Splash Mountain Replacement Struggles With Operational Issues After Months of Opening

In the classic 1995 comedy Friday, Chris Tucker’s character is looking for something to drink at his friend’s house, but they don’t have what he wants. He responds with, “Y’all ain’t never got two things that match. Either y’all got Kool-aid, no sugar. Peanut butter, no jelly. Ham, no burger. Daaamn.”

For Disney fans, it’s starting to feel that way about Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. The long-anticipated Splash Mountain replacement has been nothing but trouble since it opened, and now it appears that Disney Imagineers have no desire to fix what’s wrong with the ride.

Even before the ride opened at Disney World and Disneyland, there were issues in the previews. Guests took to social media to recount being evacuated from the ride and the constant animatronic breakdowns. On opening day at Disneyland, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure did not even open on time.

That has been a constant criticism of the attraction at both parks. Guests wake up early to get into the virtual queue for the Magic Kingdom attraction, but it doesn’t open when the park opens, and the virtual queues never get the majority of guests on the ride for that day.

During Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure was sporadically open, depending on what night you attended the after-hours parties. Now, Disney has removed the attraction from Magic Kingdom After Hours Events for early this year. Disney can blame the cold temperatures in Central Florida, but the reality is that the ride has become too unpredictable to be included.

However, guests took to social media to voice their biggest complaint about the ride: the animatronics never work. Some guests complained that they had been on the ride more than ten times, and at least one animatronic was broken every time.

Even before the ride opened at Disneyland, the first Tiana animatronic was already starting to tear along her face. This led fans to conclude that the animatronics on the ride weren’t meant to be near water, which would be a major flaw, given that the entire attraction is based around water.

Magical. This is my 5th ride on Bayou Adventure and have yet to have a single ride on it where all the AA have been working. pic.twitter.com/yAwdGRzh2e

— RyanTheme Park (@Ryanthemepark) January 6, 2025

So, even when Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is working, not everything is working, and more often than not, the ride just breaks down completely. Maybe Splash Mountain fans were right, and this is Br’er Rabbit’s revenge, or Imagineers shouldn’t have used the same ride track for a three-decade-old attraction that kept breaking down.

Either way, things aren’t improving after months of operation for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.