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

[Mike S]

I rode little mermaid at disneyland and really enjoyed it, to me it's right up there with Alice in wonderland for top fantasyland style dark rides at disneyland. RSR being number one dark ride at Disneyland...then it's hard not to put HM and POTC right under that one.

Just my opinion from a fan.

Worst ending of all the dark rides is Snow White. It's a great dark ride....and then it just ends.

The WDW version was better.

 

[Otterhead]

Looks a lot better. And I love the real hair.

 

[Brer Panther]

Worst ending of all the dark rides is Snow White. It's a great dark ride....and then it just ends.

According to a book I read once, they ran out of room. Whereas with the Little Mermaid, they ran out of money.

 

[marni1971]

That's an improvement on the lighting.

Thanks @wdwmagic

 

[Lord Pheonix]

is it just me, or does it seem that the newer the ride, the more often it needs refurbs???
didnt this just get built last year?

 

[tcool]

is it just me, or does it seem that the newer the ride, the more often it needs refurbs???
didnt this just get built last year?

I think 2012

 

[Clamman73]

is it just me, or does it seem that the newer the ride, the more often it needs refurbs???
didnt this just get built last year?

It just didn't have the appearance it should've had when opened, but now it does. Not really a refurb per se.

 

[Scuttle]

That's an improvement on the lighting.

Thanks @wdwmagic

I might actually use a FP+ on this for the first time it looks that much better.

Great video!

 

[Jahona]

I might actually use a FP+ on this for the first time it looks that much better.

Great video!

You may not need to. Even with it's improvements I doubt it will increase the wait time all that much.

 

[Scuttle]

You may not need to. Even with it's improvements I doubt it will increase the wait time all that much.

I think you are right, but we will have to see.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid... now definitely better than Peter Pan's Flight.

 

[WondersOfLife]

I think you are right, but we will have to see.

Yea, it should be a walk on. On top of that, it's an omnimover.. and on top of THAT the queue line is worth waiting in line for!

I'd save the fastpasses for the 3 mountains! Or 2 mountains and Peter Pan.. Whichever you'd rather use them on.

 

[Sped2424]

Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid... now definitely better than Peter Pan's Flight.

 

[aladdin2007]

The WDW version was better.

Yeah it was, least they still have theirs.

 

[erasure fan1]

I might actually use a FP+ on this for the first time it looks that much better.

Great video!

I don't think the wait times will increase at all with this. While it is an improvement, it in no way makes up for the nonsensical ending so I don't think much will change. FP+ would be better utilized on something different. Last summer, just over an hour after the park opened, mermaid was not only a walk on but we only saw one guy and his daughter the entire way through the queue, ride and exit. It was almost freaky seeing as how busy the park was.

 

[donaldfan]

Attractions are not built from the beginning of the ride until the end. The ending (or lack thereof), is not from running out of money. It was a conscious design choice.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Attractions are not built from the beginning of the ride until the end. The ending (or lack thereof), is not from running out of money. It was a conscious design choice.

Not entirely. WDI wanted a stronger ending but didn't have adequate funding so went with the version we have. So, yes, they made the choice to put in the ending we have, but it was due to budget constraints. Interestingly, our ride had a larger budget than DCAs but the powers that be decided the two rides should be identical, so the extra money in FL went into the queue.

 

[Mike S]

Not entirely. WDI wanted a stronger ending but didn't have adequate funding so went with the version we have. So, yes, they made the choice to put in the ending we have, but it was due to budget constraints. Interestingly, our ride had a larger budget than DCAs but the powers that be decided the two rides should be identical, so the extra money in FL went into the queue.

The show building is also bigger in Florida. Do any insiders know what the extra space was used for if not for the ride?

 

[tirian]

The show building is also bigger in Florida. Do any insiders know what the extra space was used for if not for the ride?

Ariel's meet and greet and some support rooms. It's nothing exciting, but it's not wasted space.

 

[Cesar R M]

WDW1974 mentioned a few months ago that WDW would eventually get California's upgrades sometime fairly soon. I don't know if this is the one that will do it but California's apparently closed from March 20th to May 10th I believe when it got its upgrades, somewhat more than a month's worth. Though some of that time may have been to construct new scenery and figure props as well as tweaking paint and lighting, things that may not require as much time the second time doing it (they may have already duplicated the extra props during DCA's enhancements in preparation for MK's enhancements). So MK's may not require as much time.

There were rumors that DCA's would be getting even further enhancements in another refurb down the line to fix the ending scenes. I don't know if this is true, but i'm guessing they're not going to address this in MK's refurb. This isn't much time at all. We're lucky if month long refurbs even address simple maintenance issues in this day and age.

Though at least as of early October MK's version looked like it was still in good condition maintenance wise, didn't really notice anything broken. Besides the air conditioning sucking badly, though that's just TDO trying to save money on the energy bill as has been discussed. So I guess these enhancements are plausible given that I didn't actually see anything really needing to be fixed by a month long rehab (unless it's something mechanical we can't see with the naked eye).

I hope Fantasmic follows next with the upgrades.