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Disney Reveals Princess Tiana Is Leaving the Bayou and Hitting the Road: ‘Bringing Her Magic to the People’

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Princess Tiana is almost there, and in this case, ‘there’ means a city near you!

During this month’s Essence Festival of Culture in New Orleans, Disney executives held a brunch at historic Dooky Chase’s restaurant where they revealed plans for the beloved Princess and the Frog characters to hit the road with Tiana’s Joyful Celebration Traveling Exhibition, stopping at multiple locations across the nation beginning in 2026.

“We know that the Tiana story is magical, whimsical, and it’s giving people a lot of joy,” Carmen Smith, Senior Vice President of Creative Development at Disney Parks Experiences and Products and Walt Disney Imagineering told reporters at the event. Smith helped oversee the opening of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure attractions in Disney parks last year.

With this new traveling extension of the story “the intention was that, there are so many families that may not be able to get to Disney just yet. And so for us, it’s about bringing the magic of Tiana to the people across the country.”

The first stop will be at The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, with the exhibition opening March of 2026. “They’re an incredible partner that’s working on the build of the exhibit and working with us on the selections of cities around the country,” Smith says of the museum.

As for what fans can expect from the exhibition, “We want kids to step into Tiana’s world and feel like, ‘Hey, I grew something in the garden and I helped make the gumbo. Hey, I learned the dance step and I’m really going to be important in the parade. Hey, I played with the critters and learned some of the music’,” explains Jennifer Pace Robinson, President and CEO of the Indianapolis Children’s Museum.

Robinson continues, “These are all hands-on interactives that we build and design. But what I love about our program is that we also make them immersive, so you’ll feel like you’re stepping into Tiana’s world. You’ll see the street lamps of New Orleans, you’ll see the Mardi Gras beads.”

Asked why Princess Tiana is getting this kind of royal treatment not long after the new attractions last year, Smith explains, “Her attributes are ones that we all want or aspire to have, whether it’s kindness, thoughtfulness, a sense of family and community. And when I saw the expression of the families coming off with the attraction, it made me think how many more families would feel the same way if they saw this princess.”

She adds, “Yes, she’s a beautiful African-American princess, but what makes her so unique is that she lives in all of us in some shape, form, or fashion. I remember seeing this little boy, a Caucasian little boy holding onto his Tiana doll for dear life. He was not letting it go.”

News of the exhibition comes four months after Disney Studios announced that production on a planned Princess Tiana animated TV series would not be moving forward. As for why Tiana’s next chapter on screen has been halted, Sivonne Davis, VP of Marketing Strategy for Walt Disney World told reporters, “Disney oftentimes has to make different decisions that come in at different times in the year, and they always are trying to tell unique stories.”

She continued, “Referring to Tiana, the story still is being told. And so as one story gets maybe tabled, other opportunities to tell that story come to life, and that’s why the touring experience is coming through.”

For Stella Chase, owner of Dooky Chase’s restaurant and daughter of late creole chef Leah Chase, the woman who inspired Disney’s Princess Tiana, this new traveling venture is exactly what she’d hoped for the character.

“Everyone likes to go to Disney World and to Disneyland, but my mother always said, ‘You have to make things accessible to the people who can’t’. And this is a way. This really means a lot to me because it means we are fulfilling just what my mother wanted to do, and that’s a blessing.”

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