Earlier today, Disney Parks Blog took us on a journey to New Orleans to take a look at an incredible source of inspiration for the new attraction coming to Disney Parks in 2024, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.
What’s Happening:
- Disney Parks Blog has shared an update from New Orleans for another look at Tiana’s Bayou Adventure – an all-new adventure inspired by Walt Disney Animation Studios’ film The Princess and the Frog, sharing a unique dimension evolving around Tiana’s next chapter at Disney Parks during World Princess Week.
- Today, they’ve shared a painting inspiring Walt Disney Imagineers with the fresh perspective of New Orleans artist, Sharika Mahdi.
- Announced at ESSENCE Fest in New Orleans, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is coming to Magic Kingdom Park in Florida and Disneyland Park in California in late 2024. Guests are joined by a cast of friends – new and familiar – as they prepare for their first-ever Mardi Gras performance.
- To ensure this experience authentically reflects the real-life inspiration of Tiana’s story, Imagineers have consulted and collaborated with a host of academics, musicians and artists across the New Orleans region.
- When The Walt Disney Imagineering project team first looked for local inspiration, they were drawn to the work of an incredibly talented artist, Sharika Mahdi. Sharika has contributed a unique and authentic perspective to the project, capturing the essence of New Orleans through a series of original artwork commissioned by our team.
- Sharika was introduced to Walt Disney Imagineering through the esteemed YAYA (Young Aspirations Young Artists) youth art program, an organization that empowers creative youth in New Orleans through visual arts education combined with entrepreneurial and life skills training. An alumna of YAYA, Sharika’s unique composition and bold color techniques caught the eyes of WDI, who commissioned a series that will serve as a source of inspiration to the Imagineers responsible for bringing Tiana’s story to life.
- Charita Carter, executive producer at Walt Disney Imagineering recently paid a visit to Sharika, touring her studio and getting a first look at the second piece of artwork commissioned in this series: a jazz club scene with an ensemble of affable amphibians (the first piece in the series was shared during World Princess Week last year). It’s a delightful painting that lovingly illustrates the jubilance and liveliness of this musical city.
- During World Princess Week, there’s a focus on Disney’s beloved canon of heroines, and the mark they leave inthe company’s legacy of storytelling. Tiana’s Bayou Adventure builds on the story of Princess Tiana, a character whose pride and perseverance reminds us of a universal truth: within us lies the potential to make our dreams come true.
- This beautiful collaboration between WDI and Sharika Mahdi will be sure to reach and inspire all Disney Parks guests that experience Tiana’s Bayou Adventure once it opens in late 2024.
What They’re Saying:
- Sharika Mahdi: “Making a big deal about everything and celebrating everything, I want to show this is what it’s about, being a part of New Orleans and being a part of the culture.”
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