PHOTOS - First look inside 'Under the Sea - Journey of the Little Mermaid'

[ExtinctJenn]

Yes, I noticed the same thing, but then realized it is just Flounder. The "Orange Flounder" in the image below is lit up with orangish light, look at Eric's hair . . . it has a orangish glow to it different from the earlier photos. Even Flounder's plastic "water spout" is orangish colored.

Yup... theory disproved (shucks).

 

[Pixiedustmaker]

Marketing shortcuts happen all the time, it not intentional deviousness.. I'm betting that if they used the same photo, it's again because 95% (or more) of the world will have no idea that this is identical to the version in DCA. And that they are just trying to get the excitement level up for the launch in WDW.

I work in marketing and sales, and sadly this is rather common place.

I think what irks folks is that they made a point to put up this photo under an article titled, "All in the Details: The First Photos from Under the Sea ~ Journey of the Little Mermaid at Magic Kingdom Park."

It supposed to be a special "first look" to readers of their blog, not just a page advertising Mermaid in a magazine. Its kind of like if NASA released some "first photos" of Curiosity on Mars to get folks excited, but then later we find out that the photos are from an older Mars mission.

Sure, ad companies photoshop and do a ton of stuff to photos for ads, but they don't usually fake behind-the-scenes stuff and "first look" photos by using stuff from stock they presumably shot a while ago from DCA.

 

[danlb_2000]

Can anyone find the post that Thor is referencing that shows the same image posted in 2011?

I looked through the blog around the time Mermaid opened in DCA and didn't find it. The only press images and videos that I have seen from the DCA opening are ones with the more straight style water spouts. So even though it's possible the blog image was taken in DCA, I find no evidence that it's a recycled press image.

 

[Pixiedustmaker]

I looked through the blog around the time Mermaid opened in DCA and didn't find it. The only press images and videos that I have seen from the DCA opening are ones with the more straight style water spouts. So even though it's possible the blog image was taken in DCA, I find no evidence that it's a recycled press image.

When they photographed DCA's Mermaid, like during all photo shoots they probably took a whole lot more photos than what was used. Sometimes during these photo shoots they take hundreds of shots, and only end up using a dozen. I think folks might have misunderstood when I said the photo was "recycled", what I meant was that it probably was shot for some other reason, stored away in a massive file, and then re-purposed. Not sure if that is the concern here . . .

The lights in DCA's Mermaid have changed in this scene significantly, looks like the old show lights . . . I think they changed the lighting scheme by May? Forgot the exact date, so logically, the photos are at least four months old, quite possibly much older as they did most of the photo work for DCA's Mermaid's marketing in 2011 . . .

 

[Pixiedustmaker]

So even though it's possible the blog image was taken in DCA, I find no evidence that it's a recycled press image.

The pertinent, and perhaps much debated, factoid is that the photo is most likely, 99.99% from DCA's Mermaid and MK's blog passed it off as something else entirely. They were probably smart enough to use an "un-used" press image for DCA's Mermaid, to avoid anybody using Google's image search to locate it.

 

[sshindel]

I added to the pile-on on the blog. At least it looks like it made it through the first censor:
Scott from IL on September 12th, 2012 at 4:05 pm

Seriously, settle a bet for me. Did you just take a photo of the California Adventure ride and pass it off as the one in Florida, or have you really, down to the leaves on the trees, identically cloned the Kiss the Girl scene in the ride?

 

[danlb_2000]

The pertinent, and perhaps much debated, factoid is that the photo is most likely, 99.99% from DCA's Mermaid and MK's blog passed it off as something else entirely. They were probably smart enough to use an "un-used" press image for DCA's Mermaid, to avoid anybody using Google's image search to locate it.

I was actually responding to this statement in "Thor's" response to the blog:

"It appears the photo of the Kiss The Girl scene is actually a photo from the Disney Parks Blog that appeared here in 2011 and taken inside the California Adventure of the ride."

There is no evidence of this.

 

[Pixiedustmaker]

I added to the pile-on on the blog. At least it looks like it made it through the first censor:
Scott from IL on September 12th, 2012 at 4:05 pm

Seriously, settle a bet for me. Did you just take a photo of the California Adventure ride and pass it off as the one in Florida, or have you really, down to the leaves on the trees, identically cloned the Kiss the Girl scene in the ride?

Wow! It's there!

I can wait to see what they say!

 

[Pixiedustmaker]

I was actually responding to this statement in "Thor's" response to the blog:

"It appears the photo of the Kiss The Girl scene is actually a photo from the Disney Parks Blog that appeared here in 2011 and taken inside the California Adventure of the ride."

There is no evidence of this.

Thor probably misinterpreted my post which wasn't as clear as I would have liked as I guessed that the photo, professionally looking as it was, was possibly a reposted photo. I kinda of said I wasn't sure, but I apologize to Thor and anybody who took this the wrong way.

. . . I think the important fact is that the photo is from DCA's Mermaid! (I'm fairly confident of this), and I can't wait to see what the Disney blog says.

 

[sshindel]

Thor probably misinterpreted my post which wasn't as clear as I would have liked as I guessed that the photo, professionally looking as it was, was possibly a reposted photo. I kinda of said I wasn't sure, but I apologize to Thor and anybody who took this the wrong way.

. . . I think the important fact is that the photo is from DCA's Mermaid! (I'm fairly confident of this), and I can't wait to see what the Disney blog says.

I'm highly doubtful they will actually respond to any of this. She probably has no idea, as someone has said (can't remember who), she is probably just told what to post, and writes up a little "personalized" copy to go with it.

 

[Pixiedustmaker]

I'm highly doubtful they will actually respond to any of this. She probably has no idea, as someone has said (can't remember who), she is probably just told what to post, and writes up a little "personalized" copy to go with it.

I think she said that she got the photos from WDI . . . plausible deniability? I think that she could, without losing face, post that WDI made a mistake, and then put up something showing more of Mermaid. The blog has put up some great behind the scenes photos of Belle's and even Mermaid . . . and it is followed pretty closely on the web. Putting up more photos will generate even more interest, IMHO.

Even this little controversy has generated some free publicity . . .

 

[TP2000]

Very politely worded . . . if there was some "confusion" that they could clear up they would. Obviously, we are look at the same scene photographed by hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of guests of DCA.

They might put you on the naughty list and ban you from the site.

I just went and checked the Disney Parks Blog, and my second comment from yesterday bluntly but politely asking about this photo was finally posted. And Ms. Fickley-Baker has been back and answered a few questions posted after mine, so it has been noted. http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/bl...-of-the-little-mermaid-at-magic-kingdom-park/

And then there's "Scott from IL" who was even more blunt, and his comment was posted. I think Ms. Fickley-Baker realizes she got caught and is just trying to ignore it.

Seriously, Jen, sweetie, just fess up that these were stock photos given to you by WDI from the Disneyland ride. Or at least update the post and acknowledge your wording was incorrect and these photos aren't actually from the WDW ride, but are old photos from 2011 of the California ride.

 

[sshindel]

And then there's "Scott from IL" who was even more blunt, and his comment was posted. I think Ms. Fickley-Baker realizes she got caught and is just trying to ignore it.

I honestly posted that for a laugh and never thought in a million years it would make it past moderation.
And like folks have said, we know marketing is full of shenanigans, and the blog has actually posted nice pictures of the FLE in the past. Either this is the best clone of a ride ever or it's just another marketing magic trick.

 

[Pixiedustmaker]

I honestly posted that for a laugh and never thought in a million years it would make it past moderation.
And like folks have said, we know marketing is full of shenanigans, and the blog has actually posted nice pictures of the FLE in the past. Either this is the best clone of a ride ever or it's just another marketing magic trick.

I can't believe that made it past moderation . . . but actually, the post is polite and to the point. They know they did it and that we are just hardcore fans who look at all the details, and they are probably getting a laugh that anybody noticed and cared. I bet this whole thread is hilarious, they'll print out copies for the holiday party and pass it around and joke about how grown men and women are obsessing over a ride based on a film that is adored primarily by young girls.

Doesn't really matter what they do for most of the casual visitors of the blog as the most traffic was gleaned in the first couple days and the pictures of questionable extraction have been floating around the internet in dozens of websites. A retraction would be almost anticlimactic at this point after all of this fun watching these posts pass muster . . .

It would be cool if the mod posted that Goofy told her that she can neither confirm nor deny the allegations . . .

 

[David S.]

It's a cute ride, but don't get too excited. TLM won't be knocking Pirates or HM off of anybody's favorite dark ride list.

In my case, based on seeing the ride-through video several times, and my love of the the songs, characters, settings, story, and relatively high "cuteness quotient" of the ride, I already KNOW I'll like it more than those!

And I'm sure it will be the favorite dark ride of many diehard Little Mermaid fans.

For me, it's more of a question of whether it can pass It's A Small World, Splash Mountain, Many Adventures Of Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan's Flight, and the late great Snow White's Adventures which are on top of my MK darkrides rankings. If we are only counting current rides, I can't see it finishing any worse than 5th.

For my faves among all current attractions parkwide, I expect it to finish no lower than 8th, as when shows are included it will have to contend with the 4 current darkrides mentioned above, plus Country Bears, Tiki Birds, and Mickey's Philharmagic.

I'll have a better idea once I ride it, but based on my taste, I think it will probably finish somewhere between my 4th and 8th fave parkwide, and somewhere in my Top 5 if only counting current darkrides.

I expect it will make my Top 12 current WDW attractions when including the other 3 parks.