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

[MerlinTheGoat]

this is what worries me about frozen in norway, hopefully its better than that......mermaid though was their chance to do something on a haunted mansion calibur, and instead went walmartish, except for the queue. hopefully the lighting package will at least address the current bad show lighting issue and hide infrastructure, like Disney use to excel at and no longer seems to know how. If a lighting package is what they are doing.

I would not get your hopes up for Frozen. Despite Mermaid's problems and failures, it at least had a lot of loyal hopefuls beforehand that believed it could potentially be a good ride. It also had a relatively large budget (squandered of course, but it should have been more than enough for a ride like what they were going for). I was at least expected to be a big success and a good ride, before it finally opened.

We've been told from some of the same people who broke the news about Frozen-strom to expect this to be done on the cheap. They're shoehorning it into a building that already exists instead of building a new ride, that should be a good indication of the lack of effort I full expect from the project. It's even heavily rumored to be using the same track layout to further save money and time on construction. We'll see but I expect this to be true, an unaltered track layout also means it's going to have dreadful capacity to support Frozen's popularity as well as not even fix the one truly glaring problem with the original Maelstrom in the first place- it's short length. The executives also probably realize that Frozen is still fresh and highly popular in everyone's minds, enough so that they'll expect to be able to coast on its popularity instead of actually building something of quality and substance. And at least in the short term I expect that they're probably right in this belief, i'm sure when it first opens initially it will garner big crowds even if it's a very poor ride.

Ride shortly after the attraction opened and was excited for NFL. I was so disappointed looking around in the under the sea room expecting to be wowed, and instead seeing infrastructure, cabling, & hardware in what should have been a very controlled environment. I'm looking forward to see the changes.

Same. Far from the only issue with the ride and one hopes they continue the improvements after, but it's a start nevertheless. Being able to see all this mechanical nonsense in Under the Sea shouldn't even be considered show ready as far as i'm concerned.

 

[Disneyhead'71]

The ride is definitly better off getting this refurb with the new ending attached or not. You don't need to be looking hard to see everything in the under the sea scene. Especially with fish spinning on mobiles that draw your attention up. The entire scene is framed to bring your attention all over the place.

I have been harping on this since the first time I rode it. It is like the new crop of Imagineers ripped the page explaining "visual targeting" out of the Imagineering Bible and threw it in the trash. The whole Under The Sea scene, because of it's size, should have been sunk at least 6 feet below the plane of the ride vehicles so that riders are looking down into the scene. That way if guests look past the "visual target" they see themed rock work and pretty coral. Not air conditioning ducts and light rigs. That glaring example of incompetence combined with middle school drama department-esque lighting design really makes wonder who the hell actually designed this ride.

Oh, and there is a minor issue with pacing and plot development too.

 

[Tom Morrow]

Even ignoring the pacing and plot, I take issue with any ride made in this day and age that is nothing but a re-telling of the movie. Sure, that was great for the 50's, 60's, 70's, but we've progressed. Take the opportunity to let the ride take you in to the movie's universe, but expand on the story! I also prefer modern rides to not have you be just a bystander. A great example is Radiator Springs Racers - you still see the locales and characters from the movie, but 1. it's not a recap of the film, and 2. YOU are part of the story, its happening to you!

Although to be fair, with most omnimovers you are just a bystander to the action, but not always. In Haunted Mansion, you are being given a tour of the mansion, for example.

 

[Matt_Black]

Well, they can do some work now, or they can wait a decade or two when the problems get so bad that to properly fix it it would have to be done for several months or longer.

 

[FerretAfros]

The other thing that bugs me is the lack of actual water in that scene with the fish spouting water into the air. Considering that the story is based around water that they could have actually used some in that scene.

I guess you didn't see the original version of that scene right when it opened at DCA. The plastic 'water' didn't splash out at the end in the cartoonish way it does now. Instead, it was designed to look like it was falling back down the spout as real water would, like the fountain in the Tiki Room:

However, with the up-and-down bobbing motion from the mouths and romantic mood music, the end result was a little more...what's the polite way of saying it...phallic:

They updated the design to the more cartoony splash prior to the attraction's official opening, but for the tens of thousands of us who saw it during CM previews and soft openings, there are certain things you just can't unsee...

 

[sshindel]

Off topic completely, but MAN do I miss that fountain.

 

[aladdin2007]

Off topic completely, but MAN do I miss that fountain.

yeah me too such a shame, maybe some day again. would be nice for the 50th.

 

[sshindel]

yeah me too such a shame, maybe some day again. would be nice for the 50th.

I just wonder how much plumbing they ripped up in order to feed the electronics they needed for the Uh-Oa AA figure, or if it's still there intact.

Sorry, back to our regularly scheduled topic of discussion. I too hope we get the DCA updates, even though I really like the ride now. Has it been noted in this thread how long the DCA version was down on it's refurb that brought in the new changes?

 

[RayTheFirefly]

I just wonder how much plumbing they ripped up in order to feed the electronics they needed for the Uh-Oa AA figure, or if it's still there intact.

Sorry, back to our regularly scheduled topic of discussion. I too hope we get the DCA updates, even though I really like the ride now. Has it been noted in this thread how long the DCA version was down on it's refurb that brought in the new changes?

I want to say someone said 2 months-ish?

 

[sshindel]

I want to say someone said 2 months-ish?

Thanks!

 

[Jose]

It is safe to say that this refurb will include the DCA improvements

 

[Yankee Mouse]

I have to agree with mostly everyone in that a refurb is much appreciated. While I will also agree that there are

I am curious if they will be able to get it all done in a month though, or if they’ll do most of the more demanding stuff in a month and then finish up sporadically during off hours, kind of like they did to SSE. It would be really nice if we get lucky and get some enhancements that are going to be a part of California’s next refurb.

I already like the ride so this will all only make it better, IMO. I look forward to riding it in March.

When did they finish SSE?

 

[ToTBellHop]

When did they finish SSE?

Well, they are certainly done with it, hahaha. There were some updates made after hours (e.g. the Magical glowing triangles from the future). Now we get to thank the Phoenicians for the whole ride until about 2020 before they pick a new narrator and knit some new sweaters for the A-As.

 

[Timekeeper]

Even ignoring the pacing and plot, I take issue with any ride made in this day and age that is nothing but a re-telling of the movie. Sure, that was great for the 50's, 60's, 70's, but we've progressed. Take the opportunity to let the ride take you in to the movie's universe, but expand on the story! I also prefer modern rides to not have you be just a bystander. A great example is Radiator Springs Racers - you still see the locales and characters from the movie, but 1. it's not a recap of the film, and 2. YOU are part of the story, its happening to you!

This (making YOU part of the story/action) is something that Universal has been particularly good at. Even when almost every ride is based on a movie, they're not just recaps of the movies, and they highly involve the guest in the storytelling experience. And even the original classics like Kong, Jaws, E.T., Back to the Future, and Earthquake were ahead of their time because, for one reason, they were able to bring guests into the movies without simply retelling the movies. They've got a great creative formula at Universal that the Disney creatives could learn from.

 

[Mike S]

This (making YOU part of the story/action) is something that Universal has been particularly good at. Even when almost every ride is based on a movie, they're not just recaps of the movies, and they highly involve the guest in the storytelling experience. And even the original classics like Kong, Jaws, E.T., Back to the Future, and Earthquake were ahead of their time because, for one reason, they were able to bring guests into the movies without simply retelling the movies. They've got a great creative formula at Universal that the Disney creatives could learn from.

This post will receive a lot of calm, level headed responses

 

[Matt_Black]

This (making YOU part of the story/action) is something that Universal has been particularly good at. Even when almost every ride is based on a movie, they're not just recaps of the movies, and they highly involve the guest in the storytelling experience. And even the original classics like Kong, Jaws, E.T., Back to the Future, and Earthquake were ahead of their time because, for one reason, they were able to bring guests into the movies without simply retelling the movies. They've got a great creative formula at Universal that the Disney creatives could learn from.

Disney did that. For example, the original Snow White's Scary Adventures. People kept asking, "Where's Snow White?" (They were also no doubt asking, "WTH? Did we... did we just get murdered by the Witch at the end there?!?")

 

[ford91exploder]

This (making YOU part of the story/action) is something that Universal has been particularly good at. Even when almost every ride is based on a movie, they're not just recaps of the movies, and they highly involve the guest in the storytelling experience. And even the original classics like Kong, Jaws, E.T., Back to the Future, and Earthquake were ahead of their time because, for one reason, they were able to bring guests into the movies without simply retelling the movies. They've got a great creative formula at Universal that the Disney creatives could learn from.

But that's the point Disney used to have Imagineers, Now they have Accountaineers... Big Difference in focus.

 

[danlb_2000]

It is safe to say that this refurb will include the DCA improvements

We are hopeful that it will, but no guarantees.

 

[Tom Morrow]

This (making YOU part of the story/action) is something that Universal has been particularly good at. Even when almost every ride is based on a movie, they're not just recaps of the movies, and they highly involve the guest in the storytelling experience. And even the original classics like Kong, Jaws, E.T., Back to the Future, and Earthquake were ahead of their time because, for one reason, they were able to bring guests into the movies without simply retelling the movies. They've got a great creative formula at Universal that the Disney creatives could learn from.

I agree. The only thing I dislike about Universal's attraction storytelling is that they still use the "something goes wrong!" trope for every attraction. Gringotts, for example, could have been just as fun if it was just a ride through the bank on the crazy rail system, since in the films its already a crazy ride. Instead, you have to witness the most significant thing to ever happen at the bank. But I will take that over a recap of the films any day.

But that's the point Disney used to have Imagineers, Now they have Accountaineers... Big Difference in focus.

Every time I ride The Seas with Nemo at Epcot, I can't help but think what a missed opportunity it was. While I'd prefer no character attractions in Epcot, if they had to introduce them to the pavilion to breathe life into it, the slightest amount of thought and creativity could have made the ride fit better with Epcot. I've posted it before - how about a ride-along field trip with Mr. Ray? You'd still be able to use the characters from the film but it could be educational and not just a recap of the movie. Instead they went with the lazy, least creative route. They attempt to spin it as a "new adventure" but, come on, why would Nemo intentionally be a brat and hide from his dad? And why would they encounter the exact same characters from the first adventure?

 

[hpyhnt 1000]

I agree. The only thing I dislike about Universal's attraction storytelling is that they still use the "something goes wrong!" trope for every attraction. Gringotts, for example, could have been just as fun if it was just a ride through the bank on the crazy rail system, since in the films its already a crazy ride. Instead, you have to witness the most significant thing to ever happen at the bank. But I will take that over a recap of the films any day.

Every time I ride The Seas with Nemo at Epcot, I can't help but think what a missed opportunity it was. While I'd prefer no character attractions in Epcot, if they had to introduce them to the pavilion to breathe life into it, the slightest amount of thought and creativity could have made the ride fit better with Epcot. I've posted it before - how about a ride-along field trip with Mr. Ray? You'd still be able to use the characters from the film but it could be educational and not just a recap of the movie. Instead they went with the lazy, least creative route. They attempt to spin it as a "new adventure" but, come on, why would Nemo intentionally be a brat and hide from his dad? And why would they encounter the exact same characters from the first adventure?

Can I like this a million times over? Completely agree, especially regarding Nemo.