You can’t ride “it’s a small world” without hearing that classic theme song, and the Haunted Mansion attraction just wouldn’t be the same without that spooky soundtrack! It may not always be the first thing you think of when a new attraction opens, but music is one of the most important parts of Disney storytelling.

Speaking of new attractions, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is coming soon to Disney World and Disneyland Resort in 2024. Every good ride needs a soundtrack, so let’s take a closer look at the new musical information Disney has revealed for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.

For a little background, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is an attraction inspired by Disney’s animated film The Princess and the Frog. The attraction is set to open at the Magic Kingdom in Disney World and Disneyland Park at Disneyland Resort in late 2024.

Disney has explained that as part of the story, Princess Tiana will be hosting a Mardi Gras Party to thank the community that has supported her successful restaurant.

It will be “a musical adventure – featuring some of the powerful music from the film.” Disney had also previously announced that the ride would feature new original music inspired by the film, but now they’ve shared a big update. Disney has revealed that PJ Morton — a Grammy Award-Winning musician and someone you might recognize as the keyboardist for Maroon 5 — will be creating a NEW original song for the ride.

Disney shares, “PJ will perform on and produce the sessions in New Orleans of all-new arrangements of the song, as well as songs from ‘The Princess and the Frog’ film within the attraction.”

Disney shared that they felt the need to create a new song for the ride because they felt like it was time for the next chapter in this story. They are hoping to create the kind of song you’ll hum and sing along to, just like the other classic Disney rides. (A.k.a. get ready for the next Disney song that’ll get stuck in your head!)

And Morton isn’t working alone. Grammy-Award Winning Artist Terence Blanchard is also helping to make the music of the attraction come to life. Fun fact: Blanchard played all of the trumpet parts for Louis the Alligator in “The Princess and the Frog!”

According to Disney, “Blanchard is helming music arrangement for the attraction’s queue. Terence is working with us to select songs from ‘The Princess and the Frog,’ as well as iconic themes from New Orleans. Just like Tiana’s recipes, the music will combine a medley of instrumental ingredients to cook up something worth savoring.”

 

In terms of other musical updates, part of the ride story involves Naveen’s little brother, Ralphie, as he learns to play the drums.

The drums are actually based on a historical set held at the New Orleans Jazz Museum

Disney has shared that there will be a big blending of the music of New Orleans (as well as New Orleans’ culture and food) in the ride. Things will start in the queue where you’ll hear music and audio to set the stage for the story that’s about to unfold.

The attraction itself is meant to be a musical with sounds inspired by New Orleans and nature.

One of the things you’ll want to be on the lookout for is musical CREATURES on the ride, including a fiddle-playing otter!

The style of music you’ll hear some animals playing is zydeco, which Merriam-Webster defines as “popular music of southern Louisiana that combines tunes of French origin with elements of Caribbean music and the blues and that features guitar, washboard, and accordion.”

And you’ll want to pay close attention to the musical instruments being used by the creatures as those will be handmade, a New Orleans tradition. Seems like no detail has been overlooked!

The music on the ride isn’t the only thing you’ll want to listen closely to though. Disney is working to make the entire attraction feel rich with various sounds inspired by New Orleans and the bayou.

Much of the inspiration comes from Jimmy Macdonald, a foley artist who worked on many Disney projects in his 48-year career with Disney. D23 calls Macdonald “a one-man sound effects wizard” who “created and assembled one of the largest and most impressive sound effects libraries in motion picture history.”

Disney notes that the team working on Tiana’s Bayou Adventure (which consists of some foley artists — foley is the sound effects created for a movie) work in a similar vein to Macdonald, drawing that special Disney connection.

Disney has really thought of everything when it comes to the sounds here. Foley artists have made instruments to create special sounds for the ride, they’ve recorded bayou noises (including frogs and bugs!), and they’ve even made use of croak cans (meant to make a bullfrog noise).

Disney views the sounds on the ride as just as important as what you see since it helps to create a rich and authentic story.

Looking for more backstory about the ride? Well, it involves an employee-owned company Tiana has created called Tiana’s Foods. She bought and transformed an old salt mine as part of her work. She and her employees work together to make food products and help members of the community become business people, and the land around the mine now grows vegetables, herbs, and more for Tiana’s recipes.

Tiana is hosting a Mardi Gras Party for the people of the community but suddenly realizes she’s missing a key ingredient. We’ll have to help her find it! Along the way, we’ll get to meet new friends and more.

The ride is set to open in Disney World and Disneyland in 2024, but no specific opening date has been set yet.

We’ll continue to check for updates and share those with you. In the meantime, we’re always on the lookout for the latest Disney news, so stay tuned for more.

Are you planning a trip to Magic Kingdom or Disneyland when this attraction opens? Let us know in the comments!

Disclosure: In nearly all circumstances, Disney Food Blog writers and photographers pay full price for their own travel, hotel, food, beverage, and event tickets. We do this because it’s important to us as journalists to ensure not only that we give you unbiased opinions, but also that you can trust us to do so since we’re paying our own way. On rare occasions, when we are invited by a company to attend a preview as media, and when we choose to accept that invitation, we will always make you, our readers, aware of that situation. We were invited by Disney to attend their Tiana’s Bayou Adventure media event. Note that when we attend events as media we are 1) Not required to review that event/food on any of our channels, and 2) Not required to review that event/food favorably. You can always count on DFB to give you a 100% unbiased and honest review of any event that we attend, food that we eat, or beverage that we drink. You can see more in our Disclosure Policy. Thank you for reading. — AJ