Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is once again experiencing serious technical issues at Walt Disney World Resort. The rethemed Splash Mountain debuted in Frontierland at the Magic Kingdom in the summer of 2024, while Disneyland Resort introduced its own version that November.

The Rollout of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure

Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is a The Princess and the Frog (2009)-themed reskin of the original Splash Mountain log flume ride. The classic Frontierland attraction was highly controversial for featuring characters from The Song of the South (1946), which is widely banned for its racist depiction of post-Civil War life for Black Americans. The new version of the ride features Princess Tiana (Anika Noni Rose), Prince Naveen (Bruno Campos), Louis (Michael-Leon Wooley), and Mama Odie (Jenifer Lewis) as they search for musicians to perform at a New Orleans-style celebration.

An image of a lush, green landscape with a tall water tower labeled "Tiana's Foods" prominently standing amidst the foliage. The sky is clear with a few scattered clouds, adding to the vibrant and scenic environment.
Credit: Disney

Unfortunately, the rethemed log flume ride experienced issues from the start. Several Disney cast member and Annual Passholder previews were canceled hours before Magic Kingdom Park closed due to complicated technical malfunctions. In the months after the ride’s grand opening, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure shut down for hours at a time multiple times per week. Guests repeatedly reported seeing motionless audio-animatronics while their dialogue/audio continued to play.

By the time Tiana’s Bayou Adventure debuted at Disneyland Resort in November 2024, Walt Disney Imagineers seemed to have repaired many of the repeated issues with Tiana’s Bayou Adventure at Walt Disney World Resort. Magic Kingdom Park guests reported far less downtime for the Frontierland ride. However, problems with the advanced audio-animatronics persisted, and it seemed that Disney had given up on having the figures always show-ready for guests.

Recent Issues at the Magic Kingdom

Animatronics on Tiana's Bayou Adventure at Disneyland Park.
Credit: Disney

On December 16, X (formerly known as Twitter) user @kdodgers74 shared multiple videos from Tiana’s Bayou Adventure at Magic Kingdom Park. All three videos showed serious technical issues on the rethemed Splash Mountain attraction.

Tianas is in rough shape once again. Periods of darkness with broken projections and tiana and mama odie AAs not moving well at all

The first clip shows an interior part of the ride so dark that guests couldn’t see any of the set pieces. The second shows a near-motionless audio-animatronic of Princess Tiana, whose neck is tilting back in an extremely unnatural manner.

Tiana's Bayou Adventure at Disneyland Park at night.
Credit: Jonathan Cook-Fisher, Flickr

Finally, the third video shows a Mama Odie figure on the ride’s final lift hill. The character’s mouth was moving in sync with her audio, but she was otherwise frozen.

Walt Disney World Resort hasn’t issued a public statement on these issues with Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, and it’s unclear whether they’ve been repaired.

Do you prefer Tiana’s Bayou Adventure or the original Splash Mountain? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments! 

The post Tiana’s Bayou Adventure Goes Dark at the Magic Kingdom appeared first on Inside the Magic.

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