Star Tours Vs. The Little Mermaid

[CBisMe]

I rode both yesterday. Star Tours Ride line was 135 minutes, and Fast Passes gone by early afternoon. Little Mermaid was 60 minutes.

Even though I had to close my eyes half way through Star Tours (felt car sick!) I would say that it is definitely the better of the two rides.

I was disappointed in the Little Mermaid. I know I had expectations of it being a like Haunted Mansion, Pirates, even Small World. I could see the effort they made, and I was really happy about that - but I think there were some mis-steps. While riding the ride I thought a couple of things: Were is the Water?? And Why can I see the track we are on?? I think putting the track under water (something like Small World), making it actually 'dark' inside the ride, and getting rid of the 'plastic' look of everything (no cloth just plastic), and adding those bubbles and waves (at the begging of the ride) in the other areas. I think little things like that would have made a big difference. Honestly it was like the ran out of money to really make it great.

 

[Hunter182]

I was disappointed in the Little Mermaid. I know I had expectations of it being a like Haunted Mansion, Pirates, even Small World. I could see the effort they made, and I was really happy about that - but I think there were some mis-steps. While riding the ride I thought a couple of things: Were is the Water?? And Why can I see the track we are on?? I think putting the track under water (something like Small World), making it actually 'dark' inside the ride, and getting rid of the 'plastic' look of everything (no cloth just plastic), and adding those bubbles and waves (at the begging of the ride) in the other areas. I think little things like that would have made a big difference. Honestly it was like the ran out of money to really make it great.

The thing is, The Little Mermaid was made as a D ticket ride. While Pirates, The Mansion and even "it's a small world" were considered E tickets when they were first made. They were supposed to be the big ticket sellers. TLM was made as a dark ride in the Fantasyland vein. So it's not meant to wow you with amazing and groundbreaking special effects with an all new ride system.

It's meant to take you into a world where you are familiar with those characters, get up close and personal with them and experience a few of the best scenes from their movie.

Would it have been great if we got a major E ticket Little Mermaid ride? Dang skippy. But that isn't what imagineers set out to do, so it was unfair for people to expect it of them.

 

[Hunter182]

Sorry if the above post seems harsh. Not my intent, I promise.

 

[CBisMe]

Sorry if the above post seems harsh. Not my intent, I promise.

It doesn't seem harsh - No Worries. In fact, I think you really spelled out the issue. What the expectation was vs. what the engineers had planned to do. I think would have been better off underselling it to set expectations. It's hard not to imagine it anything but an E ticket by the sheer size of it. It has the outside size of an E-ticket. They showcased it in the 'Cellar', hyped it on their twitter and Facebook - so was, for me, hard to keep expectations at a low level. I am really happy that they are overhauling CA, it certaintly a HUGE step up in the right direction. I'll go on it again - but wouldn't wait 60 minutes

 

[Hunter182]

It doesn't seem harsh - No Worries. In fact, I think you really spelled out the issue. What the expectation was vs. what the engineers had planned to do. I think would have been better off underselling it to set expectations. It's hard not to imagine it anything but an E ticket by the sheer size of it. It has the outside size of an E-ticket. They showcased it in the 'Cellar', hyped it on their twitter and Facebook - so was, for me, hard to keep expectations at a low level. I am really happy that they are overhauling CA, it certaintly a HUGE step up in the right direction. I'll go on it again - but wouldn't wait 60 minutes

They certainely did hype it up. They hyped the heck out of this ride. People were expecting something absolutley mind blowing. Instead people are coming off dissapointed. Califronia Adventure is a good park, but when I last saw it (A month ago) it still ranks at the bottom of my Disney themepark list. I can't wait to see it when it is fully completed to judge it fairly.

 

[nerdboyrockstar]

I already love California Adventure and I think it's just getting better by the day. But with Little Mermaid and nearly every new attraction, I would assume Disney would just put its best foot forward.

People seem to be disappointed in the attraction in various ways, as far as storytelling, creativity, technology, execution, etc. And $100 million are not Fantasyland ride budgets.. It really should be an E-Ticket any way you look at it.

 

[Jake's Mom]

I cannot say enough good things about Star Tours. Rode it 3 times on Saturday and was amazed each time.
Little Mermaid on the other hand was very disappointing. I guess I just expected more from all the hype and the big $$ involved in its development. Waited over an hour in line only to feel like I'd been ripped off once we rode it.

 

[Hunter182]

People seem to be disappointed in the attraction in various ways, as far as storytelling, creativity, technology, execution, etc. And $100 million are not Fantasyland ride budgets.. It really should be an E-Ticket any way you look at it.

Just because you spend a ton of money and put effort into it, doesn't always make the results desirable. I can name quite a few Disney attractions that failed. I can tell that they put effort into it. It wasn't a half-done job. But it still isn't an e-ticket, in my honest opinion. And a ton of people think likewise.

As I've said before, it's not the fact that Disney did the ride wrong. Complete opposite. People just had higher expectations, expectations Disney would've never been able to reach even if it was an E-ticket.

Similar to the Star Wars prequels, I think.

 

[pixiewings71]

I totally agree with that statement. While I love the Haunted Mansion, for instance, I find the Indiana Jones Adventure to be more fun. Yet both are in my top three attractions. Make sense?

Makes perfect sense to me...probably because I feel the same way! LOL

 

[Hunter182]

Makes perfect sense to me...probably because I feel the same way! LOL

What are your top three attractions?

 

[woody73]

I went on both, and liked Star Tours better.

Woody

 

[Hunter182]

I went on both, and liked Star Tours better.

Woody

Straight to the point. I like it.

 

[Disney Anna]

My vote goes to Little Mermaid. I loved it. Thought it was terrific. Made me feel like I was right in the middle. Happy, upbeat. Instant Disney classic.

StarTours: Enjoyed it. Ride definitely needed an update. It now has way better technology and must more "re-rideability." But, I didn't love it. It didn't blow my socks off like I thought it would. I felt like when I rode the subs again after their return. Return of a former ride.

 

[cmwade77]

For this summer? Star Tours will have longer lines (but will handle fewer people per day, due to capacity)

After summer ends? Little Mermaid will probably keep to at least a 20 minute line, the 3D gimmick will wear off and Star Tours wil return to having virtually no line most of the time. The idea of multiple possibilities is cool, but 3D is overrated and is a trick to get more money out of us. In the long run 3D will loose.

 

[starry_solo]

Star Tours on the other hand was FREAKING AWESOME! I think I've done every option now... 54 combos doesn't mean you have to ride 54 times... I just rode 7 times and got all the different destinations. The new story is great, the fact that they make one lucky person part of the attraction is SWEET. My new Disney Wish is that some day... I will be the Rebel Spy! This is the ride of the summer...

I was the rebel spy the 2nd time I rode it (rode the ride 8 times on 3 different days and finally saw all planets). My friend had to poke me to tell me to look at the side viewscreen because I was looking at the front.

 

[susieQzee]

Between the two, my vote definitely goes to ST2. TLM was cute, but it's a ride-it-once-and-you're-done type of ride.

Ohhh, how I wish they would bring Rock N' Rollercoaster to DCA. It fits the DCA theme perfectly. (A girl can dream...)

 

[Hunter182]

Ohhh, how I wish they would bring Rock N' Rollercoaster to DCA. It fits the DCA theme perfectly. (A girl can dream...)

I think that was actually rumoured at one point. An local band (No Doubt) would take over Aerosmith's role. Not the hugest No Doubt fan, but ehh. I don't ride the ride for the soundtrack anyway.

 

[Sephrina]

For us, ST was definately the favorite. Only got ds(10) on LM because it had a 20 minute wait (we were through the line and done with the ride in 20) and I insisted. I wouldn't wait an hour again for LM. Both kids were the rebel spy, with dd on our first ride and ds on our last.