We recently reviewed Tiana’s Bayou Adventure after a trip to Florida. In the weeks following that, previews opened up for Disneyland’s version of the attraction and we were able to experience the ride on the west coast. On November 15th, the attraction will open up to everyone. After experiencing both, Melissa and I both enjoyed the Disneyland edition more than Magic Kingdom. In this post, I’ll break down why we felt that way.

I will start by saying that Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is largely the same on both coasts. The ride’s plot (or lack thereof) sees no changes and, perhaps obviously, this is still a log flume ride with a large drop at the end. Most of the animatronic placements remain the same and an expansive backstory still exists in the queue. In fact, if there’s one spot that Magic Kingdom’s version of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure beats out Disneyland’s it’s in the queue largely because they have more space to work with.

All that to say, my tepid response to Tiana’s Bayou Adventure still exists. The low stakes still puzzle me as do a few of the plot decisions. There is next to no setup for the 50 foot drop, which is so strange considering it’s one of the most iconic thrills in the castle parks. I won’t completely rehash my review, you can go read it if you want my full opinion. Much of it boils down to the idea that making a joy filled romp of an attraction without any antagonizing was a tough choice for the physical mechanics of the ride. On top of that, I’m not sure that the ‘joy filled romp’ is ever fully realized.

That’s the bad news and it all still exists at Disneyland. Thankfully, those nitpicks are far less noticeable. Two reasons keep TBA from falling into the trappings of the east coast version – clarity and pacing. We’ll start with the former.

For all of my frustration (some may say whining!) with the lack of plot in Tiana’s Bayou Adventure at Magic Kingdom, everything is a little bit convoluted. A little bit of that blame could be put on the expansive backstory in the queue. There’s a treasure trove of detail in there to catch us up on what Tiana’s been up to, enough to where I couldn’t catch it all during our three different ride throughs. Disneyland possesses some of that but doesn’t have the space to fit as much in.

As I already mentioned, I do prefer Magic Kingdom’s queue. But there is a minor case to be made for there just being too much. I’m wrestling with that point, honestly. On one hand, overwriting is a problem. Regular readers of this website know that ;). On the other, knocking the queue for being too detailed simply because the ride doesn’t live up to it feels like a cop out.

That’s the real problem with the clarity of the attraction in Magic Kingdom, it’s just not super clear on what’s happening. There’s enough dialogue to let you know the basics – that we’re helping Tiana find a band for her Mardi Gras party. But the lack of signage and empty spaces get in the way of that search. Disneyland’s version takes some direct steps to address that including a large sign welcoming guests to Tiana’s Foods, among other things. These are some of the benefits of debuting your attraction half a year after the other iteration, small clarifying changes can be added.

The empty spaces problem is taken care of too, thanks to the pacing of the attraction. By pacing, all I really mean is that the boats move faster here! Drastically faster. There’s very little change in the actual layout of the ride but in Magic Kingdom it feels like long stretches between seeing different critter bands. At Disneyland, you might blink and miss one. Melissa even thought it might be too fast!

In this case, it works much better thanks to the attraction leaving you wanting more. Where in Disney World you might have too much time to look at the screen backdrop and pick it apart, Disneyland will have you wanting to re-ride to make sure that you didn’t miss a view of one of the adorable critters. This is the biggest improvement of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure in Disneyland, as moving from scene to scene is far more cohesive.

Seeing this version of the attraction has me wondering if they designed the ride knowing Disneyland’s boat speed and then just copy and pasted it into Magic Kingdom’s. One of the wonders of Splash Mountain was how each version was catered to their specific track and layout. Sadly, I don’t think we can say the same about the successor.

There are other minor cosmetic changes that both did or didn’t happen. On the negative side, Disneyland’s TBA is still really low level lighting once inside of the attraction. I don’t know if it’s actually darker than Magic Kingdom’s but I expected them to make it a little brighter in there after seeing complaints about the first version of the ride. Maybe over time this will be addressed.

On a brighter note (pun intended), I prefer Disneyland’s outward appearance to Magic Kingdom’s. The flowers look less fake and the trees frame the ride very well. That’s not to say Magic Kingdom’s Bayou Adventure looks bad, it doesn’t. I just prefer this version. It may be another case of having less room to take care of so more attention was put into a concentrated area.

Overall, I came away impressed by Tiana’s Bayou Adventure at Disneyland. While the attraction’s issues still exist, they are far less noticeable thanks to the pacing and clarity of this version of the attraction. With Disneyland’s impressive and expansive attraction roster, Tiana’s doesn’t reach the top but it’s a very good addition to a park full of great rides!

Have you been on Tiana’s Bayou Adventure? Let us know your thoughts, along with any questions you might have, in the comments below! Planning a trip to Disneyland? Check out our Planning Guide here. This site has you covered for Disneyland discount tickets! If you enjoy what you are reading here on Wandering in Disney please share this post with your friends, as well as like our social media pages. You can also subscribe to the blog via WordPress or email. All of those links are on the right side of this page. Thank you for reading, we really appreciate it!