DCA World of Color/Mermaid - overhyped?

[Duane]

Maybe I'm misunderstanding but it seems to me like the upcoming World of Color show and Mermaid attraction are being overblown by a mile. I'm seeing the World of Color show as nothing more than a different version of Fantasmic. It's simply another show with water being sprayed as lights shine and music plays. The Mermaid attraction is supposed to be a dynamic E-ticket but, judging from the size of the show building under construction, it looks to be comparable to Peter Pan or Toy Story Midway Mania. Can anyone share additional information to help me be excited?

[RegionsBeyond]

From what I have seen. World of Color is very dynamic indeed and a different animal than Fantasmic! All the previews and vids have been quite engaging, let alone in person, for me.....if you want to state it in those terms, Pirates is "just another ride where robots sing and you look at stuff". That's stripping it down to basic elements without regard for detail, live performance of the music, overall emotional content, etc etc.

For Little Mermaid....I can see it being immersive, and charming, yes. But for the hype about it being on the scale of a Haunted Mansion in terms of overall experience, I tend to be cynical of that. That being said, I am waiting for the ride to you know, be built and operational, and ride it myself, before making any final judgment on that What I think now can of course be totally wrong, regardless of not having an indication it would be something on the scale of Pirates or HM.

[light1dragon]

I do think TLM is creating such a big hype over something I don't think I'll be excited about, but I think WOC is everything what people say it is

[Coheteboy]

I added "Overhyped?" in the subject so folks can see that this is something they'll want to take part in discussing.

Carry on. I'll add my thoughts later.

[SoCalbma]

I don't think the Little Mermaid the ride is in anyway overhyped.

As for WOC, I truly believed this is a must-watch attraction, therefore, the hype surrounding WOC is indeed what is supposed to be.

[dth316]

I actually haven't heard much about TLM but I think the WOC thing is getting out of hand. From the minute I've watched of it, it's absolutely amazing but I don't think it should be, or even actually is, get that much of a general interest to where people think everyone in the world is wanting to see it. I've said it many times before but I believe the day it opens, 90% of the guests/tourists who aren't there to see WOC won't even know it opened that day.

[Mojave]

I think TLM might be a little over-hyped and no, it is not the next POTC or HM. That said, the size of the show building is only slightly smaller than HM, it will have much more intimate scenes (no huge open space sections like the HM graveyard or ballroom) and should be very immersive. It will be a short, but tight ride - the ride layout is twisty turny and uses up the space very well. While HM mostly directs your attention to specific scenes abnd has blank walls behind you (seance, ballroom), TLM looks to have things going on all around you and should be something people want to ride over and over.

WOC is Fantasmic! on steroids, missing the live action aspects, but ramping up the fountain, light and sound.

It's easy to get carried away in the hype these days with all the info and detailed photos we get. Think back to POTC or even Splash Mountain construction - you saw walls and dirt, no photos, no forums looking at every single detail. When POTC debuted, it was a brand new unknown. We already know a great deal about WoC and TLM, so that will lessen its initial impact.

[Imagineer Scott]

From what I've seen about WoC, I'm very disappointed. However, I have not yet seen it from the point of view I should be seeing it from, but as of now my high expectations are not being met. My total immersion in everything WoC could be the ultimate downfall from me since I'm expecting so much.

On TLM, my expectations are about even. Probably an e-ticket, but probably nothing bigger than the HM/PotC- or even close.

Radiator Springs racers... eh. We'll see. It's large carved rocks may be the only thing exciting me if the ride is just as thrilling as riding a convertible outside. I think (hope) I'm just being plain evil and it will astonish me. ;D

[SingingAngel7242]

we will only know when we see them. I am a little skeptical about WOC but I'm really hoping that TLM has been underhyped! haha. in my dreams

[DLFreak71]

We are going to Disneyland for a co-workers (friend) B-day.
She just happens to have her B-day the same day as WOC (June 11).
I told her the parks should be busy.
She asked what WOC is.
I showed her the video.
She wasn't that excited about it (I actually had to force her to watch it b/c she kept looking away).
She said, we'll just avoid California Adventure then.

As excited as ppl on this board are about this stuff,
Talking to average ppl at work, no one has a clue to what WOC is
and they aren't that excited about it.

As far as Mermaid goes.
I think the hype is mainly on these boards.

When I see both WOC and TLM, then I'll say if it was over hyped or not.
I'm trying to not get too excited about these things.
When you get overly excited about something,
you (in most cases) are setting yourself up for disappointment (why I try not to watch movie trailers and rather just see the film).

[Aladdin]

For WoC -

My main concern, all along is how is just a water and light show, with some fire effects, going to outshine other Disney entertainment. It will be using the most up to date fountains, but other shows incorporate a MUCH wider variety of elements within their shows. Fantasmic! is the obvious comparrison, it has a whole stage to use with Tom Sawyer Island, it has the rafts, the Columbia, and the Mark Twains, also, tons of Disney Character in person, and with F! the most boring sections are the segments with only images projected on the fountains. How will WoC be able to bring that same level of entertainment, with just projections on fountain?

So far the musical score for WoC sound promising. Even the most recent video that Disney released for WoC shows that they are doing some different effects with the projections. And the wider variety of fountains will help, too. The Fire effects look like they will add some needed variety to the dramatic portion of WoC. I'm cautiously optimistic. BUT, my expectations are currently set for something a couple steps below F!


The Little Mermaid attraction will be a smaller scale than either HM or Pirates, and the attraction time is also shorter. It will definitely be a welcome addition to DCA, as DCA only has two other dark rides in that entire park. It will definitely be a step above what Monsters Inc. is. But with several of the elements, both inside and out, not up to what I would expect for an E-Ticket type attraction, I seriously doubt it will hit that level. It won't have the extensive queue that Indy and Roger have. The Ariel "under the sea" aa, will be smaller than life size, which is one of my disappoinments. The vehicles will be the standard omnimover, unfortunately, the vehicles will not be suspended (like the peter pan boats) for the Under the Sea portion of the attraction. With LM lacking those elements, this attracton just cannot attain an E-Ticket status. A D-Ticket rating is much more likely.

We still haven't seen models of what the exit for the attraction will look like, so hopefully, that will continue with LM theme, a sort of themed queue after the attraction. But I still despise the "museum-paradise pier" theme that the exterior of this attraction will have. It will lack the fantasy and whimsy that all other Disney darkrides have.

I really love The Little Mermaid movie, and after 20 years, FINALLY ariel will have the attraction she deserves for being THE MOVIE that brought Disney it's 2nd golden age. It just a little sad that they really aren't taking those extra steps, expecially since this is one of THE VERY FEW darkrides in DCA. DCA is STILL missing it's HM and PoC type attraction, and this ain't gonna be it

[Seawolf]

I still think Fantasmic will be the better show in the long run. After seeing WOC online it doesn't look like it has repeatability. You simply cannot expect fountains to replace live characters, pyro, giant animatronics, and a variety of unexpected vehicles. The only way for them to keep the show going is to change it up every so often so we aren't seeing the same sequence every time. I'm sorry to say but this show simply wont stay fresh past the 10 year mark without major modifications in the future, the same will happen with Carsland.

For WoC -

My main concern, all along is how is just a water and light show, with some fire effects, going to outshine other Disney entertainment. It will be using the most up to date fountains, but other shows incorporate a MUCH wider variety of elements within their shows. Fantasmic! is the obvious comparrison, it has a whole stage to use with Tom Sawyer Island, it has the rafts, the Columbia, and the Mark Twains, also, tons of Disney Character in person, and with F! the most boring sections are the segments with only images projected on the fountains. How will WoC be able to bring that same level of entertainment, with just projections on fountain?

So far the musical score for WoC sound promising. Even the most recent video that Disney released for WoC shows that they are doing some different effects with the projections. And the wider variety of fountains will help, too. The Fire effects look like they will add some needed variety to the dramatic portion of WoC. I'm cautiously optimistic. BUT, my expectations are currently set for something a couple steps below F!

Couldn't have said it better.

[SingingAngel7242]

For WoC -

My main concern, all along is how is just a water and light show, with some fire effects, going to outshine other Disney entertainment. It will be using the most up to date fountains, but other shows incorporate a MUCH wider variety of elements within their shows. Fantasmic! is the obvious comparrison, it has a whole stage to use with Tom Sawyer Island, it has the rafts, the Columbia, and the Mark Twains, also, tons of Disney Character in person, and with F! the most boring sections are the segments with only images projected on the fountains. How will WoC be able to bring that same level of entertainment, with just projections on fountain?

So far the musical score for WoC sound promising. Even the most recent video that Disney released for WoC shows that they are doing some different effects with the projections. And the wider variety of fountains will help, too. The Fire effects look like they will add some needed variety to the dramatic portion of WoC. I'm cautiously optimistic. BUT, my expectations are currently set for something a couple steps below F!

EXACTLY what I've been thinking!

[Coheteboy]

One can think of Bellagio in comparison. That used to be one amazing thing to check out. But now... only if you're walking by there at the very moment. Will WoC become old hat faster than you can say Disney's California Adventure?

Either way, I look forward to it bringing some later hours to the park. What I'm not looking forward to is the early closures of Paradise Pier. Hopefully that will change.

[CinderellaStory]

Who knows?

I believe that the hype is so strong because people are hoping for a return to "Disney quality" for these attractions.

But it's impossible to really know whether the hype is deserved or not, since none of us can watch the show in it's entirety (that I know of), and we certainly can't ride the ride yet.

As far as the fears about the crowds (some posters in this thread seem to be discussing the hype about the crowds as opposed to the hype about the attractions themselves), it's truly hard to predict. It's true that outside of message boards, there is not a lot of hype. But the major media events haven't been held yet, and the commercials for the show aren't running yet, and the calendar on the website doesn't include WOC...people simply don't know much about it.

Still, last year there were some updates to Fantasmic, an older show that had been running for years, and the crowds were INSANE. It got to the point where people were camping out for HOURS before the show. The show was completely crowded every single night, at every single showing, sometimes forcing a third unscheduled show.

So I say...

Who knows?