Tiana’s Bayou Journey is the reimagined journey that replaces Splash Mountain at Magic Kingdom. Walt Disney World has already introduced that the new attraction will use a digital queue and provide Lightning Lane entry. Nonetheless, even you probably have quick fingers and rating a boarding group or purchase the line-skipping service, you continue to might need challenges experiencing the brand new attraction.
This put up covers the problems with Tiana’s Bayou Journey together with actionable recommendation so you possibly can (hopefully) decrease your publicity to those points and improve your chance of efficiently using. We additionally focus on some unknowns, potential points and proposed operational options for the brand new Magic Kingdom mountain(ish).
Earlier than we get to that, let’s begin with a silver lining, of kinds. Tiana’s Bayou Journey can be right here for years to come back. Not like different sights we’ve inspired friends to journey ASAP as a result of we anxious problematic results would vanish and by no means return ( you, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance), this one is probably going solely going to get higher within the months and years to come back. If something, Imagineering has been rushed on this mission and there are little (and large!) flaws they’d in all probability like to repair.
That’s in all probability not a lot comfort, particularly for the numerous of you who go to Walt Disney World sometimes and need to journey in your upcoming holidays. With that in thoughts, listed below are the problems and our recommendation…
Every day Downtime – In case you haven’t adopted the saga on social media, you must first remember that Tiana’s Bayou Journey is at the moment actually unreliable. Every part else on this listing flows from the easy proven fact that the journey breaks down loads. It has had every day downtime through the Forged Member, Disney Trip Membership, and Annual Passholder previews.
In keeping with our associates at BlogMickey, Tiana’s Bayou Journey averaged roughly 4.5 hours of every day downtime throughout AP previews, with as “little” downtime as at the least 2 hours per day and as a lot as over 7 hours of downtime. Worst of all, this didn’t progressively enhance over the course of the previews–every day numbers have been everywhere.
Some proponents of the journey declare that this all the time occurs with new sights, and is the entire level of previews. They’re technically proper to an extent, however this was extreme. If it have been a mean of two hours every single day, that will’ve been within the bounds of what’s affordable, and roughly on par with Frozen Ever After the summer season it debuted.
(It’s simple to overlook, however Frozen Ever After was a considerably comparable mission that was rushed to make a summer season opening; it likewise suffered from delayed openings and frequent breakdowns its opening season as crews scrambled to finish in a single day upkeep and repair technical points. The excellent news, although, is that Frozen Ever After’s woes are simple to overlook as a result of they’ve largely been mounted. Hopefully it’s an analogous story with TBA!)
There are a ton of rumors as to the causes of issues with Tiana’s Bayou Journey, from points syncing the logs with the present scenes to defective sensors which can be having bother with ‘the weather’ and precise visitor load on the logs. Whatever the motive, each single journey I’ve taken on Tiana’s Bayou Journey had technical difficulties of some type, so even if you happen to do get fortunate with no downtime, you continue to might need issues. (For these causes and others, I’d extremely advocate using greater than as soon as. There’s an excellent probability your first journey received’t be flawless, so improve your possibilities of success with repeat rides.)
Given these numbers and the problems even when it’s working, it appears to us that Tiana’s Bayou Journey ought to nonetheless be in check & regulate. It’s not fairly able to greet friends, even in a preview or delicate opening capability.
Digital Queue Inconsistency – Subsequent to nothing could be gleaned from the boarding group distribution through the 7 a.m. and 1 p.m. digital queue entry occasions throughout AP and DVC previews of Tiana’s Bayou Journey. On each single day of previews, the 7 a.m. digital queue remained open longer than the 1 p.m. one. About half of all days, the morning VQ lasted over 2 hours. On no day did it final lower than 5 minutes.
That is the other of how digital queues usually work at Walt Disney World. Often, the 7 a.m. drop lasts milliseconds to a couple minutes and the afternoon entry is open for minutes to hours. That’s the case with each Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind and TRON Lightcycle Run proper now–and was even throughout TBA previews.
The larger situation from the attitude of digital queue inconsistency is that journey downtime goes to throw a serious monkey wrench into issues. If Tiana’s Bayou Journey has been down a lot of the morning when the time the 1 p.m. VQ rolls round, Walt Disney World will scale back the variety of boarding teams distributed within the afternoon. Which means each the 7 a.m. and 1 p.m. digital queues might replenish in seconds some days…and be open for hours on different days.
It’s additionally value declaring that Walt Disney World cancelled the 1 p.m. digital queue fully on one event throughout AP previews. I wouldn’t count on this to be a traditional incidence throughout every day operations…however I additionally wouldn’t rule it out utterly. The ethical of the story is that, no matter your most popular using time, you must in all probability attempt for the 7 a.m. digital queue–and plan on utilizing pace technique. Don’t have a laid again perspective since that is “solely” a reimagining with blended evaluations–it’s nonetheless going to be very troublesome to expertise on some days.
Lightning Lanes Luck – To the unreliability level, there’s no assure friends who rating high-numbered boarding teams will even have the ability to journey Tiana’s Bayou Journey. Walt Disney World is fairly good about not over-distributing boarding teams, however they’re not excellent.
The chances are positively extra ‘in your favor’ if you are going to buy line-skipping entry through the Lightning Lane. Even when the attraction is down throughout your window, you’ll obtain a multi-experience move and nonetheless have the ability to journey it (or one thing else, I suppose, if you happen to’d desire…however then why are you studying this?) each time the journey comes again up.
We’d additionally elevate Tiana’s Bayou Journey to #1 on our listing of Magic Kingdom’s Lightning Lane priorities for at the least the primary couple months that it’s open. That is once more resulting from downtime, which signifies that return occasions will go quicker and there’s a decrease chance of journey reservation refills all through the day.
Shopping for the Lightning Lane service at Magic Kingdom is all the time our suggestion as a result of park’s larger journey depend, however that’ll be doubly true when TBA debuts. And as famous above, it’s greatest to journey a number of occasions–so we’d advise shopping for Lightning Lane entry and becoming a member of the VQ.
Longer-Lasting Digital Queue – When Tiana’s Bayou Journey opens on June 28, it would use a digital queue. Visitors can request to affix the digital queue through the My Disney Expertise app at one in all two occasions: 7 a.m. or 1 p.m. Whereas a standby queue won’t be obtainable through the attraction’s preliminary opening days, Walt Disney World expects to open a standby line quickly after the attraction’s opening.
At the least, that’s what Walt Disney World stated when first asserting the opening date and particulars for Tiana’s Bayou Journey over a month in the past. Disney’s language on the time strongly advised Tiana’s Bayou Journey wouldn’t have a digital queue for almost so long as some other journey at Walt Disney World.
In our view, a extra apt comparability was Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway at Disneyland, which dropped its digital queue lower than a month after opening. In order that narrowed down the vary from a number of days to a couple of month for the Tiana’s Bayou Journey digital queue. Our guess again in mid-Might was that the digital queue for Tiana’s Bayou Journey could be retired by July 8, 2024 on the newest.
Fortunately for Walt Disney World, the attraction’s “preliminary opening days” is imprecise and open to interpretation. I now not have any diploma of confidence that Tiana’s Bayou Journey will drop its digital queue by July 8, 2024. That was earlier than previews or anything began, and working beneath the idea that TBA could be at the least as dependable as Splash Mountain.
Clearly, it isn’t. At this level, the protected prediction is that Tiana’s Bayou Journey will use a digital queue for as lengthy at it’s tormented by unreliability and downtime woes. Digital queues provide a way of pulsing demand and are the imperfect resolution to operational woes. That’s exactly why Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance debuted the journey VQ again in 2019!
Suffice to say, I’ve no clue how lengthy the digital queue will final for Tiana’s Bayou Journey. I’ll merely say each time the preliminary rush runs out or the reliability woes are resolved, whichever occurs first. I actually hope that’s the previous, however my guess is it’ll be the latter. Both approach, I’d like to see the VQ passed by the beginning of the low season in August, and have some extent of confidence that each of the above variables will happen by then. However that’s only a guess/hope!
Dynamic Digital Queue for TBA? – We beforehand proposed that Tiana’s Bayou Journey ought to have a ‘dynamic’ digital queue–mainly which means the standby line opens at evening as soon as the solar goes down and the temperatures are cooler. This was as a result of all water rides are much less standard at evening.
We’ll double-down on this. So long as these downtime woes exist, it’s doubtless that Walt Disney World can be conservative in closing the digital queue. They don’t need to situation too many boarding teams within the occasion the journey breaks down for six+ hours per day. The issue with that is that there are going to be days when the attraction outperforms and, as a result of conservative issuance of boarding teams, the digital queue is empty hours earlier than park closing. It’s unattainable to know or mission as of 1 p.m. how a lot downtime the journey may have for the remaining ~8 hours of the day. That is hardly a daring prediction–it already happens sometimes with different VQ rides.
The answer is to distribute digital queue spots conservatively and open the standby queue as soon as that’s “empty.” There isn’t any different good different. Distribute VQ spots liberally and friends can be indignant when their boarding group isn’t known as on the inevitable days when there’s prolonged downtime. Distribute too few and there can be loads of indignant friends who get shut out of the digital queue as a result of they didn’t have quick sufficient fingers to attain a spot through the millisecond it was open…solely to see the journey dispatching empty logs on the finish of the evening or the journey shut early.
Given the character of the attraction and reliability woes, I’d truly take this a step additional if I have been Disney: get rid of the 1 p.m. digital queue entry time fully, distribute extra boarding teams at 7 a.m., after which plan to open the standby line within the late afternoon every single day (and talk that to friends). In the event that they’re already ready the place the 1 p.m. VQ may should be canceled some days, simply make issues extra predictable by eradicating a transferring half and cancelling it every single day.
Prolonged Night Hours? – Walt Disney World nonetheless has not introduced whether or not Tiana’s Bayou Journey can be open throughout Prolonged Night Hours. Usually, there could be a 6 p.m. digital queue entry time for Prolonged Night Hours. That’s at the moment how entry to TRON Lightcycle Run works throughout ExEH. Our expectation was that it could be open, however now we’re beginning to marvel.
Price noting is that the primary Prolonged Night Hours at Magic Kingdom after Tiana’s Bayou Journey opens isn’t scheduled till July 3, 2024. It’s potential that Disney was ready to handle the journey’s standing throughout ExEH as a result of they hoped it wouldn’t want the digital queue in any respect through the occasion.
No matter how lengthy the digital queue lasts for Tiana’s Bayou Journey through the day, we hope that the journey is each open throughout Prolonged Night Hours and makes use of a standby line through the bonus time (for the explanations said above). Given the lessened recognition of water rides at evening, we expect this appears affordable. Even when the standby line finally ends up being lengthy, so what? Let folks wait in lengthy strains in the event that they so want.
Will Tiana’s Bayou Journey Open on June 28? – Regardless that there’s a non-zero probability the opening of Tiana’s Bayou Journey can be delayed, the reply might be sure. I’m like…98% certain? Nonetheless, each journey in current reminiscence (since in all probability Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance) was 100%.
It’s troublesome to see Walt Disney World backtracking on the opening date due to the opposite complications it could trigger. It might be unprecedented at this late stage and result in a deluge of complaints and probably even cancellations, to not point out unfavorable headlines and doubt about reserving journeys round attraction openings sooner or later.
Even when I feel Tiana’s Bayou Journey shouldn’t be prepared for its official opening and that it shouldn’t have had its official opening set for June 28 within the first place in mild of that, I additionally assume that it’s too late to alter course now. Having 4+ hours of downtime per day is a nasty end result. Having the journey closed fully whilst friends have deliberate journeys round it’s an excellent worse end result. I’d hazard a guess there are inner conversations similar to this proper now, reaching the identical conclusion–that the least-bad choice is opening on time, however with every day downtime.
Nonetheless, it’s value noting that they did cancel the final spherical of Forged Member previews. I don’t assume it’s a bullish transfer to cancel the final previews regardless of the way you slice it, however maybe the upkeep groups have recognized the problem and wish that each one of that uninterrupted time to implement fixes and make changes previous to the grand opening. Who is aware of, perhaps that is precisely what’s wanted and this put up can be fully out of date by June 28, 2024. Actually, I’d love for that to be the case…I’m simply skeptical it would. Even when the reason for issues is recognized and an answer is carried out, there are sometimes nagging points that final weeks or months.
Clearly, the every day downtime and different points with Tiana’s Bayou Journey aren’t excellent. However I additionally see sentiment making the rounds on social media and even the feedback that that is an ‘indictment’ of contemporary Imagineering or administration. Some followers are performing like the sort of factor all the time occurs with new rides, which is an indication Disney doesn’t know the right way to create dependable rides anymore. But it didn’t occur with TRON Lightcycle Run, Cosmic Rewind, Runaway Railway, or the Rat Journey. Different followers are pretending that this by no means occurred previously, conveniently forgetting the unhappy saga of Haunted Mansion at Disneyland, unique EPCOT Middle’s rocky launch, and even Check Monitor 1.0 or Frozen Ever After. (Only a very incomplete listing of examples.)
I would add that some persons are additionally forgetting that Tiana’s Bayou Journey was initially scheduled to open in Late 2024, however the firm threw a ton of assets (labor and cash) at it so as to get the journey able to roll by the new and humid summer season months. Certain, with the good thing about hindsight, we are able to declare that they rushed it an excessive amount of. I definitely would’ve most popular a dependable late July opening to an unreliable late June debut.
However we are able to’t complain about delays with different massive tasks on the one hand, after which complain about accelerated schedules alternatively. As needs to be clear from our CommuniCore Corridor Assessment or the primary ~3,000 phrases of our Tiana’s Bayou Journey Assessment, we’ve no scarcity of quibbles with the 2 most up-to-date additions to the parks. Nonetheless, it’s vital that these complaints are coherent, and that we don’t simply whine about every little thing Disney does. In any other case, our voices are simple to disregard.
It goes with out saying that I want this launch have been going higher and that Tiana’s Bayou Journey had no every day downtime…however I additionally was cheering on the sooner timeframe and begging Disney to set a gap date when it felt like one was ‘overdue’ final month. (Can’t have it each methods!) Suffice to say, there are loads of transferring components with Tiana’s Bayou Journey…let’s simply hope they’re flowing easily and downtime is minimal by opening day or shortly thereafter.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What’s your plan of assault for minimizing issues with Tiana’s Bayou Journey–will you purchase making an attempt for the digital queue, shopping for Lightning Lane entry, or each? Are you excited for the opening of Tiana’s Bayou Journey or anxious in regards to the every day downtime and different points? Glad that it’ll have a restricted time digital queue for the preliminary opening interval, or would you like a standby line? Do you agree or disagree with our recommendation? Any questions we will help you reply? Listening to your suggestions–even if you disagree with us–is each attention-grabbing to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas under within the feedback!
