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Today it was announced that Splash Mountain at the Magic Kingdom Park in Walt Disney World will be closed starting on January 23rd, 2023 to make way for Tiana's Bayou Adventure. This new attraction is set to open in 2024. https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2022/12/a-new-scene-and-new-critters-are-introduced-for-tianas-bayou-adventure/ We’re getting closer to going down the bayou with Tiana and friends as progress continues on Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. Since the attraction was announced in 2020, Imagineers have been hard at work designing an immersive experience inspired by the Walt Disney Animation Studios film “The Princess and the Frog” and the heart and culture of New Orleans. We’ve shared additional details and some sneak peeks since then at events such as ESSENCE Fest and D23 Expo 2022, demonstrating how our research brought us to New Orleans in an effort to remain authentic to the story’s setting. Today, I’m excited to give you a first look at a new scene and some of the brand-new characters we’re creating specifically for this attraction. In Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, you’ll join Princess Tiana and jazz-loving alligator Louis during Mardi Gras season as they prepare to host a one-of-a-kind celebration for the people of New Orleans. This new scene is the thrilling moment you first drop into the bayou and encounter some friends both new and familiar. As you can see here, fireflies will light up the night and invite you deeper into the bayou … almost like they’re waving you forward. What you can’t tell from this rendering – so you’ll just have to trust me on this one – is that beautiful zydeco music will fill the air. Zydeco is a special blend of rhythm and blues that was born in Louisiana, and when you hear it, you’ll feel like you’ve truly stepped into Tiana’s world. Here you’ll find Louis, who explains where this amazing music is coming from. Tiana made some new friends out here – a band full of adorable critters, including an otter, a rabbit, a racoon, a beaver, a turtle and others. The band members sing and play instruments made of natural materials they found in the bayou. It feels like they may have a bigger role to play in this story … but we’ll just have to wait and see on that one. Like so many musical genres, zydeco brings together the sounds and styles of many cultures. We wanted that spirit reflected in this scene (and throughout the attraction) so that all our guests feel welcome to join in the celebration. It’s emblematic of what we’re always striving for with our attractions – bringing people of different backgrounds together through timeless Disney stories. This new musical adventure provides us with a song sheet to write that concept into reality. Tiana’s Bayou Adventure will take you on a journey inspired by the story and characters from the hit film, picking up where that story left off. In preparation for this new experience and the many exciting updates ahead, Splash Mountain at Walt Disney World Resort will be closed starting Jan. 23, 2023, so we can begin the next phase of this attraction’s development. Additional information about Splash Mountain at Disneyland Resort will be shared at a later date. Continue following along with the Disney Parks Blog for all updates relating to Tiana’s Bayou Adventure as it makes its way to Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Resort in 2024.

Day 7. . 2nd full day at Phantasialand. my view of the room when waking up. . . was packing up the luggage. . we got up and went down to breakfast, before checking out of the hotel this morning. The hotel stored our luggage tho, as we weren't leaving - we had a 2nd full day at the park still - and weren't headed out until ~6pm. So down thru the deserted bar, to have breakfast. . 2nd day was just as good as the 1st! yum! I took advantage after breakfast (but before going back up to the room to get the luggage) to snap some pics around the empty bar/lounge, that again, is only for Hotel Guests use. they really did an impressive job here. . . fully immersive and very stylish. .even out on the patio. took advantage of it being empty, and even took some pics of the bathrooms (something of a theme today, I discovered while looking thru day 2 pics. . LOL). GORGEOUS. . . Luggage dropped off (and held) at front desk, and it was off to Rookbugh/Phantasialand. F.L.Y. was getting ready for the day. . and since we're right here? why not start the day off with a ride? (without having to use a skip the line pass) then it was into the park proper. hmm. it was a bit overcast, and I think there was some drizzle in the forecast. so it didnt' seem like it was going to be a very busy day. Looking at my calendar/itinerary. . it also was a Monday. so that's probably why things were so quiet this early (tho it never really got super busy today) me and the Carousel (of course). .and *one* person coming in from the front gates. with it pretty quiet, it was easy to enjoy the beauty of the park. .the main square area is lovely too. . with the "flying carousel" at the center of it. so we got in the 1 cycle line, and took a ride. we headed over to Talocan next. . . John didn't want to ride, so he stayed up on the viewing bridge to watch us/take pics, and we headed down. to find it wasn't open yet but after a short 10 minutes or so, they started cycling it, and opened it up so could get some pics of the test cycle (complete with water and flame effects) the 6 of us that rode, courtesy of John's picture taking. LtR: Ian, Chris, Andrew, Me, Jon, James whee! (and hang on for dear life) yeah. . our faces say it all. . . WTF just happened to us??? then it was up the viewing area to meet John, and we headed over to Black Mamba beautiful. again, really no wait. . but I think we used quick queue just to cut the long queue line. . . the park was clearly gonna be pretty dead today, which was fine with us as we had a lot to cram in before meeting to load the bus later. the station is really lovely as well. .even tho most of it is just colored light effects, it still works really well. we headed next over to the Asia area, to ride the Madhouse and that Funked up/kinda racist/what the hell dark ride a couple of times (I have no pics of that ride, not sure why). . and then into the pretty well done Madhouse = Feng Palace. (with Mystery Castle peeking out behind it) oh! I actually DID get a pic of Mystery Castle's sign. . buried in the trees. . but there such a great entrance queue. . this is before you get to the main castle steps that were in my pics the other day. a couple of cycles on Mystery Castle, and then we went back to ride "Michael Jackson Coaster". . which is apparently called "Colorado Adventure". . . yeah. .TODAY they had a sign out pointing to the entrance - after we figured out where to go yesterday. LOL. .this is the pathway one has to go down before coming across the entrance. . . which is why we had trouble finding it the prior day. sorta nicely themed queue tho. and then back to Taron to use more of the skip the line passes. . SUCH a great coaster. and of course, have to take another spin on Chiapas Heading back over to Taron again after getting wet. . . and today, I got the train actually shooting up the "waterfall wall". . my favorite part of the ride. couldn't get the camera out fast enough, so missed him from the front, but here's one of the Mad Monks from Mystery Castle ..showing off the operator outfits int he daylight. it was then that Jere (I think?) surprised me with a gift. . . Napkins! (yay!) featuring a Dragon, I found out later, was named "Wang". Loved it! we had a bit of munchies. . . no dinner tonight in the park, as we were checked out of hotel already, but many of us had plans to eat in the small town we were staying in later after we got checked into the next hotel. was checking out options tho. . this chocolate dipped fruit looked great - especially the pears. but a bit too sweet for me right now. we checked out the Wurst cart in the main plaza. . .but nothing looked really appetizing. until we remembered the sandwich place that was over in Rooksburgh, which hadn't been open (or even considered, since we had eaten at UHRWerk in the hotel last night) so we headed over past the F.L.Y. entrance, and it's hidden on the side against the wall. everything sounded really good, and they made things fresh! So we ordered, and then I went into the Rooksburgh bathroom right there to wash up. see? apparently a toilet pics theme today. (LOL) and yes, that black splotch in the mirror is me blacking out the reflection of someone peeing. . that I did NOT even notice until I looked at these pics today. (oopsie). Not that anything naughty was visible. . I was just trying to get a pic of the cool sinks. and general vibe of the "industrial" bathroom. (see? it was empty when I took the pics. . I dunno how that guy even got in!). hands washed, went back to the sandwich place and snapped a pic of the folks who made our fresh sandwiches. which were really good! I believe I had Pork and Mustard while others had the Ham & Egg. Juicy and drippy and everything was great. and we were able to stake out tables just under F.L.Y. to watch it zoom by while we ate. tho this guy. . kept coming by and just staring at me and giving me sly glances. seriously. I mean, eventually I just aimed my camera at him and took a picture, and as you can see, he's staring RIGHT into the camera. LOL. I guess I'm flattered? *but also was married, and on a trip with friends, so looking back was all that was gonna happen I took more pics of F.L.Y. while we ate. .and as yo can see. . . he hovered right around us . . . LOL after a satisfying meal (and I think a ride on F.L.Y. since we were right there?) we headed back to the Indoor section to take another round on the Winjas coasters. this time I had camera out to get a pic of the loading station. I believe that's "Fear" closest to us. .and the track behind on other side is "Force" as with other places in this park, the design work is lovely. . they don't skimp on atmosphere, really. I had mentioned to others my solo ride on the "tower" yesterday, and how it stops to hold near the top for some nice views. so we all piled into two cars to take a ride. NOTED! these are NOT animatronics.. just stuffed birds the park put at the top of the atrium dome. I thought it was hysterical that many of them had fallen over and were hanging upside-down. . but were so high up, it just wasn't worth the effort to fix them, I guess. So took a pic. and what's an indoor section without a cigarette machine? I honestly had not even noticed anyone in there smoking, so it shocked me to see this. Enough that I took a pic of it. I had to pee so yet ANOTHER bathroom pic. . but these urinals here weren't near as fancy as the ones in Rooksburgh. but I took a pic because of the flies in the urinals. painted on. so you have something to aim for, I guess? BWAAA-HAAAA-HAAAAA not sure what we did next, but at this point my camera shows that we went back to the Asia section. . so probably the Madhouse, the Dark Ride, or the Colorado Express again. (or maybe Black Mamba again). this appears to be another gate/entrance to the park. . but it was closed today (as were the big restaurants in the park. I guess they were only open weekends?). so we hung out on the patio of the closed Chinese restaurant while I went into the pagoda store and did some shopping. this guy is a bathtub toy. no idea what character he is tho - he's most certainly not a dragon (each "land" in Phantasialand is represented by a Dragon). . but the lady operating the store had no idea. Only that all the merch with him on it was super discounted. . so maybe an older mascot? but hey, for ~3 bucks? I bought a stuffed one of him. and a Dragon "Wang" fan. . . it's a bit nippy today. . so sure, dress your teen in a PornHub hoodie. (actually saw THREE such hoodies in the park. .LOL). cool little model of one of the hotels (I think) over by Black Mamba I believe at this point we may have all ridden Taron one more time, then split off as I wanted to do some shopping and it was getting within an hour of the time to meet at the bus. I bought a bunch of shirts (for both myself and some nice polo logo shirts for Nick) then had to go all the way back to Colorado Adventure gift shop (with Ian) - as the one shirt he wanted wasn't in his size at the main store, and I wanted a Park Logo magnet - which they no longer carried but *thought* they might still have at that gift shop. So we trekked back there, and Ian found his shirt, and I got, literally, the LAST "Phantasialand" logo magnet they had on the spinner. so it worked out. then I headed back to the Carousel for a final ride, and right next to it? oh yeah. . . of COURSE I had to buy some. Several others in the group had stopped in this area too, mainly to get the waffles (too heavy for me, since I had that sandwich earlier). . but I got a bunch of sweets - that didn't last too long anyways. Cute box tho we had JUST enough time to run and get one final ride on Taron . . . before heading back to the Hotel, grabbing our bags, and loading up the bus to head out. it was a few hour drive before we arrived at the next hotel, and we'd only be there one night. . but tomorrow? we were gonna be at Walibi Belgium! thanks for following along.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. It's really, really, really, really hard to pull the plug on tons of guaranteed money every month from people who have given you their consent to bill them monthly until the end of time and then actively hope that they'll renew knowing full well that a large percentage of them will not or that they won't until their next visit and you can lose out on money for months / years. There are probably tons of people and families paying Six Flags $5-$7 per month per person who never go and don't care enough to cancel it thinking that they'll go eventually. SeaWorld still hasn't done it on passes that they haven't sold in like 5+ years. It will cause an absolutely apocalyptic quarter when they're already dropping bombs every 3 months. As for raising the price, they probably will do this but incrementally so people don't notice and cancel. That said, it's what they should have done all along instead of the current plan which is to have 34 different active pass types and see what sticks (not an exaggeration).