The Little Mermaid Rides

[Big Disney Fan]

I'm looking forward to doing this attraction...

[WonderlandFever]

From DisneyParksBlog:









Gloria designed custom wedding gowns and evening wear before taking on the challenge of designing costumes for Audio-Animatronics figures and consulting for Disney. She credits Larry Nikolai’s vision for encouraging her to let this dress express Ariel’s mermaid personality (i.e., she has this thing for “thingamabobs”).

“Ariel’s dress is made very much like a regular bride’s dress in that the bodice is fully lined, interlined and extensively boned – it practically stands up on its own,” Bowls said. “My favorite part is the front inset of the skirt … an underwater seascape with a shell, a starfish, a seahorse, all beaded and appliqued on, with seaweed lace.

“I hope each little girl will come off the ride inspired and dreaming of having a dress like Ariel’s for her own wedding day.”

These photos show Gloria as she was working on the dress, plus some of the intricate detail.


Complementing Ariel’s dress is Prince Eric’s attire, inspired by 19th century British royalty and British military uniforms. Details such as gold silk buttons reflect the aspects of courage, valor and honor.

[SillySymphony]

^ That dress is spectacular. Seriously, when I saw the pictures in my email my jaw dropped. The Disney princess wedding dresses should look something like this.

[Super Aurora]

I'm looking forward to doing this attraction...

How is it possible to have sex with with a ride attraction? I learn something new today!

[disneyprincess11]

Wow, thanks for posting, Wonderland! The dress is absolutely gorgeous! And Ariel looks like Rapunzel in that a little bit.

[WonderlandFever]

^ The Disney princess wedding dresses should look something like this.

LOL! you would think they would for the prices

[WonderlandFever]

From DisneyParksBlog:

We love time lapse footage around here! It shows how much progress we’re making! In this time lapse you’ll see the façade of The Little Mermaid ~ Ariel’s Undersea Adventure in various stages of construction. You’ll notice at the beginning of the video – over to the right of the screen – the Palace of Fine Arts rotunda, originally the entrance to the former “Golden Dreams” attraction. Walt Disney Imagineers incorporated it into the new architecture. As the video progresses, you’ll see King Triton placed atop the arch, surrounded by relief carvings of six of Ariel’s six older sisters: Aquata, Andrina, Arista, Attina, Adella and Alana. The architecture is modeled after buildings found on boardwalks at the turn of the century, and was created using new digital 3D technology. Enjoy!

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Looks very nice but I think WDW's facade will certainly be more "magical" to experience.

[WonderlandFever]

Looks really good!


From DisneyParksBlog:

I know “The Little Mermaid” fans have been eagerly awaiting the opening of The Little Mermaid ~ Ariel’s Undersea Adventure at Disney California Adventure park. I’ve been waiting since I first saw the movie back in 1989! There are three other people who’ve also been hoping that someday a Little Mermaid attraction would open at Disney Parks: legendary Disney animators Glen Keane, Mark Henn and Andreas Deja. These three talented men are some of the creative minds behind all those lovable characters in the movie.

Recently, Walt Disney Imagineers Larry Nikolai and Chris Crump gave the animators a tour of the new attraction. I was lucky enough to also be on this tour, along with a crew from D23 magazine. You can read their extensive article in this month’s issue and here.

In this video you get to see a rare Disney moment: animators seeing their work come to life in a Disney Parks attraction. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. And remember, The Little Mermaid~Ariel’s Undersea Adventure opens at Disney California Adventure park on June 3.


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[disneyprincess11]

Looks really good!


From DisneyParksBlog:

I know “The Little Mermaid” fans have been eagerly awaiting the opening of The Little Mermaid ~ Ariel’s Undersea Adventure at Disney California Adventure park. I’ve been waiting since I first saw the movie back in 1989! There are three other people who’ve also been hoping that someday a Little Mermaid attraction would open at Disney Parks: legendary Disney animators Glen Keane, Mark Henn and Andreas Deja. These three talented men are some of the creative minds behind all those lovable characters in the movie.

Recently, Walt Disney Imagineers Larry Nikolai and Chris Crump gave the animators a tour of the new attraction. I was lucky enough to also be on this tour, along with a crew from D23 magazine. You can read their extensive article in this month’s issue and here.

In this video you get to see a rare Disney moment: animators seeing their work come to life in a Disney Parks attraction. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. And remember, The Little Mermaid~Ariel’s Undersea Adventure opens at Disney California Adventure park on June 3.


<param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/py9Gfuhhf20?version=3"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/py9Gfuhhf20?version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="390"></object>

OMG! ONE WORD: EPIC O___O BEST IMAGINEERING I EVER SEEN! It gave me goosebumps. I was thinking of not seeing any videos of this ride (when it opens) until I hopefully ride it at Disney World next year, but I think I can't handle it!

[supertalies]

Someone posted a video on YT with part of the ride.

Watch it quickly before it gets removed:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWF9PdwpEQU

Ariel's hair in the 'Under the Sea' scene look really weird.

[singerguy04]

OMG I FREAKING LOVE HOW THIS RIDE IS TURNING OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't wait to get a chance to ride it myself! My only problem with any of it is Ariel. I don't think she looks all that "on model" as everyone says she is. I think it's because of her hair mostly. There isn't really a scene where I love it and I think that may be because it looks like latex to me, where everything else seems to pass as skin... I wish her hair looked a bit more realistic i guess.

[Poody]

Weeeeee can't wait to ride this on tuesday!

[supertalies]

My only problem with any of it is Ariel. I don't think she looks all that "on model" as everyone says she is. I think it's because of her hair mostly. There isn't really a scene where I love it and I think that may be because it looks like latex to me, where everything else seems to pass as skin... I wish her hair looked a bit more realistic i guess.

I agree. For example, if you look at the pictures of Ariel in her weddinggown, it looks very weird to see real fabric next to 'plastic' hair.

And I know they want her hair to move like hair would move underwater, but couldn't they make the hair look less...plastic?

EDIT: FULL RIDE THROUGH IN HD!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIarm5FE ... ideo_title

I like it, but it's really obvious they centered this ride on the songs. The ending is really abrupt. You don't even see them defeat Ursula, like in the ride on the TLM Platinum DVD.
It's like they changed the story: Ariel becomes human and succeeds in kissing Eric. Then Ursula dies because she lost and Ariel and Eric marry.
Also, in the last scene (the wedding) they didn't include the sisters! Instead they just reused some om the fish from the 'Under the Sea' scene! I know it's less expensive, but I was kinda hoping we would see them.

Oh well, I would still ride it!

[SillySymphony]

Ariel may have multiple animatronics, but it seems to me more time and effort was put towards the one Ursula model. It captures her character and mannerisms superbly. The Ariels just don't compare. Her range of motion and facial expression were a let down to me. And yes the hair does looks plastic.

The ending was (not surprisingly) weak. Do we really have to keep up this tradition? Especially disappointed in Triton; he's just a filler character directing the fireworks. And I was so excited to see Ariel's sisters.

[Disney-Fan]

To be honest I love the tone of the complaints. I really do hope all the complaints I ever see about Disney from here on out that the AAs weren't real enough, or that a certain character was missing. I am dead serious, not in the slightest sarcastic. And why is that? I'm just glad we have AAs and dark rides to even complain about again. Personally I was getting just a wee bit tired hearing about some "new state-of-the-art" projection ride. These are much more welcome, flaws and all.

[singerguy04]

To be honest I love the tone of the complaints. I really do hope all the complaints I ever see about Disney from here on out that the AAs weren't real enough, or that a certain character was missing. I am dead serious, not in the slightest sarcastic. And why is that? I'm just glad we have AAs and dark rides to even complain about again. Personally I was getting just a wee bit tired hearing about some "new state-of-the-art" projection ride. These are much more welcome, flaws and all.

I agree. I'm super happy that we are getting this dark ride. I just feel that maybe this was rushed. I'd much rather have it than nothing at all, but I hope the WDW one improves on this one in DL.

I also agree on the Ursula animatronic comment. She is by far the best animatronic I have ever seen. And I think in comparison she is another reason why ariel seems so weak. I noticed however that Eric looks nice and maybe this is due to the fact that Ursula and Eric have shorter hair. Triton looks like he has real hair for his beard though... and that makes it even worse lol. The best of the Ariels is the first one though. I think that there her hair is the most effective because it is actually flowing with the water and her movements. In the rest of the scenes though it's pretty stagnant, which is understandable I guess since half of them are on land.

Does anyone else feel like the transition from "Kiss the Girl" to Ursula blowing up in the background and Ariel getting her voice back extremely abrupt? I mean, I understand that it's just a brief retelling of the story but soooooo much happens between those two points. Maybe "Under the Sea" could have been a bit smaller to fit in the final battle scene or something.

Now that I've complained I want to point out how pleasantly surprised I am about certain features. I LOVE how the cart turned to face the back of the other carts when entering the sea and they projected water and bubbles simulating going under water. I also like the random projections throughout the ride especially the scenes from the movie in Ursula's cauldron.

I'm also very impressed with both of the Scuttles. Their range of movement is really nice.

[disneyprincess11]

Here's the embeded version:
<iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/aIarm5FEQXI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

AWESOME JOB DISNEYLAND! It was REALLY great! I really loved the Part of your World and Under the Sea scenes. Loved the beginning with Sctuttle and the going down part with the effects and Ariel, 4:38 ( Glad they kept it, but it looked so wrong ), and 5:36-5:42 with Ariel and Eric.

My complains: Obivously the ending, King Trition looked creepy , and the Kiss the Girl scene was too tiny. At the Video of the Original version, the Kiss the Girl scene was huge and the entrance was great. This was just too tiny.

Hope Disney World's version fixes the complains! This version at Disneyland is so much better than the original (minus the loss of the showdown).

[WonderlandFever]

I love it, can't wait for it come to WDW sure there are some things that could be better but it's still good but it did seem like the end was rushed but it's not a total re-telling anways it's highlights. I would have rather "Under the Sea" be shortened and "Kiss the Girl" be extended to a larger scene but I've said that from the beginning, all in all I'm so glad it's finally happened.

[supertalies]

I also hope Disney World's version fixes the complains and includes the climax with Ursula.

My guess is that the reason they replaced it last minute probably was a lack of funding or room. I mean, the Giant Ursula Battle was in the attraction, even in the final model and concept art seen in the Blue Sky Cellar (or so I've seen on YT).

[disneyprincess11]

My guess is that the reason they replaced it last minute probably was a lack of funding or room. I mean, the Giant Ursula Battle was in the attraction, even in the final model and concept art seen in the Blue Sky Cellar (or so I've seen on YT).

Yeah, that makes perfect sense!