Land of the Rising Mickey
Page 3 of 5

The first thing I noticed, after the sheer impression of the place wore off, was a big circular path to my right that spirals down into the caldera. I'm pretty sure it's the line for Journey to the Center of the Earth. Then I saw the submarine, or at least the third of it they had to build. The water will be about four or five feet deep in the caldera, but like most of DisneySea, it will look a lot deeper than it is. There's building behind the submarine that must be for 20, 000 Leagues Under the Sea. But, honestly, the caldera itself stole the show. I've never seen anything like it. It was incredible being in there...

I didn't have a lot of time so I headed out the Transit Steamer Line's other tunnel. When I came out the other side I saw this mostly bright blue very "fantasy" looking bridge running from Mermaid Lagoon on my left to a walkway that leads to Arabian coast on my right. I went up a set of temporary stairs on the left bank to Mermaid Lagoon because that was about as far as I could go in the sea before I would get to the part that's filled up.

It's funny, I went from the bottom of one sea to the bottom of another! Mermaid Lagoon is themed to be the bottom of the ocean. But I couldn't resist that bridge over to Arabian Coast...

I was amazed. The exteriors there are almost done. They were doing a lot of really fine detail painting. The artists working there were so intense! When I noticed them, I started walking very carefully. They were so absorbed that I thought if I made them break their concentration they would get really angry at me. The colors they're using are cool, all these different shades of really deep blue. It was like I stepped into historic Baghdad or something, except I'm sure Arabian Coast is nicer than that ever was. There are so many spires and they're so detailed. I knew they were going nuts with detail at DisneySea, but I don't think I understood how nuts until I saw Arabian Coast.

 I went back over the bridge and wandered around the outside part of Mermaid lagoon for a minute. It's really, really colorful.  It looks like an animated movie. Obviously, that what they're shooting for. It was strange, especially the weird lamp posts. I couldn't see what the surface of them looks like because they were covered in plastic, but their shapes make them seem like they've grown out of the ground. I didn't see two of them alike. And there's multicolored tile running in gentle curved stripes along bridges, walls... everywhere. There's also a fountain with a nice statue of Ariel from Little Mermaid in the middle of it.

Next I headed over to King Triton's Castle and took a quick look at the inside of the building that takes up most of the Mermaid Lagoon area. I'm starting to sound like a broken CD, but - WOW! It looks almost done in there and it's really impressive! There's a big open space in the center and all the different play areas are along the walls. The floor curves up into the walls using rockwork. The vertical supports that hold up the roof look like single giant shells. The space is so big and it's designed to make it look even bigger. I can't imagine what it's going to be like when it's lit by something besides worklights...

I went back out and took a look at the little roller coaster. It's kind of down on a hole. Some of the green track rose up higher than me, but I was looking down on most of it. It looks like it'll mainly be sitting in a pool of water. They obviously still have some work to do, but it look like it'll be cool when it's done.

Then it was on to Lost River Delta. It's almost done, too. There was something that kind of surprised me there. Ok, all the buildings are covered with a mish-mash of small sheets of corrugated metal that are painted different colors and have been "aged" to look rusty and dirty. Up close the colors look random but, when I saw the buildings from further away, all the different colored panels kind of blended together to make a really interesting impression. They gave it a lot of thought.

The Indiana Jones ride is so BIG. Not just the pyramid. The giant wall to the right of it is even bigger and it's covered with a lot, I mean a lot, of "moss". The whole thing is overwhelming, especially in the small area of Lost River Delta. The "temple" looms over you and is very imposing. I think it's supposed to be. There's a great view from the front of the Hanger Stage. When you look around, all you can see is the temple, the very big hill they put in. and Tokyo Bay. You can't see the edge of the park. It's set up in a way that makes it look like the the "river" is running straight into the ocean and the ocean goes on forever.

They also painted the bottom on the sea black in that area. It makes the water look really dark.