On It’s Opening Day, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure Fails to Launch - Inside the Magic

Today was supposed to be the big day at Disneyland. Guests woke up early, got on the Disneyland App, and desperately tried to access the park’s newest attraction.

The gates at Disneyland Park opened, and guests flocked into the theme park, just like they did on opening day when Walt Disney invited them in.

And the flood of guests was met with disappointment. On its opening day, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, the newest ride in Disneyland, was not operating.

When Disneyland opened this morning, reports started to surface that Tiana’s Bayou Adventure was not working. It was a promising start to the ride that Disney Imagineers had hoped would quiet some of the noise about its counterpart in Florida.

Just before Tiana’s Bayou Adventure opened at the Magic Kingdom, reports surfaced that the ride continued to break down and malfunction during previews. According to one report, the ride has only appropriately operated for three hours in five days.

During the last five days of previews, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure has experienced several significant malfunctions, requiring guests to evacuate the ride.

It’s opening day for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure…aaand it’s broken down. pic.twitter.com/tjFUtizYCu

— Sleigh-der Lost in the Parks 🛷 (@TustinRaider) November 15, 2024

The issues seemed to be with the ride hardware. Like other recent Disney rides refurbished, Disney spent a lot of money creating animatronics but did not upgrade the ride hardware. As a result, there have been breakdowns and backups at all the drops in the ride.

While the Florida ride suffered through its previews, Disney Imagineers were said to be learning valuable lessons and attempting to make some wholesale changes to the attraction for its Disneyland debut. Part of the changes are due to the smaller footprint in California, but that will help make the storyline more cohesive.

While the Disneyland ride did not have as many preview malfunctions as its Disney World counterpart, the Disneyland version had some animatronics issues. The Tiana animatronic started to crack in previews just before the drop began, and the mouth stopped working. Disney Imagineers were able to fix the problem, and within days, the ride was back to normal.

Luckily for fans, the ride resumed operations just after lunch. However, being down for three hours on its opening day is not a good look for Disney.