Will the Little Mermaid ride be changed?

[wdwfan4ver]

I don’t understand the hate for Ariel! Sure, it is not a e-ticket ride, but I personally think it’s as good as most other dark rides. E-ticket groundbreaking rides are awesome, but we need a balance. Ariel delivers for me on a classic feeling Disney dark ride. They’ve never been technologically stunning (for the most part), but they tell a story. Ariel tells a story just as good as any other dark ride IMO.

The problem with the ride the queue and the rockwork outside gave people very high expectations of an e-ticket . This is on Disney, not the guest. The ride itself has flaws like or not.

The pacing was off and the skipping of at certain parts is huge also from a story telling standpoint. I know theme park rides can't do every single scene of a movie, but needing get the right scenes in the rides is a must.

I don't consider the Mermaid ride the worst ride out of the Iger era for WDW when it comes to dark rides.

Na'vi' River Journey to me is worse than the Mermaid ride. Na'vi' River Journey as a dark ride is short with no story although does have an impressive Audio-Animatronic.

 

[lazyboy97o]

If you see the rockwork outside and the Queue, it is great, but that is were most of the money was spent.

No, it’s not. Even in California it was a $100 million attraction that became a $150 million attraction after it was reworked a few times. The queue didn’t take resources away from the attraction, it was something added to something that already didn’t work.

 

[UNCgolf]

Na'vi' River Journey to me is worse than the Mermaid ride. Na'vi' River Journey as a dark ride is short with no story although does have an impressive Audio-Animatronic.

I'm the opposite here -- I think Na'vi is one of the better rides they've built at WDW in the past 20 years, especially if you grade it on a curve relative to its status (i.e. NRJ is a C ticket, so it's not supposed to have the same scale etc. as an E ticket). Expedition Everest is definitely better, and while I haven't been on Rise it seems like it's better too. Nothing else jumps out at me off the top of my head as a significantly better attraction all things considered.

It's incredibly detailed and transportive; it really feels like you're on a river in an alien jungle. Of course it would be great if it was twice as long and had more AAs, but I think at that point it's being pushed into D ticket or even E ticket status and it wasn't intended to be that. It was supposed to be a complementary attraction to the headlining Flight of Passage.

 

[BubbaisSleep]

I'm the opposite here -- I think Na'vi is one of the better rides they've built at WDW in the past 20 years, especially if you grade it on a curve relative to its status (i.e. NRJ is a C ticket, so it's not supposed to have the same scale etc. as an E ticket). Expedition Everest is definitely better, and while I haven't been on Rise it seems like it's better too. Nothing else jumps out at me off the top of my head as a significantly better attraction all things considered.

It's incredibly detailed and transportive; it really feels like you're on a river in an alien jungle. Of course it would be great if it was twice as long and had more AAs, but I think at that point it's being pushed into D ticket or even E ticket status and it wasn't intended to be that. It was supposed to be a complementary attraction to the headlining Flight of Passage.

I agree, if Na'vi had under a 15-20 min every time I visit I would always want to ride it. The problems are obvious but what is there is top-tier to me. I'm hoping they bring some similar technology over to Tiana's to make the bayou feel lush & bigger than ever.
TLM on the otherhand... I ride every few visits whether the queue short or not.

 

[UNCgolf]

I agree, if Na'vi had under a 15-20 min every time I visit I would always want to ride it. The problems are obvious but what is there is top-tier to me. I'm hoping they bring some similar technology over to Tiana's to make the bayou feel lush & bigger than ever.
TLM on the otherhand... I ride every few visits whether the queue short or not.

I think the perception of the ride is definitely hurt by being in Animal Kingdom (i.e. a park that doesn't have enough attractions) so it gets unproportionate wait times. It's not an attraction people should be waiting 60+ minutes to ride, but that's not because the attraction quality is bad.

 

[WDWFREAK53]

I think the perception of the ride is definitely hurt by being in Animal Kingdom (i.e. a park that doesn't have enough attractions) so it gets unproportionate wait times. It's not an attraction people should be waiting 60+ minutes to ride, but that's not because the attraction quality is bad.

Add a "D" ticket attraction in Pandora and it will help Na'Vi. It can't just be another big draw in the park, it needs to be a draw in that general vicinity. Walking to Pandora and seeing a 120 minute wait for Flight of Passage will turn guests off and they'll get in the nearest attraction line at 45 minutes. Adding a D ticket (or even another C ticket) attraction will spread those guests out.

 

[DisneyFanatic12]

Add a "D" ticket attraction in Pandora and it will help Na'Vi. It can't just be another big draw in the park, it needs to be a draw in that general vicinity. Walking to Pandora and seeing a 120 minute wait for Flight of Passage will turn guests off and they'll get in the nearest attraction line at 45 minutes. Adding a D ticket (or even another C ticket) attraction will spread those guests out.

Add a Swiss Family Robinson tree house (because many of the Navi live in trees). Can eat up tons of guests and doesn’t require staff.

 

[Andrew_Korenchkin]

I definitely think the franchise deserves a more creative attraction, rather than just being essentially a pastiche of the film. The question is, what kind of approach would the new attraction take?

 

[Kev1982]

I really like it, too, but it's got some glaring flaws. The major one being how whacked the pacing is because of the massive Under the Sea scene. You go straight from "Kiss the Girl" to Ursula is, uh, angrily watching Ariel and Eric kiss? The end!

I love the ride, love the movie(s), the sequels, the series… But yes. What a shame of the end of the ride. Two things bother me: no climax with ursula scene. My son is 3, didnt see the movie before the ride and just said at this point, Ursula is freaking out!!!. The other thing is some of the same statues in the finale as in the under the sea scene.
My son watched both movies after riding the ride in april so i guess it is absolutely NOT a terrible ride. Far from it.