Little Mermaid Black Light?

[Cole]

Thought I'd make a thread for this. When I went to Cali and saw the black light treatment for that version I thought it was ugly and took away from the really awesome colors the Florida version pulled off. Well now the Florida version is black lit and it's lame, what are your thoughts?

 

[Nick]

I thought, having gone through it countless times before refurb and a few times now after, I think it really makes the colors pop more, makes it feel more like a "classic" dark ride, the "Under the Sea" section is VASTLY improved, and the hair change on Ariel is a positive change.

The ride was never anything amazing, nothing more than a C+ imo. This refurb makes it a true D-ticket now imo, as it was meant to be.

 

[shiekra38]

Thought I'd make a thread for this. When I went to Cali and saw the black light treatment for that version I thought it was ugly and took away from the really awesome colors the Florida version pulled off. Well now the Florida version is black lit and it's lame, what are your thoughts?

It feels very classic, old Disney, some people are into that...personally, I don't like it and I thought the original was fine-ish

And out of all the rides they could have refurbed and updated, they chose the newest (besides Mine Train)...dumb

 

[UNIrd]

Haven't seen the changes but anything would be an improvement for that "Under the Sea" scene. Yikes.

 

[shiekra38]

Haven't seen the changes but anything would be an improvement for that "Under the Sea" scene. Yikes.

Here's a good side by side comparison of the new version and old version

[video=youtube;npUU4QPKisg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npUU4QPKisg[/video]

 

[Clive]

Are you joking? The blacklight significantly helps what was a very warehouse-like, lazily constructed scene.

 

[shiekra38]

Why does Kind Trident have real hair while the rest of the characters have plastic hair? Strange design...

 

[Teebin]

^ I believe the mermaids hair on the boat was replaced with real during the upgrade. ?

 

[Clive]

^ I believe the mermaids hair on the boat was replaced with real during the upgrade. ?

They were. Bizarre they made that choice in the initial design, but glad it's amended.

 

[shiekra38]

^ I believe the mermaids hair on the boat was replaced with real during the upgrade. ?

But Eric's hair remains fake? So bizarre...at least if they're going to change something, do it consistently

 

[kimlovesfl]

I always thought that Ariel's face looks odd, not really like the movie, in every single AA.

 

[MrRoamer]

That's because she is cross eyed ,'/

 

[Shadow Carelli]

I think it vastly improved the Under the Sea portion and made some other colors through out the attraction pop more.

 

[Teebin]

I think it vastly improved the Under the Sea portion and made some other colors through out the attraction pop more.

Yep, the depth when rotating around Ariel. The fish behind her now pop when they appeared in the dark or had hinky dark shadows before.

 

[UNIrd]

Holy crap. Just saw the video comparison for the Under the Sea scene. It looks so much better! It makes the static store display figures, lighting and show building look a lot less cheap and more like a classic Disney dark ride.

 

[Cole]

I think the old version looked way better. Colors were natural and the lighting was unique. This time I feel like I'm riding past the puppet section of voyage of the little mermaid. Whatever floats your goat I guess, I just rather have normal than neon colors in most cases. Still the best ride in fantasyland IMO

 

[Frogki]

I've never been on the ride, so I'm basing my judgement on the videos. I think the black light does a lot to aid in the 'underwater' feel the ride is attemptin to achieve. That being said, I do see a lot of the animatronics seemingly moving more noticeably in the regular light. Whether it's a lighting issue or a glitch from that video in particular, I don't know. But I think the black lighting reveals a lot more figured on the walls and rock work than was visible before. I still haven't had a chance to enjoy the attraction so I don't want to say whether I prefer one over the other because I haven't seen either in person. Based on the video, it seems like the black light helps the attraction on certain aspects for sure...

 

[DanB89]

Just to throw in my two cents...I'm pretty much a fan of the overhaul. As others have mentioned, the blacklight definitely puts it in the camp of more "classic" dark ride while, in my opinion, heightening the illusion of being underwater.

There's one addition that makes me scratch my head though: why did they add that random gang of fish staring at you when you first see Ariel's silhouette through the "hole" in the ceiling. Seriously, it was kind of off-putting to have those dudes creepily staring at me when I wasn't expecting it...

 

[sjago13]

Just to throw in my two cents...I'm pretty much a fan of the overhaul. As others have mentioned, the blacklight definitely puts it in the camp of more "classic" dark ride while, in my opinion, heightening the illusion of being underwater.

There's one addition that makes me scratch my head though: why did they add that random gang of fish staring at you when you first see Ariel's silhouette through the "hole" in the ceiling. Seriously, it was kind of off-putting to have those dudes creepily staring at me when I wasn't expecting it...

Those fish wondering wtf u underwater for

 

[Brian G.]

Rode the attraction this weekend. Definitely prefer the new, darker/black light setting. Works much better.