VIDEO - Behind-the-scenes with WDI creating the loading area mural for Mermaid

[WesternRiverExplorer]

I could be completely wrong here, but isn't most of Fantasyland on the "3rd Floor" relative to true ground level? If that's true, and New Fantasyland doesn't have a significant grade change from "old" Fantasyland, it would seem to me that load/unload would already be at the proper level. While the show building isn't sunk below ground level, it's still "sunk" with guest loading on an upper level (while it looks like you're on ground level). Does that make sense? So, I'm not sure why they would have a higher ceiling. One thing I notice is that in the DCA pic, the ceiling over the mural isn't as tall as the arched ceiling over the queue (not to mention the ceiling is plain and utilitarian, which irked me when I was out there), I wonder why they did that? Maybe we didn't repeat that oddity out here. Or, perhaps the "sky" of the mural will actually arch over the load area a bit and connect with the cave wall on the other side, avoiding a fake looking flat ceiling.

 

[TP2000]

That would explain a taller show building, but it does not explain a taller load/unload area. You still have to enter at the same relative elevation in either case...

One other thing I just thought of. Didn't they tie the new show building into existing architecture in DL? If that is the case then they were probably limited by how high they could make the show building, thus limiting how high the mural could be. In WDW they were not limited by that factor so they could extend the height of the load / unload area to something they felt would work better.

Oh, you are right about the relative elevation. I guess it's a good thing I'm not an architectural engineer! :lol:

As for tying it in to existing architecture at DCA, what they did was keep the original Palace of Fine Arts rotunda from Golden Dreams, and then bulldoze everything around it. The rotunda acts as the entrance for the ride queue and has the marquee on it, and it does fit in with the new building. It's not the highest point of the Mermaid building, that's the archway above the loading area that is the highest part, but the rotunda is a prominent part of the entire facility.

That's the rotunda off to the right of this Mermaid construction picture, with the "San Francisco Street" buildings across the way that house restrooms and a shop.

Which was repainted and refinished and became the entrance rotunda for the queue on the east side of the building.

For those unfamiliar with California and its history, the DCA rotunda was a rather undramatic copy of the very dramatic original rotunda that still stands today about 400 miles north of Disneyland; San Francisco's very large and very grand Palace of Fine Arts from the 1915 Pan-Pacific Exposition.


Palace of Fine Arts by christinecoit, on Flickr

DCA is better off just turning its smaller copy of the Palace into the simpler entrance for an Omnimover princess ride, in my opinion, as it could never really capture the true scale and grandeur of the original up in Northern California.

It's interesting to ponder just how much keeping the rotunda in the plans for DCA dictated the height of the rest of the Mermaid building. Was WDW's show building sunk down into the space once occupied by the 20K Leagues caverns, or was it just built on ground level I wonder?

 

[toolsnspools]

If you consider that the painter is about 6' tall, I'd put that painting in the 30' range minus about 2 feet of additional "black space" on the top and bottom that will be trimmed to fit the final space. That's similar to the mural at the DCA version, so I bet they're within a few feet of the same height.

So the building they're painting this in at DHS, is it one of the prop buildings on the BLT, right? And did someone say they have the windows blocked off.... Are you kidding me? What a perfect prop to show on the ride. I hope that's not really the case. It would be a completely wasted opportunity. :shrug:

 

[HMF]

Interesting (in a good way) they created a completely new mural rather than simply cloning DCA's.

 

[ob1thx1138]

Was WDW's show building sunk down into the space once occupied by the 20K Leagues caverns, or was it just built on ground level I wonder?

Actually the back wall and the wall facing Story Book Circus Land contain the original wall from the 20K show building. So yea the bottom level of mermaid is roughly the same as the bottom level of 20K.

.

 

[lazyboy97o]

The mural is always a byproduct of traditional show buildings, which makes me a little surprised that we're getting any mural at all. I was expecting just a rocky wall or something.

It might be a result of duplicating the ride layout. Proper walls would be dimensional, so they would have to take up a third dimension of space that the mural really does not occupy.

 

[OldBlueEyes]

It's interesting to ponder just how much keeping the rotunda in the plans for DCA dictated the height of the rest of the Mermaid building. Was WDW's show building sunk down into the space once occupied by the 20K Leagues caverns, or was it just built on ground level I wonder?

Take a look at Scott Keating's pics from july and august 2010. Here you can see just how low the floor of Mermaids building is placed. It's on level with the road leading to Utilidors main entrance.

http://www.wdwmagic.com/Attractions...e-Fantasyland-expansion-construction-site.htm
http://www.wdwmagic.com/Attractions...e-Fantasyland-expansion-construction-site.htm

 

[RandySavage]

I may be stating the obvious, but what you're seeing here (I believe) is not going to be a typical FL darkride boarding mural (like DCA has), but closer to the Grotto Scenes in PotC.

There will likely be physical rockwork & architecture closest to the vehicle in the foreground, then some empty space (explaining the curvature) and finally the scrim/mural in the background.

You can see the edges of the mural are dark. This is because, once installed, you will never have a full view of the mural as various angles will be blocked by castle & grotto pillars, as can be seen in this Orlando-specific artwork:

 

[RandySavage]

On his blog, artist Mike Peraza who created this mural confirms that the mural will be seen through castle colonnade arches. If they achieve the photo-realism they're going for it should be a really nice effect.

More info here:
http://michaelperaza.blogspot.com/2011/11/mermaid-mural-for-disney-world.html

 

[ob1thx1138]

On his blog, artist Mike Peraza who created this mural confirms that the mural will be seen through castle colonnade arches. If they achieve the photo-realism they're going for it should be a really nice effect.

More info here:
http://michaelperaza.blogspot.com/2011/11/mermaid-mural-for-disney-world.html

Copied this from the link in the above post:

so when I was contacted by WDI to do the Mermaid mural I was suprised they weren't using Larry's beautiful painting. They explained that the installation in Walt Disney World was larger all around and they wanted to use a more realistic and painterly approach.

So I guess that confirms the idea that the WDW version is taller. Because we all know it has to be the same width.