Under the Sea ~ Journey of the Little Mermaid closing for month long refurbishment Feb 2-Mar 6

[ToTBellHop]

The structure repurpose at Dca would look like a choice... Not really a requirement. It was the site's size that was far more important. The building is effectively an whole new one with some walls reused

The origin of the elements is not important to the point... The point is they prioritized some show scenes and not others. It's not like they didn't know this... They just made choices based within their constraints. The mk rock work, etc is a whole other discussion because it's clear modifying the ride was not on the table... And spending on the exterior and queue was not an 'either or' for changing the ride

It is a pity that they couldn't give us an upgraded Mermaid ride. The ride serves different purposes in the two parks. At DCA, it's just another people eater ride, not a highlight of the park. As the FLE was originally planned, the ride was to be the major addition (thankfully, we also got Mine Train). They could have used the time between DCA's version opening and our own opening to make upgrades to the ride given its heightened importance. It was too late to change the ride system, but not the show scenes. For example, they knew people out west didn't care for the ending and they could have easily changed it. That whole show scene with the Ursula cut out and Ariels heart could have been swapped out for a larger scale Ursula's demise scene. They chose not to. A ship skewering Ursulas belly would have been a striking show scene! It wasn't always the case that building similar rides in different parks meant they had to be identical.

 

[Mr Bill]

So why not a permanent wall? Why plywood that's clearly noticeable as part of the "rock" work?

Interesting as it looks unfinished.

I believe that's actually a maintenance door.

 

[Figments Friend]

We wouldn't have these problems if Disney just built Tony Baxter's version of the ride in the first place.

It really sucks that he left Imagineering.

The version Tony shared from TLM Dvd features shown above would have been quite unique and far more interesting then what was eventually built.
It would have been spectacular, but expensive to build and likely maintain.
Today*s Disney seems to frown on such high grade, quality concepts these days which may well have been one of several reasons why Mr. Baxter was forced into *retirement*.

Tony did not leave Imagineering in some respects.
They forced him to change his role into a part time adviser position.
He has mentioned his continued presence recently, noting his weekly visits as he enjoys mentoring the 20-something up-and-coming Imagineers.
The mentoring program that used to be a cornerstone of WED is something he values and wants to be a active participant in.

In my own personal opinion, if Tony had been given the opportunity to remain at WDI full-time i am convinced that he would have stayed on staff until he dropped, like John Hench.
LIfers that loved their work...and lived and breathed it.

But i digress....

Back to TLM Attraction now....
Unfortunately that far more enveloping, immersive, and entertaining version of the Attraction was not built, but every time i watch that clip from the DVd features it makes me yearn for what *could have been*.
If only....

 

[Figments Friend]

I am in this case because there's a handful of other attractions that need it more. I'm looking at you, Buzz Lightyear!

And let*s not forget the whopper of them all as far as needing a full refurb goes....

Carousel of Progress.

Ooooh yes....

 

[Sped2424]

The structure repurpose at Dca would look like a choice... Not really a requirement. It was the site's size that was far more important. The building is effectively an whole new one with some walls reused

The origin of the elements is not important to the point... The point is they prioritized some show scenes and not others. It's not like they didn't know this... They just made choices based within their constraints. The mk rock work, etc is a whole other discussion because it's clear modifying the ride was not on the table... And spending on the exterior and queue was not an 'either or' for changing the ride

Actually upon reviewing the ride everything was plucked from the tony baxter one. Except for the scuttle intro and exit and the transitions. But part of your world, kiss the girl, finale, all of that is from the original concept more or less but on a far smaller and less entertaining scale. But you're argument still makes no sense, how does this matter? This was all still bad decisions in terms of design. Even if they had limited space to work with a good imagineer would know how to work with that. Even if certain scenes pop out over others. And the fact that they have had 2 refurbs at the original attraction to fix glaring show issues only supports the idea that the initial design of this ride was poor like I said. I am not saying you're wrong, but you''re points don't apply to my base comment. Which is the ride even with all the issues that the imagineers had to work with was poorly designed, the blatant show issues and catwalks everywhere were proof of that.

 

[flynnibus]

Actually upon reviewing the ride everything was plucked from the tony baxter one. Except for the scuttle intro and exit and the transitions. But part of your world, kiss the girl, finale, all of that is from the original concept more or less but on a far smaller and less entertaining scale. But you're argument still makes no sense, how does this matter? This was all still bad decisions in terms of design. Even if they had limited space to work with a good imagineer would know how to work with that. Even if certain scenes pop out over others. And the fact that they have had 2 refurbs at the original attraction to fix glaring show issues only supports the idea that the initial design of this ride was poor like I said. I am not saying you're wrong, but you''re points don't apply to my base comment. Which is the ride even with all the issues that the imagineers had to work with was poorly designed, the blatant show issues and catwalks everywhere were proof of that.

Listen... Im not saying it was great. Simoly that your counterpoint about being two rides to the other poster was bunkus... And that the ride obviously prioritized key scenes in their design. To the other posters comment... They obviously put more into some scenes then other and chose NOT to rebalance.

 

[Sped2424]

Listen... Im not saying it was great. Simoly that your counterpoint about being two rides to the other poster was bunkus... And that the ride obviously prioritized key scenes in their design. To the other posters comment... They obviously put more into some scenes then other and chose NOT to rebalance.

Good theory but since the DCA one is the exact same ride and came first minus the facade it doesn't hold up. This was just a poorly designed ride through and through.

??? Does that not constitute as poor design creating a ride with two highlight points with bad show issues and then the rest of the ride extremely weak scenes with a rushed ending?

 

[Steel City Magic]

I absolutely hate the ursula pearl thing. Makes my feel that the ride is a cheap, subpar little mermaid HM overlay knockoff

 

[Sped2424]

I absolutely hate the ursula pearl thing. Makes my feel that the ride is a cheap, subpar little mermaid HM overlay knockoff

You know it's funny you mention that as I feel the area that is most reminiscent of haunted mansion except executed more poorly is leaving the ursula scene. As they have blinking eyes that stare at you on the walls. Except you can see the square outline of the whatever display panel they are in unlike the mansion eyes.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Peter Pans Flight does have full figures of the Crocodile and Captain Hook at the end though, not some cheap cutout. Same thing with the Witch at the end of Snow White while it still existed.

With 43 year old animatronics throughout, each of which has about 3 levels of movement.

 

[Communicore]

I hope they de-cheap this ride during the refurbishment. So much plastic, I swear I smell burnt plastics when the spotlights shine on them.

 

[Sage of Time]

You're right, it needs the full story... Like Peter Pan's Flight #sarcasm

At least Peter Pan's Flight has some of the finale in there and doesn't feel like it deliberately skips things... Mermaid? Quite easy to tell that they're skipping the scary bits for the kiddies.

 

[flyerjab]

I actually don't mind the ride up to a point. The queue, load area, and the ride up to the first scene with Ursula works for me (except for the poor lighting which I hope is fixed during this refurb). It is after that when it loses it for me. These rides are about Disney movies that kids have already seen so for most of them the "scary" scenes shouldn't be unexpected. There should be at least one or two more scenes, with one of them being another large open space.

 

[FerretAfros]

At DCA They had to work with a pre existing building. But not here, they had to construct a new show building which could have resulted in a better version of the attraction but it didn't.

DCA's building was purpose-built for the Mermaid ride. The Palace of Fine Arts rotunda was kept from the Golden Dreams days, but the building itself is brand new and was built adjacent to the existing rotunda. The rotunda only serves as an open-air entry way, and serves no practical/structural purpose for the attraction. When the space was used for Golden Dreams, the building only contained the theater, and was completely separate from the rotunda; none of the theater building was retained

The MK building, on the other hand, actually reuses a couple of the walls (north and east side) from the old 20K building. If we're saying that one park had to work with an existing building, MK fits that bill more, though both buildings were essentially new I'm not sure why this was done, but I have to assume it was something related to ease of getting permits for modified structure instead of a completely new one. If you look at the historical images on Google Earth, you can see that the walls stayed there, even after the 20K building was demolished

But more importantly, I think the real trouble is that they decided that both rides needed to be identical, and therefore had to create a design that would fit in both locations. Had each park used a similar-but-unique configuration, I think they could have used the available space more wisely to get some additional scenes in, rather than using the one-size-fits-all approach that we ended up with

 

[Jose]

At least WDI is planning a new ending for the ride!

 

[spectromagic04]

At least WDI is planning a new ending for the ride!

They are? If true hope they do it right because the last 2 scenes are embarrassing

 

[Jose]

They are? If true hope they do it right because the last 2 scenes are embarrassing

Micechat said it was coming.

 

[GhostHost1000]

You know it's funny you mention that as I feel the area that is most reminiscent of haunted mansion except executed more poorly is leaving the ursula scene. As they have blinking eyes that stare at you on the walls. Except you can see the square outline of the whatever display panel they are in unlike the mansion eyes.

I agree... the box looks really dumb (and noticeable)

 

[Kman101]

Yeah, it's long been said WDI has a new ending planned it's just a matter of Anaheim wanting to implement it. The refurb of Mermaid, I seem to remember, was supposed to come in two phases (read here, probably by Spirit), or they at least put off the ending changes during the refurb in Anaheim. It's out there, I guess. Just a matter of when they go ahead with it.

 

[marni1971]

Rockwork is far more expensive than retheming some elements to a building. At DCA They had to work with a pre existing building. But not here,

Not exactly. WDWs show building is on the foundation of the 20k show building footprint.