Video from 2020 - my Part of Your World cover in cosplay!

[merprincess]

Last year, back when I still had access to the mermaid costume of Ariel's with the company I worked for, I got to record a little cover of Part of Your World in costume as Ariel and wanted to share it in a thread here! 🧜🏻‍♀️ I'm trying to make my own Ariel mermaid cosplay and so far I have a perfect wig, I have shells but have yet to find a good top to put them on, but I can't yet afford any of the tails that I really want for the costume so it's a bit slow going but we'll get there eventually! I'm hoping to get back to work as a princess/performer this summer now that I've been fully vaccinated! 🎉


Here's the video on my instagram! The video posted in 3 parts since instagram video posts can only be a minute long, just scroll through and click the arrows of the album of posts after each part to watch the whole thing:

https://www.instagram.com/p/B-YX7STDsLp

I can also make a separate thread showing off more photos of the costume if anyone is interested, since the video cuts off a lot of the tail (which btw was surprisingly really comfortable to be in!)

[veu]

Great!
You are a wonderful Ariel!!!!

[buckmana]

It would be interesting to see the entire costume.
Is this the first time you've played the mermaid version of Ariel or have you done it before?

[merprincess]

veu Thank you so much! She's obviously my favorite, so that means a lot to me! ❤️

buckmana Happy to share more photos! This was the first time I've ever been in Ariel's actual mermaid look, I usually either wore a teal dress similar to what she wears on land at the Disney Parks and also a version of her blue Kiss The Girl dress. Actually, I now have recently acquired a pretty spot-on replica to her finale dress, the sparkly seafoam Victory Dress, and I'm eager to get into character and take some pictures with it on! I aspire to wear everything Ariel's ever worn as I just love her wardrobe, and so far I've got a lot of her most iconic looks crossed off! Just need the pink dinner dress and the pink nightgown to complete all the looks from the first film! With the mermaid look, it was the first time I truly felt like a mermaid, as I've never even worn a fin or shells at all until that day and it just felt extra magical getting to embody Ariel as the mermaid we all know her to be!

Here's the full look!


and a gif of a boomerang I took on instagram to show how the fin moves!


For this costume I got to wear with the company, it was not a swimmable fin. I used it for online videos (thankfully I didn't need to move around much, as once you're in the fin there's kinda no escaping very easily lol) and we had a backdrop that went with it too, here's a closeup photo with that!


The fin here is similar in function to the fin Ariel wears at the grotto for meet & greets in places like WDW's Magic Kingdom & also Tokyo Disney Resort. I want to get my own fin that's more accurate to how that fin actually looks in the Parks, I do have my own set of Parks accurate shells that I need to attach to a top that I still need to find. And I just want to get some swimmable options for the same look. But I'm starting to acquire supplies for my own meet & greet grotto look at least, it's all coming together!

[buckmana]

Thank you for supplying the pictures.
Are those your personal plushies?

Is that all the outfits Ariel has worn (including other media)?
I think you would potentially need the makeshift sail dress and maybe the Comfy Squad outfit from Wreck It-Ralph 2 to finish the complete set.

I assume the ones the parks use are a custom made version tailored to match the animated character precisely.
I guess if the performer cannot stand up while wearing the costume, they have to get into position before the public is admitted to the performing area.

Would not a swimming tail be more expensive?
Because it has to be functional and hard wearing enough for frequent motion/use.
That would require a more specialised design/fabrication process I would imagine.

Just out of curiosity, are you a strong swimmer?
Or enough so that you could potentially do an aquatic performance?

I wonder if aquatic mermaid performers have to pass a swimming certification test.
Or train in the specific movements for tail/fin swimming.

[merprincess]

buckmana

no prob! Yes, those are all my own plushies, bought from Amazon and Ebay over the years! Yes the Sail Dress is also on my list, and the wedding dress would be another one I need to put on my list. I do have her Wreck it Ralph pjs!

There's also a dress I rarely see photos of - Ariel wears another dress in the Broadway show that is completely unique to that show, it's this white-ish layered dress she wears during "The Contest" when she dances for Eric.

(this is Betsy Morgan, Ariel understudy on Broadway)
I have yet to find a picture of Sierra in this dress, though I've seen video what the dress used to look like with Sierra in the 2007 Denver tryouts. It didn't have the sleeves and Ariel actually kept that dress on all the way through the battle with Ursula and Eric's proposal afterward - an interesting choice that got scrapped as they changed the dress and had Ariel change into a half-mermaid look with the shells and a skirt instead of the tail as the climax of the story takes place.


In the Brazilian version of the musical, they made a really gorgeous teal dress for that scene!


(Fabi Bang, Ariel in A Pequena Sereia O Musical, in Brazil)


A former friend of Ariel made a video about this recently, I'll summarize what she said about Ariel's tail & add in some additional details:
For Ariel in the Grotto, she has footed tights, almost like yoga pants or leggings, underneath the tail. She & her costumer work together to put the tail fully on when she gets on location on set before any guests can be let into the Grotto for meet & greets. They close the door in between shifts, taking part of the tail off and storing it out of view during breaks, and Ariel can walk around backstage with part of the costume on still. She usually puts it on and takes it off it either just by herself or with a costumer helping (usually extra help is needed for parades, like in Festival of Fantasy where Ariel is way up on the clamshell and needs to be forklifted into place) and in Fantasmic, Eric is the one to help Ariel get into her tail! Fantasmic is a weird case in that she can't leave the ship with Eric and all the other characters but there are still fireworks and fire hazards happening and she needs to get out of the way somehow or at least be protected in some way, so Eric does this thing that's affectionately referred to as "bagging the fish": placing a fire resistant blanket on Ariel, as she's strapped into place on the ship while wearing her fin, so she can be safe as the show finishes out its last couple minutes, since there's no way for her to exit (Eric could carry her off, but that's an extra liability as he could possibly drop her or injure himself in the process. So they came up with this solution, and Ariel does get additional hazard pay for it at least!).
The way the tail works is that the fin itself is like a fin skirt, almost like a very fitted pencil skirt with sequins. And there's a liner to make it easier to clean. The flipper, or the tail fluke I guess, has a fabric tube that Ariel can slide her feet into once she waddles onto set with the fin skirt and leggings, and there are two thick elastic straps for her to velcro around her ankles and pull the point of the skirt down to attach onto the flipper itself. She has full control of the fin and it makes for a very convincing mermaid look!

^So that's a little bit of how that works!

Swimming tails are VERY expensive. The material needs to be water resistant and withstand being used in water a lot, usually silicon works best. I am a pretty strong swimmer, I would say so! I've always wondered what it would be like to be a real swimming mermaid performer, it's been a lifelong dream of mine to try it out but where I live is pretty cold and landlocked, so unless I move it's not something my environment would really support. I don't know a lot about it but I'm sure these performers would have to pass a swimming test of sorts as well as having their breathing tested. I'm a singer and have pretty good breath support, so maybe it would be possible someday?

[buckmana]

I assume it would not be a genuine wedding dress, but a simulation of one.
An actual wedding dress would probably be quite expensive.


So they actually did their background research for this animated show then?
During the episode, Vicky (in the mermaid costume) can barely walk in her costume, she slowly shuffles from place to place and spends every scene sitting down.
Obviously she's being carried around by her friends to get her to different places easier.
Which sounds a lot like what you described.

What are the straps for?
To hold the performer in the seat so she doesn't fall off?

I think in order to fin or mermaid swim, strong abdominal muscles are required, since all the footage of live action mermaids I've seen looks like they're flexing their hips down and back up, since their legs are bound together instead of being able to move independently.
I'm guessing the nature of the tail construction doesn't allow them to bend at the hip/thigh joint without tearing the costume apart.
Would neoprene also be a material used in making these tails? At least for an underlayer anyway.

[merprincess]

There's some waddling involved, yup! At least when guests aren't present, Ariel can use her legs to walk around a bit more freely, detached from the fin. The elastic bands in the fin I think are there to attach the different parts and make sure they don't slip or fall out, it stays on pretty securely without risk of falling off. I don't think Ariel is attached to the chair in the Grotto, it's not too high up off the ground and I've seen her pose in many ways in the chair and all around the Grotto set in various areas, definitely not attached there either. It would be really obvious to see an attachment based on how she posed and I have yet to see any within all the photos I've seen of her posing in the chair in various ways. Though in Festival of Fantasy, and in the final boat scene of Fantasmic, she's absolutely strapped in as she's situated pretty high up - safety first!

Ariel's original tail was mechanical and her feet and legs were actually hidden behind it. They could make the tail taper in a little smaller at the bottom since no actual legs were inside. They changed it to the model we have now, probably so Ariel could have a little more control over it and not be stuck in one spot. It does require a LOT of upper body strength & leg strength, especially for the Ariels who do shows like Fantasmic and Mickey and the Wondrous Book (and in that show, Ariel is also singing while flipping her fins! the choreography is really impressive!)

Neoprene works well for an inside layer. I've seen some tails made in that material too, more so for people who aren't going for realism but still want the experience of wearing a mermaid tail. They're usually cheaper and more accessible in that way - silicone tails are at least a thousand dollars, if not more!

I know there are actual legit "Ariel inspired" wedding dresses you can buy, the famous collab with different fashion designers and the Disney Princess brand, but none of them look much like the actual wedding dress that Ariel wore. The most accurate ones I've seen have all been cosplay, which are usually cheaper than buying an actual wedding gown, but cosplay can still be pretty expensive depending on where you get it all from!

[yougottaloveariel]

Is That a Macy's Max the dog?

ALSO some pics coming up later in the week of new Ariel Aquisitions

[merprincess]

yougottaloveariel Yes, that's the Macy's exclusive Max plush! it's super fluffy! Got mine on Ebay, I think you can still find a few on there.

[yougottaloveariel]

It was one of the first items that could be considered exclusive since it was 1989
Aledgedly the Hearld Square Macy's had a store display that came don by 1989's end



First object after a hectic day of :bad karma" decided to buy this at the Stop n Shop   Its more like a ball then a baloon










   Clear plastic                           Wish I could get clearer images

It measures about 16 to 18 inches