Why Does Mermaid Use Screens?

[Pixiedustmaker]

I know that some rides like Star Tours, and Toy Story Mania, by necessity need to use screens as part of the ride. I know that there are screens used extensively in Mermaid, but I guess I just chalked it up to limited space, but now I'm not so sure. For example:

In Ariel's transformation to a human, why not use an animatronic with fiber optic sparklers around her legs, or even a Pepper's Ghost trick to make it look like her fin changes into legs?

http://www./wp-content/uploads/2012/04/cg2.jpg

And why have a screen Ariel overheard when I guess they could have built a little Ariel animatronic to make it look like the real Little Mermaid is circling above?

http://www./wp-content/uploads/2012/04/cg1.jpg

Similarly, the Ariel gets her voice back scene could have easily been done with an Ariel and Eric animatronics and fiber optics,

Outside of just budgets concerns, why use screens? Maybe this is why it is hard (at least for me) to get into the magic of the ride as you switch between screens and animatronics and nothing feels like it is connected. I wish I knew if this was because of a couple feet of space or just . . . budget concerns.

 

[Tom Morrow]

its just being cheap in this case, nothing more. I mean, make no mistake - Mermaid will only be slightly more engaging than Nemo at Epcot, due to a couple of impressive animatronics. Totally worth the three years of waiting, right guys??

 

[Pixiedustmaker]

its just being cheap in this case, nothing more.

Maybe that's a good thing as it might mean that there is some space behind these screens that they could use to put in a real scene.

I just ask because the screens are very close to the ride vehicle, just figured there was a wall a foot behind them or something.

I've seen the Little Mermaid enough to know that the transformation to having legs and losing/getting back her voice are integral to the film, but maybe they should have just focused on other stuff (romance, big musical numbers, Ursula), as folks don't seem to remember the "soft serve" hairstyle thing from the film, though I certainly got the reference.

 

[danlb_2000]

Maybe that's a good thing as it might mean that there is some space behind these screens that they could use to put in a real scene.

I just ask because the screens are very close to the ride vehicle, just figured there was a wall a foot behind them or something.

I've seen the Little Mermaid enough to know that the transformation to having legs and losing/getting back her voice are integral to the film, but maybe they should have just focused on other stuff (romance, big musical numbers, Ursula), as folks don't seem to remember the "soft serve" hairstyle thing from the film, though I certainly got the reference.

I personally have no problem with the use of screens where it is appropriate, it's not like the entire Mermaid ride is nothing but screens they are only used in three place (best I can remember). The screens are just another tool in the imgineers toolbox, I see not reasonnot to use them. Of the three uses in Mermaid the I like the overhead one the best, I don't thing they could have gotten anywhere near the same effect if they had used animatronics. Also, in DCA space was an issue, since they built Mermaid to fit into an existing space in the park, so the size and shape of the ride was constrained by the space they had to work with.

And at the risk of starting another argument, I just don't understand you deep seated hatred of this ride? You can't deny it, this is the second thread you have started to criticize elements of the ride, not to mention discussions in other threads.

 

[Poirot4]

You certainly do have a lot of negative things to say about this ride. I can't imagine disliking a ride SO much that I would feel the need to continually post about it on a website. And not just this ride but also the FLE version which hasn't even opened yet. It can't be healthy.

I'm truly beginning to believe that you have some sort of agenda. Do you work for Universal?

 

[Bolt]

You certainly do have a lot of negative things to say about this ride. I can't imagine disliking a ride SO much that I would feel the need to continually post about it on a website. And not just this ride but also the FLE version which hasn't even opened yet. It can't be healthy.

I'm truly beginning to believe that you have some sort of agenda. Do you work for Universal?

I agree with this - I've noticed a similar pattern.

They also started the Mermaid Animatronic Duplicate Photo thread. Sounds like an imagineer who was fired from the project

 

[disney fan 13]

You certainly do have a lot of negative things to say about this ride. I can't imagine disliking a ride SO much that I would feel the need to continually post about it on a website. And not just this ride but also the FLE version which hasn't even opened yet. It can't be healthy.

I'm truly beginning to believe that you have some sort of agenda. Do you work for Universal?

Do you work for TDO?

 

[BryceM]

I'm confused. What is wrong with the use of 3 screens...

It's not like the whole ride is screens. I actually really like them.

 

[Rasvar]

I've only been on the DCA ride once. I really think the animated effect for the transformation works better than any animitronic would. I never really liked the Wicked Witch transformation in Snow White. If I remember right, the top shot is not really visible for a long period of time and was more of a transition turn. It was not really long enough for details. The voice one: yes, I think that one might have been better served. I will ride it again in a few weeks to see if there might have been a technical reason for it.

However, it is a a good D-ticket ride. I think that was the goal. Even with these possible deficiencies, it exceeds the quality of the existing dark rides in Fantasyland by a good bit.

 

[rioriz]

Wow OMG three screens! Never ever go on Spiderman then you will be horrified!! I mean why aren't there Dr Octopus and Spidey animatronics flying around? Don't even get me started on Potter!!!!!!!!!

 

[Pixiedustmaker]

I had nothing to do with the Mermaid ride, or with Universal Creative.

I would also say that I love the BoG restaurant area, and that 7DMT just might turn out to be a very nice ride if they had the same level of details. Sure wish they would have more dark scenes, though, but I think that these parts of FLE will potentially bring in a lot of guests and that families, and maybe even couples, should definitely experience BoG as it looks fantastic.

I wasn't even criticizing the screens per se, just wondering why the decision was made in the creative process to go with screens as other dark rides have used a variety of "tricks" such as Pepper's Ghost, fiber optics, for similar effects.

What I really would like to see would be a diagram that shows the space in the Mermaid show building, as far as screens are concerned.

I don't even know how much the Ariel animatronics cost, and if that had anything to do with the screens, just looking for a little info, that's all.

 

[Pixiedustmaker]

I've only been on the DCA ride once. I really think the animated effect for the transformation works better than any animitronic would. I never really liked the Wicked Witch transformation in Snow White. If I remember right, the top shot is not really visible for a long period of time and was more of a transition turn. It was not really long enough for details. The voice one: yes, I think that one might have been better served. I will ride it again in a few weeks to see if there might have been a technical reason for it.

I really only recall the Disneyland version of Snow White well, where we have the good witch in the "mirro", and then the mannequin turns and we see the old witch. I would agree that it is not 100% perfect, as if you know how the effect works you can see the side of the witch's face, but I like it. Plus, Tony Baxter really plussed this scene in Disneyland's version of the ride, with a subtle transformation using projectors on the scene elements, pretty cool, IMHO.

Plus, I believe there were rumors that the old plans for FLE used some really neat magic trick where Cinderella would transform from the maid into a ball gown in front of guests eyes.

I figure that a Pepper's Ghost type trick could be used to switch between two version of Ariel, perhaps masking the transition with the use of fiber optic pixie dust or something.

 

[Pixiedustmaker]

Wow OMG three screens! Never ever go on Spiderman then you will be horrified!! I mean why aren't there Dr Octopus and Spidey animatronics flying around? Don't even get me started on Potter!!!!!!!!!

I haven't ridden Potter or even Spiderman yet, I always just visited Disney parks in Orlando, though I am interested to see Potter in the future when I make it back out there. I guess I will be disappointed with the screens if they are used for most of the ride.

 

[Pixiedustmaker]

Maybe this diagram explains why some scenes don't have a lot of real estate to play with. I believe that the "legs transformation" screen is outlined by a rectangle in Scene 7 "Ascent", obviously, there isn't room for much else here, and in Scene 9 you can see the "Love's First Kiss" projection thingy, which happens after "card board cut out" Ursula (don't know how else to reference this small little scene so that folks recognize it).

Interesting, IMHO.

Personally, I wish they expanded some scenes, for example, the "Kiss the Girl scene is pretty quick, and not a lot of space was set aside for the "swamp", or the rest of the environment, like in the concept art which perhaps hinted at a scene as big as the "Under the Sea" scene, or maybe half its size,

As it is now, you just go by one side of Eric and Ariel's boat, and don't feel like you're weaving around a swamp, though maybe this did this because then you'd see the other omnimovers behind the two animatronics.

 

[tizzo]

Outside of just budgets concerns, why use screens? Maybe this is why it is hard (at least for me) to get into the magic of the ride as you switch between screens and animatronics and nothing feels like it is connected. I wish I knew if this was because of a couple feet of space or just being really cheap.

You say that as if budget was irrelevant.

 

[RSoxNo1]

The ride would be better if they had real actresses playing every Ariel animatronic and interacting with each guest. It would be better if there was a huge pyrotechnics explosion at the end of the attraction with Triton killing Ursula. It would be better if the trained a live bird to narrate instead of using those stupid Scuttle animatronics.

I'm not known for giving Disney any slack, but at what point do you say people are being unreasonable. This ride is an animatronic driven ride that at no point ever professed to be an E-Ticket. The finale doesn't have major special effects, but what's the precedent for this? Name a dark ride that has a substantially better finale than Little Mermaid? Everything I can come up with is considered an E-ticket (Indiana Jones Adventure, The Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain, etc).

 

[td1129]

I love it that when motion simulator studios uses screens (literally every ride) it's groundbreaking, but when Disney does it, it's cheap.

 

[Pixiedustmaker]

Name a dark ride that has a substantially better finale than Little Mermaid? Everything I can come up with is considered an E-ticket (Indiana Jones Adventure, The Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain, etc).

Ah . . . I don't think anybody ever said that the finale needs to have special effects. Mermaid's "finale" scene is kind of creepy (characters waving at you) and pointless, and it recycles ocean critters from elsewhere in the ride, doesn't add to the story, IMHO. I know it is post-wedding for Ariel, but she got married on a ship, and the scene looks very cramped. Plus the characters break the fourth wall, we aren't flies on the wall getting to see the wedding, but getting an official send off from the characters, a thanks for riding their ride. Here are some better "finales", though I think that ending scene or final scene is more appropriate:

Tony Baxter when he re-did Fantasyland in Disneyland added an "edgy" ending scene to Mr. Toad where Toad winds up in hell and the ride ends, which I think kind of works as it is part of the story, and is a neat scene visually.

Alice ends with a birthday cake exploding/birthday party thing. Neat way to end the ride, I like it.

Pinocchio has the Blue Fairy and Pinocchio turning into a boy, not everybody waving to the guests, but much more "magical" in my mind.

Peter Pan has the pirate ship flying to London, a nice little scene with a fiber optic (I guess) pirate boat at the end, much more whimsical than Peter Pan, Wendy, and the lost boys lining up to wave good-bye.

Snow White in Disneyland ends with the witch and the Dwarfs, and a storybook. Maybe not the "let's hold hands and say good-bye to the guest" type of finale that people want, but I like Snow White more than Mermaid, though some little kids might not. So, I can't list Snow White as having a finale as the ride doesn't have one, and doesn't need it, IMHO, as it is supposed to be "scary", not a book report ride.

 

[Pixiedustmaker]

You say that as if budget was irrelevant.

Well, maybe somebody can mention the budgetary costs of an animatronic. If Mermaid costs $100 million (not sure what the exact figure is), and if an animatronic costs $1 million, or maybe much less for a limited motion animatronic, then why not add some extra scenes instead of the screens? Why spend tens of millions on rockwork if they can't add animatronics to the scenes?

Remember, Mermaid will be where it is for a long time, probably four decades or more, I think it is better to do it right the first time and let the quality bring people back into the parks.

 

[WDWFREAK53]

I've never been on the DCA version of this attraction so I can't comment from first-hand experience.

There are definitely benefits to using screens vs. animatronics and I'm not just talking about money.
1. Space...look at how little space off of the wall your TV sits. With screens, you can make the space look a lot more spacious and utilize it much better.
2. Movement. While Disney has come leaps and bounds with fluid movement from the original animatronics, they are definitely not 100% perfect. Doing a quick movement still looks somewhat robotic.

The transformation you mentioned may have worked better with animatronics due to the cool effects (Pepper Ghost) that could've been implemented (which is one of the reasons I love the HM...so many cool affects and none of them cheated with CGI/Video screens (although that seems to also have changed with the new ending)). Space/Money was probably the reason for this one though.

The swimming scene is fine...more fluid motion with animation and, as someobody pointed out, you don't see it for long.

The scene where she gets her voice back...it looks as if it's just a sillouette anyways, (again, haven't seen the actual scene), so why waste the money on an animatronic that you don't really see anyways?