7Following a recent sneak peek at the lifelike Audio-Animatronic figure of Ursula, Disney today offered a first look at some of the Ariel animatronics that will be featured in the upcoming new dark ride, The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Undersea Adventure.
One of the biggest challenges for Walt Disney Imagineers wasn’t recreating Ariel’s likeness or making her movements fluid, but rather dealing with her hair. The ride will take place “under the sea,” but no water will be used (you know, since most humans can’t breath underwater). So instead, Imagineers have created animated hair that seems to flow in the fictional underwater world.
Here’s a video of Ariel in action:
The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Undersea Adventure will open at Disney California Adventure in the Disneyland Resort on June 3, 2011 and is currently being built at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom as part of the New Fantasyland expansion, scheduled to be completed some time in 2012.