Originally Posted By skinnerbox Westsider... do you feel that TLM was deliberately designed to be the feminine counterpart to the more masculine Carsland/Radiator Springs Racers?
Originally Posted By Westsider I don't know about deliberately, but it certainly is a feminine ride. They could serve tea very elegantly in the Mermaid indoor queue and loading area, and it would fit right in.
Originally Posted By planodisney I think I'm a very manly man, and I think I will enjoy this ride very much. Can't we enjoy thrills and excitement, as well as beauty and elegance? I know I do. In fact I enjoy an equal dose of both.
Originally Posted By skinnerbox Perhaps you miss the point of my inquiry. Disney theme park attractions have traditionally been masculine. The major game changer was iasw in the sixties, which is strongly feminine and maternal. I'm glad to see less masculine rides being added. TLM will be a refreshing change of pace given the inherent testosterone that Carsland will be swimming in. Which isn't a bad thing per se, just something we're constantly exposed to in the Disney parks.
Originally Posted By planodisney No skinnerbox, my post had nothing to do with yours. Just commenting from earlier posts.
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance "Then you move on to the finale' wedding scene where a very buff King Triton" hummina, hummina hummina
Originally Posted By SpokkerJones Rode it today. It isn't in 3D. It isn't interactive. You can't shoot at anything. You can't view your high score at the end. It makes minimal use of projections. There aren't multiple experiences or random scenes designed to placate $15/month annual passholders so they can ride over and over and over again. What it is is a truly modern dark ride in the tradition of Fantasyland. It is what Winnie the Pooh should have been. In the realm of Disney dark rides based on their classic animated films, this is one of the best. In some ways it reminds me of a smaller scale version of the Sindbad ride at Tokyo Disney Sea. The Little Mermaid ride would also feel right at home in that park's Mermaid's Lagoon, and I think DisneySea fans would welcome it with open arms. They packed a lot into a small space. Unlike Pooh, The Little Mermaid ride features several audio animatronics that do more than simple two-step movements (though there are a lot of those too). The environment is not composed mostly of cardboard-like cutouts as on Pooh. Projections aren't the star of the show as on Nemo, but only serve to support the action (I only found one of them a bit awkward). I lament that this ride wasn't built in Fantasyland proper, because it deserves to stand alongside Peter Pan, Mr. Toad and Alice.
Originally Posted By SpokkerJones "They could serve tea very elegantly in the Mermaid indoor queue and loading area, and it would fit right in." The loading area feels like a Mexican seafood restaurant. The weakest part of the attraction is probably the loading area, but once you travel through the shipwreck, everything is quality.
Originally Posted By SpokkerJones "The animatronics of Scuttle are great" Not only is Scuttle great, but there's two of him. In the Pressler/Harris era there would have been one Aeriel and everything would have been made out of flats. "This is going to be a big hit for DCA. Single adult Disney fans who spend too much time on the Internet will be underwhelmed, especially the guys." The 20-something cynical and jaded Disneyland fans would do well to support this attraction with full force. Even though I believe there is a strong and negative trend toward character driven and movie-driven attractions, the Little Mermaid Ride would be a welcome addition even if that were not an issue. It's a a dark ride with more effort put into it than the horrid Winnie the Pooh. It's truly an attempt to live up to those original Fantasyland rides that absolutely belong in a Disney theme park. No gimmicks here. Just a great dark ride.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Promising review Spokker Jones, it is great to see a proper dark ride going in. I am not a fan of the interactive rides, this sounds more my style (even if it is that annoying Mermaid).
Originally Posted By karlg I got to go on Little Mermaid today due to some friends. The best part was that their energetic little girl of 7 (squarely the target demographic) was in the car with me and another friend. This little girl was ecstatic and pointed out character from the movie (which help me who had not see the movie in many year) and she was demanding to go on it again (which we did). After leaving she cried because she forgot to say "goodbye" to Ariel. I enjoyed the ride and it has some good spots. The ending while pretty is somewhat week IMO. I thought Ursula and the two Scuttles, were great. Ariel's hair in water just didn't work IMO. Both the "floating wave" and the "ice cream cone spiral" versions look more like foam rubber than "hair." I think they could have done a much better job on the hair-in-water effect. The best part for me was seeing the reactions of a little girl; it seemed to really work for her and was priceless.
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance So how many people can fit in a clam shell? Two adults and two kids? Or are they just two per shell?
Originally Posted By SpokkerJones They are basically omnimovers so I would imagine it would be similar to the Haunted Mansion.
Originally Posted By Sara Tonin I think it have something to do with the cubic footage of your assets.
Originally Posted By karlg Definitely one small child with two Adults is the max. Maybe you could fit 3 skinny adults. I don't think the shells are much wider than the doom buggies (if at all).
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance Yeah I agree, I saw a picture and it looks just like the Haunted Mansion. And we can't all squeeze comfortably in that. "Has anyone been in Triton's car? " No, but I've had several dreams.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Just rode tonight, and we managed to fit three adults fairly comfortably in a single car. It's a little wider than the HM doombuggies, but taller, so the people on the outside can still sit back comfortably. The CM at the load station said that you could fit 4 if you had 2 kids; I didn't see anybody try it, but it seems like it would be possible (though cozy). And Constance, I did notice that Triton makes it in time for the ginale, in his nipple-ey finest. I did think it was a little strange that his hair was 'real' hair, when the other AAs in the ride all have plastic/rubber hair. It was just an interesting change in texture. The overall inconsistency in texture is what bugged me the most about the attraction. There are some great AAs of the main characters, and some fine figures with motion. The simple figures are very effective, but are a completely different texture and finish than the the other AAs. Ariel shows up in CGI format, and in clips from the original film. Either would be fine with me, but it's just strange that they have a combination. Overall, I thought it was a nice addition to the park line-up, but not the be-all-end-all attraction that it could have been. Then again, I'm in that single 20-something male demographic that clearly wasn't targeted for this attraction. It has a good amount of detail, and some really fun moments, and I do look forward to riding it again. It fills a void that the park was really missing. It's a shame that they're relying so much on characters to push everything, but it is pretty well done. The line moves at quite a nice speed, so even when it's a long wait it doesn't feel like it; I'll be interested to see if they add FP to the WDW version of it. And FWIW, the flooring in the outdoor queue is very nicely done, but they will have a heck of a time keeping it clean. Specifically, the blue parts under the dome and in front of the main entrance door are made of tiny glass beads that give it a nice little texture, which is great for trapping gunk in, and really hard to clean. We noticed that there were already a few gum spots in it, and that's with the (supposedly well-behaved) CM preview crowd. It will be interesting to see how that is dealt with during full-scale operations.
