Many real plants have been planted around the Tiana’s Bayou Adventure mountain and queue in Magic Kingdom during ongoing construction.

Tiana’s Bayou Adventure Façade

Most of the foliage and trees installed around Tiana’s Bayou Adventure so far have been fake. But new ferns and trees in front of the mountain appear to be real. There are also more flowers but these also look fake.

The new plants fill out the space around the flume. The briar patch was demolished to become a Louisiana swamp full of foliage. The mountain is now an old salt mine that acts as the headquarters of Tiana’s Foods.

We saw several crew members present all over the Tiana’s Bayou Adventure construction site on Tuesday. Some were working on and around the new plants.

Crews have removed most scaffolding from around the salt mine and mill. White flowers dot the hillside and moss is growing over the shingles of the mill.

Vines crawl up the legs of the Tiana’s Foods water tower, which is topped with a decoration resembling Tiana’s tiara.

Some scaffolding has been removed from the left side of the mountain, but some poles still run along a ridge. We’ve seen crews fixing up the plants and rockwork in this area but no crew members were there on Thursday morning.

Tiana’s Bayou Adventure retains the ride track of Splash Mountain, but with a new story, sets, and audio-animatronics. Guests will ascend through the refurbished mill and eventually drop from the top of the mountain.

Several colorful bottles hang around the opening of the ride’s famous drop. These imply the climactic scene will be set at Mama Odie’s shipwreck home. Jennifer Lewis will reprise her role as Mama Odie. Several other cast members are also returning and the ride will have 17 new original characters.

Briar Patch Gift Shop

The entrance to the Briar Patch gift shop is now covered in dark scrim. Previously, the doors were just closed and roped off. Disney recently announced that the Briar Patch at Disneyland would become Ray’s Berets while a portion of Pooh Corner would become Louis’ Critter Club. These gift shop names may be used at Walt Disney World, too.

Queue & Train Station

Real plants have also been installed at the front of the Tiana’s Bayou Adventure queue. Three new trees peek out from above the construction walls around the Frontierland train station.

During construction of the ride’s queue, crews have also been refurbishing the train station’s stairs. Currently, only the new staircase on the left is open as both the entrance and exit.

Construction has included replacing the pavement around Tiana’s Bayou Adventure and the train station. We saw several cracks in the gray pavement in front of the station.

From the train station, we can look down into the queue. The three trees are surrounded by small ferns and shrubs.

Many of these have not yet been planted but are still in black pots, staged for installation. There’s a ring of bright green shrubs next to a sidewalk lined in brick and wrought iron railings.

A crew member in the area was checking something on a computer tablet. A flowerbed space directly below the train station has not been filled with plants.

Red tape blocks off a pathway full of construction materials. A coil of black tubes was staged among the plants.

The Laughin’ Place play area was demolished late last year. The area has now been paved with cobblestones matching other areas of the new ride queue. Many other construction materials like concrete bricks and planks of wood are staged in this area.

The framework of a new entrance staircase for the train station is in place. Steps and railings have not yet been installed.

Near the staircase that’s open, we saw some wood supports next to the ride’s flume.

A log was in the flume here, too. The ride vehicles are the refurbished logs used for Splash Mountain.

Guests can currently walk under the train station and into part of the Tiana’s Bayou Adventure queue to reach restrooms. From this area, we can also see some of the construction on the right side of the mountain, where a new fence was installed. One of Splash Mountain’s barren trees remained but is now covered in vines.

Behind the fence, we saw more new plants. We previously noted new red-orange plants in this area.

There was also something that appeared to be covered in bubble wrap.

The window on the front of the queue’s barn is open for the first time in months. It has previously been covered with scrim. Scaffolding is in front of the window and doorway below it.

The window is split into four sections each with nine small panes.

We could also see lights on inside the barn, which was painted yellow early on in construction.

The barn also has a mural on two sides, framing the entrance.

Beyond construction walls, more wrought iron railings have been installed along the pathways but some of the old wood Splash Mountain railings remain. Flowerbeds are full of dirt but no new foliage.

The open area has cobblestones that will presumably continue throughout the queue.

There are large toolboxes and electrical equipment on the construction site.

Tiana’s Bayou Adventure Flume

There weren’t many changes in the flume following the ride’s drop. This is one area of the ride that is significantly visible to guests and we’ve seen testing here.

It looks like most construction materials have been removed from around the flume under the bridge.

Several logs were parked under the lefthand tunnel, although the flume was not full of water. The logs have red tags on them.

A temporary fence blocks the Cast Member access stairs next to the flume.

Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is scheduled to open this summer at Magic Kingdom.

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