Disney reveals key storyline and Audio-Animatronic musical critters to appear in Tiana's Bayou Adventure

Mar 26, 2024 in "Tiana's Bayou Adventure"

Posted: Tuesday March 26, 2024 10:11am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Walt Disney Imagineering Executive creative director of Tiana's Bayou Adventure, Ted Robledo, has shared an inside look at a key story element and the new musical critters that will be part of Tiana's Bayou Adventure at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom.

In the bayou, Princess Tiana is getting ready to throw a big party, but there's been a bit of a mix-up between Prince Naveen and Louis, and the princess suddenly finds herself in need of a band. A true Mardi Gras celebration isn't complete without music. Riders will follow Tiana and Louis into the bayou in a last-minute search for this essential missing ingredient for her party — musical critters!

In the first critter encounter, guests discover a group of critter musicians playing a rendition of "Gonna Take You There" from "The Princess and the Frog."

Ted says, "This raucous Zydeco musical recipe of fiddle, accordion, washboard, and other instrument voices will have you singing along as you float down the river under dancing fireflies."

The familiar melody is being played on charming makeshift instruments constructed from natural materials and some human-made found objects.

Here are some of the adorable musicians that bring the scene to life:

Byhalia the Beaver – Byhalia doesn't just build dams; she helps build musical instruments using natural materials from the bayou. As a strong-willed percussionist, it's safe to say Byhalia is the heartbeat of the band, as well as a natural designer and engineer.

Gritty the Rabbit – Always willing to dig a little deeper to help others, Gritty plays the washboard (a found automobile license plate) with a high-energy flair. It's the perfect instrument for someone who's often overzealous and digs to relieve her nerves.

Beau the Opossum – Seeing limitless possibilities, no one finds more wonder in the bayou and the sounds of zydeco music than Beau. All she knows is beauty, especially her own. You can find her plucking out the low notes with her upright gourd bass, which of course, involves some musical dexterity with her tail.

Apollo the Raccoon – Apollo loves transforming abandoned objects into works of musical art – like his squeezebox. He's full of energy and storytelling, especially about the objects he finds in the bayou. He's particularly close with Rufus and appreciates Rufus' calm demeanor.

Rufus the Turtle – Rufus may be a turtle, but he's quick to jump into rhythm with his harmonica. He's also the first to join in on new adventures! He's genuine and sincere but may come across as a little sarcastic at times with his habitual sighing. Rufus loves going on adventures with Apollo.

Timoléon the Otter – He's the eldest of the band, but Timoléon's fiddle-playing is inspired by all the 'kids' he spends his time around while in the bayou. When he's not sawing out a jig, he's famous for telling stories of days long ago about his explorations of every corner of the bayou.

Beau, Apollo and Rufus will also soon be available in the form of huggable plushies for you to take home.

Watch the video below to see behind the scenes at Imagineering as the characters are designed. 

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HauntedPirate4 hours ago

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

networkpro4 hours ago

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

Incomudro8 hours ago

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

EagleScout61019 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.

networkpro19 hours ago

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

Animaniac93-9820 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.

JoeCamel21 hours ago

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

Brer Panther22 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

Brer Oswald1 day ago

They would have saved a ton of goodwill with fans of the original ride.

EagleScout6101 day ago

In the weird way, Naveen became the blink and you'll miss him character