MK Trackless Journey of the Little Mermaid

[WaltWiz1901]

These four pieces of concept art for Journey of the Little Mermaid have been on my mind for a while now. The Imagineering book A Behind-the-Dreams Look at Making MORE Magic Real accredits the Helen McCarthy-drawn pictures as being for the Magic Kingdom's Little Mermaid ride, but the ride they allude to isn't simply a rehash of the suspended ride Tony Baxter envisioned for Paris or exactly the ride we're all familiar with...it appears to use an LPS system, indicating that the Imagineers had wanted to bring that trackless tech stateside well before the likes of Rise of the Resistance and Runaway Railway opened (and which could also explain its lavish facade).

Apparently, this incarnation was also considered for California Adventure as well, as evident by this layout showing how it would fit in the Golden Dreams space:

Obviously, the final attraction on both coasts ended up becoming an Omnimover, but I'm thinking that was less a creative choice and more a financial choice; the result of a budget crunch, if you will (not unlike how the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train's layout was cut down from what was initially drawn). Could @marni1971 or anyone else of his ilk be of much insight?

 

[TheDisneyParksfanC8]

These four pieces of concept art for Journey of the Little Mermaid have been on my mind for a while now. The Imagineering book A Behind-the-Dreams Look at Making MORE Magic Real accredits the Helen McCarthy-drawn pictures as being for the Magic Kingdom's Little Mermaid ride (which could explain its lavish facade), but the ride they allude to isn't simply a rehash of the suspended ride Tony Baxter envisioned for Paris...it appears to use an LPS system, indicating that the Imagineers had wanted to bring that trackless tech stateside well before the likes of Rise of the Resistance and Runaway Railway opened.

Apparently, this incarnation was also considered for California Adventure as well, as evident by this layout showing how it would fit in the Golden Dreams space:
View attachment 772384

Obviously, the final attraction on both coasts ended up becoming an Omnimover, but I'm thinking that was less a creative choice and more a financial choice; the result of a budget crunch, if you will (not unlike how the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train's layout was cut down from what was initially drawn). Could @marni1971 or anyone else of his ilk be of much insight?

The Secret Life of Pets ride at USH was also going to be trackless but Universal scrapped all trackless rides after they ran into technical issues with Kong. Unlike Disney who still does trackless Universal apparently has no plans to try again.

 

[marni1971]

Could @marni1971 or anyone else of his ilk be of much insight?

Let me see what I’ve got

The Secret Life of Pets ride at USH was also going to be trackless but Universal scrapped all trackless rides after they ran into technical issues with Kong. Unlike Disney who still does trackless Universal apparently has no plans to try again.

F&F came after Kong, same ride system with issues ironed out

 

[WaltWiz1901]

Let me see what I’ve got

Your mention of the final Mermaid as one of a couple attractions designed to be duplicated in more than one park reminded me of this thread, and it got me wondering if the cost and efficiency of building the same attraction blueprints twice played a role in scaling back from a trackless system to a less expensive (but still very pricey) Omnimover.

By the time the concept art in my original post was drawn, there were still only two LPS rides worldwide, and only in Tokyo (Pooh's Hunny Hunt and Aquatopia; the former cost 11 billion yen in late '90s currency to build). The expense of such a complex (and by then untested in the States) system might've not been considered worth it with their ultimate decision to duplicate the ride on both coasts

 

[WaltWiz1901]

Found a clearer picture of the layout in my OP:

It's interesting to see how the ride would've progressed if this was the approach they settled on: the "Under the Sea" scene would've been a big in-the-round room where the vehicles dance and roam around á la the dream world in the abovementioned Hunny Hunt, and there seems to be a couple of scenes where the vehicles would've either stopped to let the action in front of them unfold or circled around main focal points. Way more active than the passive final ride, and it starts to make a bit more sense why the ride system and the ride structure feel like they're at odds with each other: it was structured with this incarnation in mind.

It apparently didn't take long after that (a month, to be exact) for the West Coast installation of the ride, at least, to switch types: