The Lights and Lanterns of Ariel's section of New Fantasyland.
This light is well-worn in the salt-filled air on the water and the beach. It's also well hitched to the wooden beams with heavy-duty rope. I expect Eric or his sailors needed a little extra light.
This light looks like something that Prince Eric, or one of his sailors might use on the ship. I fact this one is tied up on a light post like it had been tied up to a ship's mast.
Perhaps not everyone would think to turn some clumps of seaweed into light fixtures, but the Disney Immagineers in charge of designing Ariel's Grotto certainly thought of it. At night they cast a yellow-orange glow, just enough to see.
These seaweed lights may not cast the largest circle of light, but they certainly help create the mood of going underwater to greet Ariel, the little mermaid herself.
I always say, "You always have to look up." This light is an example of that principle. It's hanging from an upper balcony on the Disney Vacation Club building across from Voyage of the Little Mermaid and Ariel's Grotto. This light is actually very similar to lights found in the section of Adventureland around Pirates of the Caribbean. The similarity is found primarily through the red-orange hue of the glass and the the more delicate details of the metal, as well as the hefty chain which holds this lantern up.
I love the scrolls on this lantern. It's found outside the DVC and snack stands. The little scrolls around the center look like wrought iron.
I think the most interesting feature of this lantern on the Disney Vacation Club stand is that you can see the door. If it were an oil, gasoline, or candle light you would open the door to light the fire as the sun goes down. Since this one uses a lightbulb, it must make it easier for cast members to change the bulb when it goes out.
This light is outside the Disney Vacation Club stand in Ariel's section of New Fantasyland. This stand is probably the most well themed and visually interesting of all the DVC stands in all of the parks (feel free to correct me if you think I'm wrong). This light is a part of that beautiful decorating work. The metal work on both the lantern itself and on the frame which holds the lantern up, is intricate a beautiful. The scrolls make me think of wind in the sails, while the metal framework on the lantern itself say castle to me. Perfect for Prince Eric.
This lantern is also in the snack stand. This one has an extra set of metal around the center. It makes me think of old sailing ships and lighthouses, what about you?
This is one of the lights inside the snack stand across from Voyage of the Little Mermaid. They're extremely simple lights, but they are clearly meant to look like oil lamps with the bulbous glass and the dish shape above the light to reflect more light downwards.
The lanterns around the entrance the stand-by line for Voyage of the Little Mermaid are in bright blue and green. This is huge difference from the muted colors seen around The Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and in Belle's section of New Fantasyland. They also have the banded metal shape which is reminiscent of nautical lanterns on the old sailing ships. Or at least they make me think of every movie I've ever seen with an old ship with sails.
At the entrance to Voyage of the Little Mermaid are three brightly colored lanterns which look like they've done hard days on the sea in the salt-filled air. That aging is called a patina, and it's one of the ways that Disney manages to keep all the areas of their parks so well themed. After all, who would believe they were in the Wild West without a little rust?
I'm crazy for this light. It's definitely one of my top ten lights in the Magic Kingdom (maybe even my number one). I love the delicate metalwork, the bright blue color, and the way it hangs in the center of the archway above the people in the line for Voyage of the Little Mermaid.
Next to the entrance to Voyage of the Little Mermaid is what looks like a shipwreck. These bright lanterns are a part of that aesthetic. The metal has a lovely patina, but it's the colored glass that I find the most appealing.