ANAHEIM, Calif. — When visitors experience Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, they’ll smell the scent of fresh beignets in the attraction queues, listen to original music, and see the Voodoo Queen of the Bayou and other characters from the animated film on the ride.
As Disneyland officials Wednesday announced new details and features of the upcoming re-themed attraction, they also dropped the biggest bombshell.
After 34 years, Splash Mountain’s last splash at Disneyland will be May 30.
“To make room for this new magic, Splash Mountain at Disneyland park will be closed starting May 31, 2023, so we can begin the next phase of development for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure,” Disney officials wrote on the official Disney Parks blog.
Splash Mountain is a log flume ride that debuted at Disneyland in 1989 and at Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World in 1992.
One of the most popular attractions in Disney’s theme parks, the log boat ride takes visitors up and through an artificial mountain featuring characters, music and scenes from the controversial 1946 film “Song of the South.” It culminates in a nearly 50-foot angled drop, with a wave of water splashing on the guests.
In 2020, Disney officials announced they would completely re-theme the attraction, which many felt was outdated in today’s current climate and time, into Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, inspired by the company’s 2009 animated film, “The Princess and the Frog,” which features Disney’s first Black Princess.
Iger told shareholders in 2020 that the film “Song of the South,” which has been criticized as a racist film by critics and the masses, was “just not appropriate in today’s world.”
Splash Mountain closed at Magic Kingdom in Florida in January and is also being re-themed as Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.
With the announced closing of Splash Mountain at Disneyland, Disney has made grand plans to transform the attraction into Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.
Disneyland officials Wednesday said that Mama Odie, the 200-year-old blind voodoo priestess or, as Disney calls her, the “Bayou Fairy Godmother” in Disney’s “Princess in the Frog” animated film, will be one of several new audio-animatronics inside the ride.
Performer Jennifer Lewis, who served as the voice of Mama Odie in the film, will reprise her role in the attraction.
Other characters from the film visitors will encounter as audio-animatronics include Prince Naveen, the crocodile Louis, Tiana’s mother, Eudora, Big Daddy, and more.
The new details, pumping the scent of beignets in the attraction queues and music from the animated film, will apply to Disneyland and Walt Disney World’s versions.
Disney officials have yet to say how long construction will take to re-theme the ride.
No date has been announced when the newly re-themed Tiana ride will open at Disneyland and Walt Disney World.