Today is the first day of Magic Keyholder previews for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, giving us our first look inside the attraction at Walt’s original theme park. As you may know, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure opened at Walt Disney World this summer and has been well received by some guests, and disliked by others. Our review of the attraction was somewhere in the middle, noting that the attraction retheme was necessary, but wondering if Disney could’ve done better with some of the set designs and story beats.
Now, the attraction is preparing for a November 15th debut at Disneyland and we wanted to compare the major differences between the Disneyland version of the attraction and the Walt Disney World version.
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure Differences Between Walt Disney World and Disneyland
While the majority of this article will be concerned with the ride, it’s worth noting that there are similar elements in the queue for each ride such as an outdoor garden, and the premise of visiting Tiana’s Foods. Differences include some of the layout of the outdoor portion of the queue, and different spaces used for the outdoor mural.
Once inside the queue, similar elements can be seen such as historical photos of Tiana and her growing business. The impressive kitchen also exists in the Disneyland queue, and the background music appears to be similar to Florida. The salt mine conceit also exists in the Disneyland version to explain portions of the queue that contain rockwork before boarding.
The loading area looks similar to Florida, complete with overhead crates for the Cast Member dispatch stations. The yellow and green paint scheme carries forward to Disneyland.
Ok, now it’s time to board the attraction, where we’ll go scene-by-scene to note major differences between the Florida version of the ride and the California version of the ride. Any photos provided will be from the Walt Disney World version of the attraction.
Some different staging before the first lift can be observed due to the nature of the differences between the two attractions. A more robust building appears on the right side of the boat, and more Tiana’s Foods crates are found on the left side. After the first lift, guests drop into the bayou as they do in Florida with “Down in New Orleans” playing in the background. This scene is similar to Florida, with the Tiana’s Foods water tower dominating the skyline, but the natural bayou dominating the vibe of this portion of the ride.
The second lift hill passes by the same Tiana animatronic as seen in the Florida version.
Out in the garden, Louis is still searching high and low for critters to play at Tiana’s Mardi Gras party. As will be the case for most of the attraction, a lot of the scenes and Audio-Animatronics will remain the same as the Florida version, but may be placed in different areas due to space restraints at Disneyland. To that end, we can find Lari on the right side of the boat. Critically, veggie Louis is present on the West Coast version of the ride as well. It also sounds like there is some new audio for the Disneyland version in the garden compared to the last time we rode in Florida.
As we continue through the garden, a view of the back of the Tiana’s Foods water tower is also present at Disneyland. Again, the staging is a bit different, but we also find Mama Odie’s house on the right side of the boat before we drop into the dark bayou scene.
Once inside the bayou, the same version of Gonna Take You There from the Princess and the Frog movie is playing, along with projected dancing fireflies similar to the Florida version. The fireflies are seen earlier in the bayou scene than in Florida – before you even see any Audio-Animatronics.
Continuing through the bayou, we’ll see the same Audio-Animatronics as the Florida version, even in the same order. Again, the staging is different in Disneyland due to more space constraints. For example, Louis is still the first Audio-Animatronic you’ll see on the right of the boat in the bayou scene, but the first band is placed on the left side of the boat instead of the right as seen below in the Florida version.
Tiana remains on the right side of the boat in her bayou explorer outfit (seen below), and she’s still asking the band to play at her Mardi Gras party we’ll see at the finale of the attraction.
A shack seen on the left side of the boat in Florida is on the right side of the boat in California. The shack shows up slightly earlier in the ride out west than here in Orlando.
Continuing the theme of staging differences, Tiana and Louis are not joined by the bobcat band, but instead share the right side of the flume with the bear band. The bobcat band is placed on the left side of the boat during this scene which otherwise shares the same vibes as the Magic Kingdom version.
One thing that is perhaps the most notable for the Disneyland version is the speed in which we move from scene to scene. Whereas there is a noticeable amount of dead space in the Walt Disney World version, there is less space between scenes in the Disneyland version. It’s possible that while Walt Disney World ordered the same Audio-Animatronics and scenes as the Disneyland version, they didn’t go above and beyond to fill out an attraction that feels dead in some spots.
The Disneyland version of the attraction places Tiana in a sitting position on the same log that Louis is stuck in. For the Walt Disney World version (seen below), the two characters are separated for some reason (perhaps to fill out some of that dead space we were referring to).
Again, the main story beats are the same between the two versions, and Mama Odie casts her spell to make us small as we drop into a less cavernous frog scene. A longer lead into the scene still has fan-favorite frog musician Mondo, but on the right side of the boat instead of the left side (pictured below).
The choice of music remains Dig a Little Deeper for this section of the ride, and the frog band rounds out our search for musicians for Tiana’s Mardi Grad party. The same frog characters are present in the California version, along with screens to show a floating conga line of fireflies and Mama Odie setting the stage for the lift hill. Speaking of Mama Odie, an Animatronic version of the character is found at the top of the lift hill. The lift hill contains the same lighting effects as the Florida version, but perhaps executed better.
The party finale scene is very similar to Florida, including character staging. The lighting is certainly better in the California version of the ride when compared to the last time we rode here in Orlando. The catchy Joyful Celebration song is sung by Tiana as characters that we met throughout the ride provide musical accompaniments. Mama Odie sends us off as the boat returns to the load/unload area.
Overall, the biggest difference between the attractions continues to be the same as before the reimagining – the pacing of the Disneyland version of the ride is quicker, and the distance between scenes is shorter. Tiana’s Bayou Adventure officially opens November 15, 2024 in the renamed Bayou Country section of Disneyland.
MiceChat has a first look at the ride from the Magic Keyholder preview this afternoon.
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!
