Why the hate for Little Mermaid ride?

[larryz]

I'll agree that the ride just being a Cliffs Notes version of the movie perhaps isn't the best story they could tell, and like I said on prior page, they sort of Yadda Yadda the ending...

The main payoff is the 'kiss the girl' and Under the Sea rooms, beyond that, yeah it's not much else...But- line moves quickly, gives me a chance to sit and relax, rooms are colorful and fun, and yes TLM is 1 of my favs anyway... And the rest gives me a boost so that I can go stand in line for the grotto immediately after.

Not my favorite ride by any means, but it could be way worse. I still appreciate the animatronics though, as the whole 'led projection' thing they do w Frozen is just creepy.

Well, if you used this Cliff Notes version to write your essay, you'd probably flunk. They leave out a big chunk of the story.

 

[Professortango1]

My "fix" for the ride using existing supporting walls and ride system.

Scene 2 - Scuttle is now replaced with a view through the broken ships to Eric's ship in silhouette against the setting sun.
Scene 3 - Descent is same as before
Scene 4 - Ariel's Grotto is same as before
Scene 5 - As we transition from the Grotto, we hear Triton discovering the Grotto. We round the corner to see Triton destroying her collection as she pleads for him to stop. Our Clam Shell rotates to see the smoking ruins of her collection as her sobs take us into a dark tunnel.
Scene 6 - The brief dark tunnel has Flotsom and Jetsum appear with glowing eyes to offer Ariel a solution
Scene 7 - We round the corner hearing "Come in child" as Ursula welcomes us and offers us an escape through magic. As we leave the lair we hear that she must get him to fall in love with her within three days time.
Scene 8 - We pass through a curtain of seaweed and we are now in the weeping willow marshland. Our Clam Shell turns to the right and Sebastian is telling Scuttle that we have to create the right mood to save Ariel. Our Clam Shell turns to reveal the Kiss the Girl sequence.
Scene 9 - The Storm, we hear Ursula's surprise when she finds out how close Ariel is and a mighty storm begins to rise up
Scene 10 - The Fight with Ursula, we immediately see Prince Eric in lightning upon his ship. We turn to see a massive Ursula with tentacles which reach over our heads. Prince Eric professes his love and that he will defend Ariel.
Scene 11 - Lightning cracks and we see Ursula ran through with Eric's ship in silhouette (larger than before). Noooooo
Scene 12 - We hear Triton asking Ariel if she does truly love Eric. She does and so Triton offers his blessing as we round into the final wedding scene.

 

[geekza]

My "fix" for the ride using existing supporting walls and ride system.

Scene 2 - Scuttle is now replaced with a view through the broken ships to Eric's ship in silhouette against the setting sun.
Scene 3 - Descent is same as before
Scene 4 - Ariel's Grotto is same as before
Scene 5 - As we transition from the Grotto, we hear Triton discovering the Grotto. We round the corner to see Triton destroying her collection as she pleads for him to stop. Our Clam Shell rotates to see the smoking ruins of her collection as her sobs take us into a dark tunnel.
Scene 6 - The brief dark tunnel has Flotsom and Jetsum appear with glowing eyes to offer Ariel a solution
Scene 7 - We round the corner hearing "Come in child" as Ursula welcomes us and offers us an escape through magic. As we leave the lair we hear that she must get him to fall in love with her within three days time.
Scene 8 - We pass through a curtain of seaweed and we are now in the weeping willow marshland. Our Clam Shell turns to the right and Sebastian is telling Scuttle that we have to create the right mood to save Ariel. Our Clam Shell turns to reveal the Kiss the Girl sequence.
Scene 9 - The Storm, we hear Ursula's surprise when she finds out how close Ariel is and a mighty storm begins to rise up
Scene 10 - The Fight with Ursula, we immediately see Prince Eric in lightning upon his ship. We turn to see a massive Ursula with tentacles which reach over our heads. Prince Eric professes his love and that he will defend Ariel.
Scene 11 - Lightning cracks and we see Ursula ran through with Eric's ship in silhouette (larger than before). Noooooo
Scene 12 - We hear Triton asking Ariel if she does truly love Eric. She does and so Triton offers his blessing as we round into the final wedding scene.View attachment 290083

I like a lot of your ideas, but there's no way they should get rid of the Under the Sea segment. It's the most recognizable song in the film. Your finale is a really good idea, though I think it would be difficult to cram so much exposition into such a small area. No real need for Triton in the final scene. Once Ursula is dead, we know that the evil is gone and they'll live happily ever after, so it's fine to go straight to the wedding. Love the idea of the giant Ursula!

 

[Professortango1]

I like a lot of your ideas, but there's no way they should get rid of the Under the Sea segment. It's the most recognizable song in the film. Your finale is a really good idea, though I think it would be difficult to cram so much exposition into such a small area. No real need for Triton in the final scene. Once Ursula is dead, we know that the evil is gone and they'll live happily ever after, so it's fine to go straight to the wedding. Love the idea of the giant Ursula!

I cut Under the Sea as its a boring sequence in terms of storytelling. Its a showstopper number which is great in a long narrative. But a show stopper in a short ride does nothing but stop the already limited narrative. The other songs/moments are more active in expressing the wants and decisions of the characters.

My edits focus on the conflict of love. Sailors love the sea. Beneath that sea, Ariel loves mankind and Eric. Triton destroys what she loves trying to protect her. Ursula manipulates Ariel's love. Ariel and Eric fall in love, then Eric proves his love. Finally, Triton changes his will out of love for his daughter. My fix would also have much of the musical moments replaced with musical underscore of dialogue. This keeps the story focused on the narrative rather than sampling songs without transition or context.

 

[Lets Respect]

I like this ride. At least it's not just a ride through screens

 

[geekza]

I like this ride. At least it's not just a ride through screens

Absolutely. I'll take a lesser dark ride with tangible figures over a screen-based ride any day.

 

[Tom Morrow]

"it could be/could have been better." ah yeah, probably.
I just find it amusing that someone would go on and on hyper-analyzing a kids ride.
A kids ride, that's all it is.
My kids enjoyed it and it tells a simple story with music.......................now lets go eat.

Until they get ride builders who have serious vision like the original Imagineers, this is what will do.

OR... some people are very into theme park and attraction design. Some people even make a career out of it. Don't dismiss other's interests just because you personally don't care. It's no more a "kid's ride" than many other attractions at WDW and it's an interesting case study for attraction design do's and don't's.

 

[Disforever]

About the only legitimate criticism I could level is it is a D ticket billed as an E. It is one of the better dark rides in Fantasyland, but it is not on par with something like HM or PotC.

For what was spent on the attraction and the queue, I think FL would have been much better served getting 2-3 attractions similar to Pooh or Peter Pan.

Couldn't say it better myself- Bravo

 

[Tom Morrow]

Dismissing a mediocre attraction as fine because “kids will still enjoy it” is not the philosophy that the visionaries that created WDW and all the best attractions operated under. It was never meant to be “good enough for kids” and it would not have become the successful behemoth it is if that was their approach.

By no means do I think it’s a terrible ride, but I think it pretty clearly doesn’t resonate much with anyone. It’s fun and interesting for some to examine why that is.

 

[Disforever]

A lot of the 'hate' is for some of us, the version(s) that were built ended up being a complete disappointment when compared to the original concept presented by Tony Baxter some years ago.
Now THAT version was awesome....and was going to be something far more interesting and have a truly magical element to it, not to mention have a cohesive retelling of the story.

The ride system was to be a bit more fun ( similar to 'Peter Pan's Flight' ), effects would create the illusion of you actually going 'under the sea', more sets and AAs present, and special lighting ( not just black light effects ).
Ursula's ocean battle was to have been a climatic and cool element, but it was cut due to budget as well as some concerns about children finding it too scary.
Thus we have the 'neutered' version today where scenes just jump ahead to....nothing really all that exciting.

I highly recommend taking a look at 'what could have been' with this ride concept video that was released by Disney some years ago.
There is another version of this video with Tony narrating the experience, pointing out some of the features, but i can't seem to find it online at the moment.

This is the proposed ride concept, seen from the perspective of the Guests riding.
Take a look....and then decide for yourself which version YOU would have rather experienced.



-

WOW,WOW,WOW, thanks for sharing, how awesome would that have been especially compared to what it is now. I live quite a distance 1000 miles and if more rides were like what should have been would definitely be returning instead of thinking of alternatives

 

[Parrain]

I agree with the OP and really enjoy Ariel. I think I went on it every single visit I did to the MK on my last vacation, which was probably 5 or 6 times. It's a very fun, relaxing and well done Disney attraction. The Under the Sea room gets me singing and dancing in my seashell every time. My GF gets a real kick out of that! lol I can see some of the arguments against it, the fish on sticks and such. But most of the other Fantasyland dark rides have similar types of shortcuts for various things as well if you really point them out. The one argument I do agree with is that it skips to the end and jumps horribly from the 3rd act like danheaton mentioned. It probably would have benefited greatly with another room/scene before the Ursula death/Ariel & Eric wedding scene.

It's definitely not an E-ticket, but it's a solid C or D-ticket level attraction. It is also one of my favorite queues in the MK and even DW in general.

Count me in as one who loves the Ariel attraction!

Agr

I think it feels like a missed opportunity. The queue is gorgeous, and certain scenes are really well done. On the other hand, it's too short and basically skips the 3rd act of the story. It would have been a brilliant dark ride with another 3-4 minutes. It feels like Disney cut the budget in the end. It also is a book report ride, which feels a bit lazy. I like it overall and would give it a B or maybe even a B+, but it could have been something amazing.[/QUOTE
My family and I LOVE the Little Mermaid attraction! We see nothing wrong with it, and look forward to it every time we go. I do agree that with just a little more time in the story, this could have been Amazing.

 

[kap91]

As I have said before FL is a little kids land and I think NFL has done pretty well. I would say the biggest problem with FL is Peter Pan needs a new ride, higher capacity and modern. Sorry Pan is some left over from 50 years ago. For that matter it's a Small World could go into Epcot easily, no-brainer. Whatever crap Disney made to sell stuff back towards Barn stomer is a waste, anyone ever buy anything there? I don't care about shopping I don't like to shop for much of anything that costs under $1,000 so I'm not going in those place any ways. Does the shopping crowd like those places, didn't seem like it to me?

Little Mermaid is fine for the crowd going to FL and what they can actually ride. It's not the thrill ride crowd. The mine train is at their limit for most of the family crowd in FL. The Mermaid attraction is a slow colorful event. Kids like that and so do many low thrill people.

Don't understand the hate myself. I doubt I will ever set foot in FL again since my kids have gotten older but I have been on every attraction in FL and NFL. Dumbo was certainly an upgrade.

See that’s the thing....FL shouldn’t be just for little kids and it historically wasn’t.

 

[kap91]

When I was a kid in the 70's, FL was pretty much a kids land. I don't know what makes you think historically it wasn't? I've been there in every decade since MK opened. When it was just MK of course everyone went everywhere but still more kids in FL and Tomorrow Land had more adults as I remember.

Fantasyland, along with the rest of the park was designed for families to enjoy things together. That’s the entire concept of a Disney park - to not have attractions that are just for kids. The classic dark rides, and Mickey Mouse revue were enjoyable for all ages and It’s a small world and 20k were arguably more appreciated by an older audience. The MK specifically was designed with older guests in mind as it was thought the park would have an audience heavily weighted to the older side.

Even if you were to build attractions and lands for kids you really shouldn’t dumb design or storytelling down for them. They can sense it. The most enduring “kids movies” are the ones that have depth and appeal to adults as well.

 

[kap91]

Little something for you to do. Ask a 10 year, 15 year old and 20 year what their classic movies are? For that matter ask a 30 year old. You will be surprised that there are no old movie they bring up, they are classics to you not the younger crowd.

Nemo will come up a lot BTW. That movie was big big big with the kids.

You are right their classic movies will have a good story attached to it. Incredibles is another movie the kids loved, not the parents dragging kids to see it telling them they love it.

Nemo is exactly the kind of movie I'm talking about...Nemo its not just for kids. That movie is about parenthood as much as it's about Nemo's fun adventure. It's a movie designed for families with a plot that functions just as well for adults. Just because a movie or ride is animated or has a bunch of cute characters doesn't mean its just for kids.

 

[SapphireStorm]

DH and I personally loved The Little Mermaid ride! We found it to be lots of fun and the animatronics to be impressive. Of course, we were born not long after the movie came out, so we grew up with it... Maybe that has something to do with our opinion?

 

[righttrack]

I just don't look forward to it. It's nice. It's just kind of there. I feel the same with the Living Seas/Nemo ride. It's just a timekiller, IMO.

 

[geekza]

I just don't look forward to it. It's nice. It's just kind of there. I feel the same with the Living Seas/Nemo ride. It's just a timekiller, IMO.

The problem with Nemo is that it's a slow moving ride past nothing but screens. Travelling TV.

 

[Bairstow]

The problem with Nemo is that it's a slow moving ride past nothing but screens. Travelling TV.

Which Nemo ride are you talking about?

 

[geekza]

Which Nemo ride are you talking about?

The Seas. There's very little that is tangible about it.

 

[TwilightZone]

The Seas. There's very little that is tangible about it.

To be fair traveling TV can also go for the subs as well. I guess the subs are less tv-y though. At least the subs it isn't as obvious.