Tiana’s Bayou Adventure weather vane tells a story with symbols
New Orleans blacksmiths created a weather vane for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure — opening later this year at Disneyland and Magic Kingdom — that was inspired by Adinkra symbols of West Africa and tells a story through architectural details.
Disney theme parks are brimming with multilayered storytelling and many visual details of Disney destinations function as art installations in and of themselves. Guests who look beyond (and often above) the surface are rewarded with a deeper understanding of the stories, characters, and themes that inhabit the parks’ attractions and atmospheres.
New Orleans Art Meets Disney Architecture
In creating Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, Walt Disney Imagineering continues that tradition. The top-to-bottom re-imagining of the now-defunct Splash Mountain log flume will open sometime in 2024 in both Anaheim and Orlando. Set within the world of “The Princess and the Frog,” which takes place in New Orleans, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure will feature signature Disney details, hand-crafted by authentic New Orleans artisans.
This includes a weather vane created by blacksmiths Darryl Reeves and Karina Roca. Imagineers installed the piece overnight Jan. 5, 2024 at the ride’s construction site in Magic Kingdom. Disney implied the piece will also be installed at Disneyland’s version of the attraction.
Reeves’ fives decades of ironwork is abundant throughout New Orleans. Roca is Reeves’ apprentice at Andrew’s Blacksmith & Welding Shop. The pair designed the weather vane “with a level of love and intention,” Roca said in a video on Disney Parks’ YouTube channel. Let’s take a closer look.
Where to Find the Weather Vane on Tiana’s Bayou Adventure
Though Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is still in the thick of construction — and Disney hasn’t announced a specific opening date, aside from saying the ride will open “soon” on TikTok — guests visiting Magic Kingdom can see the weather vane from inside the park if they look closely.
Think back to the flow of the ride’s former version. Just after the ride begins, the logs float slowly in front of the big finale drop before ascending a small lift hill underneath a wood-roof shelter. The new weather vane is located atop this sheltered structure. You can spot it if you stand near the Frontierland parade gate.
The Adinkra Symbols of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure Weather Vane
The newly installed weather vane at Tiana’s Bayou Adventure carries symbolism that contributes something much more than a simple iron fixture to the attraction. Reeves and Roca crafted the weather vane utilizing the shape of Adinkra symbols from West Africa.
Author and educator Kaleena Sales wrote a history of Adinkra symbolism on the AIGA Design Educators Community:
Adinkra symbols were designed by the Akan people from Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana during the early 1800s. Many Adinkra symbols use radial or reflective symmetry and express deeply symbolic proverbs related to life, death, wisdom, and human behavior. These symbols were often painted or stamped as patterns onto fabrics (Adinkra cloth), pottery, and more.
The three segments of Tiana’s weather vane were inspired by different Adinkra symbols.
The top symbol represents endurance. “It looks like a fern,” Roca said on Disney Parks’ YouTube channel, “because fern plants are very resilient. They can grow and thrive in any environment.”
The middle symbol is emblematic of the divinity of Mother Earth, inspired by a proverbial saying, “As above, so below.” Roca explained, “You look at a tree and you think, ‘Wow, these branches are so beautiful,’ but what you’re not seeing a whole underground network of roots. For all that you see, there is a whole underworld of things that you don’t see.”
The bottom symbol is known as Sankofa. “It looks like a heart,” Roca said, “and that’s pretty and beautiful, but what it really symbolizes is a bird looking back on its tail — looking back on its past and its ancestry of all the lessons and advice that those that have come before have given us.”
Together, the three Adinkra symbols share a generational message. “It’s about looking to the past and honoring it,” Roca summed up, “but it’s also about thinking and being future-oriented and caring about the youth that is to come.”
As for the inside of the attraction, Imagineers provided a sneak peek during D23 Expo 2022:
