What really gets me is the notion that it should rival stuff like Splash Mountain or Indiana Jones Adventure. It's a Fantasyland dark ride. What do you believe Disney was intending to do with Little Mermaid? If you expected an E-ticket, then you're exactly the person I was referring to when I couldn't ever hope to take you seriously. I was under the impression that their goals were something along the lines of: Maintaining the classic Fantasyland style dark ride, but use upgraded projection effects and new style animatronics along with an omni-mover ride system to help with capacity. Honestly, other than perhaps Hunny Hunt at Tokyo, is there a better dark ride in Fantasyland around the globe? Spare me with the sub 3 minute "classics" that either use press board cutouts or static figures.
Fantasyland dark rides that are at or above Little Mermaid's level-
Not Winnie the Pooh
Not Snow White
Not Peter Pan (possibly DL's after the update but we'll see)
Not Alice in Wonderland
Not Mr Toad's Wild RIde
Not Storybookland
Not Casey Jr
I guess you could say Small World is, but I don't even know if that's a fair comparison. I love them as much as the next guy, but lets get real- Mermaid is far more cohesive and impressive in comparison. And the notion that DIsney/Guests were "unhappy with it's presentation" so it needed to be closed/refurbished and changed- good for them. They corrected their errors and turned a good ride into a great one. It's been "plussed" within the first few years instead of having to wait decades for a update like Peter Pan, Indy, Mansion, Pirates, Small World and all of the other major Disney e-tickets have received as of late. They just got those issues ironed out when the rides creator still had the authority to correct them, instead of waiting 40 some odd years to do so like it took for Haunted Mansion's hatbox ghost.
