Under the Sea ~ Journey of the Little Mermaid closing for month long refurbishment Feb 2-Mar 6

[Sped2424]

It could have if TDO had not cut corners in constructing in the FIRST place

This time it's actually not tdo's fault. The ride was designed to be lackluster on both coasts so I am guessing the final say on what the ride got was from higher up and not tda or tdo. Not to mention if you look at tdo's queue I would say it's more impressive all together than what TDA got. Even so the ride is a bit of a fixer upper.

 

[Sped2424]

For those confused about this refurb this is what happened at the disneyland version.

new version^

Old one^
See the difference in lighting and extra figures? It's a minorish detail, but it does help the ride experience.

 

[Californian Elitist]

My guess is maybe they have a better idea of what they are doing this time around? Idk.

That's definitely possible.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Ariel's Undersea Adventure was closed for nearly two months, but anything's possible. Seems unlikely they wouldn't put in the enhancements in a month's times.

My guess is maybe they have a better idea of what they are doing this time around? Idk.

Lighting is one of those that you still really need to do in the final space. I would imagine a good portion of the time spent in California was testing and adjusting the lighting, which is now know and documented.

 

[TheRabbit]

Like the others members said, I don't think this is technically a 'refurb', more like an enhancement.

Oh, sorry. I just was going on the posting from the Administrator on this site about it being a refurb. But then again, you would think just being 2 yrs old they would have got it right the first time (added enhancements back then). Oh well, thank you for clearing that up.

 

[AndyS2992]

This better be true, once they've done this then they should get on to Big Thunder Mountain and plus that and then fix Space Mountain too and I'll be very happy.

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

They're adding Frozen.

 

[aladdin2007]

This time it's actually not tdo's fault. The ride was designed to be lackluster on both coasts so I am guessing the final say on what the ride got was from higher up and not tda or tdo. Not to mention if you look at tdo's queue I would say it's more impressive all together than what TDA got. Even so the ride is a bit of a fixer upper.

yep this for sure! just the show lighting upgrades themselves would be a big improvement, the blacklight package would do wonders.

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

Now I thought wdw1974 said when they do it over here it would be the whole shabang new ending and updates all at once. I could have been mistaken.

He said he hopes it would get the new ending, it wasn't a confirmation (he confirmed WDW would be getting the enhancements they added earlier this year though, he speculated next year sometime). The new ending isn't even confirmed for either attraction, but it's something WDI wants done. They have to wait for a budget and schedule a decent refurb to get it done, and i'm guessing it's going to take more time and money than the prior enhancements. Considering that this is only a very short refurb, I would not expect a new ending for WDW's. California's will probably have to get it first before they consider cloning the changes at WDW.

One month is pushing it to even get the enhancements DCA's already has, though again much of the work as stated is already documented and the scenery additions may already have been duplicated for easy and quick installation.

 

[Oriolesmagic]

The queue isn't interactive enough?

 

[ford91exploder]

what mold? The building is new.

It's installed with the concrete

 

[Tegan pilots a chicken]

Pretty excited about this. I love the ride anyway but if it gets the DCA treatment that is a huge plus!!

 

[bndxsupnetcr]

I was wondering when this would happen.

 

[IowaHawks7]

I'm not too familiar with the new supposed ending. What does it entail exactly?

 

[cjk0318]

I'm not too familiar with the new supposed ending. What does it entail exactly?

Ariel and her undersea friends singing 'Let it Go'

 

[lnsemsf]

I've flown there many times. I spend 30 days a year at Disneyland. It's definitely better. The lighting hides the infrastructure a lot better than Florida. I however never thought the Florida ride was bad because I considered it to just be a modern take on a Fantasyland ride and not a Haunted Mansion type E-ticket. It's good for what it is, but California's is just better.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

I go to DL every month or so and think the ride is much better now than it was before the updates. The most positive difference for me is in the Under the Sea room, you used to see a lot of the wires and rods that moved the ceiling characters, now everything just seems to float. I also love the blacklight paint, the ride itself is not nearly as bright but the characters really pop now and stand out much more. IMHO the updates are a huge improvement.

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

Oh wow, haven't seen this guy in a while, not since he tried to claim the Mine Train would have immensely shorter waits than Peter Pan. I'm a bit surprised he's still here.

The lighting on WDW's version of Mermaid is awful. Amateurish and half-a$$ed are good words to describe the work that went into a lot of it. Particularly poor is the Under the Sea scene where you can see all the exposed structures in the ceiling and everything holding the figures. I finally got a chance to ride it earlier this month for the first time and what a mess they have to clean up. I've not ridden the California version, but black lighting is unquestionably needed and you can tell even from video ridethroughs that it's an immense improvement compared to before (though the ride still needs a lot of work still). Ursula's scene was a scene that had black lighting from the start and is also the best scene in the ride. Not just because the animatronic is good, but because of the lighting.

Even my mother commented on how ugly and distracting it was being able to clearly see all the mechanical structures holding stuff together, and how everything looked like overly shiny plastic toys. And she doesn't even read online comments about the ride nor was she aware it was a common complaint with it, those were just initial impressions and she was actually looking forward to the ride (and she even noticed the lack of proper air conditioning in the building). The sooner WDW's gets the alterations from DCA the better, though they're far from the only thing it needs...

 

[Matt_Black]

Are there issues that need improved? Yes, but I still enjoy the ride for what it is. Granted, I'm a bit biased because I LOVE hearing "Whale of a Tale" in the queue, as that's one of my favorite Disney songs.

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

Are there issues that need improved? Yes, but I still enjoy the ride for what it is.

Yes, many. As it stands the ride is ok to decent at best currentl. I would consider it a stretch to call it "good", although the black lighting would bump it up a notch. But there's still a laundry list of issues even disregarding the lighting. Ariel's poorly designed face, the rushed and poorly executed second half, all the recycled figures etc etc.

At least it's generally a walk on now from what i've experienced. Looks like popularity has taken a nosedive since it initially opened, it seems the general public isn't crazy about the ride either. I know it's a high capacity people eating omnimover, but it's still a relatively new Fantasyland ride themed to a Disney princess movie (and Haunted Mansion consistently gets large crowds despite being immensely older, lines are also worse than ever with Fastpass screwing things up). Even in spite of huge crowds in the rest of the park and its rides (particularly Mine Train), people seem to be avoiding it. I'll probably ride it occasionally mostly because it's a good way to rest as long as I didn't have to wait for it. I wouldn't wait in line for any real period of time though (5 minutes at most unless they plus the hell out of it).

I kind of almost like it, i'm quite close to considering it a pretty good ride if some minor alterations are made (including but not limited to the lighting fixes). But there's a lot of issues that really drag it down and serve as a distraction from me fully enjoying myself with it.

Granted, I'm a bit biased because I LOVE hearing "Whale of a Tale" in the queue, as that's one of my favorite Disney songs.

The queue isn't the problem. Heck the queue is pretty fantastic honestly, and everyone has brought up the little statement that it's actually far better than the ride itself.