Disney is making a MAJOR change to a classic ride that’s gonna impact Disneyland and Magic Kingdom FOREVER. But what, exactly, is going to change, what’s staying the same, and what are we HOPING changes in the future? Find out today…

We’re breaking down EVERYTHING we know about the Splash Mountain retheme.

Splash Mountain has gone away for good and replaced with a brand-new storyline centered around the Disney animated film, Princess and the Frog. But today, we’re really gonna 🎶DIG A LITTLE DEEPER🎶 to find out what that actually involves.

Quick roadmap for ya: First, we’re gonna start with a juicy history lesson and talk about WHY this retheme was necessary for Disney to make in the first place. Then, we’ll jump into the timeline for these changes, as well as the NEW storyline for the ride, what the retheme’s gonna look like, the fun extras you’re gonna find OUTSIDE the ride, AND — just for funsies — a little wish list of things we’d LIKE to see appear from the retheme. Think of it as our own way of “Blue Sky” brainstorming.

Why the Retheme?

Splash Mountain has been one of the most popular rides in both Disney World and Disneyland for over thirty years. So what inspired Disney to take an iconic ride and transform it into something completely different? When the retheme was announced, there was a mixed bag of responses — both from those who were excited to see Tiana and friends finally get their own ride, and from those who were sad to see a classic ride they’d grown up with closing down for good.

But Bob Weis, president of Walt Disney Imagineering, shared with D23 WHY this decision was so important for not just Magic Kingdom but all future guests.

Weis stated: “Tiana is a modern, courageous, and empowered woman who pursues her dreams while never losing sight of what’s really important. So it’s a great story with a strong lead character, set against the backdrop of New Orleans and the Louisiana bayou.” The Disney company also shared that they were ready to elevate this log flume’s experience to “tell a fresh, relevant story.”

“The new concept is inclusive – one that all [Disney] guests can connect with and be inspired by, and it speaks to the diversity of the millions of people who visit [the] parks each year.”

Over the past few years, Disney has been working on several classic attractions to make them more culturally appropriate. We saw changes happen for the original Pirates of the Caribbean auction scene, which introduced us to the kick-butt pirate now known as “Redd”, as well as a few Jungle Cruise scenes, to help modernize the storyline, and remove ride scenes that hadn’t aged very well over the years.

Though Splash Mountain’s retheme will be much more intensive — since the controversial Song of the South storyline is interwoven throughout the entire ride and not just in a scene or two — the mindset behind the decision is very much the same as we’ve seen in the past. Disney wants to make sure the stories behind their rides stay as relevant and inspiring as possible.

Official Timeline

This Princess and the Frog retheme sure did TEASE its guests for a good long while! And it’s still teasing guests as we develop more and more questions about the ride’s future in the parks.

After we learned about the fate of Splash Mountain, we were all left in limbo about how soon this reimagining would start taking place. It wasn’t necessarily a feeling we’re unfamiliar with, since it seems Disney likes to announce new experiences with no attached release dates to get us all hyped up and ready for a rousing round of internet discord. They won’t announce specific release dates until much MUCH later when they feel more confident about the experience’s development.

However, Josh D’Amaro — Chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products — threw us a bone in November of 2020, stating that the Splash Mountain retheme would be expedited to ensure that “all who visit the [Disney] company’s parks…feel welcome.” We know that making a BRAND NEW RIDE — with new special effects, lighting, animatronics, and soundtracks — takes time. It takes a LOT of time. But after D’Amaro mentioned the ride would be expedited, we expected to learn more about the timeline of its release.

But the next chunk of info we received about the Princess and the Frog ride didn’t happen until August 2021 — when a video released, showing Disney’s Imagineering team working on the project in a panel alongside Stella Chase Reese, owner of the New Orleans restaurant which inspired Tiana’s story.

The panel discussion took place during a research trip to New Orleans to further the goal of “digging deep into the culture of New Orleans to tell a story that’s as authentic to the region as it is to the characters’ stories. From the food, music, art and architecture to the diversity of its people and their traditions, there is much from which to draw inspiration.”

But then the 2022 ESSENCE Festival of Culture — which was held in New Orleans on July 1st-3rd — FINALLY revealed what the name of this new Princess and the Frog ride was gonna be, as well as its opening timeline.

The ride is called “Tiana’s Bayou Adventure,” and will be opening….. in 2024 for both Disney World AND Disneyland. Yeah. Sorry. We’ve still got a whole lotta waiting to do. BUT at least we had SOMETHING to go off of. (And still do!)

Later on in 2022, at the beginning of December, we learned about Splash Mountain’s official closing date in Disney World — which was January 23rd, 2023.

BUT we’ll definitely let you know just as SOON as we get more info on this project, one way or another! And you can be one of the FIRST to know about any Disney news and updates by signing up for the DFB Newsletter.

The Story

Since you already know that Splash Mountain will be rethemed around Princess and the Frog, you can probably gather some intel from that information alone. You’ll see Princess Tiana. You’ll see Prince Naveen. And you’ll see our large scaly friend LOUIS as he plays away on his trusty trumpet. Love that guy. Think he’ll give me some lessons?

But what about the new plot? What’s the 411 there?

Tiana’s Bayou Adventure will drop you back into The Princess and the Frog story where it last left off — “after the final kiss.” Y’see, Tiana wants to unite her community by hosting a Mardi Gras Party during New Orleans’ Carnival season. (And what BETTER way to do that than through FOOD?)

Tiana feels like she owes a lot to her community, since she was able to open her DREAM restaurant — Tiana’s Palace — thanks to their continued support. But — EGAD — Tiana realized that the party is “missing a key ingredient,” and she needs help finding it!

Disney Imagineers have shared that guests will be active participants coming along with Tiana on this adventure! And what about the queue? Any fun storytelling going on there?

Turns out that, along with her restaurant, Tiana has also started an employee-owned company called Tiana’s Foods, easy enough to remember, where she and her employees work together to make food products and help community members become business people. Which you’ll get to see and learn more about during your time in the queue.

What’s Going to Change

Like we mentioned earlier, this retheme is EXTENSIVE. There’ll be no more “Zip-a-dee-Doo-dah” soundtrack or villainous fox-and-bear duo trying to hunt down a poor, mischievous Br’er Rabbit. But not EVERYTHING about Splash Mountain is completely going away.

For starters, let’s remember that this is a ride RETHEME, and not a brand-new ride. That means Imagineers will be building Tiana’s Bayou Adventure around the existing water flume structure, similar to what we saw happen over in EPCOT when Maelstrom was rethemed to Frozen Ever After. So, you’ll still get to feel the thrill of that 5-story drop before the grand finale!

And if you think you’re gonna be missing all the different critters that were featured in Splash Mountain, you’ll be happy to know new characters on this ride will still have an assortment of musically-talented animals.

Imagineer Laura West is the lead designer behind our new wildlife friends — which include a beaver on the drums, an opossum playing bass, a raccoon playing accordion, a turtle with a harmonica, a rabbit on the washboard, and an otter playing the fiddle. (Why does this give us Lester’s Possum Park vibes? Like from the Goofy Movie?)

Okay. Now let’s talk about the NEW stuff. Additional ride elements will feature a combination of practical lighting, digital lighting, animatronics, and scenic paint. Disney announced that there’s gonna be a new mist element in Tiana’s Bayou Adventure — which sounds like we might be in for a few spookier scenes at some point.

The video they showed had a lot of colorful lights shining into the mist (which kinda reminds us of the sort of lights and smoke effects you see while walking Villains Grove during Disney California Adventure’s Oogie Boogie Bash Party). You know who ELSE is in Villains Grove? Dr. Facillier. Coincidence? I think NOT! Okay, maybe it IS a coincidence — but we still wouldn’t be surprised if we saw this Princess and the Frog villain make his grand voodoo comeback with his friends on the other side.

But back to the good guys!

Tiana will be leading you through this new journey in a fresh explorer-worthy wardrobe. Tiana’s pantsuit is actually a bigger deal than you may think — since it’s a pretty progressive statement for the timeframe that the ride/movie takes place during, which is in the 1920’s). Disney says that this outfit change connects “who Tiana was in the movie to who she will be in the future.”

And you know how Splash Mountain’s grand finale used to end at the giant riverboat, with all the animals gathering together to bring you one, big, show-stopping number? How do you feel about a grand finale, Mardi Gras-style?

Artist Sharika Mahdi was hired to create 4 original paintings to inspire the Imagineers working on the attraction — and the painting we got to see during that 2021 panel interview video depicts the ride’s final scene. This scene is described as one big “Mardi Gras party!” The colors are vibrant, the style is whimsical, and SO MANY CHARACTERS are packed into that single painting. So, hate to spoil this for you or anything, but I think we can expect a happy (and celebratory-worthy) ending here.

Speaking of inspiring art, at the 2022 D23 Expo, we got to check out a small-scale model of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, which taught us a WHOLE lot more about what we can expect to see from this attraction when it opens up in 2024. Disclaimer: not everything we saw on the model of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is guaranteed to appear in the real thing. After all, we still have a while before the ride will officially open, and a lot could change in that time.

But did we still scour the model for any possible hint or connection to the movie? Absolutely. Did we question what every single tiny detail could possibly mean? You bet we did. Are some of our predictions probably way off? …Maybe. But, nonetheless, we think that we’ve discovered some pretty cool details — like a garden of veggies towards the beginning of the ride and a fleur-de-lis symbol above the entrance to the finale, for example.

One of the COOLEST parts of this model was the big wooden water tower with “Tiana’s Foods: Employee Owned, Est. 1922” printed across the front. And on top of that tower was a biiiiiiiig tiara that looked just like Tiana’s tiara from the movie!

Didja notice the two little stars to the right of the tiara? Those are likely a nod to Evangeline and Ray! Ray is Tiana’s firefly sidekick in the movie, and the love of Ray’s life is a star named Evangeline. (And if you catch us sobbing over this tiny detail, no you didn’t). You know what other adorable couples we tracked down on this model? We found a couple of frogs perched on a log towards the end of the ride. From what we can see, they look just like Naveen and Tiana in the movie when they were both in their frog form.

That makes sense and all, but we just have one question: Why are they frogs again? At the end of the movie, they return to their OG human form after the final kiss. (Sorry — another spoiler alert.)

Unless the story of the ride gets REALLY wild, those two frogs are probably just a nod to the movie (but again, anything could happen)!

Oh! Oh! We also got a *teeny tiny* peek into the DROP portion of the ride! When we looked at the opening where the boat comes out before the big drop, you can see a lot of lights and colors inside — much like the glass bottles hanging from the ceiling that you’ll see in the movie during Mama Odie’s big musical number.

And since we’re ON the subject of music, you should know that music will continue to play an important role in setting each scene — which is why the attraction will feature original music “inspired by songs from the film.” Disney had previously shared that Jenifer Lewis, the voice behind Mama Odie, will be featured in the rethemed ride.

But it’s not JUST Mama Odie who’s coming back for an encore performance! Even more of the original voice talents behind the beloved characters from Princess and the Frog will reprise their roles — including Bruno Campos as Prince Naveen, Michael Leon Wooley as Louis, and Anika Noni Rose as Princess Tiana.

Riders will also hear zydeco music in the attraction, specifically in the bayou portion of the ride. Imagineers expressed that, “Zydeco is a special blend of rhythm and blues that was born in Louisiana.” Disney wanted to include this style of music because it “brings together the sounds and styles of many cultures.”

Since Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is replacing Splash Mountain and using much of the same track, we can expect the ride time to be as long as Splash Mountain was — about 11 or 12 minutes. Disney announced this at a recent media event in New Orleans.So just to wrap up this section with a nice neat bow — Disney has been HARD at reimagining this ride, and we think the details will all come together to make something really cool. But only time will tell — and now we’ve just gotta wait for even MORE details to come.

EXTRAS

Tiana’s not just making a statement IN her new ride — but around it too! The NEW store, Eudora’s Chic Boutique featuring Tiana’s Gourmet Secrets, already opened on New Orleans Square at Disneyland back in September of 2022. The store is named for Princess Tiana’s mother — and inside the shop, you’ll find decor and merchandise inspired by New Orleans and Princess and the Frog.

And — FUN FACT — outside Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, you can find vegetables and spices growing on the side of the mountain. Those very spices are being sold at Eudora’s NOW. Tiana’s own line of sauces (which are also made from the spice growing on the mountain) are also sold here, too.

In the future, expect to see the real-live Tiana’s Palace enter into the Disneyland scene, too! Disney recently announced that Tiana’s Palace will be replacing the French Market Restaurant in New Orleans Square. This new quick-service destination is meant to feel like you’re walking into Tiana’s dream restaurant, brought to life for ALL OF YOU to experience along with her!

The Disney website describes this rethemed restaurant as a setting that’ll feature elegant fixtures, wrought-iron balconies, and that classic, gen-u-iiiine New Orleans flair. As far as the menu is concerned, you can’t escape those Cajun/southern-style classics! Expect your current favorites from the French Market to still be around alongside some new (and seasonal) options, too.

Food and Beverage Imagineers have been spending plenty of time in New Orleans researching for inspiration on the decor and menu for Tiana’s Palace, but we don’t have very many details about it other than that… yet.

Here’s what we CAN tell you:

1. Remember those veggies we just mentioned, growing on the side of the mountain? Those veggies will also be used in the restaurant for a fresh selection of menu items upon its opening.
2. Imagineers have also spent a lot of time at Dooky Chase’s Restaurant (which is Stella Chase Reese’s restaurant in New Orleans that we talked about earlier — that directly inspired Tiana’s story). Imagineers wanna get this place JUST right, and make sure that the culinary history of the New Orleans area is translated extremely well and tastefully for their park’s restaurant.

 

The French Market Restaurant (and its attached Mint Julep Bar) will be closing on February 17, 2023, to get renovations underway.
But DON’T PANIC. This is NOT the end of the Mint Juleps and famous Disneyland beignets! Disney has assured us that the Mint Julep Bar WILL return later this year and will reopen with Tiana’s Palace.

The Disney Imagineers that we’ve interviewed said that Tiana’s Palace will be a reimagined restaurant. Lots of reimagining going on around these parts! The Imagineers we’ve interviewed previously about this new restaurant mentioned to us that they’re trying to get Tiana’s Palace added to Disney World, but we don’t have any official announcements on the future of this restaurant being on the East Coast, too.

Imagineers are hard at work, creating a ride (and, eventually, restaurant) that’ll bring a familial feel of New Orleans into the parks. And though we’ve got a lotta waiting to do before we finally see these projects fulfilled to completion, there’s still a WHOLE bunch for us to look forward to in 2023 and 2024.

Transformation of Splash Mountain into Tiana’s Bayou Adventure

Are you planning to ride the new Tiana’s Bayou Adventure when it opens? Let us know in the comments below!