The Disneyland Book of Secrets 2014: One Local's Unauthorized, Rapturous and Indispensable Guide to the Happiest Places on Earth (193 page)

And they certainly do seem to be trying.  T
hey’ve already made a serious improvement by replacing
Ariel
’s unfortunate hairdo in the
Under the Sea
sequence, with a far more flattering ‘do.

And recently they seem to have
turned down the lights in the underwater sequences, and turned up the cold fans, and projected more bubbles and more wavering lights on the walls and ceilings.

The lights are
still
too bright, though, in the
Under the Sea
sequence.  That’s where the underwater illusion still breaks down, except for small children. 
Imagineers
might want to study the lighting at the
Haunted Mansion
.  At the
Haunted Mansion
, everything is pitch black except where carefully aimed lights illuminate
only
the character or surface that the
Imagineers
want to highlight.

Turning off all the lights
in the
Under the Sea
scene, and then carefully aiming blue or green spotlights at the characters, and projecting more blue and green, wavering lights and bubbles on the dark walls and onto sheets of mist, would probably beautifully nail the effect.  Setting up a bubble machine in this room so
real
bubbles drift through the environment would be the icing on the cake in making it look like an undersea world.  These are comparatively simple and inexpensive solutions.

Why do the
Imagineers
seem so afraid of the dark in this segment?  One wonders if it’s because so much hard work and attention to detail went into designing this room.  Consciously or unconsciously show runners might be hesitant to turn off the lights on their labor of love—but it’s the ultimate effect that matters.  And feeling like you’re under the sea requires darkness and special light effects.

An
other suggestion is to
plus
the
Ursula
scene.  It’s so very good already that you want to add that
final
sense of menace to perfect it. Maybe the figure could be placed on a moving platform or turntable, so that
Ursula
could glide toward Guests as they pass her, like the
Evil Queen
in
Snow White’s Scary Adventures
.

It certainly seems a shame that this dark ride isn’t more of a headliner across age groups. 
If anyone can figure out how to make the
Little Mermaid
dark ride “practically perfect in every way” (as
Mary Poppins
would say) then the
Imagineers
can.  After all of the time, work, money, and dedication that went into this attraction, all that’s needed is a little more
magic
.
Did You Know?
  Fans of the
Little Mermaid
will find themselves in seventh heaven on
Paradise Pier
’s north shore.  When
The Little Mermaid:  Ariel’s Undersea Adventure
opened on June 3, 2011, it became the third
Little Mermaid
-themed locale in
Paradise Pier
. 
Ariel’s Grotto
, a restaurant, was already in place across the bay, as was
King Triton’s Carousel
.
Ariel Vision:
  In September 2013, in honor of the Blue Ray release of
The Little Mermaid
, singer
Jodi Benson
, the voice of
Ariel
, sang
Part of Your World
on
ABC
’s
The View
. 
Benson
recorded the original song for the film in the dark to simulate an undersea environment.
FastPass:
  The dark ride format usually doesn’t lend itself to the
FastPass
system, and this massive dark ride isn’t popular enough to warrant a
FastPass
. 
Teen’s Eye View:
  Really cute, and the [
Audio-Animatronics
] are amazing, but in terms of excitement it’s not super-exciting.  Little children who are fond of
Ariel
will enjoy it.

Maliboomer
(S)
Must be 52” or 132 cm tall to ride. 
(Closed September 7, 2010.  Razed.)

[
FastView:
 
Defunct.  Presented here for readers interested in
DCA
history.
]

One of the many
Paradise Pier
attractions that had nothing, but
nothing
to do with
Walt
or
Disney
entertainment, the
Maliboomer
was a behemoth modeled on the traditional high-striker game that appears on most midways.  You know the game; you heft a sledgehammer and bring it down hard on a lever, sending a metal puck racing up a board.  If you’re strong enough, and swing hard enough, the puck shoots high enough to clang a bell, inspiring applause and earning you a prize.

The
DCA
version of the high-striker game was a complex of three closely set, titanic towers, emblazoned with numbers like a high-striker board.  Each tower was 180 feet tall and wrapped by a four-sided vehicle with four seats per side, giving each tower a capacity of 16 Guests per launch.  Once secured, Guests rocketed up the tower at speeds of up to 55 mph, as if strapped to a giant high-striker puck, propelled not by a strongman’s mallet but by pneumatics.

The journey to the top t
ook only 4 seconds.  The vehicles paused near the top of the towers.  Guests hung there for several breaths, high above the park and the resort, enjoying stunning views while waiting with adrenaline-pumping, nail-biting anticipation for the drop, which always happened, of course, when they least expected it!  When the drop came, it was a lulu, pushing Guests down the tower at high G-forces, and then almost immediately Guests were yanked back up the tower, but only part way.  A series of incrementally shorter drops and lifts ensued, until the four-sided vehicle returned to ground level and the restraints were released.

Riders
were–understandably–prone to screaming loudly during the rapid ascents and descents, so to keep peace with the residents just outside the park limits, the ride vehicles included transparent plastic
scream shields
that flipped down over Guest’s heads before launch to muffle their shouts and cries.  (When I first saw them I thought they were upchuck shields, meant to contain the unfortunate upsets of Guests who dined on too much pizza or too many hot dogs before they boarded the
Maliboomer
!  In
Disney
-speak, upchucks are
protein spills
.)

Although the
Maliboomer
was a popular thrill ride, its daunting height kept lines short.  Except on the busiest summer days or holidays, you didn’t have to wait longer than twenty minutes to board.  The loading process was necessarily rather slow, as it was crucial that Guests were securely restrained within their seats.

The
Maliboomer
, on the southwestern edge of
Paradise Pier
, was located in an interesting area just past the
Boardwalk
booths and shops and
Mickey’s Fun Wheel
. 
Imagineers
worked under incredible geographic constraints when deciding how to fit all of
Paradise Pier
’s attractions within park limits.  Just over the
DCA
berm
south of
California Screamin’
and the
Maliboomer
site is
Katella Avenue
and
Disney Way
.  One solution to the space limitations? 
Imagineers
wrapped the western-most arcs of the coaster tracks around the
Maliboomer
towers to make all the attractions fit.  This meant that Guests riding the
Maliboomer
were within spitting distance of Guests zipping past in
California Screamin’
coasters and riding gondolas on
DCA
’s original Ferris wheel.

Many Guests
game for just about anything were not ready to tackle the
Maliboomer
, but it was a spectacle worth pausing to observe even for Guests who didn’t ride it.  You could stand right under the massive towers, tilting your head far back to see the very top of the attraction.  If members of your party were braving the
Maliboomer
and you weren’t, you could shop at the nearby
Boardwalk
stores or sit on the benches provided for non-riding Guests and capture snapshots and video footage of friends and family members who were riding.

It wa
s interesting to watch the careful, laborious load process that ensured Guests were safely secured within their ride vehicles.  And it was dreamlike to watch the vehicle carrying your loved ones or friends suddenly zoom up almost 200 feet, and then yo-yo wildly up and down the side of the tower, while at the same time colorful roller coaster cars full of shrieking Guests roared past you, seeming almost close enough to touch.  In this compact area,
Imagineers
did what they do better than anyone on the planet, crafting an imaginative slice of fantasy, an image that stayed with Guests forever.

The setting wa
s remarkable, but the
Maliboomer
high-striker attraction was something you could find at most modern amusement parks.  As part of their commitment to completely make over
Paradise Pier
,
Disney
execs scheduled the
Maliboomer
for termination in 2011.  Budget challenges and outcries from
Maliboomer
loyalists temporarily put demolition plans on hold.  But in the end, it was dismantled
prior
to 2011.  The
Maliboomer
remained in operation until its final plunge on September 6, 2010.  The attraction was closed on September 7, 2010.  It was razed rather than–as some had hoped–refurbished to fit the elegant
Victorian theme of the new
Paradise Pier
.  So if you were a fan of this space-shot attraction, you’ve already taken your final journey on the
Maliboomer
. 
Did You Know?
  Like many original
Paradise Pier
attractions, the
Maliboomer
’s name had nothing to do with
Disney
–unless you count the fact that in March 2006, five years after the
Maliboomer
opened, the
Hannah Montana
show debuted with a lead character (
Miley Stewart
) who lived in Malibu.  But who could’ve predicted this obscure connection when the
Maliboomer
was christened?  The name was chosen because Malibu is one of the most famous seaside communities in California and
DCA
was originally all about California.  A 21-mile stretch of gorgeous beaches and narrow canyons, Malibu has drawn celebrities and entertainment giants to its shores and hillsides since the 1920’s.  It’s also famous for the frequent wildfires and mudslides that plague its well-to-do residents, and more mature readers might recall that can’t-get-a-break private eye Jim Rockford lived in a scruffy trailer along the Malibu coast in the popular 1970’s series “The Rockford Files.” 
Single Riders:
  If you were the only one in your party willing to ride the
Maliboomer
, you could save yourself some wait time by asking a Cast Member about the
Maliboomer
’s
Single Rider
option.  Lone riders were routed to the front of the line, to fill in empty spaces on the ride vehicles. 
FastPass:
  The
Maliboomer
, a slow-loading space-shot ride that loaded each vehicle
en masse
, was not a good candidate for the
FastPass
system.  However, since the looming towers were so daunting, there was rarely a line longer than 20 minutes, and wait times were often as short as five minutes. 
Kid’s Eye View:
  I haven’t been on this.  I was going to ride this but it looked taller than the one at Knott’s Berry Farm.  [Actually, Supreme Scream at Knott’s Berry Farm is over 250 feet tall, 70 feet taller than the
Maliboomer
was.]

Mickey’s Fun Wheel

[
FastView:
 
Amazing views of the resort, and rocking-rolling fun for those brave enough to travel in the swinging gondolas.  Not for the acrophobic or motion-sick.
]