Walt Disney Imagineering shared a never-before-seen look inside Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, a highly anticipated ride slated to open this summer at Walt Disney World and later in the year at Disneyland.
In the latest episode of “We Call It Imagineering,” viewers get an inside look at the attraction at Disney World as Grammy-winning musician PJ Morton, who created the score for the attraction, and Imagineers journey down into the bayou.
Morton’s song “Special Spice,” sung by Princess Tiana voice actress Anika Noni Rose, is featured prominently in the attraction.
The attraction’s storyline will pick up where the 2009 animated feature left off.
“Walt Disney Imagineering is creating an original, next-chapter story for Tiana. Within the attraction queue, guests will discover that she continues to grow her business with Tiana’s Foods – an employee-owned cooperative,” the Disney Parks Blog announced last year.
“Combining her talents with those of the local community, Tiana has transformed an aging salt mine and built a beloved brand.”
Throughout the attraction, riders will spot audio-animatronic versions of Princess Tiana, Prince Naveen, Louis the alligator, Mama Odie, Eudora, Charlotte, Naveen’s younger brother Prince Ralphie and more.
The ride is replacing Splash Mountain at both U.S. parks.
In recent years, Splash Mountain has drawn heat since it featured characters and music from the 1946 animated feature “Song of the South,” a movie criticized for its stereotypes of Black men and its romanticized view of the post-Civil War South.
Fans called for Disney to redo the theme of the “Song of the South”-inspired Splash Mountain in 2020 amid a racial reckoning across the U.S.
Disney World’s attraction is slated to open on June 28. An opening date for Disneyland’s version of the attraction has yet to be released.