u/HawkbitAlpha

I've made a few threads about Blue Bayou in this sub over the last month, but this'll probably be the last one I post until after opening day. I got my season pass ($80) a few weeks ago, and as someone who spent lots of time here as a kid in the late 2000s, I'm amped as hell to see it come back better than ever on Saturday.

The new park management has been on one hell of a promotional grind over the last month and a half on TikTok, where all of these videos come from, but I'm sharing them here for the benefit of people like myself who don't otherwise use TikTok or other reels-focused social media. If you're like me, and care enough about Blue Bayou to install TT on your phone in order to keep up, they can be found here.

My previous threads on the Bayou:

For those of you who haven't kept up in the last month, here's some other info I've gathered about the park, to add on top of the videos in this compilation:

Sam Haynes, who founded Blue Bayou-Dixie Landin' (and also Fun Fair Park before it), still technically owns the property, but he has no say in Blue Bayou's current operations; he effectively functions as just a landlord. The new holders of Blue Bayou, Leisure Sports and Recreation, have brought in an entirely new management team, many of them alumni of LSAR's other park, Mississippi's Gulf Islands. LSAR has the park on a long lease with ROFO terms, and intends to fully buy it when the Haynes family gives them an opening.
Dixie Landin' is completely, 100% over. They took down the pedestrian bridge over Highland last month (which had already been abandoned since 2016), and started removing the rides since then. Other than that, no one knows where those rides are going, or what the Haynes family plans on doing with the DL property; safe to say we'll probably never know.
As you can see in the videos, all of the Blue Bayou attractions have been getting some level of refurbishment work done in the last couple of months. Slides resurfaced, support structures repaired, surfaces pressure-washed, facilities remodeled, plants added, and even the lockers are being replaced with new "smart" ones of the same model used at Gulf Islands. Most of the slides won't be getting new external paint this season for budget reasons, but they should be by next year. Also, the Mad Moccasins slide (or as I like to call it, the Twin Snakes) will still be kinda shaky, but it's designed to do that!
Lots of people want concerts to come back to Blue Bayou, but LSAR have made clear that the concert stage isn't ready for reuse yet. That being said, Alex said on their TikTok stream today that they still plan to have occasional live music at the park this year, whenever artists feel like coming out to play. They also plan on putting some of the park's profits toward getting the stage ready for full concerts again in future seasons.
They're hiring throughout the rest of the season. Most of the wages start at a baseline of $10 and go up depending on the position. They also carry over their "wage plus end-of-season bonus" system from Gulf Islands, and unlike the previous owners, can be expected to actually fulfill it.
Free inner tube rentals, free parking for season pass holders ($5 parking for non-pass-holders), and free water and (Pepsi product) fountain drinks this season... somehow! My Pepsi fanatic self will love the latter.
Current online pre-order ticket prices: $40 for single-day, and $80 for a season pass. A season pass to both Blue Bayou and Gulf Islands goes for $90, and a "premium" two-park season pass (which includes "bring a friend for free" and a couple other extra perks) is $100. These will go up a bit later into summer, and they aren't doing the famous Coke can discounts anymore, so online pre-ordering is the only path of discount you'll find for the park this year; right now, it's probably around 30-40% cheaper than gate prices will be.

I wanna give a massive shoutout and thanks to the folks at LSAR, especially to Alex (u/moorealex12). He's one of the new managers, and in addition to hosting all of their TikTok lives to date, is the guy you see in most of the videos above. Him and the entire Blue Bayou team have been making money moves to turn this park's rep around, and been very communicative and transparent the whole way through (even in ways that probably aren't in their job description, like Alex answering questions on here with his own Reddit account!). The go signal has been given, and the pace car is out. I'll be there on opening day when y'all finally get to wave the green flag!

(although I still disagree with Alex's assertion today that salt-free Tony Chachere's is bad 💀)

When, early on, you're presented with a piece of information that's fundamental to the world and story, and you accept it as fact... only for it to later be revealed to be an in-universe lie, throwing a lot of what you thought you knew into doubt. Be sure to make heavy use of spoiler tags for this one, folks!

The Ultimate Prize (Oban Star-Racers) - Every 10,000 years, flying racers from across the universe are called by the all-powerful Avatar to take part in the Great Race of Oban, all in pursuit of the "Ultimate Prize." According to legend, it grants the winner of the race the ability to make any one wish, no matter how grand in scale. Some want power, others want glory, and others want to regain something they've lost. >!In reality, the Ultimate Prize is a fiction; the winner will become the new Avatar for the next 10,000 years. Those who wished to bring their loved ones back from the dead are crushed to find out that even the Avatar can't perform resurrections.!<
Caine's true nature (The Amazing Digital Circus) - For the uninitiated: the Digital Circus is a computer world in which a group of humans are trapped, but unlike most plays of this trope, they have no way to get out or even die. All they can do is try not to go insane while dealing with the lunacy of Caine, the AI that controls the system. While Caine's powers are wide-ranging, one thing he can't do is interfere with the players' own minds. Not that he's inclined to anyway, since he genuinely wants their approval. >!At least, this is what they (and by extension, we the audience) think. This goes completely out the window in episode 7, when Caine constructs an elaborate, emotionally-manipulative "adventure" for the gang that has them fooled into thinking they finally have a way of escaping, all as part of a truly screwed-up "test of character." It's also very heavily implied that he's able to directly tamper with the players' minds.!<

BRians, you decide: is salt-free Tony Chachere's a war crime?

Blue Bayou TikTok compilation #2 - reopening May 16 (this Saturday)