Why the hate for Little Mermaid ride?

[geekza]

The thread title sort of says it all. I've read and heard a lot of folks mention the Little Mermaid ride in less-than enthusiastic tones. I can't really figure out why. I should probably be up front and admit that I will be riding it for the first time this November, however I've seen multiple ride-through videos and feel like I have a pretty good impression of the attraction.

On the whole, it seems to be a nice, relaxing C or even D-ticket attraction. The theming is nice in both the queue and the ride, it has some nice animatronics, and you can't beat the classic songs. There's nothing game-changing about it, but does there need to be? It seems like a solidly above-average Disney dark ride. The only thing I can point to as a deficiency is that it ends rather quickly without any sort of climax.

So why all the negative opinions about it? Is there something about the actual experience of riding it that is unpleasant? I'm genuinely curious.

 

[RoyWalley]

The thread title sort of says it all. I've read and heard a lot of folks mention the Little Mermaid ride in less-than enthusiastic tones. I can't really figure out why. I should probably be up front and admit that I will be riding it for the first time this November, however I've seen multiple ride-through videos and feel like I have a pretty good impression of the attraction.

On the whole, it seems to be a nice, relaxing C or even D-ticket attraction. The theming is nice in both the queue and the ride, it has some nice animatronics, and you can't beat the classic songs. There's nothing game-changing about it, but does there need to be? It seems like a solidly above-average Disney dark ride. The only thing I can point to as a deficiency is that it ends rather quickly without any sort of climax.

So why all the negative opinions about it? Is there something about the actual experience of riding it that is unpleasant? I'm genuinely curious.

We like the ride, love the music! Beautiful colors throughout

 

[Master Yoda]

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.

 

[eliza61nyc]

lol probably because they will say it should have been an A ride or whatever the letter correlating the best is.

seems there is complaint with every ride on Disney, even the ones that have not opened. anything from the tracks are showing to it's an IP ride or the addition did nothing to enhance the ride. It's not as good as Pirates or it's too short.

Take your pick

 

[larryz]

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.

Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner.

 

[eliza61nyc]

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.

how much did they spend and why do you say it was not spent well?

 

[geekza]

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.

I guess my counter-argument would be that it cost more partially because it was an entirely new show building compared to something like Pooh. Also, and I know I'm in the minority here, I think Peter Pan is overrated. It's pretty, but for the amount of time and effort it takes to ride it, it's really too short. Brand new, from the ground up dark rides are expensive.

If it was advertised as an E-ticket on par with something like Pirates or the Mansion, that was certainly wrong to do, but I don't remember that being the case. Even if it was, that doesn't take away from the fact that it's a solid attraction for what it is. Aside from the truncated ending, it's entertaining, tells the story well, and is a loving three-dimensional representation of the art of the film.

 

[danheaton]

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.

 

[Wendy Pleakley]

I don't dislike the ride by any means, but from a critical standpoint I can think of the following:

Some lazy and inefficient design choices. A little too much time spent looking at rocks, and a poor transition from the final scene to unload. When they built the ride in Anaheim, they were restricted because they used an existing building. At WDW, they could have tweaked and improved the design, but doing a carbon copy is easier and cheaper.

The lighting and atmosphere could have been a bit better, particularly the Under the Sea scene. It feels like you're in a ride building. They adjusted this a bit since at Disneyland, not sure about WDW.

Overall, it's a perfectly good dark ride. I don't know why anyone would hate it.

 

[AndyS2992]

I wouldn’t say it was hated, it’s just underwhelming. Most of the ride is taken up by the 'Under the Sea' section and the story makes no sense. You see Ursula make Ariel’s dream of becoming a human come true and fall in love and then the very next scene is Ursula being killed in the background for no reason as Ariel and Eric get married. Unless you had seen the movie you would not really understand what was happening and why.

 

[kap91]

Here’s a couple thousand words on why...

http://www.themeparkconcepts.com/2018/02/27/why-is-mermaid-so-bad/

 

[Master Yoda]

how much did they spend and why do you say it was not spent well?

I don't recall Disney ever releasing official numbers, but I believe the estimates were somewhere around the 100 million dollar mark. What the actual number are are anyone's guess.

For that figure we got an incredibly elaborate queue and a pretty good solid D ticket dark ride with a high capacity and no height restrictions.

What FL needed then and really needs now was multiple attractions with a high capacity and no height restrictions. Scale back the queues and the attractions to something on par with Pooh and FL could have gotten a 3 ride expansion that could have been done for around the same price tag.

Had Mermaid been some mind blowing E-ticket, I myself would have been OK with it being the only addition, but that is not what we got.

 

[JS514]

The thread title sort of says it all. I've read and heard a lot of folks mention the Little Mermaid ride in less-than enthusiastic tones. I can't really figure out why. I should probably be up front and admit that I will be riding it for the first time this November, however I've seen multiple ride-through videos and feel like I have a pretty good impression of the attraction.

On the whole, it seems to be a nice, relaxing C or even D-ticket attraction. The theming is nice in both the queue and the ride, it has some nice animatronics, and you can't beat the classic songs. There's nothing game-changing about it, but does there need to be? It seems like a solidly above-average Disney dark ride. The only thing I can point to as a deficiency is that it ends rather quickly without any sort of climax.

So why all the negative opinions about it? Is there something about the actual experience of riding it that is unpleasant? I'm genuinely curious.

The Little Mermaid is one of my "rest rides", where instead of just chilling on a bench somewhere, I can be entertained for typically a fairly short wait (or an easy FP grab, if I have one available). Sort of like Nemo in EPCOT (Little Mermaid being the complete superior of the two). I love the music, and by no means is it a bad ride, but it's kind of "eh". We are spoiled with so many great dark rides that have been there for decades (PotC, HM, even Jungle Cruise, while not a dark ride, is unique). Little Mermaid just falls so severely short of so many other rides for the price and space they used. It's not horrible (unlike the atrocious Little Mermaid show, but that's for another thread...), and we usually hit it a few times every trip, but it's nothing you'll remember for the rest of your lives, either.

 

[JohnD]

The thread title sort of says it all. I've read and heard a lot of folks mention the Little Mermaid ride in less-than enthusiastic tones. I can't really figure out why. I should probably be up front and admit that I will be riding it for the first time this November, however I've seen multiple ride-through videos and feel like I have a pretty good impression of the attraction.

On the whole, it seems to be a nice, relaxing C or even D-ticket attraction. The theming is nice in both the queue and the ride, it has some nice animatronics, and you can't beat the classic songs. There's nothing game-changing about it, but does there need to be? It seems like a solidly above-average Disney dark ride. The only thing I can point to as a deficiency is that it ends rather quickly without any sort of climax.

So why all the negative opinions about it? Is there something about the actual experience of riding it that is unpleasant? I'm genuinely curious.

It's not bad as dark rides go. But the main criticism is that it is a "book report". At least it was refurbed several years ago with neon colors and no longer using a disco ball in the Under the Sea scene (you can still see it in the ceiling though).

 

[MisterPenguin]

Here’s a couple thousand words on why...

http://www.themeparkconcepts.com/2018/02/27/why-is-mermaid-so-bad/

This hits the many, many nails on their heads.

To add:

1. The interactive element in the queue is a bunch of tiny screens, many of them too high up for children to enjoy and too small and few for the large crowds in the queue to be entertained. Big fail there.

2. Plastic fish. Glued to the wall. Really, when I hear people say how good the AAs are in TLM, I have to wonder not if they snorted all the pixie dust, but if it killed them, and I'm now talking to a personified ghost of pixie dust. Sure, one AA of Ariel is nicely articulated, even though it be a plasticized oversized toy of an AA; but, the rest is garbage. Pure and pure garbage. So many unarticulated fish on sticks swinging back and forth. That is not "good AA." Then we get to all the plastic fish glued to the wall. Really? Just glued there. Not moving. Not even a strobe light. Unbelievably cheap and awful. If there was ever a time to want screens and projections, this is it.

3. To reiterate the article above: It's a book report that fails to adequately report on the book. It's a musical that's inadequate in making the ride a musical. I can sit through the Ariel section of PhilHarmonic a hundred times before ever opting to go on TLM instead.

 

[Disneyhead'71]

It's like a middle school engineering class' project to design a Disney ride.

The number of technical mistakes is shocking.

 

[TheGuyThatMakesSwords]

Two words....

Disco Ariel .

If you look closely? You'll still see the (defunct) Disco Ball on the ceiling .

 

[Clamman73]

For me it has this machine-like predictability....It's fine for what it is and I always go on it for a good work out of walking through the queue, it's a sit back and relax ride in the AC and the Ursula AA.

 

[crxbrett]

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!

 

[SteamboatJoe]

It's not "hate worthy" but I would say it is fair to say it's underwhelming and not really innovative. I mean what does it do that really stands out or is memorable? Is there anywhere in the actual ride one can say they really "plussed it"? The closest I can come is the going under the water effect at the beginning. Sure Peter Pan is a book report ride but flying out of the Darling's window over London and seeing Neverland from above like Peter Pan or Tinkerbell do makes it a unique and memorable experience.