A mermaid attraction is under construction behind Queen's. With some rearranging of fences and paths this area is now accessible from the Children's Realm but there's a wall between the chime shop and the pub. No word on what the act will be like, but there's a large acrylic tank of the sort used for marine aquariums in the area.
It has been pointed out to me that mermaids were a much greater part of medieval and renaissance folklore and literature than dragons were.
What we were told was that there would be six people involved, one captain, one sailor, and four mermaids. Three of the mermaids would be sitting by the waterfall, and one would be in the tank. The mermaids would be rotated between waterfall and tank once an hour. The tank mermaid will be giving a small memento (shell, or something like that) to children. Not sure if they have to pay for it.
If they call one of them Ariel I'm not coming back... LOL! ::) :D
My girls are SOOOOO excited to see the "real, live MERMAIDS!!!!!!" ;D
Ugh. Could we possibly get more Disney... :-X
Too funny, can't picture it. Anyone got a photo of them?
MG and I wandered through there yesterday. Disappointed that they closed off the garden behind Queen's pub so they could do it. But, if you're 6 (or into women with flippers), I imagine you would find the exhibit enchanting. And I heard rumor that they're not done decorating it yet.
Quote from: Ms Trish on August 20, 2012, 07:10:46 AM
Disappointed that they closed off the garden behind Queen's pub so they could do it.
I was sad about that too. I like the idea of the mermaid cove, but I don't like the placement. I liked the garden behind Queen's, and the crowds queuing up to see the mermaids has taken over our dancing spot in the Children's Realm... and pretty much the entire Children's Realm. I don't think that is a great development. I realize the mermaids are geared toward children, but they're certainly not exclusively for children... I wish they'd have put the entrance somewhere else instead of taking up the space that *is* really designated for children.
Something else I heard that made me go "hmmmm??" was that Sir Arthur Greenleaf would be reciting his poetry in Queen's pub. Uhmmm... Now I *love* his poetry. It makes me laugh, blush, and I am often shocked! However, if HE is reciting poetry, and for that matter, the songs, comments, and banter of the Naughty Bawdy Brigade, are there, do they really think having an exhibit specifically geared towards children right behind them is a good idea?
Yes, it is somewhat boarded up but standing in the line making our way through the garden, we could quite plainly hear what was going on behind us and it, in fact, drowned out the "siren song" the ladies were singing. The captain and the deck hands that were guiding us through the area commented that they had done this on purpose so the men would not be overwhelmed by the music and leap to their deaths, or some such. It made for a good cover of a poorly thought out plan.
The idea is charming for the children. The placement is horribly misplaced.
I didn't understand why they didn't put it down by the pond in the Secret Garden. That seemed like a more logical choice to me but what do I know.
Quote from: Marietta Graziella on August 20, 2012, 10:02:44 AM
Something else I heard that made me go "hmmmm??" was that Sir Arthur Greenleaf would be reciting his poetry in Queen's pub. Uhmmm... Now I *love* his poetry. It makes me laugh, blush, and I am often shocked! However, if HE is reciting poetry, and for that matter, the songs, comments, and banter of the Naughty Bawdy Brigade, are there, do they really think having an exhibit specifically geared towards children right behind them is a good idea?
Yes, it is somewhat boarded up but standing in the line making our way through the garden, we could quite plainly hear what was going on behind us and it, in fact, drowned out the "siren song" the ladies were singing. The captain and the deck hands that were guiding us through the area commented that they had done this on purpose so the men would not be overwhelmed by the music and leap to their deaths, or some such. It made for a good cover of a poorly thought out plan.
The idea is charming for the children. The placement is horribly misplaced.
Reminds me of the year Florida Renaissance Festival put Iris and Rose in the tent next to the kiddie rides. You couldn't get directly from one to the other, but the sound certainly could, judging by the number of complaints. They had a different venue the next year.
Quote from: Random Girl on August 20, 2012, 11:58:37 AM
I didn't understand why they didn't put it down by the pond in the Secret Garden. That seemed like a more logical choice to me but what do I know.
I've always thought that spot should be plagued by Fae. :)
Quote from: LadyFae on August 20, 2012, 02:57:08 PM
Quote from: Random Girl on August 20, 2012, 11:58:37 AM
I didn't understand why they didn't put it down by the pond in the Secret Garden. That seemed like a more logical choice to me but what do I know.
I've always thought that spot should be plagued by Fae. :)
This made me think that there should be a "Hoggle" spraying for Fairies. (Labyrinth Reference)
I'm assuming the location was partially chosen for easy access to water for the aquarium and electricity to heat the water.
Quote from: Toarmod on August 21, 2012, 12:37:01 PM
Quote from: LadyFae on August 20, 2012, 02:57:08 PM
Quote from: Random Girl on August 20, 2012, 11:58:37 AM
I didn't understand why they didn't put it down by the pond in the Secret Garden. That seemed like a more logical choice to me but what do I know.
I've always thought that spot should be plagued by Fae. :)
This made me think that there should be a "Hoggle" spraying for Fairies. (Labyrinth Reference)
"OUCH! It bit me!" "Course it did, what did you expect it to do?"
Quote from: groomporter on August 21, 2012, 02:51:42 PM
I'm assuming the location was partially chosen for easy access to water for the aquarium and electricity to heat the water.
Except they did not heat the water and the mermaid got sick and turned blue in the early afternoon on Sunday, so they closed the exhibit. Guess the heater is on backorder.
Humph, I heard from Anita in entertainment that it would be heated after I joked on Facebook about frozen fish sticks by the end of the run. ::)
I keep wanting to make aquarium related jokes, gonna need some big snails or a lot of them to clean the walls... and really big plastic bags to let them acclimatize to the water temp... show up with a industrial-sized box of fish flakes to feed them?
When I stuck my hand in there Friday, it was cold. And Erin Casper told me, as Carr was hollering on the radio just out of hearing range, that the mermaid turned blue. To be fair, I am putting math together to draw a conclusion, so I suppose she could have turned blue some other way.
Either way, it was vastly popular. A few tweaks, including some ropes for queueing, ValleyFair style, and it should be popular. For my money, they should have kept the Secret Garden houses from falling apart and put her near the waterfall to draw a crowd in there.
They'll get it figured out. Anita and Carr are smart people. 100% faith in them.
What we need is a guy that looks like Tom Hanks to stand in the tank, naked and covering his no-nos with his hands, screaming "I am not a fish!"
http://www.carrhagerman.com/blog/2012/08/23/mermaids-exist/
You wouldn't have to worry about cold water at Scarborough...well, there was the snow on opening weekend in `07, I think it was...in April...in Dallas
Oh I heard that while they will be heating the "tank" it will only be 70 degrees.
I was a swimmer, the pool was ICE COLD at 75 when you jumped in.
I don't think the girls that they got realized what they were in for.... I am guessing that it is going to go from HOT to FREEZING in no time.
Ok, so my girls and I were able to make it out (finally) on Sat and we followed the instructions from everyone and bypassed everything going on at opening gate and beelined straight for Mermaid Cove. We were the first in line and waited about half an hour for the "exhibit" to open- the line behind us was CRAZY! Sadly, with that many people we didn't get to "enjoy" the mermaid experience. We were rushed through, probably worse for us because we were in front, those behind us got to watch and interact with the seated mermaids, we couldn't. We did get to "speak" with the tank mermaid for a bit but, again, with the huge crowd behind us our time was rather limited. The mermaids are beautiful, that's a given but that's about the only thing we took away from the experience. I had a friend who took his family out on Sunday and he said that his daughter cried when she had to leave the mermaids, she LOVED them! I don't know, I love the idea still but it isn't really "working" very well so far.
well it might be more of a business strategy than a customer strategy.
make people wait for a high demand display right next to food/drink area.
I would die for 70 degree water. Sadly the pond at Gypsy stage does not have that option.
I saw the mermaids a few times and they did a great job as well as the rest of the performers in the cove. I sent so many kids over there with their parents in tow.