Walt Disney Imagineering unveils progress on Tiana's Bayou Adventure Animatronics

Sep 11, 2023 in "Tiana's Bayou Adventure"

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Louis Audio-Animatronic figure at Walt Disney Imagineering

Posted: Monday September 11, 2023 10:53am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

During this past weekend's Destination D23 event, Walt Disney Imagineering gave us a rare look inside the Audio-Animatronics Workshop as work continues on Tiana's Bayou Adventure.

Louis Audio-Animatronic figure at Walt Disney Imagineering

In the video below, a large audio-animatronic version of Louis is being assembled before being installed inside the attraction.

Speaking at the event, Disney Parks Chairman Josh D'Amaro said, "These folks are doing amazing work. They're hard at work on all the figures that we're just packing into this attraction. It's going to be such a great experience experience, bringing you a new story from Tiana's world that picks off right where that classic film left off."

Tiana's Bayou Adventure will open in late 2024 at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom and Disneyland.

Tiana's Bayou Adventure logo

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HauntedPirate5 hours ago

I'd opine that they chose to leave the significant gaps, but that's just me.

networkpro5 hours ago

The scenery and props were designed for the Disneyland space so they had to leave significant gaps for Disneyworlds longer flume.

Incomudro9 hours ago

Yes, there is little implied motion in any of these figures, or steps of figure. It's bad storyboarding.

EagleScout61020 hours ago

The other issue I have with the animatronics on Bayou is that everyone is just standing/sitting firmly on the ground. There's no dynamic or interesting poses that allow for interesting animation. Splash had Br'er Rabbit jumping along the fence, Br'er Bear in the tree and thrashing around on his back, Br’er Fox springing up from the background, the Possum babies above the river hanging by their tails, turtles being lifted by geysers, the entire riverboat rocking back and forth... Everything on Bayou just looks so static in comparison. Edit - Forgot about Rufus the Turtle who bobs back and forth slightly. But it's still a very simple animation loop.

networkpro20 hours ago

Curious enough I met Troy Landry at the Poly in 2020 while it was open just for DVC and diners. Nice fellow.

Animaniac93-9821 hours ago

They also don't interact much with each other and are very self contained vignettes that don't build to anything. Think of the geese who's fishing line has nabbed another's hat, or the fish that jumps through the empty net. Think of the vultures looking at each other and finishing the other's sentence. Think of the rabbits commenting on the Brers chasing each other while a projection effect plays in the background. All of that is gone...and the heavier reliance of screens makes the new scenes look physically flat. The ride's soundtrack is doing the heavy lifting of giving life to the scenes, not their staging or animation.

JoeCamel22 hours ago

Shelby would run them over with his boat so we escape over the falls!

Brer Panther23 hours ago

Yes, this. Both of this. I dunno if they really qualified as "evil", but yes, the film dig have frog hunters. It still would've been a major downgrade from Brer Fox, though... I don't think you could make those frog hunters threatening at all. I suppose they could've made up a brand new villain, but they probably couldn't be bothered (or they knew people would still be complaining that we got this new character instead of Facilier).

networkpro1 day ago

Louis wasn't made of wood. Bruce is one to be wary of.

JoeCamel1 day ago

They could of had this guy going after Louis...

PizzaPlanet1 day ago

Didn’t the movie have evil frog hunters or something like that? They could’ve introduced conflict with those guys going after the critters if they didn’t want to go the voodoo route. Could’ve been similar to Brer Fox or the witch from Snow White.

Bocabear1 day ago

no, I guess I didn't...there was nothing memorable about them to me... I was really focused on trying to figure out what sort of entrepreneurial enterprise Tiana would get into after she got her prince and her dream of opening the restaurant...you know, the focus of the entire movie...lol