidelity to the film in question. The new finale on Tiana's Bayou Adventure feels very organic to the film, almost as if we're stepping into that world in animatronic form. It's also the only spot we get to see animatronics for Charlotte, Eudora, and Naveen. But we're following Tiana's Journey anyway, so we didn't need them until the finale.
Overall, I really enjoyed Tiana's Bayou Adventure. It is, in my mind, a worthy successor to the space once occupied by Splash Mountain. I still love <i>Song of the South</i>, though it's always been a complicated relationship that has forced me to wonder if what I love about it is worth loving. But this isn't really the thread to talk about that. And I don't want to marginalize how other communities view that by saying, "Well, I love it anyway for these reasons." It's a delicate covnersation, again, and one that would require more serious posting.
But, as a theme park attendee, I do like that this attraction is opening and we have another E-ticket ride to check out whenever in the Magic Kingdom. May it last just as long, if not longer, than Splash Mountain. And if I ever want to go back on that ride, I can just go to Tokyo anyway.
Alby
The ride itself is a marvel, clearly not as many animatronics as in Splash, but better functioning ones with a lot of smooth motion and movement. Tiana's first animatronic is amazing, lot of fluidity and a very nice rendition of the character. Don't see why there's a complaint about pants, I doubt she'd wear a long flowing skirt while exploring the Bayou. The detail they put in to transform the place from Splash Mountain to the Bayou is amazing, a lot of new plants (fake, obviously) that really sells it as a new locale compared to the Briar Patch and its outlying areas.
The Louis alligator animatronic seems to have inherited some of Br'er Bear's "shake you ass" movements and positioning so that's a funny, possibly intentional, callback to the previous attraction. I'm not really sold yet on some of the screens used, but they do their job. A lot of the generic animals pretty much are just that, so I don't really have a concern for them. Like the screens, they do their job.
My main criticism is that this ride doesn't have any conflict. We're just accompanying Tiana into the Bayou, Mama Odie decides to shrink us (which, I must admit, was a nice surprise I didn't know about as I avoided a lot of spoilers), we get grown back up, and then the finale. There's no looming menace or villain in this ride, I really wished we could have seen some lingering presence of Dr. Facilier or any Friends on the Other Side. But this is simply a tame story without conflict, spread out across an attraction where conflict was sewn into the narrative so well.
The 3D versions of Tiana, Louis, Mama Odie look fine. Would I have wished they were done in 2D to maintain continuity with the film? Yes. But the reality is, we're on a ride. It's not the film anymore, so it can be different. It's allowed to be different and take another approach to animating these characters.
The final drop is still a lot of fun. My brother and I sat in the front row, so we were clear in the splash zone. Aaron sat behind us, so didn't get as much of the splashing. But it still offers a nice thrill at the end of the ride.
The finale is very nicely done, I must say. While I liked the originality of Splash Mountain's Show Boat ending, none of it truly ever had anything to do with Song of the South. So it was cool to see, but with little fidelity to the film in question. The new finale on Tiana's Bayou Adventure feels very organic to the film, almost as if we're stepping into that world in animatronic form. It's also the only spot we get to see animatronics for Charlotte, Eudora, and Naveen. But we're following Tiana's Journey anyway, so we didn't need them until the finale.
Overall, I really enjoyed Tiana's Bayou Adventure. It is, in my mind, a worthy successor to the space once occupied by Splash Mountain. I still love <i>Song of the South</i>, though it's always been a complicated relationship that has forced me to wonder if what I love about it is worth loving. But this isn't really the thread to talk about that. And I don't want to marginalize how other communities view that by saying, "Well, I love it anyway for these reasons." It's a delicate covnersation, again, and one that would require more serious posting.
But, as a theme park attendee, I do like that this attraction is opening and we have another E-ticket ride to check out whenever in the Magic Kingdom. May it last just as long, if not longer, than Splash Mountain. And if I ever want to go back on that ride, I can just go to Tokyo anyway.
Alby
Statistics: Posted by Escapay — Fri Jun 14, 2024 11:15 pm