Everything You Need to Know AboutTiana’s Bayou AdventureBefore Its Disney Debut

During arecent enlistment of the Walt Disney Company ’s Imagineering buildingin Glendale , California , io9 was capable to take a look behind the fit ofTiana ’s Bayou Adventure , coming to the Walt Disney World Resort and the Disneyland Resort this year .

On hand during the duty tour was the lead Imagineer for the upcomingThe Princess and the Frog - inspired attraction , Charita Carter . After apportion a look at the incredible Audio - Animatronics for Tiana ’s Bayou Adventure , Carter sat down with a small roundtable of journalists to discuss her journey at the Disney Company from account to Imagineering , and the milestone she ’s hitting by take a sequel ofPrincess Tiana ’s story to living in attraction format Disney Parks . Here ’s what you ask to know about how it all came together , what to expect from a story that sets out to include commons node in the narrative , and how themagic of New Orleanscomes to life through the timeless relatability ofTiana ’s dreams .

One of the really interesting thing that Imagineering pointed out about Tiana ’s Bayou Adventure was that we ’re not watching a story unfold in front of us — we’re in reality a part of it . How did that make out into play , in regards to the story editing of this journey , with telling a new Tiana history but also admit the interview in the tale ?

Image: Disney Parks

Charita Carter : In addition to all the inquiry that we did , we have a circumstances of feedback in terms of , we had access to a fortune of feedback from the photographic film and how Tiana resonates with what age group and all of that . And as we were look at those stats and just realizing how important she is to so many people , we wanted to create a state of affairs where masses could connect with her . So that was one of the tenets that we were take care at in our storytelling . You know , this is your opportunity for Tiana to leap off the screen , and now you get to be in the in her front . So if you ’re run short to be in her presence , we really want our node to be capable to connect . That was the thought process as we were looking at telling the next chapter [ of her ] story .

give-up the ghost back to the animatronics and movements and everything we ’ve seen with the characters that ’s so innovative now , what is comparable the right way now in the parks ?

Carter : Internationally , if you look at like what we just did with Zootopia in Shanghai or Frozen in Hong Kong , you see something like . But I think this level of complexity , this will be the first clip Edgar Guest get to see it domestically .

Image: Disney Parks

Image: Disney Parks

The last time I think people were really , like , stunned by an animatronic was probably the Na’vi River Journey Shaman [ at Pandora – World of Avatar at Disney ’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park in Florida ] .

Carter : We make our selection as to how we ’re going to go up our execution of our part based on the environment , the look , everything that we ’re trying to accomplish . So surely everything we ’ve done , [ like ] the [ Na’vi ] Shaman , we have continued to build upon that . If you ’ve had the ability or the perquisite of snuff it over to Hong Kong and seeing Frozen with Elsa and Anna , we actually take what was done there and continued to just to build upon that platform .

Just on a personal level , how would you describe this chapter within the circumstance of your time at Disney ?

Image: Disney Parks

Image: Disney Parks

Jimmy Carter : I primitively begin out on the other side , doing account statement and finance and then becoming a stage business partner for the creative chemical group . But once I stupefy into the originative grouping , one of my initial focuses [ while ] statused in our Blue Sky studio apartment , where we do a mass of our upfront ideation , we were looking at how we in reality execute our stories . And so it was this feel at taking the technology that was out there , coming up with new techniques , [ and ] integrating it in unequaled and different ways . To see that just continue to migrate over the years and then , after being in that distance in that what we used to call the construct research lab , for about seven years or so , a draw of the techniques that we had been able to develop , all kind of come together with Mickey and Minnie ’s Runaway Railway [ Carter was a project lead on that as well ] . It ’s really a challenge for us to stay on at the cutting edge . That ’s our goal . And it ’s not just one area of the organisation . It ’s every area of the brass act together with the goal of take a crap Walt really proud of us . Because if he was here , that ’s on the dot what he would be doing .

Have you gotten to examine the drive at Magic Kingdom ?

James Earl Carter Jr. : I had the opportunity last hebdomad . I had to do some rides with my medium producer as well as my audio designer .

The island of Simushir, with four volcanoes dotted across it.

Was it what you expected ?

President Carter : Yes , it is coming together , it is really come together . There ’s so many beautiful things that are happening . So I was really proud of . I was really proud of with what we ’re seeing .

What does it mean to you to bring [ Princess Tiana ] to the park ?

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James Earl Carter : When I got the call from the chair at the sentence [ Bob Chapek ] to lead this squad as the producer , I cried . I did because I felt like it was a realization of how authoritative impart Tiana to a dimensional quad , being the first African - American princess , being an American princess that ’s from a real position . And knowing that there are people who live in New Orleans , survive in the south , are in the culture that would be capable to link to her in a special way … knowing that this is one of the first opportunities , it ’s just I think the weighting of that .

[ The material - life aspiration behind Tiana , Leah Chase and the Chase family ] are royalty of the metropolis because Leah was so intact to New Orleans . And she had nothing but love for the urban center , and her interest was to advance the metropolis and then to bring everybody with her . So that legacy continue with [ her daughter ] Stella and with the fifth , the fourth and fifth generation of the family — the amount of love that the household has , and I think they ’re really a great histrionics for the city as a whole . There ’s a bunch of mass in New Orleans we ’ll never acknowledge their gens , but their spirit in term of the friendliness and just the love for community , the erotic love for their city , it ’s there . The Chase family embodies that . To be able to work so intimately with them , knowing that Leah was one of the inspiration for Tiana . I regrettably did n’t get to foregather her in someone , but I feel like through Stella and the family , we got to know who she was . And so that really work us as we were designing for the attraction as well .

It seems like you ’ve make so much care to ground it in New Orleans . Is that story that you really wanted people to have a sense of the real place ?

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James Earl Carter Jr. : That ’s how we desire people to find when they live the attraction — when they enter into the waiting line line , it ’s like , “ Oh wow , we ’re home . ” Even though they have n’t been to New Orleans . So we ’re hoping that they book a slip . And then those who are from the area , we really hope that they really feel like we represent them well . Tiana is one of the few princess that really comes from a real place , so it ’s a place that can be experienced . [ It ] sound like a cliché when you say it ’s a magical metropolis , but it ’s a magical context . I mean , when you get off the plane and you take heed the brass set in baggage call — where [ else ] in the United States can you go and have an experience like that ? So the regular recurrence and the cadence of the metropolis you ’re already exposed to before you leave the drome . When you marry someplace that is that limited with a fantastical tarradiddle , it ’s a wonderful , beautiful blend .

Tiana ’s Bayou Adventure is opening soon at Walt Disney World ’s Magic Kingdom and in New Orleans Square at Disneyland .

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