Photo Courtesy of Twitter/ Disney Parks
On August 23, Disney announced new details on what fans can expect from the New Orleans-inspired theme attraction, based on the 2014 film, The Princess and the Frog, located at Disneyland and Disney World.
According to NOLA, Disney’s Imagineering Senior Creative Producer Charita Carter spilled the tea at a press conference on Monday.
Carter said that her team is creating a one of a kind story for Tiana and her friends’ adventurous ride which will see fans “takes us through this amazing journey where we get to discover not only characters that we know and love from the film, but this is an opportunity to be introduced to some new characters.”
Carter said, “We want our guests, who are from all places around the world, to say, ‘Okay, this is a really special place.’ But it’s also important for our guests who come from New Orleans to say, ‘Yes. This is my home. They did it. They got it right.’ And that’s why we’re so diligent in our research.”
Carter’s team has even gone as far as to take field trips to New Orleans, studied the city, and commissioned four original pieces of art from Sharika Mahdy, a local artist of the local YAYA Arts Center, to use as for the ride.
“What we did was, we pitched to her our concept,” said Carter about her encounter with Mahdy. “We didn’t show her any of our storyboards. We just pitched it to her because we wanted to see from her perspective, from a native New Orleans artist, how she would interpret what we were saying and how it resonated with her. So she painted this amazing piece, and then in turn, when we saw it, it inspired us.”
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Carter also highlighted that “the ride system, in terms of its ebbs and flows,” adding that it “will be something we’ll be consistent with, but we’re going to wrap a new story around that.”
Carter added that Tiana’s ride is going to feature original tunes from New Orleans.
“We have such an opportunity to give our guests a lot of the music they recognize, maybe with a new twist,” Carter said, “and there might even be some new tunes that we incorporate and weave into the story.”
Princess Tiana will be ushering guests into the new bayou adventure-themed that culminate with a lively Mardi Gras party.
In 2020, Disney announced it would replace Splash Mountain’s controversial “Song of the South” theme at both parks with “The Princess and the Frog.”