Before Tiana’s Bayou Adventure opened to the public at Disney World, one St. Charles Parish teacher got to experience the new ride early. After all, her paintings helped inspire it.
Sharika Mahdi, who teaches Talented Art at Albert Common and R.K. Smith middle schools, recalled the compliments she received for her drawings back in elementary school. Ever since she was a child, she’s enjoyed drawing her favorite things.
“However, it was in high school that I started to appreciate my talent,” she said. “It was my first time taking an art class.”
Now, Mahdi is the one teaching those art classes and she enjoys sharing her experiences with students and encouraging them to embrace the process and find their creative voice.
Her own creativity led to quite the surprise a few years ago when she received an email from someone at Disney. The email was followed up with a phone call, where Mahdi heard Disney’s pitch.
It seems Disney was looking for artists from New Orleans because they were in the process of reimagining Splash Mountain into a ride based on “The Princess and the Frog,” which is a modern-day fairytale inspired by and set in New Orleans. This year, the ride opened as Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.
“I felt blessed that my work was in the right place at the right time,” Mahdi said. “I created sketches that resulted in four paintings based on the key themes that were planned for the ride.
“They gave me the freedom to use my interpretation and style.”
Now that the ride is open to the public, Mahdi said she continues to hear from former students, who have expressed how happy they are with her.
“It had to sink in for many of the students as they were amazed that their teacher helped with a Disney ride,” she said. “Their reactions fill me with joy and I hope that it continues to inspire them to be great and never give up on their talent!”
Mahdi called the finished ride a “whole vibe.”
“I was so happy to see some of the elements that the Imagineers incorporated such as the critters, frogs, and Mama Odie,” she said.
Mahdi is looking forward to the new school year so she can share her experience of working with the Imagineers and tell her students about her trip to see the ride and her upcoming visit to Disney Land in the fall.
“I am also looking forward to creating an environment of creative imagination,” she said. “I want each student to be able to discover their special gifts through their work and appreciate the creative process.”
