20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Submarine Voyage
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| 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Submarine Voyage | |
 | |
| Magic Kingdom | |
| Land | Fantasyland |
| Opening date | October 14, 1971 |
| Closing date | September 5, 1994 |
| Replaced by | Pooh's Playful Spot |
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Submarine Voyage was an attraction at Magic Kingdom at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida from 1971 to 1994.
The Submarine Voyage
Main article: Submarine Voyage and Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage
In 1959, an ambitious expansion of Disneyland's Tomorrowland was completed, which included the addition of new attractions, including the Matterhorn Bobsleds (which is now located in Fantasyland), Disneyland Monorail, and Submarine Voyage. "Commissioned" on June 6, 1959, in front of President Richard Nixon, Walt and his wife Lillian Disney, and officers of the US Navy, the attraction made use of early animatronics to create underwater life, and the use of force 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, and Walt Disney Imagineering consequently planned for a more elaborate version for the forthcoming Florida Project concept, which would become Walt Disney World.
Florida Project
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. It was one of the biggest and most expensive Disney attractions ever conceived. The Florida version had 12 submarines (14 counting two submarines which grappled with giant squids on either side of the track).
It is popularly believed that the Magic Kingdom attraction was originally intended to have been installed in place of the Submarine Voyage at Disneyland in 1959, as the two attractions were identical except for the theming and some elements of the plot. It is also believed that the ride's corporate sponsor, General Dynamics, preferred to keep the original concept, and so the Submarine Voyage opened in 1959 with a non-specific theme, and with nuclear as opposed to Victorian submarines.
Despite the efforts of the construction and installation teams attached to the 20,000 Leagues project, the attraction opened two weeks after the Magic Kingdom due to infrastructure problems with the lagoon. On October 14, 1971, it was opened for business. The completed attraction covered almost a quarter of Fantasyland, including the lagoon and 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" were spelled out in nautical code from signaling flags at the entrance to the attraction. 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 attraction's life, the crews were almost exclusively male. The first helmswoman appeared in the 1970s.
Vehicles
One of the signature pieces of 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea was the fleet of twelve 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 midway through. Another veteran Imagineer, Bob Gurr, oversaw the project. Upon delivery at Walt Disney World in August 1971, the vehicles weighed some forty tons, and were installed into a concrete guide (track), mounted on top of a mechanism that limited "bumping" accidents.
The attraction 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 passenger seats that could flip outwards, and armrests 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 round porthole to look out into the attraction. A small button located in the porthole recess was intended for defogging the window if needed, though this rarely 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 was produced by bubble machines located throughout the attraction, as well as using the waterfalls at the entrance to the show building.
Each of the twelve vehicles accommodated a total of forty riders. Vehicles normally cycled through the attraction in packs of three.
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