Why such a large queue for little mermaid?

Mawg

Mawg

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I was fortunate enough to go to Disneyland this past week for the first time. Had a great time! I rode the Little Mermaid Ride and it only had a 5 minute wait. In fact it always had a 5 minute wait. The ride eats people and it’s not a ride I would think that people would enjoy riding over and over (I never did, but I did on the Monster’s Inc. Ride, off topic but I thought it was a step up from most dark rides). The rumor I heard is that the little Mermaid ride at WDW will be the same exact ride but with a nicer queue. From the recent pictures the queue to the WDW version of little Mermaid looks amazing. I thought I heard there would be some sort of Scuttles Scavenger Hunt in or around the queue. Will anyone have time to enjoy this queue when the standby line is at 5 minutes or walk on? Is it two separate attractions or do we have a beautifully themed queue that is over kill for the attraction? Or maybe we should start to expect that the queues will be more fun than the attractions themselves?
 
muteki

muteki

Well-Known Member
Our queue will be much longer:

-Our LM ride will be in the middle of Fantasy Land, much more in context than at DL, where it is located at basically the equivalent of DHS.
-It will have Fastpass, which will by default slow down the standby line.
-In general, at WDW equivalent attractions have to deal with more people.
-It will be "new".

At CA the lines started off being really long too, and as time went on and people got their initial rides in the line dwindled. At WDW more people will be riding it for the first time, so the line length I think will not taper off as much as CA's did.
 
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Pixiedustmaker

Well-Known Member
danlb_2000 said:
DL Mermaid also has FastPass.
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When Carsland opened, the Fast Pass machines for Radiator Springs Racers were spitting out "free" fast passes for rides like Mermaid and Grizzly River Run, in a transparent effort to get guests to visit the rest of DCA outside of Carsland.

Mermaid is usually a ten minute wait at DCA, everytime I've ridden it, it has been a walk-on, if you want to ride it again you can type of walk on.
 
lazyboy97o

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
danlb_2000 said:
DL Mermaid also has FastPass.
Click to expand...
No, it does not.

Even right after the first showing of World of Color last week, the hardest part of getting onto The Little Mermaid was pushing through the crowds to get to the entrance. After that is was but a minute or two to board a clamshell.
 
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Pixiedustmaker

Well-Known Member
burks said:
I was fortunate enough to go to Disneyland this past week for the first time. Had a great time! I rode the Little Mermaid Ride and it only had a 5 minute wait. In fact it always had a 5 minute wait. The ride eats people and it’s not a ride I would think that people would enjoy riding over and over (I never did, but I did on the Monster’s Inc. Ride, off topic but I thought it was a step up from most dark rides). The rumor I heard is that the little Mermaid ride at WDW will be the same exact ride but with a nicer queue. From the recent pictures the queue to the WDW version of little Mermaid looks amazing. I thought I heard there would be some sort of Scuttles Scavenger Hunt in or around the queue. Will anyone have time to enjoy this queue when the standby line is at 5 minutes or walk on? Is it two separate attractions or do we have a beautifully themed queue that is over kill for the attraction? Or maybe we should start to expect that the queues will be more fun than the attractions themselves?
Click to expand...

I think that MK's queue needed to match FLE and be a step above DCA's Paradise Pier . . . plus it gives kids something to look and do, and for some kids will be more popular than the ride.

I also wondered what happens if MK's Mermaid turns into a walk-on. DCA's Mermaid doesn't have the immersive details or the "magic" that many Disney rides have, and is more of a musical review of the songs in the film, like a Country Bear Jamboree you get glimpses of from an omnimover, so it could become a walk-on. Also, with the construction with 7DMT, guests might avoid the area after the initial excitement wears down.

I also agree that the queue is sort of "over-kill" considering that the ride just doesn't work as well as other Disney rides, and obviously isn't an E-Ticket (at least the DCA version).

MK has the room to build an awesome Mermaid ride, beats me why they just recycled the plans for DCA's Mermaid which is restricted in size because of being retro-fitted into DCA. I guess money was the issue . . .
 
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Pixiedustmaker

Well-Known Member
lazyboy97o said:
No, it does not.

Even right after the first showing of World of Color last week, the hardest part of getting onto The Little Mermaid was pushing through the crowds to get to the entrance. After that is was but a minute or two to board a clamshell.
Click to expand...

There would be no need for a Fast Pass, the ride is always a walk on. Went on the ride with a five year old Mermaid fanatic . . . we have to talk her into riding it again! I think they put the few animatronics too close to the omnimovers, and the "under the sea" scene has a weird Twilight Zone black-green sky in the background that just doesn't work as far as even half-way believing you're under the sea . . . not to mention the unfinished scenes and Ariel's shadow getting her voice back, which a lot of little kids probably don't get at all.
 
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Pixiedustmaker

Well-Known Member
muteki said:
Our queue will be much longer:

-Our LM ride will be in the middle of Fantasy Land, much more in context than at DL, where it is located at basically the equivalent of DHS.
-It will have Fastpass, which will by default slow down the standby line.
-In general, at WDW equivalent attractions have to deal with more people.
-It will be "new".

At CA the lines started off being really long too, and as time went on and people got their initial rides in the line dwindled. At WDW more people will be riding it for the first time, so the line length I think will not taper off as much as CA's did.
Click to expand...

When Mermaid first opens there will be a long line, like maybe two hours. I remember when Monsters Inc. at DCA opened, three hour line! Now Monsters Inc. and Mermaid are just walk-ons.

I think location will help MK's Mermaid a whole lot, plus the nicer exterior, and the fact that it is in Fantasyland. DCA's Paradise Pier looks like the bad part of town that you're parents told you stay away from, kind of depressing that Mermaid makes her home here.

But will Mermaid break the "5-10 minute wait" barrier months from now? I don't think Mermaid will require a Fast Pass, like Pooh and Peter Pan, though obviously WDW is going Fast Pass crazy.
 
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Pixiedustmaker

Well-Known Member
lazyboy97o said:
I actually waited like ten minutes for Monsters Inc.!
Click to expand...

When Monsters Inc. first opened (over six years ago I believe) they had a temporary line stretching beyond the queue that was manned by all sorts of castmembers and managers, I remember weaving through the switchbacks which were composed of planters with freshly planted trees.

Now the trees have grown up and the switchbacks are empty.

When Monsters Inc. first opened guests lined up for hours, and shrugged their shoulders, turning the ride into a walk-on, often with 0 minute wait time.
 
danlb_2000

danlb_2000

Premium Member
lazyboy97o said:
No, it does not.

Even right after the first showing of World of Color last week, the hardest part of getting onto The Little Mermaid was pushing through the crowds to get to the entrance. After that is was but a minute or two to board a clamshell.
Click to expand...

Ah, ok I see now that it doesn't normally have Fastpass. I was confused by this which I got along with an RSR Fastpass when I was there a few weeks ago. Obviously I didn't need it since Mermaid was walk on.

Scan.jpg
 
lazyboy97o

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
Surprise FastPasses are nice in concept, but poor in execution. They have no value because you are being sent to an attraction that all too often has little to no wait. It is a little con. Get people excited to think they have something of value, but prove it to be worthless when they seek to redeem their special treat.
 
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Pixiedustmaker

Well-Known Member
lazyboy97o said:
Surprise FastPasses are nice in concept, but poor in execution. They have no value because you are being sent to an attraction that all too often has little to no wait. It is a little con. Get people excited to think they have something of value, but prove it to be worthless when they seek to redeem their special treat.
Click to expand...

I would also guess that most of the guests to ride RSR and get the Surprise Fast Passes are well acquainted with what else DCA has to offer, its almost as though some at TDA think that the rest of DCA is this super park that nobody visits because they don't know it exists.

Maybe they could have used this concept years ago to save Country Bear Jamboree, put a couple of "Surprise Tickets to Country Bear Jamboree in Bear Country!" in every souvenir map.
 
Patricia Melton

Patricia Melton

Well-Known Member
Someone on another thread said that DLR is visited mostly by Annual Pass Holders and WDW is visited mostly by tourists, and out of those tourists most people are once-in-a-lifetime visitors to WDW. So the explanation I heard for why the Orlando LM will be longer waits than the Anaheim LM is that the Annual Pass Holders don't ride the LM over and over again every time they come to the park. It seems to be a ride they go on once and then never again (or once every few trips). This means that the majority of people who are going to DLR may not even be riding LM on most days.

In WDW that will be different since the majority of people coming to the park are people who will never come back to WDW again in their lifetimes...so they will want to ride everything they can. That means they will definitely want to ride the LM attraction.

Hence, longer lines. At least this is how someone else explained it and it sure made a lot of sense to me.
 
The Empress Lilly

The Empress Lilly

Well-Known Member
LM in DL has 465533 other attractions within walking distance. Including over half a dozen classic darkrides based on Disney animated features.

I think LM in WDW will have much longer lines.
 
fractal

fractal

Premium Member
lazyboy97o said:
Surprise FastPasses are nice in concept, but poor in execution. They have no value because you are being sent to an attraction that all too often has little to no wait. It is a little con. Get people excited to think they have something of value, but prove it to be worthless when they seek to redeem their special treat.
Click to expand...


A surprise FastPass to Grizzly Run in DCA would have a lot of value. Standby times often exceed 60 minutes and I saw 120 minutes a few weeks ago.
 
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Pixiedustmaker

Well-Known Member
Patricia Melton said:
Someone on another thread said that DLR is visited mostly by Annual Pass Holders and WDW is visited mostly by tourists, and out of those tourists most people are once-in-a-lifetime visitors to WDW. So the explanation I heard for why the Orlando LM will be longer waits than the Anaheim LM is that the Annual Pass Holders don't ride the LM over and over again every time they come to the park.
Click to expand...

Having been an annual passholder at WDW, there are a ton of license plates from Florida and nearby states. Isn't the whole point of DVC to get the hardcore Disney fans who return to WDW every 3-5 years? I would guess that about half of WDW's guests are locals (in that region of the US at least) who have been to the place several times. We've all read how they changed the dining reservation system because folks learned how to game it . . . once in a lifetime visitors would have no incentive to do this.

WDW has a lot of frequent visitor events like Flower and Garden, Wine and Food, Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party, and others designed to draw back repeat business, once in a lifetime guests wouldn't care about this. They'd go once and that would be it.

And the whole Next-Gen booking Fast Passes before you arrive, once in a lifetime guests wouldn't know about this, and wouldn't need to as presumably they've never ridden Haunted Mansion and other rides.

Most folks in line at WDW seem to know the ride they are waiting for, meaning that even tourists from far away lands, like Chicago, have been to WDW several times. Are all of WDW's guests really wandering around, never having experienced the Magic Kingdom in their life?

No way. This whole annual passholder versus the pure Disney-naive tourist myth is just that, a myth, that is perpetuated probably to deflect criticism of WDW.
 
RSoxNo1

RSoxNo1

Well-Known Member
lazyboy97o said:
Surprise FastPasses are nice in concept, but poor in execution. They have no value because you are being sent to an attraction that all too often has little to no wait. It is a little con. Get people excited to think they have something of value, but prove it to be worthless when they seek to redeem their special treat.
Click to expand...
Yes, this hasn't worked, adding Fastpass to attractions that don't need it has failed to redistribute crowds effectively, yet it is a primary element in the integration of Fastpass+. They're doing tests now at some attractions with Fastpass+, but the 10+ years of Surprise Fastpass Data is being ignored.

Dear Disney,
The Fastpass system isn't broken. You can add Fastpass+ to attractions that don't need it, but allowing guests to book those attractions in advance is further cheapening your product. People will catch on, get discouraged and not return. The Fastpass+ program should only include the following:
  • Electronic Fastpasses on smart phones, but also available in the traditional approach
  • Fastpasses only turned on for certain attractions (Haunted Mansion, Pirates, etc) when crowds dictate it
  • Guests must be in the park to be able to acquire a Fastpass, no booking of Fastpasses prior to your visit
  • Stop enforcing the end time of the window, or allow longer windows for lower demand Fastpasses
Call me.
Love,
Tim
 

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