Disney’s launch of its Tiana’s Bayou Adventure ride is a joyous, yet precarious, balancing act

As you approach Tiana’s Bayou Adventure at Walt Disney World, there’s a sign pointing to one of two queue lines. Beneath it, there’s another that reads, simply, “Everybody’s Welcome!”



Those simple and welcoming words are echoed in the pre-ride audio show and in preshow elements you encounter as you wait to get onto the log flume. They’re Tiana’s invitation to all of her neighbors to come to a party she’s throwing, setting the scene for the story the ride hopes to tell. But they’re also a statement from Disney that despite criticism from conservative outlets that the company is “woke,” it has no plans to waver in its commitment to inclusion.



And somehow, that could be the ride’s most polarizing feature in an increasingly fractured political world.



Tiana’s Bayou Adventure , opening June 28 at Walt Disney World in Florida (and in the months to come at Disneyland in California), is the first step in a broad expansion as Disney prepares to invest $60 billion in its parks business over the next decade. The ride replaces the very popular but problematic Splash Mountain , and is an attraction that emphasizes diversity and inclusion at a time when those subjects have become increasingly divisive.



The decision to rework Splash Mountain came in 2020, as company leaders acknowledged the source material for the ride, Song of the South , was inappropriate , having long been criticized for promoting racist stereotypes and idealizing life on plantations. Disney CEO Bob Iger said at the time, “I’ve felt, as long as I’ve been CEO, that Song of the South —even with a disclaimer—was just not appropriate in today’s world.” Some parties cheered the decision. Others criticized it .



Ted Robledo, a Disney Imagineer and executive creative director of the new ride, says one of the challenges in steering Tiana’s Bayou Adventure to completion was tuning out that debate, as well as the company’s subsequent scuffles with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis over “wokeness.”



“I’m pretty removed from all of that,” Robledo said at a media event debuting the ride. “We have to stay true to our vision—and if we let that noise get in the way, it really starts to make our jobs even more difficult than they already are. So we try to steer clear, just doing our jobs and making sure it’s a great story and attraction. All that other stuff, other people are better equipped than me to handle that.”



Inclusion is hardly a new theme for Tiana, Disney’s first Black princess. Early in The Princess and the Frog , which introduced audiences to the character, Tiana’s father tells her “You know the thing about good food? It brings folks together from all walks of life.” Even the film’s opening song, “Down in New Orleans,” hints at it, with the line “Rich people, poor people, all got dreams.”



But in a world where anything and everything can be politicized, that’s likely to be overlooked by some critics.



Promoting a princess



Tiana has had a fairly significant profile at Disney parks for years, but she’s about to become a much bigger deal. Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is just the start of a major push for the character, with a bigger line of merchandising from the ride, an increased presence of the character in parks, and the launch of Tiana , a new Disney+ program focused on her.



Tiana is not only Disney’s first Black princess, she is also the most modern, and she is the daughter of an American military serviceman, which Imagineers and company officials argue makes her relatable to a wide swath of the country.



“I’m so proud of all the ways we’re telling Tiana’s story,” said Charita Carter, executive creative producer for Walt Disney Imagineering, at an event unveiling the ride.



The design of the ride



Fast Company was invited to Disney World this week to preview Tiana’s Bayou Adventure in person. The attraction is set one year after the end of the film, and takes riders on a journey through the swamps of New Orleans as Tiana and her alligator pal Louis piece together a band for an upcoming Mardi Gras celebration.



Riders are invited along to help her find musicians, who appear in the form of musically gifted “critters.” Eventually, Mama Odie, the 197-year old voodoo priestess who taught viewers to “dig a little deeper” in the 2009 film, decides to help, shrinking riders down to the size of frogs for a bit, before reversing the process—right before the ride’s iconic 50-foot drop.



It’s very much a family ride, which makes sense for Disney as it competes with Universal Orlando, whose upcoming new theme park—Epic Universe, its fourth in Central Florida—will feature a number of family-friendly attractions, including Super Nintendo World. There’s no villain in Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, and even the big drop at the end of the flume ride is more exuberant than scary. 



It’s also paced much differently than its predecessor was. Splash Mountain was loud and boisterous pretty much from the moment you left the loading station; the bayou adventure is a slower build. You’re also not treated as a third-party observer to the goings-on; you’re invited by the characters to be a part of the action. Audio-animatronics make eye contact with you as they talk, giving the ride a different sort of inclusive vibe. And familiar songs from the film power the journey along.



Things eventually liven up and the ride ends in a big showstopping original number, “Special Spice,” sung by Anika Noni Rose, who voiced Tiana in The Princess and the Frog . (All of the film’s voice actors returned for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.)



Aware that park-goers will journey to the Bayou multiple times, Disney embedded numerous Easter eggs throughout the ride. “You’ll have to do repeat visits to take it all in,” Robledo says.



Grappling with history



There’s a tradition at Disney to honor rides that are replaced. For instance, look closely when riding the Adventures of Winnie the Pooh at Disney World and you’ll see Mr. Toad, from Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, handing a deed to Owl in Owl’s House. (In 1999, the Pooh ride took over the spot Mr. Toad had previously occupied at the park.)



Given the controversy surrounding Song of the South and the debate over the closing of Splash Mountain, Imagineers had to figure out whether paying homage would be appropriate this time around. Ultimately they decided to include a few nods to the old ride, but some of those are extremely subtle.



“We’ve got a little bit of an homage in the queue. It’s really smartly hidden,” Robledo says, noting that some of the familiar animals from the previous story can be found by people who look hard enough. 



While Tiana’s Bayou Adventure features a wealth of new technology, including an all-new kind of audio-animatronic (which is all-electronic and made, in part, with 3D-printed materials, resulting in lighter-weight components) and the inclusion of digital screens, Imagineers decided they couldn’t completely upend Splash Mountain, as fans (even the ones who supported the change) would complain.



“When it comes to the [new] ride,” Robledo says, “we didn’t want to do too much because we know there’s a lot that people already love. . . . It is a 32-year-old asset that we knew was something we had to be sensitive to.  . . . So it was kind of this dance of leaving what was great that people love about it . . . but at the same time we had this tall order to bring a new story.”



Beyond the Bayou



Tiana’s ride is the main focal point for the company now, but Disney will have lots more to talk about soon. The Country Bear Jamboree update, which will feature countrified versions of Disney classic songs, will open on July 17. And the Little Mermaid: A Musical Adventure will debut later this year.



The real big news is expected in August at the company’s D23 conference, where it plans to give more concrete details (and hopefully timelines) about expansion plans for the parks.



The focus on theme park expansion comes as competition heats up. Universal Orlando will open a big expansion next year , which could cut into Disney’s profits. The parks and experiences division was the best-performing part of Disney’s business last year, making up 36% of the total revenue and 70% of its operating income.