Tiana’s Bayou Adventure opened at Disneyland Park on November 15, 2024. The log flume-style ride, replacing the now defunct Splash Mountain, showcases Disney’s first Black princess, Tiana, as she prepares to throw a party for Mardi Gras.

Walt Disney Imagineering stated that the attraction is the next chapter in Tiana’s story, and it takes place after the events of The Princess and the Frog. What makes the attraction even more special is that it’s based in New Orleans, a real place that’s made even more vibrant in the movie and on Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.

Charita Carter, executive producer at Walt Disney Imagineering, says, “Tiana resonates with people all over the world.'' She’s got ties to an iconic American city, her dad was in the military, and she’s an entrepreneur. But bringing authentic New Orleans culture to life in a themed queue and throughout the attraction wasn’t easy.

Building Tiana’s Bayou Adventure While Disneyland was Closed

When Disneyland closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure was already well on its way to becoming a reality. According to Imagineering, when the park closed, the team was able to go into the park and see the former Splash Mountain and think about what scenes and animatronics would go where within the current ride form, and how the story of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure was going to come to life in front of guests.

Authenticity Matters for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure

To bring the story to life even more, Imagineering traveled to New Orleans, Louisiana, to do research trips as they built the attraction. “I’ve been to New Orleans a couple of times, [and] we felt that after talking to Stella Chase, the daughter of Leah Chase, the inspiration behind the movie, that in order to tell the story right we had to be present,'' said Carmen Smith, Executive, Creative Development & Inclusion Strategies for Walt Disney Imagineering.

Imagineering went to New Orleans about 25 times throughout the five-year Tiana’s Bayou Adventure project to make sure the attraction perfectly represented the vibrant cultures of the Big Easy. “We pay attention to everything in detail and we want to get the story right. We’ve probably been to New Orleans 25 times and each time exploring a different aspect of it,” says Smith.

One way that this is represented throughout the attraction is through music. Throughout the ride and the queue, Disneyland park goers will hear everything from Zydeco to Haitian Tara. Then after guests get off the ride, they will likely have “Special Spice,” a song created just for the attraction by PJ Morton and sung by the voice of Tiana, Anika Noni Rose, stuck in their head.

Everything inside the ride, especially the queue, helps elevate Tiana’s story. Outside, guests will see a mural on the barn by Malaika Favorite. The mural was hand-painted in her studio in Louisiana. Imagineering sent the measured barn boards to her, and Favorite painted each one, then sent the boards back to be hung on the side of the building where guests enter the line for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. Additionally, third-generation master blacksmith Darryl Reeves is responsible for the attraction’s handcrafted weathervane.

Imagineering continues the story with artifacts and nods to family in the queue. “We made an intention to talk to people from every walk of life, from the Choctaw Indians to the French and German, and the Spanish and Filipino,” says Smith. One artifact that stands out in the queue is a stickball from the Choctaw Nation, which is a sport that they played. For Imagineering, the hope is that these authentic New Orleans touches will heighten curiosity about the world around us.

“When you tell a story with authenticity, people sense it and they feel it,” says Smith.