Thursday, March 10, 2011

WDI unveil Ursula huge Audio-Animatronic



The Little Mermaid ride will mark the return of great Audio-Animatronics in Walt Disney Imagineering grand tradition. The infamous evil sea witch Ursula that DCA guests will see inside “The Little Mermaid ~ Ariel’s Undersea Adventure” attraction will be 7 ½ feet tall and 12 feet wide, i.e a HUGE Audio-Animatronic!



Currently, the Ursula Audio-animatronic is being installed inside Ursula's lair - renderings above and below - one of the Little Mermaid ride eerie scene...



Others special effects in that scene will include a bubbling cauldron in front of Ursula and, all around, projection effects of "unfortunate souls" captured by her. At the entrance of the lair, if the plans hasn't changed, expect to see others unfortunate souls stuck inside bottles, another projection effect.



The video below was filmed for a big part at WDI North Hollywood facility with WDI Imagineers explaining the complexity of their work on Ursula's AA. Thanks to stretch velvet and flexible rubber for her body and the genius programming of WDI Imagineers be ready to be amazed when you'll see how Ursula will move in this awaited dark ride. In the meantime, don't miss the exciting video below!




Pictures and Video: copyright Disney

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

very nice animatronic, so realistic, But still I think the attraction isn;t going to be as amazing and great as everybody expects, I think the little mermaid will be an disappointment, But Ursula looks really nice and if she doesn't fits in the attraction they can use her for an parade, very nice movements she has.

Alain Littaye said...

A disappointment generally happens either when it's bad or because of a mental image that one can have before seeing the show, mental image which doesn't fits with reality.

Here, as Little Mermaid will be good if someone is disappointed it will be because he will awaits something different than what it is supposed to be. Little Mermaid is not supposed to be the E-Ticket of the century or the most revolutionnary ride ever, it is supposed to be a brillant dark ride in the WDI grand tradition, with amazing dry for wet effects and plenty of Audio-Animatronics. If you expect this, and not something else, you won't be disappointed.

Victor Gook said...

I agree Alain- what could be dissapointing about the Mermaid attraction? I could see, if you were not interested in teh film, only liked roller coasters and didn't want to go on it, but a disappointment? Or if many of the effects and things talked about turned out not to be practical and didn't work beyond the first week or something. Other than that, thislooks to be like one of the most elaborate attractions Disney's ever done in the States.

Marco Antonio Garcia said...

I'm very glad to see new dark rides and new AA figures, for me these are the most quintessential Disney attractions and what I want to see when I go to Disney parks (I personally don't like video game attractions, like TSM).

I agree with Alain, this attraction is probably going to be a great one, a new classic that is going to be a fan favorite, just like Peter Pan's flight.

Anyway, wait until the attraction is ready for you to criticize it anonymous!

Thomas said...

Exactly, it's just a dark ride. It won't be super-realistic, it will probably have static figures and painted backdrops. It will probably be on the short side. That's a Disney dark ride and that's what this will be. Not 2011's Pirates of the Caribbean.

I'm really impressed by the flexibility of Ursula's skin. How does the paint not crack? Pretty good!

Anonymous said...

WOW! LOOKS SOOOOOOO FLAGGIN' AMAZING!!! I WANT TO SEE THIS THING SOOOOOO BADLY! But I can't considering I don't live anywhere near hollywood!

Anonymous said...

it will also be opening at WDW in Florida sometime in 2012. I can't wait to experience it with my daughter. this was my favorite disney movie growing up.