Winnie the Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore would have to hop on a plane in London and fly to New Orleans if they wanted to get from their Hundred Acre Wood to the new Bayou Country they now live in at Disneyland.
Critter County will officially become Bayou Country when the rethemed land debuts along with the reimagined Tiana’s Bayou Adventure on Nov. 15.
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh inside Disneyland on March 26, 2024, in Anaheim, CA.(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
The new Bayou Country themed land will be home to the former Splash Mountain ride now set in the Louisiana Bayou, a couple of stores renamed after “Princess and the Frog” characters and the Hungry Bear restaurant that now pays tribute to the Country Bears — all of which fit thematically into a swampy area next to Disneyland’s New Orleans Square.
But the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh dark ride and the Pooh Corner candy shop next door that reopened in late August certainly don’t belong in Bayou Country — at least from a thematic standpoint.
Pooh fit thematically into Critter Country alongside the Country Bears, Br’er Rabbit and Disney’s other animal critters. But the Hundred Acre Wood set in England just outside London is a transatlantic flight away from the Louisiana Bayou.
“We still aren’t sure how the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh fits in with the Bayou theme, but it tells you a lot about how Disneyland has given up on Pooh,” according to MiceChat. “We wouldn’t be surprised at all if the Pooh ride and shop are eventually rethemed.”
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh inside Disneyland on March 26, 2024, in Anaheim, CA.(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
What could Walt Disney Imagineering replace the Pooh ride with at Disneyland?
Critter Country gave Imagineering plenty of options, but the new Bayou Country makeover really limits the possibilities.
Many longtime Disneylanders would like to see the Country Bear Jamboree return to the spot taken over by the Pooh ride. Florida’s Magic Kingdom rebooted the attraction in July as Country Bear Musical Jamboree — which could certainly work in the Bayou Country space.
Pooh fans have long clamored for a Disneyland version of Pooh’s Hunny Hunt at Tokyo Disneyland, but that seems even less likely now with the Bayou Country makeover.
“We can only hope that Disney will finally do something about this lackluster attraction and replace it with something that fits the land’s new theme,” according to MiceChat.
Disney and Pixar don’t have many movies in their catalogs set in bayous or swamps. The two biggest intellectual properties set in Louisiana — “Princess and the Frog” and several “Haunted Mansion” movies — already have rides at Disneyland.
DisneylandForward teased 10 possible lands for the recently-approved theme park expansion plan. A few are already in the works — like the Avatar ‘Way of Water’ land and Coco boat ride. Many others wouldn’t work in a Louisiana setting, like the proposed Frozen, Black Panther and Tangled lands.
But there is one potential project dangled during DisneylandForward that could fit in Bayou Country: Zootopia.
Disney’s 2016 “Zootopia” animated movie is set in a fictional mammal metropolis and the surrounding districts. Bunnyburrow is home to cougars, jaguars, sheep, foxes, ferrets and Judy Hopps — one of the stars of the film. The Rainforest District is lush, wooded, humid and wet — just like a Louisiana bayou.
The new Zootopia land at Shanghai Disneyland features the Hot Pursuit trackless dark ride. Imagineering could easily reboot the mission to focus on Bunnyburrow and the Rainforest District for a Bayou Country ride.
Disneyland might also eventually bulldoze the Pooh dark ride and candy store in order to connect Bayou Country across Disneyland Drive to the future westside theme park expansion area north of the Disneyland Hotel.
The DisneylandForward plan envisions a themed bridge connecting the dead end of Bayou/Critter Country to the Stitch parking lot just south of the Pixar Pals parking structure.
One thing is fairly certain: Winnie the Pooh isn’t leaving Bayou Country in the near future.
The D23 fan event in Anaheim unveiled a slew of new projects in the pipeline over the next five years — mostly focused on Disney California Adventure and far away from Disneyland’s version of the Hundred Acre Wood.
