As part of the 2012 New Fantasyland expansion, the Magic Kingdom park decided to install the attraction, under the name Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid instead of The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Undersea Adventure. The attraction's exterior is Prince Eric's castle, featured in the movie. The attraction soft opened with the expansion in October 2012, and officially opened to the public on December 6, 2012. The ride is almost exactly the same, even though the exterior and queue area are very diferentt. The only ride difference is that the cars, instead of colorful shells of aqua, pink, yellow, orange, etc., the cars are tan colored shells.