Originally Posted By ilovefunthings First, I would like to say, I am an AP who loves Disney. I venture off to every free thing Disney offers AP’s. I won 2 tickets for recent May 20 Star Tours 2, and, I LOVED what Disney did with this attraction. They brought heart and soul to an attraction that needed a kick in the butt. I really like Toy Story Mania. It’s simple, some amazing 3D combined with physical effects, and, it’s just so darn fun to play everytime. So, please do not accuse me of Disney bashing (I will step back after positing this review and not respond and let others converse INTELLIGENTLY) I am going to write a review here that many of you are not going to like. Though many of you who rode it should dig down deep and honestly ask yourself, “Is this ride truly what we would expect from a World Class company like The Walt Disney Company?” I say no. So, all this being said, here is why I feel the new Little Mermaid ride is a “C Ticket” ride that gets a grade D: Building: The exterior of the building is nice, though, feels out of place. I mean, this is a park the celebrates CALIFORNIA! How does a Little Mermaid ride fit into this theme? The ride should be on Hollywood Blvd at least, however, we know we have a park with “space” issues and Imagineers are doing what they can to force square pegs into round holes. The Q: Here we have a ride the celebrates being UNDER THE SEA. Yes, unfortunately, we get a q line that feels like it was made by the designers of Citadel Factory Outlet Mall. Yes, they do not have a lot of space. HOWEVER, note how Epcot took a pretty small q space in the Nemo’s Living Seas ride and turned it into a pretty cool, darkly lit, air conditioned q that made you feel like you were under water (Nemo’s is the better ride, btw. It’s simple and charming and tells a story much greater than what TLM does). The outside q is very exposed and feels incomplete. They easily could have covered this and brought a more immersive nature to this (and air conditioning!). The interior q is basically the last 5 minutes of the Q. Btw, today for the AP opening, the line was well over 90 minutes. There was not enough Q. It wrapped around by the ZEPHYR across the boardwalk. Whew, so glad I got in when ride first opened, as I would have not been happy to wait 90 minutes for this ride (which I have no desire to ever ride again. On the other hand, I LOVE riding Peter Pan, Pinnochio, Roger Rabbit over and over...more on those later) The loading belt felt a bit smaller than mansion’s, the Little Mermaid painting on the back-wall felt a bit tacky. And, the clamshell seats, though comfortable were...plastic. And this is my number one issues with the ride. Yes, Plastic. The (plastic) Ride: The first Audio Animatronic you see is a pretty nifty Scuttle AA. After that, the ride is all downhill from there. Most of the other figures in the ride are stationary with moving arms, legs that are pivoting on a mechanical motor. But, they all have this very cheap plastic look to them! Even Little Mermaid! Yes, the dreaded plastic hair you have been reading about is really dreadful (note to imagineers: how come Ariel’s dad gets real hair as the end of the ride? You couldn't give the star or your ride real looking hair? Don’t get that decision). I mentioned Peter Pan, Pinochio or let’s go back further to the great Alice Ride: there is something about the figures in these rides that look like works of art. Like they were sculptured by hand, that looks professional, not processed by a machine like TLM ride does. Heck, even Mansion’s “stationary” characters appear to be hand sculpted, NON plastic. And, the lighting in all the Disney dark rides feel’s great. Especially in Peter Pan. It sets the mood. TLM ride lighting seems neutral, flat. No dimension to it. The imagneers need to take a visit to Tokyo Disney Seas and experience the solid 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ride. A ride that is really not underwater, though, they do amazing things with lighting to set the mood that you are underwater. TLM ride fails to do this. Never once was the illusion of water created in an effective way. Also, Imagineers, why, why, WHY did you go with CGI for some of the filmed moment of the ride? These already look dated! Though, there is a wonderful use or 2 of Hand Drawn animation in the ride! Why did you mix the medias? You should have picked the vision the world knows of TLM, that is, beautifully hand drawn imagery. Total shock on this decision (though VERY changeable though I doubt they will ever do it). The big centerpiece for TLM ride is the Under the Sea moment. And, it’s pretty disappointing. When the car spins into this, it immediately stuck me as a big warehouse with a catwalk and wires and contraptions hanging on the ceiling. The scene had NO SOUL. There was no character to it, I don’t believe there was one true AA in it, just plastic looking mannequins bouncing around on mechanical-thing-a-ma-bobs. The Ursula sequence: WELL DONE. The first true, wonderful AA in the ride. With pretty good lighting. However, the ride fails in telling a story, going anywhere with Ursula. This ride feels like a “greatest hits” moment from TLM, with an abrupt ending that makes no sense. While rides like Pinochio, Peter Pan, Snow White actually jam a cool little mini version of the entire movie. TLM ride fails to do this. When the ride was over I actually said to my friend, OMG, that is it? We were both shocked at how short it felt and how abrupt it ended. A total letdown I do not have the desire to ride ever again. Please, when you debate this topic, and many of you will, if you are in major disagreement with this topic, do not default to the “He’s just a troll”, or, “He is an idiot”. You should not get personal. And I will ignore any conversations with persons who personally attack other posters (and I ask other to ignore persons who call others names). You will note that, I do like many new things Disney as mentioned above. Heck, I even got a kick out of SOUNDSATIONAL. Mickey playing drums (although a taller than average Mickey!)...and, how cool is it to END a parade with a tribute to Mary Poppins (the best looking float in the parade!) Go see for yourself and let me know what you think.
Originally Posted By ilovefunthings btw, the last three words of the topic is "of the decade". Looks like system cut it off!
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance "Please, when you debate this topic, and many of you will" What's there to debate? You didn't like the ride. Why would I debate that?
Originally Posted By ilovefunthings Because many others who like the ride will "debate" why they like it. These boards are full of debates. And, when done in an orderly, respectful fashion, it can be stimulating and insightful.
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance It just seems silly to debate something so subjective. I can say it was awesome, you can say it was terrible, but who's to say who's right?
Originally Posted By dshyates I think the debate is going to more like, "No, you're wrong! TLM isn't the worst major Disney ride of the last decade. Everest is! TLM is no more than the 2nd worst."
Originally Posted By ilovefunthings I don't think it's silly at all actually. Movies, current events, politics, restaurants, romance, life in general full of subjectivity and all of these topics are contantly debated by many. And it makes the world more interesting when there is discussion/debate vs. simply accepting what is presented to you and sticking with it. Debate opens up a point of view which is the opposite of silly.
Originally Posted By ilovefunthings Ha. Well, at least with Everest, you get a roller coaster experience out of it. I like Everest, do not love it. However, I do feel perhaps Mission: Space is the biggest disaster of a ride ever. So, with that, TLM, you're #2 in my book! I want to add that, I am NOT a big Harry Potter fan. But, WOW, what they did at Islands of Adventure with that ride is extremely creative. Even Cat in the Hat is more creative and original ride than TLM!
Originally Posted By TP2000 Constance, you are an absolute stitch! Please don't ever change. I've been on the ride twice now. I loved it, and I think it's a perfect addition to DCA. I wouldn't wait 90 minutes for it, but there's very little in life I would wait 90 minutes for. Worst major ride of the last decade? My short list would include Mission Space, the latest rehash of the Imagination Pavilion, and Stitch's Great Escape. Especially considering what those three different turkeys replaced; Horizons, Journey Into Imagination, and Mission To Mars. And that brings me to my final reason that I absolutely love Mermaid and find it to be a great addition to DCA... It replaced Golden Dreams, one of the most boring, cheap and borderline depressing movie attractions ever to scar a Disney theme park. I think I'd even rather wait 90 minutes for Mermaid than sit through the 20 minute Golden Dreams show again.
Originally Posted By avatarmickey115 I have to agree with you...on some things, but on others, its just "ehhh, who cares?" to me.... Clam shells, building, mural, and first Ariel's hair are all great to me. Under the sea was pretty weak in soul for sure...i hate how you can see all the bars that support the static fish that are just spun in circles...the ending was VERY quick, BUT, you have to realize they were fitting this into a confined space. But yes, the lighting was just off on a lot of parts...the CGI was just weeeiiirrrddd...and they dont do a very good job at telling the story... I couldnt even hear both scuttles!!!!! they should have put audio in the clam shells!!!!!! but, overall, its something id be glad to walk onto every now and then...
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance "Constance, you are an absolute stitch!" lol best compliment ever!
Originally Posted By ilovefunthings TP and Avatar, I love when people discuss like this! Open, honest! And yes, TP, I agree with Stich's. Horrible. And Space for Horizons? Depressing! Horizon's was such a cool 15 minute Epic relaxing ride! Cars were so spacious, you can have a picnic and change a baby diaper in there! I sorta, kinds like the newer IMAGINATION is a bizzaro sense. There were ZERO expectations on this ride. Though, if they were going to put in THIS ride, I would've preferred they kept the original. I thought the opening of the original with Dreamfinder, Figment and the ship was clever and classic!
Originally Posted By FerretAfros I rode during the CM preview days, and it seemed like they were still adjusting some of the things like lighting and sound levels, so I can't really comment on how that's turned out. Maybe you also happened to get the lights at a bad time (though I completely agree that the Under the Sea room was way too bright at the time, but I don't think that was the permanent look for it). >>How does a Little Mermaid ride fit into this theme? The ride should be on Hollywood Blvd at least<< While I agree that it's not a perfect fit, it's a pretty decent one. Seaside piers always had darkrides, and Paradise Pier had been missing one since the beginning, so the style of ride fit. Since it has a nautical theme, it sort of also fit the area that way. I would have preferred it to be placed elsewhere, but overall, it's not the worst location ever (that goes to Goofy's Sky School, a coaster themed to a chicken-farm-turned-flight-school with character overlay that's completely separated from the farm, flight, and character-themed areas of the park; I actually think that the redo will be a downgrade from what was there before, which says a lot) >>Yes, unfortunately, we get a q line that feels like it was made by the designers of Citadel Factory Outlet Mall.<< I'm fine with the queue setup. This is a very high capacity attraction, and the queue moves along quickly. The first few days/weeks will be tough, as all the APers try to get their chance to view the newest thing on the block, but I suspect that it will quickly subside. And after a while longer (months and years), I would be surprised if they ever had to use the parts of the queue that aren't under the awnings. Long term, they made the right decision by having an outdoor queue that can be torn out and replaced with something bigger and better (since the whole stretch of land between the Mermaid building to (and including) Goofy's Sky School/Mullholland Madness will be getting torn out and rebuilt in the not-so-distant future). >>WHY did you go with CGI for some of the filmed moment of the ride? These already look dated! Though, there is a wonderful use or 2 of Hand Drawn animation in the ride! Why did you mix the medias?<< I don't know why they went with CGI, but it looks like it might be from the same computer model used for the Philharmagic film in WDW. I'm sort of familiar with that format, so it didn't bother me as much as it did others, but it does annoy me how they have 2D and 3D animation of the same character in the same attraction. I don't really care which one they do, they just need to be consistent and make sure it's well done. >>...how come Ariel’s dad gets real hair as the end of the ride? You couldn't give the star or your ride real looking hair?<< This sort of goes back to the same idea. While the rubbery-plastic hair isn't my favorite look, I understand why they had to do it from a technical perspective. That said, it still bugs me that they didn't give similar hair to all of the characters. Triton is the most obvious, with his beard blowing around, but I think Ursula also has a tuft of 'real' hair. It just keeps taking you out of the ride when there's no reason for it. I think they probably could have created a cover for the Ariel hair AA that looked more like 'real' hair, but the way it is just looks strange, especially after just seeing a fuzzy Scuttle at the beginning. >>Most of the other figures in the ride are stationary with moving arms, legs that are pivoting on a mechanical motor. But, they all have this very cheap plastic look to them!<< I agree that it's pretty jarring to see the difference in style between the figures themselves. As you pointed out, the limited-motion figures work very well in other attractions with full AAs, like the Haunted Mansion, but these ones just look so different stylistically that it doesn't really make sense. Which is part of what is so strange about this attraction. At the beginning, we see Ariel as a mermaid, with plastic-looking clamshells on. Once she becomes human, suddenly she's wearing clothes made out of fabric (Eric too), though her skin and hair still look like they're made from plastic. On the Fantasyland darkrides, the characters are made of the same rigid material as their clothes; it looks kind of strange, but it works because it's consistent throughout the attraction. The AAs in Pirates wear fabric clothes, but also seem to have more realistic skin (though thinking about what they actually look like, we may have just grown accustomed to it with time); TLM just seems like a mixture of lots of different ideas that are good individually, but may have just been too much for the scale of the attraction. >>This ride feels like a “greatest hits” moment from TLM, with an abrupt ending that makes no sense.<< The overall 'greatest hits' feeling of the ride is my biggest problem with it, as it's from a conceptual level. I understand what they were going for, and it seems like they accomplished what they were talking about in the videos, but it's just not a great concept for an attraction like this. Relying on the musical numbers creates a dead spot between each scene, and still has some audio bleeding over. The story is very loosely connected, and doesn't really have a clear plot, which is why the finale seems strange, since the last couple scenes try to wedge a story in where there hasn't been much of one. Having Scuttle as the narrator (did he alwasy seem that drunk?! I just thought he was absent-minded in the film) sort of gives them an excuse for bad transitions, but it just doesn't seem to work. However, I also see this as being the one thing that I will just get accustomed to and accept after more rides. Much like there wasn't a real storyline for Pirates or Mansion but those attractions still work, I think this one could too. Overall, I agree that this isn't the biggest blockbuster attraction that Disney's come out with, but from what I've seen they've been doing a pretty good job of setting the expectations at the right level for it. Bigger than Snow White, smaller than Mansion. Outside of the online communities, there has been almost no hype, so I think the general public will tend to be pleasantly surprised by it. And your comments certainly weren't troll like at all! You did a good job of pinpointing the things that you did and didn't like, and gave reasoning to back it up. Hopefully some other folks can chime in and we'll see if others feel the same way about the attraction.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>Cars were so spacious, you can have a picnic and change a baby diaper in there!<< Hopefully not at the same time! Gross!
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance I think they went a little overboard with the eyebrows on Triton, and a little underboard with the nipples. <a href="http://disneygeek.com/updates/disneyland_image.php?update_dir=2011_05_27&page_id=53&num_image=1" target="_blank">http://disneygeek.com/updates/..._image=1</a>
Originally Posted By TP2000 Yeah, some eyebrow threading is needed for Triton. But, you can tell he spent the winter on his Lats, Traps and Delts workouts. The guy is buff.
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA <It replaced Golden Dreams, one of the most boring, cheap and borderline depressing movie attractions ever to scar a Disney theme park.> How dare you.
Originally Posted By Mr X ***it does annoy me how they have 2D and 3D animation of the same character in the same attraction*** There's both a 2D and 3D version of Tigger in Tokyo Disneyland's Pooh ride, and it works well (for me, at least). Although in that case, the 2D version sort of goes along with a "4D" experience (you are bouncing along with Tigger in a very convincing way). In other words, it can be done. I dunno how well done it is in this ride, as I've only just seen a video (which obviously doesn't recreate the real experience very well). I wouldn't say it's "as" negative as the OP seems to think it is, but I can understand his points. Just as "best" is a subjective thing, so is "worst". When he says "of the decade" I'm assuming he means over the last 10 years or so (or else the list for "worst" would be a pretty short one lol)...if that's the case, may I note that Pooh in Anaheim also opened during that time period? Also, as far as the location is concerned, I think it's a pretty big stretch to say "well piers had dark rides"...sorry, but that doesn't wash for me. If it was a real sort of recreation of an old fashioned dark ride (kitchy and all that, and NOT so modern looking), I might buy it. This? It looks exactly like the sort of ride you'd see across the way in Disneyland (assuming a typically slashed budget lol), and has nothing to do with California (particularly not "nostalgic California" which is what that monstrosity of a land was supposed to represent, no?).
Originally Posted By ilovefunthings Well said Ferrot. Nice counter-point. I don't know, with many many years passed from the days of great Disney imagineering, I would hope they could've come up with something clever, even simple. Like, say, Cat in the Hat ride at IOA. A dark ride that does a great job of telling a story while offering impressive production design elements. And I bet the space for that is less than the space for Mermaid. I just look at something more recent dark ride like Pinochio ride, and, it has such a nice consistent charm to it. And I feel TLM is one of the best animated movies of the past 2 decades! I think the one point you brought out is that TLM is very inconsistent with it's look and style. And that bothered me. I never felt I was "part of Ariel's World". Though it will be a fun tunnel of love type ride for those who want to make out for 5 minutes. Hopefully the line will not be at 90 minutes on a regular basis.
Originally Posted By ilovefunthings X, my headline was intended to get people to click on it! I used the word "major" to set it apart from the C Ticket Poohs and Stich overhaul. TLM will be marketed in a HUGE way with TV spots, radio ads, etc. Disney is already setting up a big launch this week with the media for both Mermaid and Star Tours. Star Tours btw is amazing what they did. That q even more captures the tone and spirit of Star Wars, the new videos in the Q are fantastic, the new droids are funny as hell, the new ride pre show video is great, and, finally, the ride itself is all fresh and new again and I loved it!
