Originally Posted By FerretAfros They had the 'cold' air on it when I rode on Monday. It was more like passing by a drafty area than a blast of cold. We noticed it, but only because we were looking for it. We thought that the was pretty well done, but could have been a little better; it seemed like a prime candidate for a bubble machine, but didn't seem to have one (there was a dark hole in the ceiling, so it may have just not been turned on yet). In fact, there were no bubble machines anywhere in the ride, at least that were turned on, which sort of surprised us. I think the effect would work much better if they had some of the 'moving' underwater plants like they have in the Nemo ride in Epcot. As it is, you go from being in a cave above water to being in essentially the same cave below water. Having some clearly underwater scenery (not counting the 'viewport' of Ariel) would really help show what is supposed to be going on.
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance See if you can make that happen then, Ferret. Before I come in October.
Originally Posted By alphabetmom I really really liked it. It is not HM caliber, but still very enjoyable husband rode it, I wanted to ride again, but hubby didn't. Later he said if it is still open I will ride it again, but then they were'nt running. Very colorful, I am not a dark ride expert so I can find no fault.
Originally Posted By SafariRob Do we know if there will be bubbles in the underwater scenes or is it just speculation. That seems like it would really add to the effect.
Originally Posted By HokieSkipper I just watched the HD video of the attraction. Looks like what I expected. Everything looks really well done, but I still think the Ariel AAs look really weird/creepy. And what's with the ending? There's basically no resolution of the Ursula storyline save for a lame silhouette? Meh. But other than those two things it looks like a solid addition.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt It does seem odd that they designed the attraction to be so anti-climatic. I wonder if the WDW attraction will have the same finale.
Originally Posted By Westsider I heard an interesting thing this morning about Mermaid from someone who has been working all of the testing and preview shifts. During the Cast Member Previews last week they had the lights in the ride turned up much brighter than the usual show setting because there were CM's posted throughout the ride to scan for cameras, iphones or video capture. The Mermaid ride doesn't have a backstage control tower like Haunted Mansion does, so there's no one to just watch cameras of the rides interior and they had to staff CM's to stand inside the ride along the track watching for cameras. The Under The Sea room particularly even had some of the work lights turned on for safety reasons because they had two CM's staffed up in the catwalks hanging above the room scanning the vehicles below for camera use. It's generally against the OG (location operating rules) to have CM's inside the ride during operation, so the Disneyland Safety Department compromised and told WDI they would allow CM's to be inside the ride watching for cameras only if they raised the lighting levels throughout and turned on the work lights along the catwalks in the Under The Sea room for the safety of the lookout CM's. The brighter lighting also helped the CM's see the riders as they passed by to check they weren't photographing anything, or even had their phones out. The first soft opening only lasted for two hours on Thursday morning because they realized a lot of the lighting was still set to the higher levels, so they ended up shutting down the soft opening quickly and WDI went in and adjusted light levels back to their intended setting for the rest of the day on Thursday into Thursday night. The soft opening they had on Friday had the correct light levels throughout, and the work lights have been turned off in the catwalks above Under The Sea. No CM's are staffing inside the ride as lookouts any longer, and cameras and video is now allowed. That explains why the ride seemed so bright on my first ride during the testing, and then again on my official Cast Member Preview last Sunday. WDI is also still tweaking and adding some projections and lighting in the ride this weekend, especially in the Under The Sea room. It already looks much different this morning than it did just on Thursday morning, before they shut the soft opening to reset the lights back.
Originally Posted By skinnerbox Seems like a lot of time and effort (and as a result, $$$) to keep the cast members from recording the ride. And this was all for just a few days before video would be allowed? CM testing last week... no cameras allowed. Soft openings this week... cameras are allowed. Absolutely nuts.
Originally Posted By SpokkerJones The signs also said that no blogging or tweeting was allowed, haha.
Originally Posted By Liberty Belle I'm glad to hear some reviews at last! I can't wait to see this one for myself. I'm trying not to get TOO excited... but I was a six-year-old girl when The Little Mermaid came out, so it's definitely a sentimental favourite for me, and that probably puts me in the perfect target audience for the attraction
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo I am sure it does. We watched it last night with my brother and sister in law. Jessica was in awe (age 6 on Friday). Mikey wanted to skip it and watch the Star Tours 2 footage again. Sarah thought it was cute. I liked the AA's of Ursula and Scuttle. My BIL was bored to tears. But my sister in law, who is 25 and loved Little Mermaid was all (Why can't Paris get this. Oh wow, that is cool etc. etc.). So bottom line, I think it will be popular, but in the way IASW is popular - certain demos (with a much less meaningful message). It is exactly as I expected based on concept art, which for me is fun filler, but no headliner. But for a Little Mermaid Fan, a must do. And overall a very welcome, family friendly addition to DCA that accompanies Monsters Inc. well.
