Walt Disney Imagineering has teased another group of critter characters for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, which opens this year at Disney’s US theme parks.
Riders on Tiana’s Bayou Adventure will take a musical adventure through the bayou with Tiana, Naveen and Louis. They will also encounter audio-animatronic animals playing songs from the film, including ‘Gonna Take You There’.
The latest critter club will be playing Rara, a form of festival music that originated in Haiti. In the group are Octavia the bobcat on the vaksin instrument, her grandfather Pawpaw the bobcat, and Claude the Louisiana black bear, who plays the horn.
Bernadette the Louisiana black bear also plays the horn, and her son Sebastián the Louisiana black bear is a drummer. Phina the grey fox is another drummer.
Ted Robledo, executive creative director at Disney Imagineering, wrote in a blog post: “Often found at festivals and street processions, Rara is a musical tradition from Haiti that’s part of the musical history and melting pot of New Orleans. The genre includes unique instruments with beautiful, distinctive sounds.”
New ride opens at Disney parks this year
Set after the events of Walt Disney Animation Studios’ 2009 film The Princess and the Frog, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure replaces the former Splash Mountain log flume ride. It debuts at Walt Disney World this summer, and later this year at Disneyland.
Disneyland is also opening two new shops inspired by The Princess and the Frog in Critter Country. The reimagined retail locations are called Ray’s Berets and Louis’ Critter Club.
