Cali_Sparrow
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2007
I've been an annual passholder for quite a few years, but with the most recent price hike, I couldn't afford to renew my pass after this year. 
It expires June 10th, so I had to get in one last trip to ride Ariel's Undersea Adventure since I'm a HUGE fan of TLM and at 21 years old, I'd been waiting for this ride to happen my entire life.
I chose today (June 7th) because it's a Tuesday with nice sunny weather, and the only day this week I don't have a final exam. I planned to arrive as early as possible, run through the ride, and come home to study. Didn't go exactly that way though....
I arrive at the lineup outside DCA around 8:30 am and I'm probably 10th or so in line, with 1 hour til opening. It was all fine until the CM's made us all move forward as far as possible and I had to leave my spot in the shade. I started feeling the sun pretty fast and whipped out my sunscreen.
After a while of reading a book on my ipod, we were allowed up to the front gate. The crowd behind me was pretty small and I was confident that I'd be able to just walk onto the ride. The CM scanned our passes early so that when 9:30 hit we could walk right through the turnstile. Which I did.
And then the rush started. Out of nowhere, I was in a crowd of people racing to the ride. Shouldn't have worn flip flops - but it was too darn hot to wear anything else.
Made it to the front of TLMAUA only to be told by the CM out front that it wasn't going to open on time and that he didn't know when it might open. Oh great, it would break down on the one day I could ride it. Just my luck.
Let us in already!
We noticed a pretty big group already inside the queue (where did they even come from???) so we all stayed around, and eventually were also let in. Somehow I went from 10th in line to around 200th even though a lot of people stopped to get fastpasses for WOC... go figure!
The queue was nicely shaded and I got instant relief from the hot sun. But once we reached a certain point in line, the CM's needed to expand the queue and the couple in front of me were asked to stop. Then we were led on a massively long walk through the new queue line. We finally made it back to our spot where we sat and waited... and waited....
And this is my "waiting face":
I finished Angry Birds Rio while waiting, and then was desperately bored until about 10:30 when the line finally started moving. Unfortunately by then I had also realized I left my camera SD card at home, and only had my phone to take photos with. Foiled again!
Anyway, the line moved really fast once it started, which was nice.
I was soooo excited looking through the window at the shells going by. It all happened pretty fast and I was seated. I'm surprised the lap bar isn't automatic since it's an omnimover ride.
The submerging effect was really cool... I mean literally... it was cold.
I had a really good time! Got a bit teary-eyed at some of the songs. There was also a pretty silly Flounder in the Under the Sea diorama that cracked me up.
The underwater effect they used for Ariel's hair was great, but not going to lie, she was kind of creepy looking in every scene. She didn't quite look like "Ariel" - I can't put my finger on it.
Ursula was done the best, as well as Flotsam and Jetsam.
Loved seeing Tritan at the end, and all the specific fish from the Under the Sea movie scenes.
The animations of Ariel were a bit cheesy...
As an artist, I'm kinda picky about stuff like that.
The ride was far too short, and I would have loved to stay on it and ride a second time, but alas.
The park was too busy to do much else. I got a Dole Whip, ran into Aladdin, and literally ran into Bert and Mary Poppins.
I even saw one of my favorite horses on main street.
(I used to work at Circle D)
And of course, they lassoed me into buying myself a little something.
Overall, the ride was what I wanted, but not fully worth the 2 hour wait in the sun, and I'm glad I got to go. Maybe I'll have a tan though!
It expires June 10th, so I had to get in one last trip to ride Ariel's Undersea Adventure since I'm a HUGE fan of TLM and at 21 years old, I'd been waiting for this ride to happen my entire life.I chose today (June 7th) because it's a Tuesday with nice sunny weather, and the only day this week I don't have a final exam. I planned to arrive as early as possible, run through the ride, and come home to study. Didn't go exactly that way though....
I arrive at the lineup outside DCA around 8:30 am and I'm probably 10th or so in line, with 1 hour til opening. It was all fine until the CM's made us all move forward as far as possible and I had to leave my spot in the shade. I started feeling the sun pretty fast and whipped out my sunscreen.
After a while of reading a book on my ipod, we were allowed up to the front gate. The crowd behind me was pretty small and I was confident that I'd be able to just walk onto the ride. The CM scanned our passes early so that when 9:30 hit we could walk right through the turnstile. Which I did.
And then the rush started. Out of nowhere, I was in a crowd of people racing to the ride. Shouldn't have worn flip flops - but it was too darn hot to wear anything else.
Made it to the front of TLMAUA only to be told by the CM out front that it wasn't going to open on time and that he didn't know when it might open. Oh great, it would break down on the one day I could ride it. Just my luck.
Let us in already!
We noticed a pretty big group already inside the queue (where did they even come from???) so we all stayed around, and eventually were also let in. Somehow I went from 10th in line to around 200th even though a lot of people stopped to get fastpasses for WOC... go figure!
The queue was nicely shaded and I got instant relief from the hot sun. But once we reached a certain point in line, the CM's needed to expand the queue and the couple in front of me were asked to stop. Then we were led on a massively long walk through the new queue line. We finally made it back to our spot where we sat and waited... and waited....
And this is my "waiting face":
I finished Angry Birds Rio while waiting, and then was desperately bored until about 10:30 when the line finally started moving. Unfortunately by then I had also realized I left my camera SD card at home, and only had my phone to take photos with. Foiled again!
Anyway, the line moved really fast once it started, which was nice.
I was soooo excited looking through the window at the shells going by. It all happened pretty fast and I was seated. I'm surprised the lap bar isn't automatic since it's an omnimover ride.
The submerging effect was really cool... I mean literally... it was cold.
I had a really good time! Got a bit teary-eyed at some of the songs. There was also a pretty silly Flounder in the Under the Sea diorama that cracked me up.
The underwater effect they used for Ariel's hair was great, but not going to lie, she was kind of creepy looking in every scene. She didn't quite look like "Ariel" - I can't put my finger on it.
Ursula was done the best, as well as Flotsam and Jetsam.
Loved seeing Tritan at the end, and all the specific fish from the Under the Sea movie scenes.
The animations of Ariel were a bit cheesy...
As an artist, I'm kinda picky about stuff like that.
The ride was far too short, and I would have loved to stay on it and ride a second time, but alas.
The park was too busy to do much else. I got a Dole Whip, ran into Aladdin, and literally ran into Bert and Mary Poppins.
I even saw one of my favorite horses on main street.
(I used to work at Circle D)
And of course, they lassoed me into buying myself a little something.
Overall, the ride was what I wanted, but not fully worth the 2 hour wait in the sun, and I'm glad I got to go. Maybe I'll have a tan though!
