Early reviews for TLM ride?

[Lee]

In my mind I would of liked to see the finale switched up so you have the space where that silhouette effect of them kissing area gone for an intense "Giant" Ursula scene with maybe the ship's bow going right at her or something equivalent to get the idea across with intense lighting and constant 'wind'

Then further down where the finale is now have a more prominent King Triton on the left side, that castle with the both of them waving gone and replaced with a forced perspective model boat rocking in the distance, with King Triton shining a fiber optic rainbow like beam every few seconds over our heads and arching towards the ship.

The previous plans, dating back to '09, were kinda like that.
They show the larger and more elaborate "Ursula Going Down With The Ship" scene right after the scene in the boat. The finale was larger, with Triton in his current spot, but with the castle being a full set piece in the background, some "Merfolk" present, and Ariel/Eric in the boat near the center. Scuttle, Sebastian and Flounder ended the ride.

 

[dweezil78]

I agree except that I also think the anti-climatic finale was a major bummer.

That didn't really bug me too much. It's more or less in the same vein as the classic Fantasyland rides. AT DL's Snow White you have a boulder drop on your head only to transition to a wall that says "And they lived happy ever after..." Nothing will ever be worse than that one.

 

[celluloid]

That didn't really bug me too much. It's more or less in the same vein as the classic Fantasyland rides. AT DL's Snow White you have a boulder drop on your head only to transition to a wall that says "And they lived happy ever after..." Nothing will ever be worse than that one.

A few things with that...

One, that explains the demise of the character, therefore, after the villian is gone, all can live happily ever after.

Two, maybe it is just me but I like to think we have come a little bit further than the storytelling of abilities of rides originally designed in previous decades.

Third: YAY LISTS!

 

[dweezil78]

A few things with that...

One, that explains the demise of the character, therefore, after the villian is gone, all can live happily ever after.

Two, maybe it is just me but I like to think we have come a little bit further than the storytelling of abilities of rides originally designed in previous decades.

Third: YAY LISTS!

I hear ya. I'm not trying to make excuses for the ride, but I honestly don't think changing the ending would have a huge impact overall. Either you know the story or you don't. If you had never seen TLM prior to getting on that ride, none of it would really make a ton of sense. It was just a selection of mini scenes set to music that just about every knows by now, whether or not they've seen the movie.

Personally, I don't see anything wrong with this approach. If you want a story, read a book or go see a movie. What I DO expect a good theme park ride to do is immerse me in a unique experience or transport me to another place which I don't think TLM ride succeeds at entirely. Like I said, the smaller intimate scenes are pretty good at accomplishing that, but that big open room totally killed it for me. ..

 

[Enchantâmes]

I give up people. Jesus Christ, Disney Imagineering puts out something nice for once and it unsurprisingly is torn appart by the WDW fans and it doesn't arrive there for another 2 years. See ya at Disneyland :wave:

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

I give up people. Jesus Christ, Disney Imagineering puts out something nice for once and it unsurprisingly is torn appart by the WDW fans and it doesn't arrive there for another 2 years. See ya at Disneyland :wave:

You do realize Disneyland-fans are criticizing it as well right? It's being given the same treatment over at the Disneyland forums at Micechat. I've heard talk from plenty of people who regular Disneyland, many of them find it underwhelming as well. Flaws are flaws, especially when the price tag doesn't add up. Blaming the flaws on WDW-goers doesn't magically cover up the obvious issues with it. The inability to accept opposing opinions and criticism is stifling to the creative mind, breeding incompetence and complacency. They need to be constantly pushed to create the best experience they can. That was what Walt was constantly doing with his team of imagineers. Think what kind of place Disneyland would be if he let them take the easy way out and get by with half-assed experiences. The bane of a creative mind is a lack of constructive criticism. :ROFLOL:

 

[the-reason14]

I don't get what people are complaining about, it's like what did you expect!? I expected something a bit more at first until I read here that this was NOT an E ticket and that it would 'fit right in' with the rest of the fantasyland dark rides. With that in mind I think it looks like it's gonna be a great addition to the dark ride line up. I guess people were expecting to be submerged under water and see live actors swimming around singing to them and spouting the lines..............But even if it did, something still would be 'wrong.'

 

[AEfx]

Flaws are flaws, especially when the price tag doesn't add up.

As has been stated a few times, we were never given a "line item" budget on this.

100M for R&D, converting an existing building at DCA (that was never meant to house a ride), creating a brand new building from scratch at WDW, and the design/construction of two brand new rides.

100M makes sense when you really think about it. Cripes I live in a small town in New Enlgand of about 12K people, and our school budget each year is about 3 million. To build a new school they want about 12M.

100M for a corporation doing pretty major construction really isn't that far-fetched. It's unfortunate, but not far-fetched.

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

I don't get what people are complaining about, it's like what did you expect!? I expected something a bit more at first until I read here that this was NOT an E ticket and that it would 'fit right in' with the rest of the fantasyland dark rides. With that in mind I think it looks like it's gonna be a great addition to the dark ride line up. I guess people were expecting to be submerged under water and see live actors swimming around singing to them and spouting the lines..............But even if it did, something still would be 'wrong.'

The flaws were outlined. It has nothing to do with the submerged experience. Ariel's cone hair looks strange and the ending is abrupt. Among other things. There will always be complaints, but everyone is complaining about these issues.

 

[nemofinder22]

As has been stated a few times, we were never given a "line item" budget on this.

100M for R&D, converting an existing building at DCA (that was never meant to house a ride), creating a brand new building from scratch at WDW, and the design/construction of two brand new rides.

100M makes sense when you really think about it. Cripes I live in a small town in New Enlgand of about 12K people, and our school budget each year is about 3 million. To build a new school they want about 12M.

100M for a corporation doing pretty major construction really isn't that far-fetched. It's unfortunate, but not far-fetched.

Actually the old Golden Dreams Theater was completely demolished, just the Palace of Fine Arts rotunda was kept. TLM is pretty much squeezed into DCA.

 

[Ryan120420]

I got to ride twice on June 1st. Its a fun little ride but when Disney was touting it as a blockbuster E ticket attraction, I couldn't help but feel completely under whelmed.

Other than the Ursula AA there was nothing in the ride that made me go "WOW'.


Step above Monsters Inc, two steps below Pirates and Mansion.


Hopefully Radiator Springs Racers lives up to the hype.

 

[TP2000]

Little Mermaid: Ariel's Undersea Adventure officially opened at Disney California Adventure yesterday with a big media splash and now constant TV commercials, and today the crowds have descended on Anaheim.

Hey Southern California, it's time to meet the Mermaid! (Good thing it's an Omnimover and that line moves quickly)

http://datelinedisneyland.smugmug.com/DisneylandResort/06-03-11/i-7sw7pvw/0/L/IMG3893-L.jpg

The WDW version opens in Winter 2013 acorrding to Lee. With a lot of East Coast Disney fans coming out to Anaheim this August for the big D23 Expo, you wonder what the marketing impact will be when Mermaid opens in Orlando in '13? If a lot of the die-hard fans and plenty of media have already been on the ride, not to mention the 10+ Million people that will visit DCA over the next 18 months, how do they get that media buzz spinning for the WDW version?

My hunch is that Disney will really tout the entire FLE, and not just the two new rides it will have (Mermaid and Seven Dwarves Coaster). And yet FLE opens in phases spread over a two year period from 2012 to 2014. Hmm... I bet there's some serious strategy sessions going on in WDW's marketing department.

 

[aladdin2007]

Little Mermaid: Ariel's Undersea Adventure officially opened at Disney California Adventure yesterday with a big media splash and now constant TV commercials, and today the crowds have descended on Anaheim.

Hey Southern California, it's time to meet the Mermaid! (Good thing it's an Omnimover and that line moves quickly)

http://datelinedisneyland.smugmug.com/DisneylandResort/06-03-11/i-7sw7pvw/0/L/IMG3893-L.jpg

The WDW version opens in Winter 2013 acorrding to Lee. With a lot of East Coast Disney fans coming out to Anaheim this August for the big D23 Expo, you wonder what the marketing impact will be when Mermaid opens in Orlando in '13? If a lot of the die-hard fans and plenty of media have already been on the ride, not to mention the 10+ Million people that will visit DCA over the next 18 months, how do they get that media buzz spinning for the WDW version?

My hunch is that Disney will really tout the entire FLE, and not just the two new rides it will have (Mermaid and Seven Dwarves Coaster). And yet FLE opens in phases spread over a two year period from 2012 to 2014. Hmm... I bet there's some serious strategy sessions going on in WDW's marketing department.

I hope your right, but I dont know. They cant even acknowledge the 40th except on some merch.

 

[Lee]

Little Mermaid: Ariel's Undersea Adventure officially opened at Disney California Adventure yesterday with a big media splash and now constant TV commercials, and today the crowds have descended on Anaheim.

Seriously?
No ride is worth a line like that. That's just silly.

The WDW version opens in Winter 2013 acorrding to Lee.

Actually more like fiscal Quarter One of 2013, which puts it somewhere October-December next year. (Perhaps soft opening a tad earlier.)

 

[HMF]

A few things with that...

One, that explains the demise of the character, therefore, after the villian is gone, all can live happily ever after.

Two, maybe it is just me but I like to think we have come a little bit further than the storytelling of abilities of rides originally designed in previous decades.

Third: YAY LISTS!

Back then the rides were not required to tell literal stories.
http://imagineerebirth.blogspot.com/2006/11/myth-of-story.html

 

[HMF]

I got to ride twice on June 1st. Its a fun little ride but when Disney was touting it as a blockbuster E ticket attraction, I couldn't help but feel completely under whelmed.

Other than the Ursula AA there was nothing in the ride that made me go "WOW'.


Step above Monsters Inc, two steps below Pirates and Mansion.


Hopefully Radiator Springs Racers lives up to the hype.

Uh, Disney never hyped it as an E-Ticket. It was simply a case of fans mis-interpretation. It was always intended to be a solid D Fantasyland Dark Ride since day one.

 

[dweezil78]

Back then the rides were not required to tell literal stories.
http://imagineerebirth.blogspot.com/2006/11/myth-of-story.html

Thanks for the link. Marc Davis had it right IMO...

 

[RandySavage]

Uh, Disney never hyped it as an E-Ticket. It was simply a case of fans mis-interpretation.

They did hype AUA as not just an E, but as an "E+":
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/showpost.php?p=4595652&postcount=93

I think it's page 33 of the Summer 2009 D23 Magazine, if you want to check for yourself.

It was always intended to be a solid D Fantasyland Dark Ride since day one.

Internally, probably. But it was hyped as an E in the aforementioned article.

 

[FigmentJedi]

I think the ending just copypastaing figures from Under the Sea is kinda lazy. Why not put Ariel's sisters there?

 

[MichWolv]

Having ridden the attraction twice in the last two days, I'd rate it as the best of the "dark ride through an animated Disney movie" attractions. It is ultra-high capacity, hits the rights notes of the story without beating you over the head with it, has an amazing AA in Ursula, has so many moving parts in the Under the Sea scene that you need to ride over and over to take it all in, and captures the mood of the film very well.

It's not what I think of as an E-ticket -- no thrills, no ground-breaking effects, no real "how did they do that?" moments. And I am surprised at the huge reported budget (although who knows whether that's accurate and what was loaded into if it is). But put in up against Snow White, Pinnochio, Mr. Toad, Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, Monsters Inc., Roger Rabbit, and I'd put it at the top...not by a huge margin over Peter Pan and Roger Rabbit, but still at the top.