Dreams do come true in New Orleans!
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15 years after Tiana (voiced by Anika Noni Rose) opened her dream restaurant in The Princess and the Frog, Disney is digging a little deeper into the world of the 2009 animated movie. A real-life Tiana’s Palace restaurant opened in New Orleans Square at Disneyland, and Tiana’s Bayou Adventure — a revamp of the Disney Parks classic Splash Mountain — will pick up where the movie left off when the reimagined ride drops in at both Disneyland and Disney World this summer.
Disney has released the all-new original song from Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, which is performed by Rose (who once again voices Tiana, this time as an advanced audio animatronic). New Orleans native and five-time Grammy winner PJ Morton wrote, arranged, and produced the song, as well as the new arrangements of music from the movie that will play throughout the attraction. You don’t need an invitation to listen to the track, “Special Spice,” below:
“In many ways, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is a love letter to New Orleans,” said Charita Carter, executive producer at Walt Disney Imagineering, when announcing the musical ride themed to The Princess and the Frog. “Like the musical city that inspired this attraction, Tiana’s second actis about a community working in harmony to achieve somethingextraordinary. She reminds us of an immutable truth we can all relateto: ‘If you do your best each and every day, good things are sure tocome your way.’ And that’s a melody we can all sing along to!”
The toe pad-tapping tune is part of the second chapter for Tiana. After transforming an old sugar mill into Tiana’s Palace, she’s turned an aging salt mine into Tiana’s Foods. When Tiana throws a party during the Mardis Gras season, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure takes guests on a musical — and magical — ride down into the bayou with Naveen (Bruno Campos), trumpeting ‘gator Louis (Michael-Leon Wooley), and Mama Odie (Jenifer Lewis), all returning from the original movie.
Also along for the ride are the steady stream of critters who compose a jazz band in the post-drop finale, including new characters Byhalia the Beaver, Gritty the Rabbit, Beau theOpossum, Apollo the Raccoon, Rufus the Turtle, Timoléon the Otter, andthe jazz-playing frogs Felipe, Mayra, Mondo, and Isabel.
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure opens June 28 at Magic Kingdom at the Walt Disney World Resort.
