Frontierland at Magic Kingdom will soon have a new attraction for visitors to enjoy. Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is ready to enchant guests with music and friends, old and new. The landscape of Magic Kingdom will change quite a bit once this attraction with a large capacity is open again. Here we have a place where you can catch up on everything that’s been shared about this attraction at Walt Disney World Resort.
Tiana Ride at Magic Kingdom: Everything We Know About The Bayou
Over the last few years, Disney has shared magical secrets about what we can expect from the new Tiana’s Bayou Adventure attraction opening this summer. This is probably the most exciting of what’s coming to Disney World in 2024.
What is the story of the Tiana ride?
When Tiana’s Bayou Adventure opens at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida, it will be Mardi Gras every day. The story of this attraction picks up where the 2009 animated film The Princess and The Frog left off. Tiana’s Bayou Adventure has a heavy food focus with the exterior showcasing the business Tiana’s Foods, an employee-owned business, on the water tower. Tiana and members of her community have transformed a salt mine and the surrounding area to grow foods and enhance her restauranteur dreams.
The story goes that Tiana wants to thank her loved ones and neighbors by hosting a party during Mardi Gras. There’s a missing ingredient and that’s where we come in. We can expect new, authentic music on this ride along with classic sounds from the film. There will also be dozens of new animatronic characters.
Everything is transformed to support this new story but, as far as we know, the track of the attraction remains the same.
Was Princess Tiana real? Who is Tiana based on?
Princess Tiana as we know her was not a real person. The idea of Tiana the New Orleans chef is based on a real person though. Leah Chase, a New Orleans chef known as the Queen of Creole Cuisine, was the inspiration for Princess Tiana. Chef Leah Chase passed in 2019 but her family has been involved with bringing the magic of Tiana and New Orleans to Disney destinations, especially her daughters. Stella Chase Reese is an honorary Imagineer and Leah Chase Jr., covers the Louis Armstrong song, “Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans?” in the queue background music of the Tiana ride.
How long is Tiana’s Bayou Adventure?
Splash Mountain was a very large attraction and long at around 11 minutes in length. Tiana’s Bayou Adventure has the same layout in the same building and should be similar in length.
Will Tiana’s bayou be a water ride?
Yes! Tiana’s Bayou Adventure will still be a log flume ride. You may get wet! Depending on the time of year, Splash Mountain used to have additional water squirting at guests on the ride. We don’t know if this will still be part of the fun but the Tiana ride will still have the classic 50 foot drop. It’s anticipated that the track for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is the same as it was for Splash Mountain.
Will the new Tiana ride still have the drop?
Splash Mountain originally opened in Magic Kingdom in 1992. Many visitors grew up with this attraction or enjoyed the big drop with their families over the years. The drop is still there on Tiana’s Bayou Adventure! On the contrary, if you were never able to ride Splash Mountain because of the drop, it looks like Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is not for you.
Tiana Ride Opening Date: When in 2024 is Tiana’s bayou adventure opening?
We don’t have an exact opening date yet but we do have some clues to consider. Disney has shared Leah Chase’s family will be first to ride Tiana’s Bayou Adventure at Disney World. A New Orleans website says the trip will take place mid June. We might be able to assume, then, that Tiana’s opening date will not be before mid June.
The latest official opening time frame from Disney is that Tiana’s Bayou Adventure will open in the summer of 2024.
Summer can start in early May according to Disney’s past offerings. We’ve seen Disney’s summer overlays start around Memorial Day weekend too. It can vary but Disney’s “summer” can mean much earlier than the actual first day of summer which is June 20th in 2024.
We’ve also seen things take longer than we’ve been promised at Disney Parks over the last few years after the pandemic. Fortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case with the Tiana ride.
Has Tiana ride testing started?
This attraction is part indoors and part outdoors. This means just visiting the park can give some fair insight as to how progress is going, at least outdoors. In the spring of 2024, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure started sending ride vehicles for testing. Imagineers were even seen riding the attraction during park operating hours. We’ve also seen additional signage, theming, landscaping and lighting up in the exterior part of the attraction and surrounding areas.
Are there Tiana’s Bayou Adventure DVC Member previews?
Based on other recent attraction openings, we can probably anticipate DVC Member Tiana previews. No Tiana ride previews have been announced as of April 2024. We will update as information becomes available!
Will there be Tiana’s Bayou Adventure annual passholder previews?
Those with a Disney annual pass can probably expect there to be Tiana previews just for them. Disney annual passholder previews for new attractions can be pretty long and easy to get into. This isn’t always the case but it’s what we’ve seen most recently. For the Tron opening in 2023, Disney held a long passholder preview period.
Does the Tiana ride have a store?
There were two stores connected to Splash Mountain and both of them have been updated to fit the new Tiana theme. Out front, the store Briar Patch is now Critter Co-Op. Briar Patch was one of the most themed stores at Disney World. Let’s hope we see that same level of commitment with Critter Co-Op!
The store at the end of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is Tiana’s Bayou General. This replaces the Splashdown Photos gift shop that sold towels, clothes and photos from the attraction.
Is Disney World getting a Tiana restaurant?
There’s been a lot of talk about changes coming to Frontierland at Magic Kingdom. This includes adding on behind Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. There’s also been some questions among fans about a Tiana restaurant. This is, after all, her dream and the entire point of the movie. It’s unclear at this point if the restaurant will have a big tie in on the Tiana’s Bayou Adventure attraction.
In February of 2024, Magic Kingdom introduced beignets at the Golden Oak Outpost but just for the month.
There is a Tiana’s Food quick service restaurant at Disneyland in California. Of course, gumbo is on the menu.
However, at Magic Kingdom in Orlando, no plans have been shared for a Tiana restaurant.
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure FAQs
What is Tiana’s Bayou Adventure height requirement?
All riders must be 40 inches or 102 centimeters tall to ride Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. Height sticks are always in front of the attraction before you join the queue. There are usually also height measurement indicators before boarding. A Cast Member may ask little ones to step up right before riding.
When did Splash Mountain close at Disney World?
The Frontierland attraction Splash Mountain closed on January 23rd, 2023 at Disney World. With an anticipated summer 2024 opening, that means Disney Imagineers and Cast Members worked on this attraction for about a year and a half in the park. Surely much planning and building was done prior to the attraction closing for this complete refurbishment.
Over at Disneyland in California, the Splash Mountain attraction closed later on May 31st, 2023.
When was Tiana’s Bayou Adventure ride announced?
The Tiana ride replacing Splash Mountain at both Disney World and Disneyland was first announced in June of 2020. Disney says Imagineers had been working on it years prior to the announcement.
What ride is Tiana replacing?
The Tiana ride is replacing the Splash Mountain attraction at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida and Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California.
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