Watch Jenifer Lewis freak out meeting her “Princess and the Frog” Disney animatronic in Splash Mountain revamp
Lewis led the Disney Imagineering team in a performance of "Dig a Little Deeper" as she joyously reacted to meeting Mama Odie's animatronic for Tiana's Bayou Adventure.
Black-ish actress Jenifer Lewis — queen of high-kicks and singing in front of glaciers in Antarctica — just had an iconic, joyous reaction to reuniting with her Princess and the Frog character in animatronic form ahead of Disney World's opening of its new Tiana's Bayou Adventure replacement for its beloved Splash Mountain flume ride.
The Mama Odie voice actress met with Disney's Imagineering team in a new video shared Wednesday to social media, and came face-to-face with the park's animatronic version of the character she played in the 2009 animated classic.
"Oh my God, here it is. Hey, sweetie! It’s Mama Odie!" Lewis exclaimed upon seeing the animatronic — which will appear in the Tiana's Bayou Adventure ride when it opens at Disney World's Magic Kingdom theme park this summer.
Lewis was beside herself as she took in the sights and Mama Odie's movements, but truly lost her mind (in the best way possible) when she caught a glimpse of Mama Odie's pet snake, Juju, sitting near a pile of beignets.
"Juju! Juju!" Lewis shouted at the figure, later telling Disney's Imagineers: "Her movements, everything is there. You guys did an amazing job on this. Now, what am I going to do with you guys? Where did you get your brains? It’s ridiculous!"
In signature fashion, the next shot showed Lewis leading the crew in a performance of Mama Odie's "Dig a Little Deeper" from the Princess and the Frog soundtrack.
"I want to just hug you all. I know it’s not mine but this is a gift," Lewis told the employees who worked on the attraction. "This is such an amazing gift."
Set to open sometime before the end of the summer season, Tiana's Bayou Adventure replaces Splash Mountain, famed Imagineer Tony Baxter's visionary flume ride that opened at California's Disneyland in 1989, and later at Magic Kingdom in 1992. In later years, amid criticism of the ride's theming — which drew inspiration from the 1946 film Song of the South, widely viewed as a racist work — Disney announced plans to replace both the California and Florida ride's aesthetic with a Princess and the Frog story.
The ride's new narrative picks up as a sequel to Princess and the Frog, with Princess Tiana (voiced by Anika Noni Rose, also returning from the film) plotting a one-of-a-kind Mardi Gras celebration with Naveen (Bruno Campos) and Louis (Michael-Leon Wooley) along for the journey.
Disneyland's revamped version is also expected to open in 2024, though an exact date has yet to be revealed for either ride. Splash Mountain still operates in its original iteration at Tokyo Disneyland in Japan, with no current plans to switch it out to a Princess and the Frog theme.
Watch Lewis react to meeting Mama Odie in the video above.
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