Lee and I are at Disneyland for a short (but action-packed) afternoon/morning of events, including the grand opening of The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Undersea Adventure, the official premiere of Mickey’s Soundsational Parade, and the grand opening of Star Tours – The Adventures Continue.

Thursday afternoon was the opening of Little Mermaid. It was grand in true Disney style, with great music and appearances by Little Mermaid musical composer Alan Mencken and the voice of Ariel, Jodi Benson. (I just love her!)

I think it’s far easier to show you the opening than to try to explain it, so here’s the video that Lee took.

After the opening we had the opportunity to ride the new attraction, which was Lee’s first time. I noticed things I hadn’t seen before – there is a lot of detail! Lee was impressed by Ariel’s hair, the pico-projectors in Sebastian’s eyes and how good a job they did hiding the supports for most of the characters – so they really look like they are floating.

I had the opportunity to interview Frank Antonides, from Walt Disney Imagineering, about the overall concept for the new Little Mermaid attraction.

Later, I had the opportunity to ride Ariel’s Undersea Adventure again, this time in the company of Imagineer Frank Reifsnyder who pointed out many of the design details of the attraction.

Coming up we’ll have more information and videos, including the Grand Opening of the updated Star Tours at Disneyland, more interviews and a presentation on the continued re-imagining and expansion of Disney California Adventure.