The re-themed dark ride is set to open to the public at Walt Disney World in Florida on June 28, but guests visiting Disneyland in California will have to wait a bit longer. No specific date has been announced yet, but it is expected to open sometime in 2024. Video of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure elicited strong opinions from fans, so let’s see what people are saying now that they’ve actually gotten to experience it. CinemaBlend’s own Dirk Libbey was one of the lucky riders, and he confirms on X (formerly known as Twitter) you will still get soaked. 

Dirk Libbey also reports that the ride was operating smoothly, though there were a couple of hiccups to be worked out, including a Mama Odie animatronic that wasn’t functional on his ride.

Meanwhile, WGN’s Marcus Leshock thinks the best experience comes from the back of the log, where riders get a little bit longer to enjoy the animatronics. Overall, he is pleased with the retheming, as he posts: 

The WGN reporter also shows a video of one of the oft-talked-about dark rooms, saying the experience is more impressive in person than he expected it to be. According to his social media:  

News about the revamped ride has caused disappointment in some, because The Princess and the Frog-themed experience won’t include the numerous animatronics that Splash Mountain was known for. Disney appears to be going with quality over quantity for animatronics on Tiana’s Big Adventure, and that's just fine with travel enthusiast Michelle McKnight. The fan shared some photos and video from her first go-round, posting that she loves the music, characters and everything else. 

ThrillGeek points out a military tribute in the line that shows the New Orleans princess with her father: 

The ride features The Princess and the Frog’s original voice cast, who reprised their roles for the dialogue played on the log flume, and riders will hear both songs from the movie and original music. In fact, New Orleans native and Maroon 5 member PJ Morton penned a song just for the occasion.

Park visitors in Florida don’t have long to wait before they get to experience Tiana’s Bayou Adventure for themselves, and hopefully Disneyland ticket-holders won’t have to wait long either. In the meantime, you can always re-experience the ride’s inspiration, with The Princess and the Frog available to stream with a Disney+ subscription. 

A massive overhaul of multiple areas of Epcot was started back in 2019, and delayed by a pandemic, which meant that massive construction walls have been common at the park for half a decade. They were massive eyesores. This meant large parts of the park were inaccessible. Trying to get from one place to another was a lot harder than it would have otherwise been.

But slowly, with each new addition, the walls have come down. Today, with the opening of Communicore Hall, the last piece of the expansion is complete. I have seen the “new” Epcot, and while it's not the game-changing update we were promised what it is, is still enough to make Epcot my favorite park again.

Communicore Hall Is Fine, But It's An Anticlimax At Best

The final piece of the Epcot puzzle is Communicore Hall. The latest addition to what's new at Walt Disney World is designed to be the central hub for the various festivals that Epcot hosts throughout the year. It will give Epcot another place to showcase one of the things it does best, as Epcot always has the best food at Disney World.

The original plan for the area was a large multistory structure that would, among other things, be the best view in the place to watch fireworks. Budget cuts, either pandemic-related or just the usual Disney cost-savings, turned the building into, well, a building.

Communicore Hall itself isn’t necessarily anything special. It’s a big open room where there will be food people can buy. There’s a small stage where musical acts can perform. It’s not going to blow people away, but it gets the job done.

Even if we don't judge Communicore Hall against the concept art of what was originally proposed, it's hard not to see it as anticlimactic. It seems strange that this is the final new addition to Epcot as it feels like it would have been the easiest thing to actually build. 

Maybe the change in direction forced the delay. Or perhaps the plan was to open the more impressive initial version last, and those plans just never changed. But Disney is nothing if not storytellers, and in any good story, you want to have a satisfying ending. If Journey of Water or even the Walt the Dreamer statue had been the last piece, it would have felt much more conclusive than this.

There is still potential of course, there is plenty of opportunity for things to be added over the next several months and years. The space will be updated and changed with the different festivals. It may look very different than it did for me in just a few weeks when the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival begins, but if there are plans for the space to be more, it would have been nice to see that now.

Luckily, things get better outside.

¡Celebración Encanto! Is Great Fun For Kids, And Something Epcot Needed

Communicore Hall has an outdoor space with a large stage. The first show to run there is called ¡Celebración Encanto! And it’s an absolute joy that kids especially are going to love.

The show is basically a sing-along and dance-along to Encanto. A couple of hosts lead a show that presents a few songs from the movie for everybody to sing along with. Initially, I was afraid we were just going to get "follow the bouncing ball" on a screen, but after the first number, things liven up considerably.

Next, the performers grab kids from the audience who get to participate in the show and dance to the music. Eventually, Mirabel and Bruno come to join the party. Watching the kids dance with Mirabel and Bruno was a joy. They were clearly having a blast.

Epcot is a park that is, admittedly, light on attractions, and if you’re a small child who isn’t tall enough for Soarin' or Test Track, there’s even less for kids to do. This little show is a much-needed new addition to this park that I fully expect most younger kids will love, giving them a memorable Epcot experience.

The World Celebration Gardens And Journey Of Water Are Your Moments Of Epcot Zen

While several elements of the updated Epcot have been open for a while, my time spent there yesterday was my first chance to experience a lot of them. I made a point to seek out the parts of Epcot I hadn’t seen before. I sat on the bench with Walt’s statue at Dreamers Point, and I was instantly shocked by how peaceful it all was. 

It’s green and open, and in my time there, it was almost empty. People wandered through but mostly didn't stop. To be fair, there isn’t much to do in the area, so there isn’t a lot of reason to spend time there, but that’s why I loved it.

It’s been said that the World Celebration Gardens aren't special, that it looks like any public park. I don’t know, maybe there are public parks in the world that look like it, but I’ve never visited them. I could have sat on that bench with Walt all day. The ambient music in the area was lovely, and the view from where I sat was quite nice. This is going to be a place I will be coming back to again and again, just to sit and relax.

Journey of Water, Inspired by Moana, was a lovely little walkthrough attraction next door. It’s got some fun interactive elements and gives you the option to get a little wet if you so choose, but it also teaches you something about the life cycle of water. Education and entertainment coming together has always been one of the hallmarks of what Epcot is about, and Journey of Water does that.

Luminous: The Symphony Of Us Is A Special Nighttime Spectacular 

Luminous: The Symphony of Us has been running for a few months already, but I hadn’t yet seen the show in person. It may have already become my favorite nighttime spectacular in a Disney theme park right now, at least among those I have experienced.

The barge that is the centerpiece of the show, that isn’t stuck in the World Showcase Lagoon all day, is a pretty impressive piece of engineering. Water fountains are there but the platform also launches some of its own pyro for the show and it can do things, I’ve never seen fireworks do. While I’d argue the soundtrack isn't quite as good as the 50th anniversary show Harmonious, as the music was the one place that show absolutely shined, it’s almost as good.

The lack of construction walls won’t last long. Test Track is set to go down for a major overhaul and re-theming in just a week. How long it will be closed at Disney World is still unknown. However, right now, in this moment, Epcot is a complete park for the first time in a very long time. It’s been a long wait to get to this point, but by and large, I’m happy with what Epcot is today.

Gurr was in the first generation of Disney Imagineers. He worked directly with Walt Disney and helped build Disneyland. His contributions to themed entertainment are without question. He’s a man worthy of the Disney Legend status he has received and a man especially worthy of note during Pride Month.

From Automotive Designer To Imagineer 

Bob Gurr was born in 1931 in Southern California. As with many people who grew up in the early days of the mass adoption of the automobile, he was fascinated with cars from an early age. He studied industrial design at the Art College Center of Design in Pasadena, CA on a scholarship he received from General Motors with plans to go to Detroit and design new cars.

Gurr did move to Detroit, but according to Leslie Iwerks’ The Imagineering Story, he didn’t care for the city and was only ever given menial tasks, so he left town, believing his dream of designing cars would be over.

In 1953 Gurr was back in Southern California and catching up with an old high school friend. The friend was Don Iwerks, the son of Ub Iwerks, who co-created Mickey Mouse with Walt Disney. Ub told Bob about what Walt was doing at the Disney Studio and Ub, who would eventually become an Imagineer himself, recommended Gurr for a position in what was then called WED Enterprises.

He may never have designed cars in Detroit, but his automotive expertise would be of key importance at WED. One of Walt’s attraction ideas was a scale version of the freeways that were only then beginning to take over Southern California. It would be called Autopia, and Walt needed somebody to design the ride vehicles. In The Imagineering Story, Gurr explained… 

Gurr was a designer, not an engineer, so while he knew how to design the outside of the vehicle, how the inside would work wasn’t his area. He educated himself on what he needed to know in order to get the job done, eventually going from a contract employee to a full-time Imagineer.

Opening Day at Disneyland is known as Black Sunday by many, due to all the things that went wrong. Autopia was ground zero for many of the issues. The attraction had no guide rail at the time, the vehicles were free to move about the track, and kids were going as fast as they could. This meant collisions were frequent and hard. The aluminum bumpers were getting smashed. 

According to Inventing Disneyland, many teeth were lost when mouths hit unpadded steering wheels. Gurr spent most of his time at Disneyland after opening simply trying to keep as many vehicles in working order as possible so the attraction would stay open.

Working For Disney As A Gay Man In The 1950s

In many ways, Gurr was just like all the other creative people designing Disneyland, but in one key way, he was very different. He was gay. As a young man in his 20s in the 1950s, Gurr admitted to VOA that general perceptions of homosexuals made it clear that his sexual orientation was something he would need to keep hidden, though he rarely had any personal issues over his orientation, despite the fact people likely knew. In his words…

He didn’t come out as gay until the 2000s, but he says now that, while there was never any specific discussion of his sexual orientation, there were many within Disney who knew the truth. If there was ever anybody who disapproved, he never knew it. He told GoWEHO in 2014 that everybody was too busy doing their job to worry about such things. Gurr does think Walt knew, and that he just didn’t care. As long as Walt got the results he wanted, he generally didn’t bother anybody. Gurr added…

Gurr certainly got his job done, and his success with Autopia would make him one of Walt’s go-to Imagineers when the next phase of Disneyland was being designed, and he was given even more responsibility.

Bob Gurr Built Disneyland’s First Roller Coaster And The Monorail 

There were no thrill rides at Disneyland originally. The Jungle Cruise was considered the park’s big “E-Ticket” experience. Walt felt that thrill rides were something that traditional amusement parks used to draw in visitors, and Walt wanted his park to be something different. The late Disneyland operations manager Dick Nunis, however, believed the park needed something exciting, and eventually Walt relented.

Gurr was given the task of designing the Matterhorn Bobsleds. The job was especially difficult for two reasons. First, because it required a level of mathematical skill Gurr didn’t have at the time, forcing him to teach himself trigonometry. Second, he didn’t like roller coasters. In The Imagineering Story he explained…

A second project that was being designed at the same time would be arguably even bigger than the Matterhorn mountain. Walt Disney had fallen in love with monorail trains during his frequent trips to Europe and wanted one in Tomorrowland. Gurr would design that as well, again, with no previous knowledge of what he was doing. He told Leslie Iwerks in The Imagineering Story that getting Walt’s approval was, at least, pretty easy… 

Today, while not every attraction designed by Gurr is still in the parks (the Disneyland Flying Saucers were a flop, twice) he is still responsible for some truly iconic attractions. Even his original Autopia is still there, though the attraction is in line for a major upgrade, with the cars set to be transformed from gas to electric vehicles, a move Gurr himself fully supports. 

Bob Gurr retired from Walt Disney Imagineering in 1981 and was named a Disney Legend in 2005. While the fact he was gay may not have been public knowledge for decades, today he’s seen as an icon by many LGBTQ+ Disney fans. He’s also, by all accounts, just an incredibly nice guy, and a man worthy of celebration during Pride Month, or any other, for that matter.  

In a significant shift from the normal way Halloween Horror Nights has been handled in the past, the announcements we’ve seen so far have been focused on HHN’s original concepts created especially for the event, rather than the licensed projects based on popular or upcoming movies or TV series. There’s still a lot we don’t yet know about Halloween Horror Nights, but here’s everything we know so far about the houses at this year’s event on both coasts

Halloween Horror Nights At Universal Studios Florida

Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Florida at Universal Orlando Resort is, with apologies to the other HHN events, the marquee version of the event. It’s the biggest, and therefore it always has more to offer. This means it always has more unique houses not available at the other park.  

Slaughter Sinema 2

Carey, OH is a fictional town where many of Halloween Horror Night's original concepts are set. Back at the one in 2018, we were introduced to the town’s drive-in movie theater as part of the Slaughter Sinema house. Every good movie needs a sequel, and the same is true with houses. Slaughter Sinema 2 will offer scares inspired by classic grindhouse flicks, spaghetti westerns and more. 

Goblin’s Feast

Most Halloween Horror Nights houses, like the stories they’re based on, are usually set in the real world, or something close to it. But, one house this year is going hard with a fantasy setting. Goblin’s Feast is set in a village of goblins where a feast is being prepared for a collection of fantasy monsters, and the guests are set to be the main course.

Major Sweets Candy Factory

These houses usually take a year or more to be designed, and for that reason it seems unlikely that a candy factory-themed HHN house was inspired by the ill-fated Wonka experience in the UK. Having said that, from the perspective of the kids, Willy Wonka is a horror icon, and Major Sweets Candy Factory seems to be inspired by that idea. Guests are chaperons on a field trip, where treats turn the children into monsters (more so than children already are, I mean). The house is a canonical prequel to the Sweet Revenge scarezone from HHN in 2022

The Museum: Deadly Exhibits

You always need to be careful when examining creepy museum exhibits. The Museum: Deadly Exhibits will place guests at a folklore museum to see a special exhibit, The Rotting Stone. Unfortunately, the stone is home to a terrible evil that is able to escape just as you arrive.

Monstruos: The Monsters Of Latin America

When a HHN house is popular enough we might see it return after a few years, or as in the case of this year’s Slaughter Sinema, a sequel. This year will see at least one house make the jump across the country. Monstruos: The Monsters of Latin America was, in our opinion, the best house at Universal Studios Hollywood in 2023. It seems a lot of people likely agreed, because the house will appear at Universal Studios Florida this year. It remains to be seen if it will be an exact replica of the previous one or an upgraded and expanded version.

Triplets Of Terror

Halloween Horror Nights has created some incredible original characters over the years. Known as Icons, none of the houses announced so far will include any of them, but Triplets of Terror may be the beginning of creating new ones. The Barmy Triplets are celebrating their birthday this year and you’re invited to the party. Unfortunately, the triplets celebrate by recreating the murder of their family.

A Quiet Place

The first announced house that actually is based on a movie is A Quiet Place. To say the least this house is an exciting concept because one assumes that the goal here will be for a Quiet Place house to remain near silent, rather than full of screams. We'll have to wait and see how it turns out.

Universal Studios Florida Halloween Horror Nights Rumors

Halloween Horror Nights in 2023 had 10 houses and only six have been announced for 2024 so far, which means there are at least four more left to be announced. Considering the focus on original concepts right now, it’s a safe bet the remaining four houses will be based on popular franchises. 

Several rumors have indicated that we could see the return of a Ghostbusters house, though this one may be based on the new Frozen Empire movie. Other franchises that are churning through the rumor mill have included Five Nights at Freddy’s, which had a massive hit movie last year. There are, honestly, more rumors than there are available slots for houses, so they won’t all come to pass, but rumors have ended up being correct before. Such reports did predict The Last of Us coming to Halloween Horror Nights before it happened.

Halloween Horror Nights At Universal Studios Hollywood

So far, Only one house has been confirmed for Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood. USH usually has around eight houses, compared to USF 10, but it also has the Terror Tram, which turns the classic Universal Studios Backlot Tour into a themed experience. We often see a few of the houses shared between the two parks, usually the IP-based houses, but USH is virtually guaranteed to have some original concepts, as well.

A Quiet Place

While HHN in Florida started with original houses, Hollywood is starting with, well, Hollywood productions. The park's version of A Quiet Place was the first announced house. Not every house the two parks share is always perfectly identical, so this one may have some surprises in store.

Universal Studios Hollywood Halloween Horror Nights Rumors

As has been the case in previous years, the houses rumored to be attached to IP are the ones both parks are likely to share. Rumors include a Bride of Frankenstein house, possibly the return of a popular Bride of Frankenstein house from 2021. A Quiet Place and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire are also being rumored. A Terror Tram inspired by Blumhouse, which has been the source of many HHN houses the last few years, is also a possibility. 

Halloween Horror Nights is already shaping up to be an incredible event on both coasts in 2024. We’re still months away before the first nights, so keep checking back here as we’ll be updating this as new announcements are made for this year’s HHN.

The O.C. Register reports that new signs have been posted around the iconic California theme park, and Knocked Up location Knott’s Berry Farm, that offer guests a phone number that they can text which will inform park security of people jumping the queue. After receiving the report security will be dispatched to deal with the problem. This is certainly a new idea that hasn’t been tried before to my knowledge, and while it’s not without its merits I can’t imagine it will work as intended.

Why A Special Number To Report Line Jumpers Makes Sense

On paper, I completely understand why Knott’s Berry Farm is trying this new texting option. People who jump the queue suck and everybody gets upset when it happens. However, a lot of the time people get away with it for the simple reason that people don’t like to confront people on these sorts of issues.

One group confronting another about allegedly cutting the line has led to violence inside theme parks before. Knott’s Berry Farm has specifically been dealing with problems of violence on property for years, leading the park to install chaperone rules. By texting a number, people cutting the line can be reported discreetly, the violators will likey not know who reported them, so even if there was a desire to get physical, it couldn’t happen.

But that’s about the only positive that I see coming from this idea. In practice, it’s unlikely to work.

Why This Knott's Berry Farm Plan Probably Won’t Work 

First, you have the issue of response time. How quickly after a report comes in will security be able to respond? If they’re not fast enough, the offending party could already be on the ride by the time anybody gets there to deal with the problem. Clearly the need for this texting line is because Knott’s doesn’t have the staff to watch the lines closely, so there will be some sort of delay.

Next, what happens if the violators simply deny having jumped the line? If enough people in the queue claim otherwise, the group can be dealt with, but this then defeats the purpose of other guests being able to report anonymously.

You then also have the issue of the number being abused. If two parties are having a disagreement in the parks that is unrelated to line cutting, one could use the number to force them to have to defend themselves against security. Others could simply use the line to pull pranks.

I appreciate the desire to try and prevent people from jumping the queue. It’s not fair to the majority of guests who wait in line so it should be dealt with, but this solution is likely to just cause more problems.

I certainly hope I'm wrong. If I am, then there's a good chance we could see something like this become standard across many parks. Knott's parent company Cedar Fair is in the final steps of a merger with Six Flags that will create the largest amusement park company in the world.

This morning Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights announced that a house based on the first two A Quiet Place films will debut this year at both of the events at Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Studios Florida. It marks the seventh location announced in Florida, and the first in Hollywood. As a fan of the Quiet Place film franchise, which is adding a third film this month, I’m excited, but I do have one question. How in the hell is this going to work?

HHN Is All About Screams, But A Quiet Place Is Not 

Horror is all about scaring you, and in most cases that means making its victims audibly scream. Halloween Horror Nights relies on jump scares and terrifying imagery in order to get the people moving through the house to react, usually by screaming. But a house based on A Quiet Place is going to, by necessity, be quiet, right?

The description of the A Quiet Place House has me intrigued. HHN says the house will use “unique sound design” and special effects, along with the scare actors performances, in order to convey the terror of the films in a live setting in a way that mirrors the films. Interestingly, American Sign Language (ASL) will also be used in the house, a first for HHN, as a way to make the experience more authentic.

We've seen brand new movies become HHN houses before, but for this case, only locations from the first two films, including the family farm, will be recreated for the HHN house. 

The A Quiet Place: Day One release date is only a couple of weeks away, and while that may be the reason this announcement dropped now, it doesn't appear the new film will be incorporated into the house. Though we've seen easter eggs and references in HHN houses before, so something like that could happen.

Universal released a teaser trailer for the house as well. Check it out below.

I have so many questions about this. Will A Quiet Place actually be a quiet HHN house? Will the people moving through it try not to scream? Will different things happen to the visitors or the scareactors if people scream or if they don’t? A Quiet Place is one of the horror franchises I’ve enjoyed most in recent years specifically because the experience of watching it is so different from others. The Halloween Horror Nights version has the potential to be that too for this event, and that’s quite exciting.

Tickets Are On Sale Now For Halloween Horror Nights 

With the announcement of the first house for Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood tickets have also gone on sale for the event which begins September 5. Seven more houses are set to be revealed for the event, along with the theme for the Terror Tram, the Halloween makeover for the iconic Universal Studios Backlot Tour. Three more houses are expected for the same event in Orlando.

Tickets for Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Florida have been on sale, and that event also includes a new Premium Scream Night, where a limited number of tickets will be sold and entries into the houses will be staggered, allowing those that attend to visit all the houses with no lines. 

One TikTok user has seen multiple viral videos over the last several years all with the same theme, giving special, and often quite expensive, gifts to day laborers. But among the various things that he has done, one thing that gets a lot of attention is when he takes them to Disneyland.

TikTok Series Takes Day Laborers To Disneyland 

Jesús Morales, known as Juixxe on TikTok, has spent the last four years amassing millions of followers by surprising day laborers and street vendors with various gifts. One of the most popular things he does is go to Home Depot parking lots to pick up day laborers looking for work and instead take them to Disneyland. There are several of these videos, and any one of them is likely to make you emotional.

@juixxe

“I’ve never had an experience like this” 🥺

♬ original sound - Jesús

The whole thing is simply amazing. He walks up, wants three workers and three men jump forward, not necessarily realizing what the day actually has in store for them. Then he tells them they’re just going to Disneyland to have fun for the day. And then he pays them on top of that, so they aren’t out the income they would have made that they clearly need.

We get to see the guys experience the best rides at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure. They’re clearly having fun, and, more importantly, letting themselves have fun. Hopefully they got to eat some of the best food at Disneyland as well. One of the men says that he’d never had an experience like this, even as a child.

While the concept of the Disney Adult is often mocked, Walt Disney wanted adults to have fun at Disneyland too; that was the whole point. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen an adult visiting Disneyland for the first time get really emotional over the experience. It's also not the first time somebody on TikTok has been surprised by a Disneyland trip, but it's always special.

What Surprises Jesús Morales About The Disneyland Trips 

Most of the time, the workers who go with Morales have never been to Disneyland. This particular video is interesting because one of the men has been there, as he had previously done construction work in the park, but seemingly had never been able to enjoy the fruits of that labor.

These guys aren’t usually able to simply have fun at Disneyland, but when Morales takes them, they’re given the freedom to have fun and they do. Speaking with CNN, the TikTok star says that’s the thing that always gets to him…

Morales is able to do this because his millions of followers donate money that allows him to spend it on the people who are working these tough jobs, often for very little pay. If anybody deserves a day at the Happiest Place on Earth, it’s them.

It's been a year and a half since Splash Mountain closed at Disney World and since that time interest in what was coming next has been very high. Now, if you want to know, you can just watch the video.

Check Out Tiana’s Bayou Adventure At Walt Disney World

Ride POV videos are a popular part of theme park YouTube and various vloggers and content creators often compete to be the first to post such a video whenever a new attraction opens. However, Disney beat everybody to the punch by just going ahead and posting their own ride video before even the first Tiana previews began. You can check it out below.

While many of Tiana's Bayou Adventure's details had already been revealed, there was a lot we hadn't seen yet, so the decision to post a full-ride POV this early was a bit surprising. Of course, the decision to release the video has meant that everybody who is interested has now had a chance to virtually experience the attraction, and now everybody is voicing their opinion.

How The Internet Has Responded To The Video

If there is better proof that a video is not a great way to judge a theme park attraction, then I certainly haven’t seen it. People have watched the same video, and come away with very different reactions to it. Some who have seen it think the attraction looks great, full of life, in the form of many high-quality animatronics.

Meanwhile, others, largely those who were already critical of the decision to retheme Splash Mountain, are looking at the same video and seeing a ride that looks absolutely terrible. You can't please everybody it seems.

I will be withholding my judgment until I actually experience the ride because videos are not a great way to judge attractions. The actual ride could be better or worse depending on a variety of factors. 

That’s in part because the quality of the video is a big part of whether a ride looks good or not. A bad video can result in a bad impression even for a good ride, and that’s where many are actually focusing their own criticism. Some feel the biggest takeaway from the POV video is that Disney World shot a bad POV video.

Opinions are certainly strong, but there are people who are simply glad to have an exciting attraction back at Magic Kingdom soon. For those people for whom the log flume and the massive splash was the highlight, that will be back very soon.

Tian’s Bayou Adventure is currently running in previews for Disney World cast members. Media, and Disney World AP holders, as well as Disney Vacation Club owners, will be getting their own previews in the coming days. The new Disney World attraction, Tian's Bayou Adventure will open to the general public on June 28. A nearly identical version is currently under construction at Disneyland and will open later this year. 

Of all the Epic Universe details that have been officially confirmed by Universal Resorts and Destinations, the first thing we learned about was Celestial Park. Epic Universe will use a hub and spoke design similar to Disneyland’s. But unlike many hublands, Celestial Park will have several attractions of its own, including a major roller coaster.

Why Epic Universe Was Sued 

The coaster, which is a duel launch coaster that will reach speeds of 62 miles per hour, was originally called Starfall Racers, however, earlier this month. A lawsuit was filed in Colorado District Court by the Starfall Education Foundation (via Blomberg) over the trademark to the name Starfall. The suit claimed Universal was misappropriating the trademark to attract children. Starfall Education Foundation runs a website for children that teaches reading and writing skills.

The lawsuit itself was still in the very early stages so no decisions had been reached. Although it seems Universal has simply decided to end the issue the simplest way it can, by changing the name of the coaster and moving forward.

Changing the name certainly won’t impact the coaster design so nothing about the ride experience will be different. This is certainly a better situation than Cedar Point's Top Thrill 2, which implemented a safety policy that required the use of lockers for many to ride, but only did so after it was too late to add lockers to the queue.

If any signage using the Starfall name had already been created, it would have to be destroyed and recreated using the Stardust name. If the name Starfall was specifically important to the story being told by the attraction, some of that may need to be rethought; but it’s possible, even likely, they’ll just be able to do a find and replace on any text and be done.

Epic Universe Will Open In 2025 

It’s unlikely any other parts of Epic Universe will run into any similar issues as Universal owns the rights to everything else that is going to be in the park. The hub was the only original land, with all the attached lands set in different IPs.

Thus far, beyond Celestial Gardens, Universal Orlando has confirmed lands based on How to Train Your Dragon and Orlando’s version of Super Nintendo World. Two other lands are set to be revealed. We know we will get a Dark Universe based on Universal Monsters and a third Wizarding World land which will include the Ministry of Magic and an area inspired by the Fantastic Beasts movies. The specifics of what will be in those lands have yet to be confirmed.

Epic Universe is set for a 2025 opening, and since it seems likely Universal will want the park to be open for the busy summer season, we’re likely just about a year, or even slightly less, from the park opening. Stardust Racers is sure to be a popular draw, whatever it's called.

One of the cool Tiana's Bayou Adventure details we've learned is that New Orleans native, musician and songwriter PJ Morton wrote a new song that will be part of the big finale sequence of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. In the newest episode of the We Call It Imagineering series on YouTube, Morton got to actually ride Tiana’s Bayou Adventure himself and experience his song as guests will experience it starting in late June. After going on the ride, he said…

Morton seems to be truly touched hearing his song, as sung by the voice of Tiana, Anika Noni Rose, inside the attraction. Elsewhere in the video, he talked more about just what being part of Disney meant to him, and how being part of an attraction was something special compared to other ways his songs have existed. He explained…

Morton echoes comments that I’ve heard before from others who have seen something they made brought to life in the Disney Parks. The creators of Phineas and Ferb got emotional talking about what it meant to see their animated characters walking around Disney Parks. The team that worked on Bo Peep in Toy Story 4 really helped define how the character would act in the parks which was special to them. 

Check out the full new video below.

There does seem to be something different about creating something that will live in a theme park. Millions will visit and experience PJ Morton’s music for decades to come. Long after a movie has left theaters or an album has gone back on the shelf, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure will continue delighting new and returning guests alike. The rest of us are "Almost There." Tiana's Bayou Adventure opens at Magic Kingdom June 28 and later this year at Disneyland.