My Thoughts About the AquaMouse

The AquaMouse on the Disney Wish is apparently the "first-ever Disney attraction at sea."  Confusing and possibly misleading marketing aside, the AquaMouse is a water coaster that's similar to its predecessor, the AquaDuck, on the Dream and Fantasy.  When I was on the Wish earlier this month, I got to ride the AquaMouse for the first time.

A panorama of the Wish's main pool deck area surrounded by the AquaMouse.

Here's an overview of the ride.  Once you get through the line (which was often very long, although it was usually short in the evenings around the time of the 5:45 dinner seating), you sit on a raft that can hold two people.  Sometimes, because of wind, single riders weren't allowed to ride, to prevent anyone from getting stuck in the slide.  The AquaMouse rafts are similar to the AquaDuck, although back rests are a nice new addition.

Remember how you have to climb seventy steps to get to the start of the AquaDuck?  You don't have to go up any stairs to get to the start of the AquaMouse.  This is good for people who aren't able to go up large flights of stairs or those confined to wheelchairs.

This is because the beginning of the AquaMouse is a large incline inside a tube:

Rafts move on a conveyor belt, while riders watch one of two new cartoons starring Mickey and Minnie:  Scuba Scramble or Swiss Meltdown.  The cartoon plays on one screen at a time, synchronized with the raft's location in the tube.  While the cartoon is playing, gentle water jets spray the riders.  This part of the slide is slow, but it's exactly what some people look for in a ride.

At the top of the incline, the cartoon ends and riders go into a fast section that's very similar to the AquaDuck:

Don't they look alike?  Instead of having two separate jet incline sections like the AquaDuck, the AquaMouse has one large one.  After that incline, the tube descends then finishes and ends in a short section that reminds me of a lazy river.  I liked how the slide ends where it begins, so if nobody else is in line, you could ride the AquaMouse multiple times without even having to get out of the raft!  I might have tried this, but the only time I saw the AquaMouse without a line was when it was closed.

I'm not sure which of DCL's water coasters gets riders through the line faster, so it's certainly not a huge difference.  However, the AquaMouse is probably easier for the lifeguards to run, as they don't have to use a special elevator to get rafts to the start of the slide.  Speaking of the lifeguards, the Wish's lifeguards don't have Donald Duck on their shirts like they do on the older ships.  He's been replaced by Minnie Mouse, which is appropriate for the AquaMouse.

So what did I think?  Well, the AquaMouse is fun, although I didn't love it.  The cartoon is cute and entertaining, but whenever I rode the AquaMouse, I always wished the fast part of the ride was longer.  I never got out of the AquaMouse raft thinking, "that was amazing, I want to do it again!"  Instead, I just wished there was more.

Also, because of the initial dark tube section, views out into the ocean from the slide are limited.  While the AquaMouse does go off the side of the ship a little bit, the AquaDuck does a much better job of this. 

 

You won't find this on the AquaMouse.

So while the AquaMouse is more easily accessible and possibly more fun for some, I still like the AquaDuck better.  It's much faster, more exciting, and it features a better view.  After over eleven years since the AquaDuck first opened, I was hoping that Disney would go crazy with its successor, but the AquaMouse was pretty disappointing to me.  Don't get me wrong, it's a good slide!  I'm surprised I didn't like the AquaMouse more, but at least the AquaDuck isn't going anywhere.

I should have more content about the Wish coming soon!  Until then, would you prefer to ride the AquaMouse or the AquaDuck?