Princess Tiana’s Story Expands With Exhibit, Launched At Dooky Chase, The Restaurant That Inspired Her Roots

The magic of Disney is authenticity, and it was present during the 2025 Essence Festival of Culture in New Orleans in early July.

During a brunch held at Dooky Chase, the James Beard Award-winning restaurant that is central to the story of the beloved Disney princess Tiana, the legacy company, alongside creatives from Walt Disney Imagineering and The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, announced a new collaboration to bring the character’s story to eager fans across the nation through Tiana’s Joyful Celebration.

What exactly is Tiana’s Joyful Celebration?

Walt Disney Imagineering, the visionary behind the latest Tiana Bayou Adventure attraction, which opened at Disneyland in November 2024, has partnered with The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis to launch Tiana’s Joyful Celebration. This traveling exhibition extends the princess’s story into a fully immersive museum experience.

“The foundation of her story was in the movie, you know, I think it’s been 15 years ago now,” Sybil Crum, Disneyland Resort VP of marketing and commercial strategy, told Blavity.

“We expanded her story in two ways at Disneyland, starting with New Orleans Square, which is one of our original lands of Disneyland, Eudora’s Chic Boutique … so her mother, actually, has her very own shop. And you remember from the store that her mother was an expert seamstress, so that’s the first part of her story being expanded,” Crum said. “The second part was Tiana’s Palace, which is great if you think about the facade from the movie. Tiana’s Palace is brought to life in New Orleans Square at Disneyland Park, and not only is the food amazing, but the ambience — we actually have live jazz on the stage. That’s another part of her story. You will see Tiana come through in her entrepreneur elegant dress, and she’s hosting her guests, which is also really amazing.”

Furthermore, Crum spoke on other odes to the Disney princess: Bayou Country, where the attraction really comes to life, and Tiana’s Foods, a food company that expands beyond Tiana’s ownership of a restaurant and takes those dreams a bit further so that fans can not only live in the experience but become inspired by it as well.

Now, thanks to the traveling exhibit, children around the country will have the opportunity to experience Tiana in a whole new light.

The significance of New Orleans

Keeping New Orleans and the Chase family at the center of Tiana’s ever-evolving journey, the announcement of the latest expansion of her story was made during Essence at Dooky Chase with Stella Chase — the daughter of Leah Chase, the woman who inspired Princess Tiana.

“New Orleans is a real place,” Crum said. “It’s a real place that people can experience. It’s a real place that inspired Walt Disney to create a land to honor it at Disneyland for the last 70 years. It celebrates real people. And the Chase family, they are real people who own a restaurant that has a legacy that has been around in the community for, I think 50-plus years. We love that connection.”

She added, “I think it kind of gets to the authenticity of our stories that, you know, they aren’t just rooted in fantasy. They’re rooted in real people that have real lives and real aspirations, and when I think about Leah Chase’s legacy, that is profoundly impacted by the generations of the Chase family. I am just so honored to not only walk in that storied place, and then just to know the legacy of that restaurant. Also, to see it and how Tiana’s story evolves and comes to life. It’s not only been an amazing partnership, but it’s been an amazing friendship between the Chase family and the Disney company.”

When does Tiana’s Joyful Celebration kick off?

On March 7, 2026, the exhibition will launch at The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis before heading to 12 additional cities in 2027.