Disney reveals name, opening date for its New Orleans remake of Splash Mountain | Entertainment/Life

The most important endeavor for the Walt Disney Imagineers collected at Preservation Hall in New Orleans on Friday morning (July 1) was twofold.

To start with, they ended up to reveal at prolonged final the identify of their “Princess and the Frog” retheming of the Splash Mountain points of interest at Disneyland and Walt Disney Globe.

That name: “Tiana’s Bayou Experience.”

Secondly, they had been to announce for the 1st time a tentative opening day, which, assuming all goes according to approach, will be at some stage in late 2024.

But for Stella Chase Reese, the daughter of New Orleans culinary icon and actual-lifestyle “Princess and the Frog” inspiration Leah Chase, there was yet another process: to assure her fellow New Orleanians, in her potential as an unofficial guardian of the lifestyle, that Disney’s crew is accomplishing suitable by the metropolis.







tiana 2

Stella Chase, next from ideal, joins Walt Disney creatives at Preservation Hall in New Orleans on Friday (July 1) for the unveiling of the of Disney’s rethemed Splash Mountain attraction. To be named Tiana’s Bayou Experience, it will be centered on the 2009 film ‘The Princess and the Frog,’ which was in change inspired by the everyday living of Chase’s mom, Leah chase.




“What they’re bringing to you is authentically New Orleans, and I’m here to actually testify to that,” claimed Reese, who was participating in a panel dialogue on the new attraction on the Preservation Corridor phase.

‘Honorary Imagineer’

She would know. Reese, who was playfully declared “an honorary Imagineer” at Friday’s party, has served as an ambassador, marketing consultant and (of system) evening meal host for Disney’s crew in the course of its recurring investigate visits to town.

“I’ve viewed the Imagineers in the swamps and the bayous, viewing the alligators swim alongside our boat, and watching for the facts and creating them down and using photos of every single depth,” she claimed. “(They had been) seeking at the trees, heading down, bending down, having pictures of the plants to make guaranteed each individual element is actually integrated into this adventure.”

Further details will be declared at Disney’s yearly D23 enthusiast expo, set this year for Sept. 9-11. Until then, here’s what we know so considerably:

Pretty much just two many years back, Disney introduced its Tiana-themed reimagining of the log flume trip Splash Mountain, which is centered on the racially problematic 1946 Disney movie “Song of the South.”







New Adventure with Princess Tiana Coming to Magic Kingdom Park

‘The Princess and the Frog’ characters together with Princess Tiana and Louis the trumpet-taking part in alligator float by a New Orleans swamp in a piece of conceptual art reflecting Disney’s planned retheming of its well-known Splash Mountain topic park journey.




Last August, it shared the 1st facts, revealing the rethemed trip will be a very New Orleans-themed attraction, beginning with Princess Tiana inviting friends on an experience down the bayou and ending with a Mardi Gras celebration.

Singing a new tune

The outdated ride’s keep track of procedure will continue to be in spot, so the speed of the new attraction will experience the exact same to Disney park admirers. But the “Song of the South” people, tunes and storyline will be changed by people from 2009’s “Princess and the Frog.”

That will contain a new tale that picks up right after the film ends, as properly as a blend of aged songs and new ones.

A closure date for the existing Splash Mountain trip, which opened at Disneyland in 1989 and 1992 at Walt Disney Entire world, has but to be announced.

When the retheming is finished, Disney Imagineering’s Charita Carter reported Friday, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure will provide as “a love letter” to New Orleans.

In many ways, Friday’s occasion was, also. There was a mini-second-line parade. There were being performances by musicians from the extended Preservation Corridor local community, together with trumpetman Mark Braud and trombonist Haruka Kikuchi. There was foods from Dooky Chase Restaurant.

And Jennifer Lewis

Lest any individual neglect it was a Disney function, there was also a shock overall performance by actress/singer/all-about dynamo Jennifer Lewis, who sang the “Princess and the Frog” track “Dig a Tiny Further,” as very well an visual appeal by a costumed actress portraying Tiana herself.

Fittingly timed to coincide with the Essence Festival of Culture — which prides itself for its celebration of “Black woman magic” — Friday’s celebration also saw Disney’s creative group double down on their intention to make Tiana’s Bayou Experience as inclusive an attraction as probable.

To hear Reese inform it, there could hardly be a a lot more fitting way to honor her mother’s legacy.

“She was an African American who appreciated becoming an African American, but she also respected the lifestyle of every person,” Reese mentioned. “She was constantly delighted when folks of all shades, all races, from all around the state, visited her at the cafe. She acquired a probability to be what she beloved to be: an ambassador to New Orleans.”

Mike Scott can be reached at [email protected].