I really enjoy TLM but whenever I ride it I keep thinking about how much better it could have been. I know Disney is capable of doing so much more. The ride is technologically superior to the classic FL dark rides, but IMO it doesn't have the same amount of 'fun factor' that the older rides do.
The older rides don't have big fancy AAs, but there's something about being chased through the dark forest of Snow White, crashing into a speeding train with Mr. Toad, the thrill of flying over Neverland - you don't get moments like that in TLM. In TLM you are a passive viewer instead of being on your own adventure through a story.
Agree ^.
I feel that Mermaid sort of relies completely upon a couple Ariel animatronics and Ursula, and that everything else is sort just flat sheet metal cut like seaweed and painted green, and other stuff we aren't supposed to look at closely. I know that rides like Peter Pan don't have the advanced animatronics, but maybe this is good as they win over guests through a ride experience which is more thought out in terms of providing something "magical."
Peter Pan hits all the right notes, you fly out of a bedroom window, over London, and then to Neverland . . . and this all happens so quickly. On Mermaid, I feel like I am watching a laboriously slow Little Mermaid musical and that I'm not really a part of each scene.
Rather than simply trying to invoke nostalgia for a film, I think it would have worked better to develop a ride system which allowed guests to feel like they are on an adventure with Ariel.
It would be like having a Mr. Toad ride where you simply ride an omnimover by "display scenes" depicting what somebody thought was the high points of the Wind in the Willows film.
Yes, the omnimover works in HM, but you've got the ghost host making the ride personal, and the protective shell of the doombuggy isn't as much a hindrance as in Mermaid as I don't feel like I'm immersed in Ariel's world.
And worse, I feel like I'm packed in like sardines with other guests as the show lights are so bright you don't feel you are having a personalized experience (it is easy to see other guests watching scenes you just passed by). I like the more personalized experiences of classic Fantasyland dark rides like Peter Pan, Toad, Alice . . . yeah, you've got to wait a bit, but I think its worth it if you don't want to feel like you're on a moving walk way with other guests.
On the older rides, the Imagineers really thought about everything guests would see. On Mermaid, they've got a wall with motion-less plastic fish, and then later on rock work, a screen of Ariel's transformation . . . more rock-work. I think those 6 minutes with the guest should be considered precious, and everything should serve the story AND look decent. If you're going slowly by plastic fish nailed into a wall . . . not magical. Other classic dark rides may have figures with limited or no motion, but they compensate by sending the ride vehicle through the scene faster AND usually there is so much detail it is hard to take it all in, even after riding Mr. Toad five times in a row, there's plenty you might have missed. With Mermaid, I feel like I've seen it all after riding it just once. I can't go on the ride again and see something new because there simply aren't a lot of details.
Likewise, Ursula's lair is good, but the transition to this scene is practically non-existent, like the guest is simply flipping through different scenes from the Little Mermaid DVD.
