Guests Bash Disney’s New Ride for Being “Boring,” Others Sing Its Praises

Fans aren’t too thrilled by Disneyland’s newest thrill ride.

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The Disney theme parks have certainly seen some incredible new rides, attractions, and expansions, especially in recent years. Not only have the Disney parks welcomed new roller coasters like TRON Lightcycle / Run and Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, but they have also expanded in terms of overall land size, with plenty more changes on the way,

However, 2024 was a very big year for a very special reason, with Disney finally opening Tiana’s Bayou Adventure to the park-going public. This new attraction is actually a revamped version of Disney’s classic log flume adventure, Splash Mountain, which closed in 2023.

Intended to offer guests a brand-new adventure while still delivering the same thrills and chills of Splash Mountain, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure mostly takes the cake, though a decent portion of fans are somewhat disappointed by the end result. Recently, a discussion regarding the new attraction broke out online, with one Reddit post going semi-viral over the weekend.

Tiana’s Bayou Adventure Is Boring?

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“Just got back from Disneyland and I am surprised by how boring Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is,” reads a post on the Disneyland subreddit.

“I fully support Disney doing a switch up from Splash Mountain/Song of the South, and I was excited about the move to the Princess and the Frog, which seemed like a perfect fit. But this ride felt so stale! At least with Splash Mountain, there was a cohesive plot with a beginning, middle, and end, as well as lessons learned. The entire plot of this ride is now “Tiana and friends are looking for musicians for a party.”

This is a common complaint among those who aren’t all that thrilled by Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, with riders claiming the attraction’s overall story lacks weight and stakes. Splash Mountain notoriously featured a rather dark story, one that saw Br’er Bear and Br’er Fox attempt to catch Br’er Rabbit.

Riders followed Br’er Rabbit as he stumbled, unknowingly, closer and closer toward danger until the ride culminated in a massive drop straight into the thorny briar patch. The story is resolved once Br’er Rabbit returns home, but there’s no denying that Splash Mountain didn’t have intense moments where danger felt very real.

This is not the case with Tiana’s Bayou Adventure; though a sense of danger isn’t necessary to make a great attraction, it’s just something a lot of riders have noticed is missing from the new ride.

“[Tiana’s Bayou Adventure] lacks immersion,” said another guest. “It suffers from what Disney has been doing with ride makeovers—shortcuts, likely forced by budgets. It feels way too much like “we shoved a bunch of animatronics into Splash Mtn” because there are too many Splash remnants remaining.”

Another guest claims Disney “botched the ride, “I know what the story is, but it’s bad. Just so poorly done. They threw a ton of set pieces in there that aren’t really coherent.”

Just got back from Disneyland and I am surprised by how boring Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is.
byu/the_narwhal inDisneyland

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Other guests haven’t been as harsh, admitting that Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is still a pretty fun ride and matches the quality of other Disney theme park attractions.

“However the ending scene is visually stunning of course, as was Splash’s ending so no complaints there,” said Reddit user Fast-Beyond1771. “The issues are getting to that point. I guess it all feels a bit flat for me now and nowhere near as visually stimulating as it once was. But hey, things change and evolve, and Disney World is no exception, as I said, I fully own my nostalgia here. I hope young people view this ride fondly as I did for Splash.

Brutally honest review of Tiana's boyou adventure
byu/Fast-Beyond1771 inWaltDisneyWorld

User cpnwacky said, “Splash was my favorite ride, too. We rode Tiana’s 3 times on our trip and I liked it more each time. Solid update.”

As stated earlier, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure officially opened in 2024 at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World Resorts, and while the ride certainly has its detractors, overall, the new attraction has been quite a hit. The ride first debuted in the summer of 2024 at Disney World’s Magic Kingdom theme park, with the California location opening its doors in November of that same year.

Splash Mountain closed permanently in 2023, marking a rather quick turnaround time. The classic log flume adventure first opened in 1989 and has since become a worldwide phenomenon, with Tokyo Disney now operating the final remaining version of the attraction.

While iconic, the ride was closely tied to Disney’s highly controversial 1946 film, Song of the South. Eventually, Disney decided to pull the plug, announcing back in 2020 that the company would be retheming Splash Mountain entirely into something totally new.

Splash Mountain’s magic was that it was a dark ride that wasn’t afraid to offer guests some intense thrills, making it popular among both children and adults. This remains true for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, which consistently ranks as one of Disney’s most popular and sought-after experiences.

Disneyland invites guests to “drop on in and come along for the ride with Princess Tiana on an exhilarating musical “adventure” with Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.

More on the attraction below:

Several more new additions are on the way, with Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, and Disney’s original Disneyland Resort all set to receive upgrades and expansions over the next few years.

Like Walt Disney World’s Pandora – The World of Avatar, Disneyland will soon be home to its own land inspired by James Cameron’s Avatar films. Work on this new land is expected to start this year, though not much else is known about the project.

Over in Florida, work is already underway on a new South America-inspired land at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Several attractions and locations will shut down permanently to make way for this new expansion, with work expected to extend through 2026.

At Magic Kingdom, guests can expect to see the park’s waterways close to make way for a new expansion based on Pixar’s Cars franchise. Not only will the Rivers of America be closing to make room, but so will Tom Sawyer Island.

Over at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, guests can expect to see changes take place in Muppets Courtyard, the area of the park that acts as the home to Jim Henson’s beloved puppet creatures. Despite Muppets Courtyard being a fan-favorite area, this location will soon be demolished to make way for a new area inspired again by a Pixar property, this time Monsters Inc.

However, The Muppets aren’t totally being kicked out and instead will serve as the new anchor for Disney’s Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, which previously featured legendary rock band Aerosmith as its headliner.

Things have finally quieted down at EPCOT, the park with the fewest changes set to happen over the next few years. This doesn’t mean the theme park isn’t exciting, with EPCOT now being home to the previously mentioned Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, which is perhaps Disney’s best roller coaster to date.

Officially opening its doors in 2022, Cosmic Rewind blends a variety of ride systems and technologies to create an incredibly thrilling and immersive onboard experience. Not only is the ride’s actual track layout sure to get riders’ adrenaline pumping, but the coaster also features a diverse soundtrack of six songs. These songs are randomly selected, giving guests a reason to come back for more.

Disney’s other new roller coaster, TRON Lightcycle / Run, is also incredibly fun, though a common complaint among riders is that it’s simply a little short. However, the coaster does feature an intense launch, similar to the previously mentioned Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. The coaster also features perhaps one of the best views of any ride in Walt Disney World, taking guests high above Magic Kingdom’s Tomorrowland.

The coaster is located right next to Space Mountain, which recently celebrated its 50th anniversary. The coaster originally opened in 1975, making it one of Disney’s oldest and most iconic theme park attractions of all time, standing tall alongside other classics like Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, and “it’s a small world.

Of course, 2025 is also a big year for Universal, which will be opening its third Florida theme park, Epic Universe, this summer. Advertised as an unforgettable vacation destination, Epic Universe is primed to be one of the biggest developments in theme park history, with all eyes now on its May 22, 2025 opening date.

Do you enjoy Tiana’s Bayou Adventure? Do you miss Splash Mountain?