Little Mermaid Meet-up

On April 23^rd Disney fans were given the opportunity to enter for a chance to participate in the Little Mermaid Meet-up, where if selected they would be among an exclusive group to attend a star studded panel discussion between legendary Disney animators and Imagineers. TPS was more than ecstatic when we received our invitation to attend and participate in this event, which took place on Tuesday May 10th. The event itself was rather intimate, with around 300-400 in attendance. There may have been more or less but the event was coordinated so well that there was really no way of noticing.

Signs in Downtown Disney, directed the anxious and lucky invitees to the Grand Californian Hotel. Cast members, who introduced themselves with a friendly handshake and a smile, ushered arrivals into the reception area to register and pick up their goodies. Upon registration, guests were given the May issue of D twenty-three which includes a recap of the tour that the Disney Imagineers and legendary animators of the classic feature film, got to take of the attraction. A Lithograph was also given to guests, which featured a portion of the animated mural inside the attraction building, framed with a hard cardboard cover memorializing the event. 

Guests were treated to an assortment of finger foods ranging from fruits, cheeses, breads, deserts and beverages. Waiters walked the reception area offering snacks such as chicken quesadillas, veggie pizza slices and chicken rolls. What would a Little Mermaid event be without a photo opp and meet and greet with Ariel herself, who bared a striking likeness of the red headed beauty in her fabulous mermaid form.

After we enjoyed a few snacks, sipped down our Pierre and rubbed elbows with the nautical princess, we noticed a line forming in the reception area. Of coarse being anxious not to miss a thing, we headed over to find that the line started around a huddle of friendly and familiar faces, which were signing guests Little Mermaid lithographs. Those familiar faces were our special guest panel that we all came to see. Disney Imagineer Chris Crump, son of legendary Imagineer  Rolly Crump, was happy to chat it up with the fans as he signed. Andreas  Deja, directing Animator of King Triton was all smiles and noticeably excited to interact with fans. Mark Henn, directing animator and character designer of Ariel was a huge hit amongst the crowd. Larry Nikolai, Show Designer and Creative Director of the Little Mermaid attraction, was careful not to give too many spoiler statements regarding the attraction other than to say we are not going to be disappointed. Lisa Girolami, Senior Show Producer, was not shy to express her impressed opinion of the lithograph as she signed each one.

At 6:45, chimes rang announcing that it was time to head into the Sequoia Ballroom for the panel discussion. The ballroom was filled with seats facing an under the sea themed stage, adorned with coral and other sea type decorations. Above the stage was a huge projection screen and the walls around the room had lit silhouettes of Ariel and Little Mermaid marquee. 

At 7:05pm Tim O’Day, renowned Disney Author, historian and D23 Creative Consultant, hopped up on the stage as our panel emcee. He was received with a hearty applause as he addressed the audience. He opened by explaining that this Meet up was inspired by the video that Disney Parks Blog had recently published of our special guest panel taking their tour of the attraction. It was a very important tour because two of the Directors of animation from the original motion picture were scoping the attraction out for the first time. With that being said O’Day presented the video up on the big screen. After the video was done each guest was introduced and brought up on stage to take their seats and get the panel discussion going.

Mark Henn and Andreas Deja were the first to be addressed regarding their works on the original animation of the Little Mermaid. Mark Henn shared that as being the animator of Ariel, he had a few challenges he had to overcome. The first was getting the green light on making Ariel a red head. Apparently the consensus upon the animators was that she should be a dark haired mermaid but obviously Henn got his way, thank god. The other was animating her movements especially the flow of her hair under water. The final result in my opinion is a testament to the genius of this Disney Animator. When asked what Henn thought the draw to Ariel was for little girls, he replied that her character was portrayed as a real girl with real type feelings and aspirations that made her relatable to girls everywhere.

Andreas Dejas challenges were fewer as character designer and animator of King Triton in the movie. He modeled the character of King Triton after his father. He used his experiences of watching the relationship of his older sister and father growing up. Very stern but loving was how he described him. Both animators were totally taken aback during their tour of the attraction. They were so impressed that the Ariel and Triton characters in the ride were perfect to model, meaning that they were the exact replicas of their original animation. Imagineers, Larry Nikolai and Chris Crump were gleaming with pride that these animators were completely satisfied with the work they had done.

Next Lisa Girolami talked about the exterior design of the attraction building while referring to a progressive sketch projected on the big screen. Her description of the concept of the building was to have it blend in with the Paradise Pier theme, which replicates the turn of the century seaside amusement park. They made sure that the attractions exterior appeared as a classic structure with nautical sea theme. She revealed that the old rotunda now houses a beautiful mosaic made entirely of hand placed glass tiles. One of the challenges in making this attraction per Lisa, was although the space it occupies is rather large, it was somewhat difficult fitting in all the  scenes and items they wanted, into the space that they did have.

Show Designer and Creative Director, Larry Nikolai actually created the 87-foot long mural that is brightly painted inside the attraction. He animated the mural in his garage. The lithograph given to the guest is actually just the middle portion of the mural. To Ariel’s left is Erik’s Ship and King Triton at the surface of the ocean. To Ariel’s right is Erik, his castle and his kingdom. The audience was given a sneak peak of the full mural up on the big screen and the whole room gasped at once at its beauty. Larry also revealed that there are in fact 20 thing-a-ma-bobs, in Ariel’s treasure trove scene, that news got applause. He also confirmed that the Under the Sea party takes up 1/3 of the ride and contains 128 characters in the scene, that includes starfish because they do have faces. Challenges in this ride for Larry were Ursula’s animatronics and Ariel’s animated hair. Being that the characters are very close to life size, they had to make sure that they utilized the most advanced animatronics technology to make the characters animation seem real. For Ursula the squash and stretch technique was put into play to make her movements realistic. There are two Ariel’s in the ride and both have sculpted, animated hair that is one unit. Ariel’s hair was constructed by, Disney Imagineer and sculptor, Scott Goddard.

Finally Principal Show Production Designer, Chris Crump expressed his heart felt excitement and pride that both Henn and Deja were so entirely pleased and impressed with the attraction. He shared with us that his most intense moment in the attraction thus far, was moving Ursula into the show building and placing her in her scene. The clearance between her and the trap door behind her was a tight fit and he was sweating over her tentacles getting caught up in the door. Luckily she was a perfect fit. O’Day asked Crump what he thought his father, Legendary Imagineer Rolly Crump, would think of the ride and if he’s taken him through it yet. Crump replied that he knows he father is going to love it but he is waiting for the attraction to be completely done before he takes Dad in to see it.

The panel was then turned over to the audience for questions. There were a few great questions that were asked. “Approximately how long did it take from start to finish to get this attraction done? “ Larry and Lisa both answered that it was a four-year project.

“How did the Imagineers pick what scenes to include in the ride?” Lisa, Larry and Chris all agreed that it was a tough job taking a full feature movie and squeezing it into a 5-½ minute ride. The best they could do was pick the most popular musical scenes from the movie and bring them to life.

One of my favorite shared stories was from Lisa who told us about the surprise tour Walt Disney Company CEO, Bob Iger took of the attraction in late December. As they approached the Kiss the girl scene, he leaned in on Lisa and whispered, “You wanna kiss da girl”. She could not stop giggling as she explained that she wished she could have had that on video or recorded because no one would ever believe that that happened.

Once the panel discussion segment of the event was over, the guests were escorted to the VIP viewing area of World of Color to watch the show. Of coarse everyone in attendance was hoping that they would be getting a surprise sneak peek of the ride but no such luck. All in all this was a unique opportunity and the event was a success! Shhhh, can't wait to get a sneak peek of the ride. Stay tuned..........