Minor changes indeed coming for WDW's Little Mermaid ride

[Magenta Panther]

From recent experience, Mermaid often has posted a "5" minute wait, and it usually 5-10 minutes. This is how it was when I went to Carsland weeks ago and the FastPass line for RSR was stretching around to Carthay! HM actually loads about as fast as Mermaid, if not faster, and the Haunted Mansion Holiday version often has long lines, plus Pirates/Small World actually load much faster, like a thousand more per hour, and they often have lines longer than no wait at all.

When I rode it, there were tons of clamshells going by empty . . . this in summer, in the middle of the day, for a ride that opened almost a year ago.

I really like the concept of a Mermaid ride, but I think that what was built in DCA was sort of done on the cheap side of things. Lasseter had to put his foot down to get the $$$ to do Carsland, and he basically yelled at a WDI executive who wanted to keep cutting budgets and told him that if he wanted to wait at the end of a cheaply built ride and tell guests what a success it was because it was built cheaply, then he go with the cheap way of doing things! I think Lasseter was talking about Mermaid because this happened a couple months after Mermaid opened.

The last couple scenes especially look bad, i.e. the cut-out Ursula and "shadow" of Ariel kissing Eric and getting her voice back (never mind it didn't even happen this way in the film.) Its not really a classic "adventure" like most dark rides, but feels more like a musical review of some of the songs, and certain scenes feel cramped due to lack of space. Plus, it uses about three screens, plastic fish that don't really move and they duplicate tons of identical animatronics, i.e. dancing turtles and stuff which is used in different scenes!

Mermaid is just a bizarre ride, IMHO, and one of the few Disney rides that once I've ridden it, I don't have any particular desire to ride it again as there isn't anything detailed or "new" about it as it is taken straight from the film and everything looks fake. I only ride it because it doesn't have a wait . . . if there was a 15-20 minute line, no way I'd wait that long!

The omnimover sort of works against the ride as unlike Pooh and other Fantasyland ride vehicles where you feel like you're in a different place, the omnimover makes you feel like you're watching a movie or something. Works for HM just fine as you want the security of the omnimover, and most of the stuff is darkness . . . not so much with a Fantasyland ride.

I got the impression from watching a video of the ride that "Here is a ride with an interesting concept but its budget was cut". And it shows. Bummer. It kind of ticks me off that TDO thinks it can do things half-assed because it believes it can count on its customers' love of Disney to make up for any attraction's obvious lack. Same deal with the Pooh ride in WDW. It's half-assed. Once you've seen the Tokyo version, it kind of ticks you off that TDO went the cheap route for the ride that's in the signature American parks! Meanwhile, it's Universal that's doing the kinds of attractions that take your breath away. The things I've read about the Hogwarts Express attraction that's being built send me to the moon. And I have little doubt that it'll live up to its potential, because of the way Universal delivered on Wizarding World and Hogsmeade. As for Disney, I can only hope that BoG and the Dwarfs Mine Ride hold some surprises for us. Because so far, the new Fantasyland is a bit of a fizzle.

 

[Pixiedustmaker]

I got the impression from watching a video of the ride that "Here is a ride with an interesting concept but its budget was cut". And it shows. Bummer. It kind of ticks me off that TDO thinks it can do things half-assed because it believes it can count on its customers' love of Disney to make up for any attraction's obvious lack. Same deal with the Pooh ride in WDW. It's half-assed. Once you've seen the Tokyo version, it kind of ticks you off that TDO went the cheap route for the ride that's in the signature American parks! Meanwhile, it's Universal that's doing the kinds of attractions that take your breath away. The things I've read about the Hogwarts Express attraction that's being built send me to the moon. And I have little doubt that it'll live up to its potential, because of the way Universal delivered on Wizarding World and Hogsmeade. As for Disney, I can only hope that BoG and the Dwarfs Mine Ride hold some surprises for us. Because so far, the new Fantasyland is a bit of a fizzle.

Maybe someday one of the Pooh's in MK or DL will get upgraded to the Tokyo Pooh version. Though MK's Pooh is no Tokyo Pooh, Disneyland's Pooh ride is the worst of them all, in terms of just plain cheapness. DL's Pooh is just plain anemic next to MK's Pooh, and I'm kinda jealous MK has a better Pooh than DL.

FLE's BoG looks great, can't wait to eat there!, but putting Mermaid in the middle of FLE was a big mistake, IMHO, as DCA's version was built with a ridiculously low budget. I would have figured that MK would have gone all out on Mermaid, as Mermaid and 7DMT are WDW's answer to Potter for the next five years.

I am not a fan of Avatarland, but even if it gets built, that's relatively a long way off in the future. Mermaid is a great film, but the Imagineers weren't given a big enough budget to produce something "inspired" like Potterland.

Yes, BoG and 7DMT will be great for guests once they arrive at MK, but they won't be an E-Ticket like EE which drew guests into AK.

 

[Tod&BigMamaOdie]

Maybe someday one of the Pooh's in MK or DL will get upgraded to the Tokyo Pooh version. Though MK's Pooh is no Tokyo Pooh, Disneyland's Pooh ride is the worst of them all, in terms of just plain cheapness. DL's Pooh is just plain anemic next to MK's Pooh, and I'm kinda jealous MK has a better Pooh than DL.

We should be grateful that at least our Pooh doesn't stink.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Maybe someday one of the Pooh's in MK or DL will get upgraded to the Tokyo Pooh version. Though MK's Pooh is no Tokyo Pooh, Disneyland's Pooh ride is the worst of them all, in terms of just plain cheapness. DL's Pooh is just plain anemic next to MK's Pooh, and I'm kinda jealous MK has a better Pooh than DL.

FLE's BoG looks great, can't wait to eat there!, but putting Mermaid in the middle of FLE was a big mistake, IMHO, as DCA's version was built with a ridiculously low budget. I would have figured that MK would have gone all out on Mermaid, as Mermaid and 7DMT are WDW's answer to Potter for the next five years.

I am not a fan of Avatarland, but even if it gets built, that's relatively a long way off in the future. Mermaid is a great film, but the Imagineers weren't given a big enough budget to produce something "inspired" like Potterland.

Yes, BoG and 7DMT will be great for guests once they arrive at MK, but they won't be an E-Ticket like EE which drew guests into AK.

If MK's Winnie the Pooh combined spaces with the new Princess Meet and Greet there is enough room to do Pooh's Hunny Hunt.

 

[Can we go yet?]

Am I the only one who thinks the finale should have Ariel's sisters instead of clones from Under the sea? They were actually in the finale scene of the movie...ಠ_ಠ

 

[TTA94]

I am curious what the minor changes are! I just hope they at least add a screen effect of the Ursula battle... better than nothing! Or is that already part of the DCA version? I have not been on nor seen videos.

Also what is the descent "going underwater" effect like that Disney had mention? Is it just lighting on the back of the omnimover in front of you? Some kind of mist/AC effect/real bubbles would be cool but I doubt they went to all that trouble... LOL.

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

Also what is the descent "going underwater" effect like that Disney had mention? Is it just lighting on the back of the omnimover in front of you? Some kind of mist/AC effect/real bubbles would be cool but I doubt they went to all that trouble... LOL.

As you descend "below the water", the clamshell is rotated backwards and moves down a decline. As you move backwards, the back of the clamshell that is visible in front of you (but is technically behind you in the omnimover line-up) is used as a projection surface to show the water level rising and a mass of bubbles moving upward. At the same moment, the vehicle is hit with a rush of cold air so it both looks and feels kind of like the water is rising around you. Watery projections are then used to light the scene around you, suggesting sunlight streaming through the suface.

I think I've made it sound pretty complicated -- it's a simple effect, but a nice one. It seems that the effort to create watery effects was spent mostly at the beginning of the ride, though. The descent under the water and "Part of Your World" are lit in this fashion, but then "Under The Sea" is lit like a more traditional white-light ride (although if memory serves, there were some bubble projections making their way up the walls in this scene).

BTW, all of this post is reflective of the California version. I suppose there's a chance that some of these featured may be adjusted for Florida's attraction, but we'll have to wait and see.