The cost of transforming Splash Mountain at Disneyland and Walt Disney World in Florida into Tiana’s Bayou Adventure will potentially be remembered as one of the most expensive ride updates in Disney’s history, according to a new report from Forbes.
The business publication estimated that over the past four years, about $142 million was spent transforming the ride into a Louisiana bayou.
The estimated cost for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure was based on the estimated costs of Avengers Campus ($404 million) and updating Star Tours ($71 million) at Disneyland Paris.
The estimated figures came from Walt Disney Imagineer David Jaraudias, who revealed the figures on his LinkedIn page, Forbes reported.
Disney rarely, if ever, reveals the costs of creating or updating theme park lands or attractions.
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure officially opened at the Magic Kingdom in late June. An opening date for Disneyland’s version of the ride has yet to be announced, but Disney fans expect it to be revealed during Disney’s D23 fan convention in Anaheim in August.
Before the official ride opening, Disney shared a full point-of-view-ride-through of the attraction, but not everyone was happy with what they saw.
At the time of writing, the ride-through video has 811,000 views with 11,000 likes and 45,000 dislikes. The comment section is also deluged with negative feedback.
Many comments focused on how “boring and visually uninteresting” the ride looked and the lack of camera movement in the video, which failed to showcase the various audio-animatronic figures.
People also questioned why other notable characters from the animated feature, like Dr. Facilier or Firefly Ray, weren’t included in the ride.
Other commentators wished Disney would re-theme the ride back to Splash Mountain.
In 2020, Disney announced that Splash Mountain would be re-themed to Tiana’s Bayou Adventure at Disney World and Disneyland after fans called for Disney to re-theme the beloved attraction amid a racial reckoning nationwide.
The attraction drew criticism in its last years of operation since it featured characters and music from the 1946 animated feature “Song of the South,” a movie criticized for its stereotypes of Black people and its romanticized view of the post-Civil War South.
Despite its problematic history, the attraction was still a favorite among Disney fans on both coasts due to its catchy tunes, breathtaking theme park views and unique structure.
With the ride officially open, the conversation about it has settled for the most part, with some even changing their opinions on the attraction after experiencing it for themselves.
KTLA reached out to Walt Disney Co. for a comment but didn’t receive one in time for publication.