20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Submarine Voyage

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20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Submarine Voyage

Locations, openings and status
Walt Disney World October 14, 1971
Closed - September 5, 1994

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Submarine Voyage was an attraction at the Walt Disney World Resort's Magic Kingdom, and operated from 1971-1994. The attraction opened two weeks after the park on October 14, 1971, and was one of its first E ticket attractions. One of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken by Walt Disney Imagineering, 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (Or "20K" for short) was designed by some of the best known imagineers, including a young Tony Baxter, Claude Coats, Marc Davis and others.

1 Disney and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
2 The Submarine Voyage
3 Project Florida And The Submarine Voyage's Successor
4 October 14, 1971
5 The Attraction Vehicles
6 The Voyage
7 The Final Dive
8 See also
9 External links

[edit] Disney and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

In 1954, Walt Disney released 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea to both critical and audience acclaim. Using the original novel by French science fiction author Jules Verne as a starting point, the film added a "jail-break" subplot to the story, and starred James Mason as Captain Nemo, Kirk Douglas as Ned Land, Paul Lukas as Professor Pierre Arronax, and Peter Lorre as his apprentice, Conseil. The production would go on to win Best Art Direction and Best Special Effects at the 1955 Academy Awards.

By 1955, the studio did not have enough space to be able to keep the large sets used during production, and so instead of destroying them, they became part of a walkthrough attraction in the Tomorrowland area of the newly opened Disneyland park in Anaheim, California. It quickly became popular, and allowed guests to tour the luxurious Grand Salon, the wheelhouse, as well as surviving an attack by the giant squid used during production, designed by special effects expert Bob Mattey. The walkthrough continued to attract guests until it was closed in 1966. Many of the sets were destroyed, and the building would soon house Adventure Thru Inner Space, later replaced in 1987 by Star Tours.

[edit] The Submarine Voyage

For further information about the Submarine Voyage, and the forthcoming replacement, see Submarine Voyage and Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage.

In 1959, an ambitious expansion of Tomorrowland was finally completed, and included the addition of new attractions including the famous Matterhorn Bobsleds, the Monorail, and the Submarine Voyage. "Commissioned" on the 6 June 1959 in front of Richard Nixon, Walt Disney and his wife Lillian, and officers of the US Navy, the attraction made use of early animatronics to create underwater life, and the use of forced perspective to increase the feeling of realism. Eight submarines, painted in Cold War-friendly grey took guests through the attraction, which took place in a lagoon visible from Tomorrowland, and a large show building, hidden behind two waterfalls. It became extremely popular with guests, so much so that Walt Disney Imagineering were already working on an even more ambitious version for the forthcoming Project Florida concept, which would become Walt Disney World.

[edit] Project Florida And The Submarine Voyage's Successor

By the time development work for what is today Walt Disney World began, Disney imagineers had already been working-out a rough concept for a sister attraction to Disneyland's Submarine Voyage. However, it was not going to be a simple ride clone. The idea was to make as best use as possible of the larger space the company now owned in Florida, and what became 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea did indeed do just that. At 11.5 million gallons of water throughout, it would be one of the biggest and most expensive Disney attractions ever conceived.

It has long been thought that the Magic Kingdom attraction was originally intended to have been installed in place of the Submarine Voyage in California in 1959, as the two attractions were identical except for the themeing and some elements of the plot. However, sponsorship by General Dynamics is believed to have contributed to the blocking of this, and so the Submarine Voyage would open in 1959 with a non-specific theme, and with nuclear as opposed to Victorian submarines.

[edit] October 14, 1971

Despite the best efforts of the construction and installation teams attached to the 20,000 Leagues project, the attraction would ultimately open two weeks after the Magic Kingdom due to infrastructure problems with the lagoon. On October 14 1971 however, the first guests boarded one of the fourteen submarines to take the ten minute voyage of discovery that would cover the surface of the earth from underwater, without ever leaving the state of Florida.

The completed attraction covered almost a quarter of Fantasyland, with the lagoon and caverns-hidden show building surrounded by palm trees and volcanic rock, meant to evoke the impression of Captain Nemo's Pacific Ocean base Vulcania. A storage facility at the back of the show building served to house submarines removed from the main line during day-to-day operation, and also included a dry dock for repair work.

Along the shores of the lagoon, small beaches were built, one with a chest of abandoned pirate treasure. The words "20,000 Leagues" spelled out in nautical code from signaling flags at the entrance to the attraction added a final subtle touch, despite a persistent rumor that they initially read "Seugael 20,000" on opening day.

The team of cast members operating the attraction played the roles of Nemo's ever-silent crew, and even wore authentic replicas of the screen production's costumes. Throughout the attractions life, the crews were almost exclusively male, except for the addition of a helmswoman in the 1970s.

[edit] The Attraction Vehicles

One of the submarines heading into the lagoon. The detailed rivet-work on the body of the submarine can be seen.

One of the signature pieces of 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea was the fleet of fourteen passenger vehicles, adapted for theme park use from Harper Goff's Nautilus design for the 1954 Disney live-action version by Disney imagineer George McGinnis. The basic hulls were constructed by Morgan Yacht in Clearwater, Florida, with the final building work being transferred to Tampa Ship mid-way through. This massive project was overseen by another veteran imagineer, Bob Gurr. Upon delivery at Walt Disney World in August 1971, the vehicles weighed some forty tons, and were installed into a concrete guide, mounted on top of a mechanism to limit "bumping" accidents.

The attraction's vehicles were not actual submarines, but instead boats in which the guests sat below water level. The interiors were a mix of metal paneling, rivets and bolts, as well as Victorian-esque fittings in the form of the flipping passenger seats, and arm rests beneath the portholes, in keeping with the Harper Goff concept from the 1954 feature film. Each "guest" aboard the Nautilus had his or her own seat, as well as a one foot by one foot porthole to look out into the attraction. A small button located in the porthole recess was intended for defogging the window if needed, but seldom worked.

Above the seating area was the sail (As it was known to the employees) where the "helmsman" stood and controlled the vehicle's operation. The "diving" effect that became so much of a part of the ride was actually produced by bubble machines located throughout the attraction, as well as using the waterfalls at the entrance to the show building.

Each of the fourteen vehicles accommodated a total of forty Magic Kingdom guests, and would normally cycle throughout the attraction in packs of three. Post-closure, several vehicles were left stationary in the lagoon and by the dock, before the entire fleet was eventually pulled from the attraction sometime in 1995. The submarines were regularly moved around to different locations backstage for years, until eventually being stripped and buried in the property's landfill in 2003/4.

[edit] The Voyage

Despite the extensive 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea overhaul the attraction was given, essentially it was still the same as its Californian sister Submarine Voyage, in both its underwater show scenes and narration, except for a few occasional differences.

The adventure began as the guests made their way down into the back of the submarine, bending to miss the low-level raised rear hatch, and finding a place onboard. Throughout the voyage, an eerie organ version of the Disney film's main theme would play on a never-ending loop, allowing for a narration backing as well as a piece of stall music if required. Following the standard Disney-style introduction and safety notes from the helmsman, the narration would be switched on and the voice of Disney voice artist Peter Renaday doing an impression of James Mason's Captain Nemo would fill the interior.

With the submarine clear of the dock, the diving sequence would begin, with hundreds of air bubbles filling the porthole view, creating the illusion of descent. Once clear, the Captain introduced himself to his passengers, and then introduced them to the underwater plains around Vulcania. In the lagoon, guests could see Moray Eels, Crabs, Lobsters, Sea Bass, Clams and Turtles as well as a host of smaller, tropical fish.

Minutes later, in another tribute to the Disney film, an "underwater party" of divers would come into view, as animatronics wearing replicas of the Harper Goff-designed deep sea diving equipment worked kelp beds and wrangled with rebellious turtles.

With the bubbles from the waterfall at the cavern entrance simulating a surface storm, the Captain would order the submarine down into the depths as a precaution, and the guests enter the show building section of the attraction. Within minutes, the devastation such natural phenomenon can create was made clear with the ominous Graveyard Of Lost Ships, with shipwrecks from various centuries littering the sea bed, guarded by the silent, gliding figures of sharks.

Leaving the destruction behind, the Nautilus would reach the North Pole, circumnavigating the Polar Ice Cap from below the surface, and narrowly avoiding large icebergs stabbing through the water. Venturing deeper, the Nautilus entered the eerie world of the Abyss, where guests viewed examples the many weird and strange species of deepwater fish that thrive in such an environment.

Rising slightly, one of the final discoveries made is the ruins of Atlantis, along with a typical Disney-fied sea serpent, accompanying mermaids, and a treasury bursting with jewels and gold. With the ruins of the ancient civilization soon left behind, the Nautilus would enter the final phase of its journey, with a tribute to the most iconic and memorable part of the 1954 Disney film: The attack of the giant squid. After seeing a much smaller sister Nautilus trapped in the clutches of one such creature (Curiously marked XIII on the tailfin), the passenger submarine would be attacked itself by long, thrashing tentacles.

With a final push to the surface, the Nautilus would clear the caverns and the dangerous squid, and enter the safety of the tropical lagoon, on its way towards the dock.

[edit] The Final Dive

20,000 Leagues became as much of a part of the Magic Kingdom as any of the other attractions that remain there today, and the idea of it being closed struck many a visitor as being unreal. So, when the attraction closed on September 5 1994 "temporarily", it was assumed that Captain Nemo and his crew would soon be sailing again.

In 1996 after the submarines, props, animatronics and undersea decoration had been removed from the lagoon, Walt Disney World announced that the attraction was never going to re-open.

Despite protests and complaints, the ride remained that way. The infrastructure was abandoned, however the long green queue building was commandeered to serve as a character "meet n' greet". The lagoon, empty of everything but the concrete guide track, slowly lost its tranquil clarity, and the exotic palm trees and volcanic rock around the lagoon's base would be slowly removed. The show building was abandoned in place, with the complete show scenes and animatronics remaining underwater untouched for about a decade.

The area as it looks today.

There has never been a solid reason given by Disney for closure, however it is regularly claimed that it was a combination of high-maintenance, the requirement of a large work force, inconvenience for disabled guests and more. However, several conspiracy theories of deliberate sabotage by Walt Disney World Operations persist to this day. In 2004, Disney finally announced that the skeleton of the attraction would be destroyed, and the land reclaimed for an unspecified future project. This was completed, and today in place of the attraction is a small Winnie The Pooh play area for children, as well as a sizable field of grass behind it, ready for a new attraction in the future.

The Door with the knot over it.

Despite some bitterness over its replacement, 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea lives on as a perfect example of a themed attraction, fully immersing its guests in the story line. This attraction also lives on in its Pooh Themed replacement. If you enter the tree where Pooh lives and look at the frame of the larger door, there is a knot shaped like Captain Nemo's sub.