Disneyland Resort (DL, DLR, DCA) Discussion Thread

[COASTER FREAK 11]

The Little Mermaid is currently open for those that want to get to the park and see it early. Keep in mind it is only a soft open and can close at any time if needed.

 

Also, Soundsational is previewing today at 2:00 and 4:30 at Disneyland.

[the ghost]

^ Booo for mermaid soft opening today, lol. I was on the Ferris wheel yesterday and saw mermaid open from above, SPRINTED to get to what I assumed was a soft open, but it turned out to be a CM preview for friends and families... oh well... I'll get on it next wedneday. Also get to do more star tours since my friend has tickets for it next week... YAY! Also I feel like this 100% needs to be said, but the mermaid building is STUNNING! Probably one of the most elegant and awesome facades for a dark ride EVER... it fits the "new" decor so well and it BEAUTIFUL! Can't wait til Wednesday!

[aimster]

Someone got some full HD POV video of Little Mermaid during today's soft open and put it on YouTube!

 

Don't watch if you don't want any spoilers!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIarm5FEQXI

 

For what it is, I like it, but the ending is very abrupt and "WTF?!" worthy.

[RCFreak]

Wow, it's a LOT longer then I thought it was going to be, but yeah, the climax really sucked. You think they would have learned from all the complaints about Snow White across the esplanade! I will say that I'm far more excited to ride it now then I was before watching the video. The animatronics look great (except for Ariel's hair, I'm not liking that). Can't wait for next week.

[aimster]

^ The thing with Snow White, up until 1983, the guest riding was Snow White. The ride was from her perspective, so in that respect, it made sense to go from basically biting the apple to "And they lived happily ever after" because if you were Snow White, you would have been out cold. But then they redid Fantasyland and they added Snow in the ride because people were complaining she wasn't seen at all in the ride before then.

 

When all is said & done regarding Little Mermaid though... I still like it and I can't wait for WDW's version. Ariel is the only princess I don't want to smack upside the head.

[the ghost]

May stop by for a few hours to see if mermaid soft opens tomorrow... wish me luck!

[COASTER FREAK 11]

Good luck I think you have a decent chance of it happening.

[the ghost]

Can't go today cause I had more online school than I thought so I will just go on Wednesday for AP preview... get to do star tours again that day too since my friends star tours date is that day, so another bunch of rides! YAY!

[Expoman]

Little Mermaid is just what DCA needed. I am impressed. I can understand why some people might be disappointed, but as other people have stated this ride was not supposed to be an ultra E Ticket. As long as Little Mermaid is better than The Living Seas With Nemo and Friends at EPCOT I will be happy. By the looks of the video and pictures I think the Imagineers have a huge hit on their hand. DCA was in desperate need of a well themed omnimover attraction, and am I the only one a little impressed with Goofy's Sky School. I still think Disney should of fully enclosed the attraction, but the ride looks a million times better than the dreaded Mulhollond Madness. DCA is finally going to be the respectable second gate in Disneyland when the expansion is fully complete. Can't wait for the new entrance and Carsland next year. Haven't been out there since the 50th Anniversary back in 2005, but 2012 is looking like an exciting year to visit the Disneyland Resort.

[Intimidator305]

Does anyone have any recent pictures of Goofy's Sky School?

[simon8899]

No pics but saw it last Mon - its full up and was already running on test-runs, sadly none for visitors, I've asked...

[Erik Johnson]

While it looks pretty good it is missing a critical scene from the movie. Wow, pretty lame.

[xmichellex]

Wow, those animatronics are amazing... I especially loved Eric and Ariel in the boat, but...

 

What about Ursula as a human? Eric vs. Ursula? Even the chef/Sebastian scene would have been cool to see. Not really sure why they chose only the scenes they did, because it seems so rushed... I mean, she goes from losing her voice to already being in the "Kiss the Girl" scene? I feel like it was a collection of the Little Mermaid's greatest hits/scenes and not telling a story. The "Under the Sea" scene could have been made a little shorter to allow for more development. Oh well...

 

Having said that, it still looks like a great ride, and is visually really stunning... I will end up riding regardless since I love the movie.

[COASTER FREAK 11]

That's exactly what it is. It's all the memorable musical numbers from the movie with audio in-between each scene to tie it all together. It is very rushed at the end but that's why they chose what try did. And it does still tell a story, it's just a lot faster then the movie. Haha.

 

I rode it again tonight, there were soft openings going on. Seems they changed lighting in there, it looked better then it did before.

[SharkTums]

I haven't watched the video of the ride, but from what I'm reading, they pulled out what would have been a 'scarier' Ursula scene? Perhaps they're just trying to cater more to the rides key demographic. Remember these rides are basically for little girls. Now that I have a little girl, I can tell you, she doesn't want to see Ursula or anything scary, she just wants to see Princess Ariel. I'm sure Disney wants the kids happy when they get off the ride so they can jump off and demand their parents buy them an $80 Ariel costume in the ride exit gift shop!

 

They didn't even need to tell a story, they literally just need scene after scene of Ariel in pretty dresses, or the supporting fish characters being cute and it would be deemed a success. At least be happy that they tried to tell the story.

 

Remember, one of the giant complaints of the Snow White ride is that it was too scary for the little kids! I"m sure they didn't want a repeat of that.

[jray21]

^Exactly. While us adults would love to have the whole story, it really is meant for kids. Really, the whole park is for kids($$$$$) and none of the rides are really too extreme.

[MayTheGForceBeWithYou]

Remember, one of the giant complaints of the Snow White ride is that it was too scary for the little kids! I"m sure they didn't want a repeat of that.

Yeah, a lot of those scenes would scare the crap out of kids, and good point bringing up the fact that Disney probably doesn't want to relive one of the problems that plagued attractions like Snow White and Alien Encounter.

[Wes]

I've heard two different reasons why the ride scenes are how they are. The first is that it's more focused on the big musical numbers from the movie, as opposed to the whole literal story. It's missing the french chef song and the daughters of Triton song, but everything else is in there. The second is that it's the story as told from the perspective of Scuttle, which is why he bookends the ride. I don't buy into either one of these reasons completely, but it makes some sense, especially accounting in the lack of space they had to design the entire ride in.

I don't think they need to show the battle with Ursula, but I think how how Ursula's "demise" is depicted in the attraction at the moment is a little, well, cheesy and not up to par with the technical quality of the rest of it.

 

I'm not a big fan of the ride, but I think Elissa hit the nail on the head when she said little kids will love it, and parents will be whipping out their credit cards for Ariel merch in droves.

[robbalvey]

I haven't watched the video of the ride, but from what I'm reading, they pulled out what would have been a 'scarier' Ursula scene? Perhaps they're just trying to cater more to the rides key demographic. Remember these rides are basically for little girls. Now that I have a little girl, I can tell you, she doesn't want to see Ursula or anything scary, she just wants to see Princess Ariel. I'm sure Disney wants the kids happy when they get off the ride so they can jump off and demand their parents buy them an $80 Ariel costume in the ride exit gift shop!

Of course this is correct. But remember, most "Disney geeks" aren't going to think with a dose of reality in mind. Everything is pixie dust and fairies to them...

[MrSum1_55]

There is no arguing to the point that this is a kiddie ride; it is and has no desire to be anything more. Even if the scenes are modeled exactly after the movie, younger kids know it is simply animation on a screen. However, when you take it to the level of an amusment park ride, what kids know is not real suddenly becomes (or gets closer to) reality. Heck, I was even afraid to ride (the old) Space Mountain at Disneyland before my first ride; not due to the speeds and G-forces, but because I was afraid of the dark. After my first ride (at age 6-7) I realized there was nothing to fear, since there was nothing scary to jump out at you.

[Sir Clinksalot]

Tortillas out ... Chocolate In at DCA!!

 

http://miceage.micechat.com/allutz/al053011a.htm

 

The Mission Tortilla Factory was one of DCA’s 2001 opening day offerings that was widely lampooned at first as an example of the cheap and mundane attractions in the park, but slowly gained a loyal following for its free half-tortilla samples and quirky exhibits, not to mention the Annual Passholders who returned year after year on their birthdays to receive a big bag of free tortillas from the CM’s running the tortilla machines. But the run of free tortillas ends on Tuesday, and the doors to the factory will be shut for good.

 

The excuse that managers are giving DCA Cast Members is that Mission failed to renew their latest sponsorship agreement and the location must now close to allow for construction to continue on the big entranceway into Cars Land that is behind the walls nearby. But that’s not the complete story behind this sudden and quiet closure. The rest of the story is that Disney is wrapping up the details on a new sponsorship deal with an iconic California company they had been chasing back in the late 1990’s for DCA, but who wisely took a pass after deciding they were impressed with the original park. But now the Ghirardelli Chocolate Company of San Francisco is planned to become DCA’s newest sponsor, and if the current timeline holds Ghirardelli will debut in 2012 in an expanded and remade building at the old Mission Tortilla Factory location.

 

Supposedly it will have an attached Chocolate Shop and Soda Fountain.

 

Personally, I'd MUCH rather have Tortillas than Chocolate and wish the bread was going instead. But it should be interesting.

[BelizeIt]

^This is excellent news!

 

They use to have a Ghirardelli choc/soda fountain shop at South Coast Plaza in Orange County years back. It was a great place to get incredible sundaes and chocolate cokes etc... It will be a welcome addition to the park.

[cfc]

^If it's as good at the Ghirardelli ice-cream shop at Downtown Disney in Florida, that place will be mobbed every day.

[OldJJman]

Gotta break this up a little bit...

 

Tortillas out ... Chocolate In at DCA!!

 

I've got NO problem with that. Having the tortillas there, with no viable way of marketing them, seemed like a waste of space. I mean, I love their tortillas (buy them all the time at the store), but apart from a free sample (99% of the time the flour, instead of their awesome corn), WITHOUT BUTTER ( ) it seemed like a waste. To me anyway.

 

Supposedly it will have an attached Chocolate Shop and Soda Fountain.

 

I kinda like this idea (even though I don't rank Ghirardelli chocolate all that high) as I think another type of walk-thru would be cool, with a real store makes more sense.

 

Personally, I'd MUCH rather have Tortillas than Chocolate

 

As you can see, we definitely agree. But...

 

and wish the bread was going instead. But it should be interesting.

 

Themz is fightin' werdz!!!!

 

Actually, I'm quite glad Boudin Bakery is staying. Though I do feel that the walk-thru is quite lame, but there's no denying the impact that they've had all over the resort, with the soupbowls being sold in several locations.

 

 

Broccoli-Cheese soup bowls ARE the most perfect food!!

 

 

JJ

[Sir Clinksalot]

^ When I say I wish the bread was going, I mean the tour only ... not the awesome bread of course.