Unseen Little Mermaid artwork?

Lee

Lee

Adventurer
Ignohippo said:
This looks like art for Shanghai. Unless Lee can say this was definitely created for WDW, I call BS.
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That was indeed part of the early concepts for FLE.
Putting in a boat canal would have posed some challenges, especially since the utilidors are in that area. Would have required a substantial amount of groundwork....but it would have been worth it, in my opinion.

Look for something quite similar in Shanghai.
 
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Pixiedustmaker

Well-Known Member
Ignohippo said:
Holy crap. That would have taken the FLE to an entirely different level. OUCH.
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Personally, I really liked the old swan boats. Though some think of it as a temporary attraction quickly installed in the park, I think it was nicely planned with views of the castle and greenery.

Swan boats 2.0 could have been so much more, a narrated guide into FLE, a view of Mermaid's water falls, and storytelling if they had added some elements like Storybookland canal boats, for guests to see. I personally would have been ok with miniatures added to the banks of the swan boat moat, and they could have added so much more inside of FLE, the boat could have gone through the seven dwarf's mine train!, or perhaps they could have added a scene from beauty and the beast, or even had it so the boat stopped at BoG where guests could disembark for their meal.
 
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Pixiedustmaker

Well-Known Member
Lee said:
That was indeed part of the early concepts for FLE.
Putting in a boat canal would have posed some challenges, especially since the utilidors are in that area. Would have required a substantial amount of groundwork....but it would have been worth it, in my opinion.

Look for something quite similar in Shanghai.
Click to expand...

Remember that the Swan Boat moat already goes over the Utilidors in *two* places, so for the Swan Boat Moat to be extended, they wouldn't necessarily need to do a whole lot to extend the swan boat moat over a section of utilidors near tea cups. I'm not a structural engineer, but I don't think this would be as much of an issue as some folks might assume.

Much more money would be spent building walkways, and doing the rockwork for "caves" that the boats would pass through.
 
D

dman1373

Active Member
Pixiedustmaker said:
Look at a Google Map image of FLE construction . . . there is land behind Gaston's, and even Mermaid, a big chunk of land inside of the train tracks even. Mermaid's show building is actually sort of sucking up space between FLE and Circusland, remember, if they push the loading area back to this area, and moved the showbuilding back, they would have had room for thBis and more.
Click to expand...
But good thing is there is enough area back there for another expansion, they could also have a second path between little the forest and storybook circus.
 
I

Ignohippo

Well-Known Member
Pixiedustmaker said:
It sort of already did work, remember, MK is built on the "second floor", at least the guest areas, and the swan boats traveled *under* guest walkways. So, in a way, half of this boat ride has already been built, they'd "just" need to dig out the walkway between Fantasyland and Tomorrowland, build a lot of bridges, (or one massive bridge with a cave like depicted above. They could have two stops, one where the old swan boat landing is, and one in Fantasyland, or they could add Storybookland canal boat type features to where the old Swan boat water way is.

If you remember the old Swan boat ride, you definitely felt like you were down in a grassy "ditch", so much so that you didn't see out of the boat much to Main Street, but mostly saw the plants and stuff b/c that is what was at eye level.

So of course, expanding the Swan Boat moat to FLE would not have been impossible . . .

reminders_swanboatcanal2009ww.jpg


swan+boats.jpg
Click to expand...


Well Holy Hell. That would have certainly been amazing (actually it would have been much more than amazing). While I know nothing is impossible (bad choice of words there), logistically it would have been a nightmare to construct. So the entire pathway from the hub through Tomorrowland and on to Fantasyland would have had to have been dug up (including under Tea Cups)? Would they have also connected this through Fantasyland (under where the Carousel is) to the moat to the right of the castle? I can't imagine they would have wanted all of those areas closed for a year+ while this was being built. Never mind the issue that this probably would have cost hundreds of millions to build.

As Lee said though, it would have most certainly been worth it. I have a sick feeling in my stomach now. This is literally the coolest concept I've seen. It would have completely changed the Magic Kingdom forever. Jeez, think of the capacity to would have eaten up! If they would have added the miniatures like Disneyland's Storybook Canal Boats, this would have been a grand slam.

So disgusted now. I hate TDO.
 
Tim Lohr

Tim Lohr

Well-Known Member
Pixiedustmaker said:
Look at a Google Map image of FLE construction . . . there is land behind Gaston's, and even Mermaid, a big chunk of land inside of the train tracks even. Mermaid's show building is actually sort of sucking up space between FLE and Circusland, remember, if they push the loading area back to this area, and moved the showbuilding back, they would have had room for this and more.
Click to expand...

The service road behind BatB and Mermaind is on an incline it would be tough to relocate it
 
The Empress Lilly

The Empress Lilly

Well-Known Member
ExtinctJenn said:
:D Thanks so much! I won't take credit for that... I have some wonderful folks who have donated their photos for use on the site and without them it'd be half what it is today. :)
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There are so many pictures out there. Somebody also has to gather that stuff and present it in a manageable manner to the world!
 
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Pixiedustmaker

Well-Known Member
Ignohippo said:
While I know nothing is impossible (bad choice of words there), logistically it would have been a nightmare to construct. So the entire pathway from the hub through Tomorrowland and on to Fantasyland would have had to have been dug up (including under Tea Cups)? Would they have also connected this through Fantasyland (under where the Carousel is) to the moat to the right of the castle? I can't imagine they would have wanted all of those areas closed for a year+ while this was being built. Never mind the issue that this probably would have cost hundreds of millions to build.

As Lee said though, it would have most certainly been worth it. I have a sick feeling in my stomach now. This is literally the coolest concept I've seen. It would have completely changed the Magic Kingdom forever. Jeez, think of the capacity to would have eaten up! If they would have added the miniatures like Disneyland's Storybook Canal Boats, this would have been a grand slam.

So disgusted now. I hate TDO.
Click to expand...

They would have dug up the walkway between the swan boat moats and FLE, (comes close to, but not under the Tea Cups), and would have had to install a track/made space, so that two boat could pass, one going, and one coming back, and they could have a loop in front of Mermaid, and in front of Belle's castle, and if we were looking at the 7DMT revision, they could have passed through the Dwarfs mine!

If you look at all parts of this putative ride, sure, it could come close to $100, maybe less actually as they would have incorporated the design of this ride into FLE construction, so maybe $75 million. Wouldn't have been that hard to built a covered walkway from the moat to FLE, though of course you'd have to theme this cave section, such as by putting in LED lights and theming to something.

Then, they'd probably want to add stuff around the old swan boat area, maybe they could have turned it into a Pixie Hollow area with LED lights at night.

I personally think this ride really could have taken off, especially if they added special stuff in FLE that you could only see from the vantage point of the boat, such as a secret area of the Beast's castle, a special Mermaid scene, and perhaps even a special Seven Dwarfs scene.
 
devoy1701

devoy1701

Well-Known Member
Ignohippo said:
On second thought, after looking at a satellite pic, I don't see any way this could have worked. And with Florida's water table, this would have been impossible.

This looks like art for Shanghai. Unless Lee can say this was definitely created for WDW, I call BS.

If it were created for WDW, it was way beyond blue sky – it was completely impossible.
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It's not impossible to dig down in Florida...just a bit more challenging. It's easier to build up than down (like they did with MK where they "raised" the ground level in the park to the second floor). But you can build basements or put stuff underground even with proper engineering and drainage if you really truly wanted to. It will cost you though!
 
RSoxNo1

RSoxNo1

Well-Known Member
djkidkaz said:
Have never seen this before and came across it on the web. What I find interesting is that there is a boat with people in it. Assuming it was an idea that got scrapped since we've heard nothing about that, but who knows? Sorry if this isn't new.

WDWLM1.jpg
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I don't recall seeing this concept art before, very cool.
Pixiedustmaker said:
It sort of already did work, remember, MK is built on the "second floor", at least the guest areas, and the swan boats traveled *under* guest walkways. So, in a way, half of this boat ride has already been built, they'd "just" need to dig out the walkway between Fantasyland and Tomorrowland, build a lot of bridges, (or one massive bridge with a cave like depicted above. They could have two stops, one where the old swan boat landing is, and one in Fantasyland, or they could add Storybookland canal boat type features to where the old Swan boat water way is.

If you remember the old Swan boat ride, you definitely felt like you were down in a grassy "ditch", so much so that you didn't see out of the boat much to Main Street, but mostly saw the plants and stuff b/c that is what was at eye level.

So of course, expanding the Swan Boat moat to FLE would not have been impossible . . .

reminders_swanboatcanal2009ww.jpg


swan+boats.jpg
Click to expand...
Are both of these photos from Yesterland?
 

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