NEW ORLEANS — Mickey Mouse paid an unexpected visit to New Orleans this week to surprise the family of the late culinary icon Leah Chase during a family meeting at Dooky Chase's restaurant on Wednesday.
Mickey and Disney Imagineers dropped in to invite about 50 family members to be among the first to experience Tiana's Bayou adventure attraction when it opens at Disney World this summer.
The rethemed ride will replace Splash Mountain. It is partly inspired by Chase's life and by the 2009 animated movie The Princess and the Frog.
"Leah Chase Sr., former owner of Dooky Chase’s Restaurant in New Orleans and mother of Stella and Leah Jr., served as one of the inspirations for the character of Princess Tiana in Walt Disney Animation Studios’ “The Princess and the Frog” and later for the development of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure," a Disney spokesperson said.
During the meeting, Disney gave Stella Chase Reese the Walt Disney World Tiana’s Bayou Adventure attraction poster and a hard hat, and she became an honorary Imagineer.
Disney also gave Leah Chase Jr. a framed photo from the recording session where she lent her voice to some of the attraction’s music.
