How Tiana’s Bayou Adventure Skirted Controversy and Spiritually Transformed Disneyland

In June 2020, during the height of the Black Lives Matter movement, Disney announced that Splash Mountain, a popular attraction at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, would be stripped of its theming — which was tied to 1946’s racially problematic Disney film “Song of the South” — and reopen in the next few years as something new. This time, the attraction would draw from 2009’s Oscar-nominated animated film “The Princess and the Frog,” a version of the classic Brothers Grimm fairy tale set in jazz-era New Orleans.

The transformation underscores Disney’s thorny history on the subject of race, and Black imagery, while highlighting the challenges and considerations necessary even when trying to bring something as seemingly benign as a theme-park ride into the 21st century.

Reflecting the company’s desire in modern times to do better in the areas of race and inclusion, “The Princess and the Frog” is notable for featuring the first Black Disney Princess, Tiana (voiced by Anika Noni Rose), and for being one of the final hand-drawn animated features from Walt Disney Animation Studios.

A contemporaneous report from the New York Times suggested that Disney had been contemplating a re-theme of Splash Mountain “for at least five years,” and “sped up the public unveiling of the project because of the current cultural conversation about race,” but the then-president of Walt Disney Imagineering, Bob Weis, said the Tiana concept had been in discussion for a year.

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The concept art that Disney released featured a flume ride speckled with glittery lightning bugs. At the top of what used to be known as Chick-A-Pin Hill was a tree with a marooned boat precariously balanced between its branches. When the ride finally opened in 2024, much of this would be different – indeed, the entire story of the attraction would change, in part to avoid harmful stereotypes. What was once an attraction that emphasized whimsy and danger in equal measure would be reconfigured as something sunnier.

As timing would have it, the ride would open at Disneyland a few months after its debut in Walt Disney World and less than 10 days after the United States election went against electing the first Black female president. Now the attraction — titled Tiana’s Bayou Adventure — offered something that many felt they desperately needed, something that couldn’t be quantified or easily printed on the park’s guide map: hope.

Carmen Smith, the Imagineering creative executive on Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, said she felt that there was an additional significance to the attraction’s opening so shortly after the election. There was something else; something that none of them could design or plan for.

“I’m feeling it too – that there’s more there. I can’t speak to the future, but what I’ve heard from the press and Imagineers and people that have ridden it is that they also feel the sense of magic and wonder, so that may speak to something more,” Smith told TheWrap on the eve of the attraction’s official opening in November. “We’ll listen. I think that’s the most important thing – to listen to what people are saying. I think that will be our guide.”

Splash Mountain, for all of its technological wizardry and intense thrills, was a bummer. It was an attraction steeped in the ugliness of the past. Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is something of a spiritual rebirth.

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“It took 35 years, but the Walt Disney Co. has at long last rid itself of an attraction that was anchored to an embarrassing part of its past,” wrote the Los Angeles Times theme park guru Todd Martens in his review of the new ride. “With the launch of Tiana’s, Disney has chosen to give us a princess-based ride not driven by a head-in-the-clouds fairy tale but one that is instead framed as an American success story, as Tiana, now a restaurant owner, is expanding her empire with a food co-op.”

“Song of the South” is very much a product of its time. The movie is set in the Reconstruction-era South, where former slaves stay chummy with white plantation owners. While other problematic fare on Disney+ is preceded by a warning about how the values and depictions are dated and offensive, “Song of the South” remains a forbidden object, unavailable by any legal means in America and most parts of the world.

Making a Splash

The beginnings of Splash Mountain were a combination of desperation, necessity and opportunity.

Tony Baxter, a former Disneyland ice cream scooper and one of the more celebrated Imagineers, known for ornate, boundary-pushing ride design on attractions like Star Tours, EPCOT Center’s Journey Into Imagination and pretty much all of Disneyland Paris, recounted the development of the attraction on “The Imagineering Story,” Leslie Iwerks’ multipart documentary on Disney+.

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“I was driving to work one day that summer and thought about what this whole part of the park was about,” Baxter said on the documentary. The area of the park was then known as Bear Country; it was home to the Country Bear Jamboree, an audio-animatronics show that opened in Disneyland in 1972, a few months after it debuted with the rest of Walt Disney World.

But Disneyland needed thrills.

It became a mandate of Michael Eisner, the incoming chairman and CEO of the Walt Disney Company. When he arrived in 1984, the parks were depressed. And worse – they felt old. EPCOT, a half-realization of a dream Walt had for a futuristic city, had just opened as part of the Walt Disney World complex outside of Orlando. It came in over-budget and guests were confused and a little bored by the concept of a permanent world’s fair that was mixed with some exhibits about technology, communication and power. Eisner and president and COO Frank Wells wanted to make the parks hip again.

Splash Mountain
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While touring the Imagineering campus, down the street from the studios in Glendale, California, Eisner zeroed in on what would become Splash Mountain. “No project was more immediately compelling than the elaborate scale model we saw for a flume water ride, climaxing with a steep drop down a waterfall,” Eisner wrote in his 1998 memoir “Work in Progress.” “Tony’s water ride had the potential to be what Walt originally called an ‘E-ticket’ attraction.” (An E-ticket attraction harkens back to Walt’s days, when you purchased ticket books, with each ticket going to a show or attraction. E-tickets were used for the very best rides.) Eisner wrote that Splash Mountain seemed “especially E-ticketish.”

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Not that it was an immediate slam dunk – the $80-million price tag was, at the time, eye-watering, especially since, as Eisner noted, “it generates no specific return.” But they found ways to cut corners. Eisner wrote that they “could save a small fortune” by moving the Audio-Animatronics from another attraction to the ride, an idea that Baxter takes credit for in “The Imagineering Story.” America Sings, the musical attraction created for the bicentennial and housed in a show building that used to be home to the Carousel of Progress, featured singing animals. “It was past its prime, but we had all these wonderful figures,” Baxter said in the documentary.

Disney could also utilize off-the-shelf technology — flume rides have been around since the early 20th century, with the first modern-day flume ride opening at a Six Flags in Texas in 1963. They didn’t have to invent ride technology.

And it fit snugly into that corner of the park.

Of course, all this talk about recycling figures and off-the-shelf ride vehicles didn’t matter much in the end. “It saved only a fraction of the eventual budget,” Eisner admitted in his memoir. The Imagineers’ desire to, in Baxter’s words, make “the biggest flume ride” led to many complications. The final drop was too steep, necessitating a redesign of both the slope and the ride vehicles. And Eisner recounted a close call when he and his son Anders talked the construction supervision into letting them test out the ride. Eisner said they were “nearly decapitated by a board resting across the track.”

An original opening date of fall 1988 came and went; an expensive promotional tie-in with McDonalds (“Splash for Cash”) had to be rejiggered. Baxter estimated that the problems added nine months to the project. “Instead of making the October date, we opened in July 1989 – Disneyland’s birthday,” Baxter said sunnily in the documentary. The Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah River Run, as it was originally called, was renamed Splash Mountain, in part because of Eisner’s fondness for Disney’s 1984 hit “Splash” and because now, it could be a part of the Disney mountain range that included Space Mountain, the Matterhorn and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. The northwest patch of Disneyland, previously known as Bear Country, would now go by Critter Country.

A Jan. 30, 1987 report in the L.A. Times noted that “Disney officials say they do not expect the ride to provoke criticism because it uses only the animated animal characters.” A contemporaneous news report from the attraction’s opening described Splash Mountain as “more than a flume ride, it’s a three-dimensional re-creation of one of Walt Disney’s most beloved films.”

But the question remains: why in the world would Disney, striving for modernity and cultural relevance, theme a new ride in 1989 after an uncomfortable 1946 relic like “Song of the South?”

The life of “Song of the South”

When Splash Mountain was getting ready to open, Disney constantly referred to “Song of the South” as “Walt Disney’s animated classic.” But “Song of the South” is only about 30% animated – it was made during Disney’s lean post-war years with real-life performers like James Baskett, who received an honorary Oscar for his role as the kindly Uncle Remus, starring alongside Br’er Rabbit and Br’er Fox. And it wasn’t viewed as a classic. It was more of a curio than anything else, and one with which Disney had a complicated relationship.

“Disney was all over the map with ‘Song of the South,’” Disney historian Jim Hill told TheWrap. After the original 1946 release, it was re-released in 1956 and then again in 1972, 1973 and 1980.

Eisner knew that the property was problematic. Before he gave a green light to the costly attraction, Eisner ordered that the movie be re-released into theaters to see how it performed. Over the Thanksgiving holiday in 1986, “Song of the South” returned. And it killed.

The film netted $4,203,111 opening weekend, which is more than $12 million adjusting for inflation. In its second weekend the movie jumped 23.8%. When it left theaters six weeks later, it had amassed more than $18 million, which is $53 million today. Of course there was outrage; a commentary in the L.A. Times by James A. Snead noted, “The portrayal of happy-go-lucky Blacks, well nurtured on Southern plantations by benevolent whites, was already outdated when the film was first released in 1946. Four decades of racial progress have seemingly gone unrecognized.”

Song of the South
Disney

When the movie, based on the stories by Joel Chandler Harris (that were “borrowed” from traditional African-American folktales), premiered in Atlanta in 1946, Baskett couldn’t attend because Atlanta was a segregated city. The NAACP called for a nationwide boycott of the film. Even the New York Times’ Bosley Crowther, a Disney fan, was unhappy with the film, later saying he “had painful occasion to lay a critical board across the figurative pants of Walt Disney” because of “Song of the South.” When the film premiered in New York City, it was met with picketers. Signs reportedly read: We fought for Uncle Sam, not Uncle Tom.

But by the late 1980s, the modern Walt Disney Company didn’t seem to care much about the controversy that had initially greeted “Song of the South.”

In 1988, a year before Splash Mountain opened, characters from “Song of the South” appeared in Robert Zemeckis’ blockbuster “Who Framed Roger Rabbit.” And with the opening of Splash Mountain in 1989, they doubled-down on the “Song of the South”-ification of the entire Disney Parks apparatus – “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” was used in the parks, in promotional materials and across the in-room informational channels. (There was, however briefly, a “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” Tip of the Day.)

When the ride was being developed, Walt Disney Imagineering did welcome outside voices. “There were meetings with representatives of communities of color, who reviewed the story, and Disney listened to them about their potential concerns about the use of the characters,” former Disney Imagineer Jim Shull said. Ultimately, they gave their sign off.

In 2010, Disney CEO Bob Iger stated that the movie would never be released on DVD, calling it “antiquated” and “fairly offensive.” Ten years later, he reiterated this, saying that it would not appear on the company’s new direct-to-consumer streaming service Disney+. Speaking at the annual shareholders meeting, Iger said that the film was “not appropriate in today’s world.” But there have been several attempts over the years to remaster and re-release the film, potentially with disclaimers, with Whoopi Goldberg leading the charge.

By keeping the movie out of public view, turning an offensive work punctuated by some beautiful animation into a deeply forbidden object, the reputation of “Song of the South” curdled further — which made its prominent placement in the Disney Parks (an additional version opened in Tokyo Disneyland in 1992) even more mystifying and hurtful.

Tiana debuts

At a press event right before Tiana’s Bayou Adventure at Disneyland would open to the public, Carmen Smith took the stage and thanked Disney’s leaders for listening to calls to change Splash Mountain.

In transforming the attraction to a “Princess and the Frog” theme, Smith said that the Imagineering team worked with dozens of musicians and storytellers, traveled to New Orleans to understand the culture and worked closely with the team at Walt Disney Animation Studios, who made the original film and who provided new animation for the attraction.

In closing, Smith got slightly more pointed: “It’s all about community. It’s all about making sure that in our own way, we’re making a difference. And I think that’s what Tiana does.”

In the time between when the re-theming was announced and when it would open, first at Walt Disney World and then at Disneyland, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure would take on even more meaning.

That concept art, with the boat in the tree and the twinkling fireflies, would get reworked. The overall story would become softer; the earlier version featured Dr. Facilier (voiced in the film, with velvety menace, by Keith David), a “shadow man” with ties to voodoo. One insider said that the character had become borderline problematic and the decision was made to remove him, since his inclusion would court further controversy. The character could wind up in the Magic Kingdom’s proposed villains-themed land, earmarked for a parcel of real estate on the other side of the Haunted Mansion and not too far from Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.

Tiana's Bayou Adventure
Disney

Smith called this “the next chapter of the story,” noting that Facilier was on “the other side” at the end of the movie.

Instead, the story of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure would involve Tiana (once again voiced by Anika Noni Rose) looking for a band to perform at a party she’s throwing. Set a year after the events of the film, Tiana is not only the owner of a restaurant but also a food co-op called Tiana’s Foods. The rider, as a guest, is shrunk down to the size of the critters in the attraction and comes up with a band of frogs to perform at the party. At the end of the ride – the big drop – the rider is returned to human-sized.

The attraction itself is pleasant and cheerful; whereas Splash Mountain dotted its storyline with danger, ultimately leaning into the drama of Br’er Rabbit getting thrown down the hill into the Briar Patch, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure keeps things sunnier. The new animatronics are triggered by each boat passing by, which is meant to make the attraction “more personal.” Tiana, it seems, is addressing the guest directly. She needs your help, after all.

But in its relentless pursuit of positivity, the ride itself does create something of a tonal jumble. “Imagine if you were on It’s a Small World and then all of a sudden at the end there’s a 50-foot drop. It’s like, ‘OK, that’s not as advertised.’ There’s a disconnect,” said one former Imagineer.

As far as attendance is concerned, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is clocking just the same attendance as Splash Mountain once did, according to a person with knowledge. It remains one of the most popular attractions at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, with no statistical difference between it and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, another hugely popular ride.

Still, there is something more with Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.

“Everything means more,” former Imagineer Shull said of the attraction opening amid new political upheaval.

“I’m thinking less about the fact that it’s no longer based on a racist movie,” one prominent theme-park journalist said. “I’m thinking more about the fact that it now centers Blackness. The human characters in the most popular Disneyland rides have been so white for so long, it’s both a relief and a thrill to have a ride that puts a strong Black princess at the center.”

With the redo of the ride, Disney has erased a painful part of the company’s long and storied history and added a ride that is inclusive and entertaining.

Talk about a happily ever after.

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