Spirited News, Observations & Thoughts IV

[ford91exploder]

Agreed about Mermaid.

At the risk of going even more off- topic than Patriotic Potties, let me mention my family's experience with Mermaid this summer. Myself, wife, daughter, granddaughters 8 and 6 (right in the supposed sweet spot for this ride), got off the big, new, hyped ride and all had the same reaction "meh ". Too plastic.

Shortly thereafter we rode Peter Pan, only because I insisted we get FP for it. Despite many Disney trips, both WDW and DL, daughter and her kids had never ridden it before (probably due to the lines, and didn't want to "waste" FP on it) and didn't know what to expect and my wife had forgotten what it was like. They couldn't stop raving about it afterwards. I think it is very telling that a relatively simple ride that's nearly 60 years old could have much more impact than a modern expensive effort. The original imagineers were clearly masters at their art, and instinctively knew how to bring charm and heart to their work with far fewer resources.

To be fair to modern imagineers, we all did find Enchanted Tales with Belle charming and enjoyed it, although in my case it might mostly be due to the particular Belle we got (if you know what I mean, wink, wink, nudge, nudge).

What's sad is that mermaid could have been GREAT and for the budget allocated it SHOULD have been instead we get bright lights in a 'dark' ride and plastic fish on a stick. Mermaid was a great story and deserves a better attraction. This one is worse than current incarnation of Imagination.

 

[tissandtully]

What's sad is that mermaid could have been GREAT and for the budget allocated it SHOULD have been instead we get bright lights in a 'dark' ride and plastic fish on a stick. Mermaid was a great story and deserves a better attraction. This one is worse than current incarnation of Imagination.

I will say, the queue is pretty cool. But, you know when people are waiting 110 mins for a sub-par omnimover, you gotta give them something.

 

[bhg469]

How about a weekend trip to Tokyo next week? Definitely a lifestyler free zone, I didnt see a single one make the trip to the D23 Expo...

That's because Disney didn't pay their way.

 

[ford91exploder]

I will say, the queue is pretty cool. But, you know when people are waiting 110 mins for a sub-par omnimover, you gotta give them something.

The Queue IS the best part of the ride sad isn't it.

 

[ABQ]

The Queue IS the best part of the ride sad isn't it.

Totally feels like two different teams of imagineers developed the queue and the ride itself. Hopefully those queue designers are still around and can work other products.

 

[Soarin' Over Pgh]

Totally feels like two different teams of imagineers developed the queue and the ride itself. Hopefully those queue designers are still around and can work other products.

Absolutely. It seems a lot more detail and heart was put into the outside of the ride, versus the ride itself.

 

[Bolna]

How about a weekend trip to Tokyo next week? Definitely a lifestyler free zone, I didnt see a single one make the trip to the D23 Expo...

I would guess that most of the events would have been in Japanese? The number of people outside of Japan who speak well enough Japanese to follow any kind of conference in that language certainly isn't very large. So it is not surprising that there aren't than many Disney bloggers who speak Japanese. And travelling there to listen to discussions which you don't understand, that would be a case of mental illness in my opinion.

 

[Atomicmickey]

Absolutely. It seems a lot more detail and heart was put into the outside of the ride, versus the ride itself.

Honestly--I think that some lighting tweaks could make a huge difference in this attraction.
More targeted task lighting in the main scene, to hide the ceiling and lead the eye towards the
key figures, and more emphasis on the 'underwater' effect lighting. Some of the more simple
moving 'non-animatronics' bathed in a dimmer blue light would probably look ok.

I think that the 'plastic' and the bright lights are intended to be sure that even the littlest
kids won't be scared of anything at all in the attraction. Keep the lights on! I'm pretty sure that's the intent--however, I am not sure why they felt it needed to be that way. From a creative standpoint, that's the
only reason I can come up with that makes any sense at all.

I'm not disagreeing with others comments, but given that there's about a zero chance of any
huge physical changes coming to the attraction, I'd advocate for different lighting and I'd bet the
overall impression of the experience would improve.

 

[nor'easter]

And travelling there to listen to discussions which you don't understand, that would be a case of mental illness in my opinion.

You just described many Disney lifestylers.

 

[tissandtully]

Honestly--I think that some lighting tweaks could make a huge difference in this attraction.
More targeted task lighting in the main scene, to hide the ceiling and lead the eye towards the
key figures, and more emphasis on the 'underwater' effect lighting. Some of the more simple
moving 'non-animatronics' bathed in a dimmer blue light would probably look ok.

I think that the 'plastic' and the bright lights are intended to be sure that even the littlest
kids won't be scared of anything at all in the attraction. Keep the lights on! I'm pretty sure that's the intent--however, I am not sure why they felt it needed to be that way. From a creative standpoint, that's the
only reason I can come up with that makes any sense at all.

I'm not disagreeing with others comments, but given that there's about a zero chance of any
huge physical changes coming to the attraction, I'd advocate for different lighting and I'd bet the
overall impression of the experience would improve.

The Ursula AA is also impressive. My main reason for going on it when the line isn't long.

 

[asianway]

I would guess that most of the events would have been in Japanese? The number of people outside of Japan who speak well enough Japanese to follow any kind of conference in that language certainly isn't very large. So it is not surprising that there aren't than many Disney bloggers who speak Japanese. And travelling there to listen to discussions which you don't understand, that would be a case of mental illness in my opinion.

No, it would be a matter of most of them dont have a pot to p*** in.

 

[Bairstow]

Honestly--I think that some lighting tweaks could make a huge difference in this attraction.
More targeted task lighting in the main scene, to hide the ceiling and lead the eye towards the
key figures, and more emphasis on the 'underwater' effect lighting. Some of the more simple
moving 'non-animatronics' bathed in a dimmer blue light would probably look ok.

I think that the 'plastic' and the bright lights are intended to be sure that even the littlest
kids won't be scared of anything at all in the attraction. Keep the lights on! I'm pretty sure that's the intent--however, I am not sure why they felt it needed to be that way. From a creative standpoint, that's the
only reason I can come up with that makes any sense at all.

I'm not disagreeing with others comments, but given that there's about a zero chance of any
huge physical changes coming to the attraction, I'd advocate for different lighting and I'd bet the
overall impression of the experience would improve.

As others have pointed out, the chief weakness of the Mermaid ride is its ride system.
An omnimover is all wrong for a ride intended to tell a story in snippets. Because each guest is slowly moving in and out of each scene, there's no real dialogue or "beats" to the story, just one song after another that hopefully you can put in context if you've seen the movie. Because of this there's no drama or tension, to the extent you can have these things in a kiddy dark ride, but compare this thing to, say, Peter Pan or Snow White's Scary Adventures. Or even Winnie the Pooh.

 

[Goofyernmost]

As others have pointed out, the chief weakness of the Mermaid ride is its ride system.
An omnimover is all wrong for a ride intended to tell a story in snippets. Because each guest is slowly moving in and out of each scene, there's no real dialogue or "beats" to the story, just one song after another that hopefully you can put in context if you've seen the movie. Because of this there's no drama or tension, to the extent you can have these things in a kiddy dark ride, but compare this thing to, say, Peter Pan or Snow White's Scary Adventures. Or even Winnie the Pooh.

I've never seen the movie and I think I was able to figure it out during the duration of the ride. The only part that was missing was the fact that she had lost her voice and got it back when he kissed her. Other than that I didn't have a problem following it at all. Maybe it's just me.

 

[EPCOTCenterLover]

Don't worry. They'll get Mermaid right when it comes to Japan.

 

[Bairstow]

Don't worry. They'll get Mermaid right when it comes to Japan.

Of course, they've had a very large indoor Mermaid play area for years.
I wonder how that would have gone over at Disney World.

 

[GoofGoof]

In Rural america 'Get off my Lawn' is often enforced with a shotgun filled with rock salt...

In the city they skip the salt

 

[ford91exploder]

Of course, they've had a very large indoor Mermaid play area for years.
I wonder how that would have gone over at Disney World.

Why oh Why cannot WDW have nice things like this, This reminds me of some of the concept art for DL where there was going to be a flume ride based on Monstro the whale.

 

[nytimez]

The Queue IS the best part of the ride sad isn't it.

Best part of the ride IMO is the exit... the literal light at the end of a long, plastic, shallow tunnel.

 

[tissandtully]

Why oh Why cannot WDW have nice things like this, This reminds me of some of the concept art for DL where there was going to be a flume ride based on Monstro the whale.

Because OLC isn't governed by a board of directors wanting to drain every last penny from people while banking on nostalgia to keep bringing them in instead of building awesome new things. Value-imagineering at its finest.

 

[Ignohippo]

As others have pointed out, the chief weakness of the Mermaid ride is its ride system.
An omnimover is all wrong for a ride intended to tell a story in snippets. Because each guest is slowly moving in and out of each scene, there's no real dialogue or "beats" to the story, just one song after another that hopefully you can put in context if you've seen the movie. Because of this there's no drama or tension, to the extent you can have these things in a kiddy dark ride, but compare this thing to, say, Peter Pan or Snow White's Scary Adventures. Or even Winnie the Pooh.

IMO, it has nothing at all to do with the ride system. It's poor storytelling, plain and simple.

The story is easy to follow until you get to the point where Ariel loses her voice. The battle with Ursela and the kiss room are horribly done. It's almost like they front-loaded their budget in the first half and then had high school kids create the second.

It's poorly done, confused and muddled. It has absolutely nothing to do with the ride system.