The goal of this blog series is to factually prove or disprove rumors, myths and misconceptions in the Disney-verse. Tonight on TMSM Mythbusters we are tackling Oceanic Naming Systems and What’s Faster.
Oceanic Naming Systems
This myth comes from a meme that was posted on my personal Facebook wall by a friend from High School as well as a rumor bouncing around the internet. The meme stated that Triton had seven daughters because there are seven seas. The internet posts I kept coming across implied they were in fact named for the seven seas that Triton rules. All six sisters were voiced by Kimmy Robertson and Caroline Vasicek in the original movie.
The above image says the girls are named for the following:
Attina- The Bering Sea because it is the largest sea and she is the oldest.
Alana- The Black Sea because of her black hair.
Adella- Mediterranean Sea because she has a romantic personality.
Aquata- The Coral Sea because she is shy
Arista- White Sea because of her hair
Andrina- Caribbean Sea because she has a carefree personality
Ariel- Red Sea
After some serious hunting I found no real proof supporting the seven seas “naming scheme” but I did find that Alan Menken himself had a big influence on the names of the sister. Attina’s name was created after a play that Alan Menken worked on prior to the creation of Disney’s The Little Mermaid. Alana’s name is the feminine form of Alan, after Alan Menken. Arista’s name is from Arista Records, which Alan Menken had a label with. Adrina’s name is the feminine form of “Andrew”. Aquata’s name means “watery” in Latin. Adella’s name is a feminine form of “Adam”. Ariel’s name in Hebrew translates to English as “lion of God” and is the name of the archangel Ariel but it is thought that her name sake is a reference to William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, where the play’s character of Ariel, is an air spirit which refers to the original Hans Christian Andersen stories ending. As for the number of sisters for the number of seas on Earth Disney did change the number of sisters in Hans Christian Andersen’s original story from five daughters to seven.
To be honest Main Streeters, because I can’t find any viable from Disney that provides supported facts that the daughters were named after the seven seas I am going to say the naming for part of this myth is busted. The fact that Disney seems to be trying to honor the seven seas in The Little Mermaid by changing the number of sisters in the story does though make me wonder if some of this isn’t true even though I couldn’t find verified fact on WHY they made that change. So Main Streeeters, I am going to say this one is PLAUSIBLE based on Disney changing the number of daughters Triton had.
What’s Faster
This myth actually came from TMSM Fan Nation and is based on a member’s post that the rides in Disneyland were faster than the rides in Walt Disney World. To find out if this theory is right we are going to compare the specs of three rides both parks have (Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Tower of Terror) and two sets of similar rides (Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster vs California Screamin’ and Test Track vs Radiator Springs Racers).
Space Mountain:
In Walt Disney World both the Alpha and Omega tracks of Space Mountain are 90 feet high with a 26 foot drop. Alpha is 10 feet longer than Omega coming in at 3,196 ft. Both tracks have a duration of 2 minutes and 35 seconds and a top speed of 27 mph.
In Disneyland the ride’s top height is 85 feet is 3,035 long, has a duration of 2 minutes and 45 seconds and a top speed of 32 mph.
Making Disneyland’s version 5 mph faster.
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad:
In Walt Disney World Big Thunder is 2780 ft long, last 3 minutes 36 seconds and has a max speed of 30 mph.
In Disneyland Big Thunder is 2671 long, lasts 3 minutes 21 seconds and has a max speed of 30 mph.
Meaning neither ride is faster than the other.
Tower of Terror:
In Hollywood Studios Tower of Terror reaches a top speed of 30.7 miles per hour, is 199-feet tall, has four ride vehicles, four lifts, and a ride duration of 3 minutes 10 seconds.
In California Adventure park the ride reaches a top speed of 30.3 per hour, is 183-foot tall and is the tallest attraction in Disneyland and is the tallest building in Anaheim. It has six ride vehicles, three lifts, and a ride duration of 2 minutes 25 seconds.
Meaning Walt Disney World’s version is .4 miles per hour faster.
Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster vs California Screamin’
The reason behind comparing these two rides is they are both launch coasters that invert.
Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster in Hollywood Studios is 3403 ft long with a ride duration of 1 minute 22 seconds and reaches it’s max speed of 60 mph in 2.8 seconds.
California Screamin’ in California Adventure is 6072 feet long with a ride duration of 2 minutes 36 seconds and it reaches it’s max speed of 65 mph in 4 seconds.
So while California Screamin’ is 5 mph faster, it seems Rock ‘n’ Roller achieves max speed at a faster rate.
Test Track vs Radiator Springs Racers
These two rides are being compared due tot he fact they use the same “car” ride vehicle, and because each ride starts inside with stops and starts before the ride vehicle goes outside on a high speed track.
Test Track in Epcot is “about” 4 minutes long and reaches a max speed of 64.9 mph.
Radiator Springs Racers in California Adventure is 4 minutes 22 seconds long and reaches a max speed of 40 mph.
Meaning Epcot’s Test Track is 24.9 miles per hour faster.
Based on the numbers above it seems that neither park’s rides are ALL faster than the other, that would make this myth busted.
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Sources: anaydena.hubpages.com/hub/Disneys-The-Little-Mermaid;
Disney Wiki; Disney World and Disneyland’s Official Sites
Michele also contributes theme park news for Fox 35 Orlando 11pm news and on the radio on WDBO.
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