I rarely write about rides because not too many of them are creepy, unknown, or abandoned. Unknown and abandoned, maybe, but not creepy or the family favorite- gruesome. As, hopefully, everyone knows, I take requests (like some DJ that has creepy tunes on his/her turn sides) regarding chapters. That's what this one is. @xTheBigBadWolfx asked me- personal messaged me- to write a chapter on the ride 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
And write about this ride I shall!
Part 1: Submarine Voyage
During the construction of Disneyland (in Anaheim California), Walt knew he had to make Tomorrowland more futuristic. The problem was that time was running out and he didn't know what to put there. So, the park was opened with parts of it not completely finished. Soon after, there were headlines that the first nuclear submarine was tested out and deemed successful by the United States, Russia soon followed the USA's lead by creating a small legion of subs that all ran on nuclear power. That's when Walt had a great idea- submarines were new, they were used in the Civil War but sea exploration was almost, if not as captivating, as space exploration- he was going to make a ride that could transport guests through the wonders of liquid space. The idea was deemed especially attractive when the results from the movie adaptation of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne, came to Walt with extremely favorable results. Walt ordered 8 submarines to be built for his ride (at 80,000 dollars each) and the Imagineers got right to work, designing audio-animatronics and what the entire adventure should be like.
Submarine Voyage, as it was first called, opened June 14th, 1959. It took riders through coral reefs, past actual mermaids(!), under polar ice caps (though this was only achieved at the time by the Nautilus, the Submarine Voyage ride needed a little exciting brag-able part), and towards the depths of the ocean. It was considered to be a very successful ride in Disneyland.
Here's the GIST of the ride:
After waiting a bit in the busy queue, hearing spiels (a fast speech or story) and nautical songs such as The Sailor's Hornpipe, A Whale of a Tale, and What Shall We Do With the Drunken Sailor? (that is, if you're going on the ride in or around 1982), you finally get sent to one of the dock-like structures to wait to board your vessel into liquid space.
Upon boarding, there were two rows of seats to match with the two entrances and exits- one on the right and one on the left. Disney designed the ride so that people could enter one way and leave another. Once everyone took a seat, the usual submarine could fit anywhere from 36-40 people, the submarine was started along the track.
These are what the seats, from 20K and the original Submarine Voyage, looked like.
The overall length of the track/guide rail that was used to keep the submarine 'on course' was 1,365 ft or 416 meters. Its speed, direction, and when each tape would play was dictated by the cast member in the conning tower who drove and commanded the boat along the track. If the cast member was really skilled, he (usually the people running the ride were all men, same goes for the Jungle Cruise while the Swan Boats in Magic Kingdom were run by women) could play the tapes at the exact time when the scene was just being passed by the first seats, being seen by the middle seats, and being anticipated by the last seats. The scenes shown while the tapes were being played were the same on each side of the vehicle. That means that while grandma is looking at a turtle wrangler on one side of the sub, you're looking at a turtle wrangler on the other side of the sub at the same time. There was no way for the cast member to sit in the conning tower so they had to stand at all times.
The first recording: "This is the captain speaking. Welcome aboard. We are now underway and proceeding on a course that will take us on a voyage of exploration through liquid space. En route, we will pass below the polar ice cap, and then probe depths seldom seen by man. Make yourself comfortable, but please remain seated at all times. And no smoking please—the smoking lamp is out." This tape played as they left the 'dock' and queue.
After the taped narration above was over, other narrations began where the Captain gave the order to clear the bridge and secure hatches and vents. While this tape is going on, the dock operators raised the ramp to get to the entrance, secured the hatches, and untied the rope securing the submarine to the dock. Finally, the Captain gives the 'all ahead one-third' order and the submarine leaves the dock, diving towards the first section of the ride: the coral reef.
The 'diving effect' is used throughout the voyage via a dense curtain of small bubbles rushing towards the surface on a slight angle which gave way to the feeling of the submarine moving not only forward, but downward as well. Another way to achieve this was by having waterfalls that lead to the caves where the sub went deeper and darker. In the coral reef, there were multiple animals that were stationary and attached to rocks. A lot of these sea creatures didn't look like the actual thing, some of them did move a tail or pop out of a cave such as the eels but most did not do such things. Around the reef there were seaweed, coral reefs, rock formations, and mysterious caves. The specific creatures on the voyage were sea turtles, sunfish, barracuda, battling lobsters, battling crabs, grouper, giant clams, and moray eels (another 'creature' that was featured was a sea serpent but I'll address that later). Before leaving the coral reef, the subs passed the most iconic and incorrect item of the voyage was a shark entangled within an octopus's tentacles, battling it. After the quiet colorful reef, the navigation room was told that there was a storm ahead so it dove 250 feet safely away from the storm. This is where they passed the graveyard of ships from all different cultures and eras, including the Greeks, Romans, and Vikings. As nearby deep sea divers work to carry such treasures to the surface, there's a shark that guards a treasure chest in the hold of a Venetian galley. Continuing the journey, the sonar detects polar ice caps ahead.
In order to clear the ice (and not have another Titanic-esque moment), the Captain ordered the submarine to dive deeper. The passengers and crew travel directly beneath the North Pole. This portion of the ride is an attempted recreation of the historic voyage taken by the USS Nautilus. The USS Nautilus left Hawaii on July 22, 1958 and headed to the North Pole.
Once traveling beneath massive icebergs, the submarines dive deeper and journey into water where sunlight had never been. Various oddities are seen, such as a giant squid and various color-changing creatures. Soon, mermaids are passed. Unlike the mermaids mentioned above (the ones in the lagoon- they're coming soon, I promise), these were audio-animatronic. After the colorful creatures and lovely mermaids, the submarine enters an area that looks like the lost continent of Atlantis. Columns teeter around the submarine, scaring small children, but the Captain assures everyone that it's just due to volcanic activity and the submarine continues unscathed. As soon as the submarine leaves the teetering columns, a sea serpent is sighted. The Captain calls the crew to man their battles stations and stand by for action. Then, the Captain became convinced that he had been at sea much too long, when a comical cross-eyed laughing sea serpent comes into view.
Soon after, the submarine heads to the surface and the preparations were made for entering port. Once all the lines are secured, the 'All ashore' signal is given and the guests depart the submarine. When the guests exit, the mermaids in the lagoon can still be seen. Disney hired female cast members during the summers of 1965-1967 to dress as mermaids and relax in the lagoon. They sun-bathed and performed synchronized swimming and underwater stunts for up to four hours each and every day. It was ended in 1967 because several performers reported concerns regarding their health, they were worried about the submarine's diesel exhaust fumes and extremely chlorinated water. Not only was that a problem, but tourists that wanted to take pictures of the Little Mermaid's cousins would block the thoroughfare between the Matterhorn (see chapters before for injuries and deaths on that baby) and the lagoon. At the time, the mermaids were paid $1.65 an hour.
Part 2: Historical (and General) Information Regarding the Subs
The fleet of submarines Disney wanted were considered "one of the world's largest peacetime submarine fleets". The subs that Disney bought (at 80K a piece- as stated above) were made at Todd Shipyards in San Pedro, California. They were then taken to the "Disneyland Naval Yard" in Anaheim to have them outfitted. Retired Admiral Joe Fowler took charge of the operation. The data and design advice were given to Disney by General Dynamics' Electric Boat Division ( they had built the U.S. Navy's nuclear-powered submarines and were the first company in the world to make submarines). All the windows were made from one hand-cut model and the subs were painted a military gray until 1986 when the attraction was refurbished and the colors changed to pastel colors then, finally, a bright yellow. The yellow made the subs look like research vessels (research vessels were painted yellow because it's the last color that can be seen at great depths) which fit in great for the Finding Nemo theme that was to replace the good ole Voyage.
Though I've been using the term 'submarine', the vessels were not, in fact, that. They're boats that have the 38-40 passenger seating under water or below water level. The portholes are what allowed guests to see all the wonderful underwater fun. The dark areas of the show where the sub dove deeper were in a cleverly disguised show building. Not only was the show building decorated to look like a rocky waterfall filled feature, but atop it was many of the Autopia, monorail, and Rocket Rods/PeopleMover tracks. If any form of 'situation' happened, the crew could pull the defective sub into a separate track to have it fixed, which was a time consuming and difficult task. If a sub could not be taken from the track immediately or a repair crew couldn't come right away, there were minor things the crew could do to help such as used a specially designed cushion in the conning tower to plug a hole that may infest a broken porthole.
The attraction opened in June 1959 and was christened by Mrs. Mildred Nelson. She was a former WAVE and wife of Chief Machinist Mate Stuart N. H. Nelson who worked on the USS Nautilus. The original 1959-1986 names for the submarines are as follows:
301 Nautilus
302 Seawolf
303 Skate
304 Skipjack
305 Triton
306 George Washington
307 Patrick Henry
308 Ethan Allen
They were now known as Exploration submarines and were renamed in 1987. They kept these names until 1998:
301 Nautilus
302 Neptune
303 Sea Star
304 Explorer
305 Seeker
306 Argonaut
307 Triton
308 Sea Wolf
In 1959, Walt Disney reportedly invited Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev to visit Disneyland and see his impressive fleet of submarines. The Premier was denied permission to go to the infamous park, much to Walt's disappointment.
On September 6, 1998, the Voyage closed. The lagoon stood derelict, flooded with the water that had previously been filled with submarines, and empty. This lasted around seven years. Several rumors speculated that a new ride would soon belong there such as something from the new 2001 film Atlantis: The Lost Empire. Another rumor stated that the lagoon was to be destroyed much like it's sister down in Florida. However, in 2005, the lagoon was drained and construction began for the new attraction: Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage. It opened June 11, 2007.
It was very similar to the Submarine Voyage but with everyone's favorite Pixar fish.
Here's some concept art of the ride that now exists known as the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage.
Part 3: The League of Submarines
Now, when WDW (you should by now realize that those are the initials for Walt Disney World- if not, shame on you) was being built, Walt passed away so Roy took the project over. Roy decided to take Submarine Voyage and instead of placing it in Tomorrowland, he placed it in Fantasyland. Why? Because the ride wasn't Submarine Voyage, it was going to be something new but with the same concept of liquid space. It was going to be 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
The ride was just like Submarine Voyage but with a 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea theme. The idea for this was directly based off the movie that was produced by the Disney Company. James Mason, who portrayed Captain Nemo in the 1954 film, was not avalible to record so they had Peter Renaday act as the captain and narrate the ride. His was the voice that was closest to James Mason's.
Now, regarding the actual ride, the queue was the same as was the subs. The only difference with the subs, however, was the exterior. It looked almost exactly like the Nautilus- minus the large view hole in the sides. It also had the same number of seats as it's sister ride up in Disneyland. However, the main difference was the ride experience. It was like you were actually in the movie.
These are two of the submarines in the nine million galloon lagoon. Can't see the other one? It's on your left blending in partly with the foliage.
Here's a close-up of one that just left the 'dark room' to head back to the queue.
The beginning was the same, start off from the queue and head towards the coral reef, dive deeper under the ice bergs, dive ever deeper to find yourself in Atlantis and face-to-face with a serpent, dive back towards the surface, go back to the coral reef, and finally leave the ride. However, there was one part that was drastically different. After the trip to Atlantis, a Nautilus sister vessel is seen being sunk and in a large creature's grasp. The captain decides to dive back up. When diving back up to head to the coral reef, the ship gets entangled in a giant squid's grasp. The captain and crew struggle to free the vessel but finally, the large creature is subdued and the journey towards the surface can commence.
Both Submarine Voyage and 20K were immensely popular. There was always a long queue line. In 1994, 20K was closed for a 'rehabilitation' period. It never reopened. A few years later (approx. 1996), after the lagoon stood stagnant for awhile, the front of the lagoon was opened back up at a character meet and greet spot (called Fantasyland Character Fest) where one could see characters such as Ariel and Winnie the Pooh. The lagoon in the background still had everything in it, from animatronics to the sub track. The new 'edition' to it, however, was a Triton statue that shot water up into the air. This was considered to be the first 'Ariel's Grotto'. The mini-waterpark one came a little later and stayed until the new Fantasyland broke ground.
After a few years of that (1996-1999), the lake was drained for the last time and items within either taken to the Disney Scrap Yard or demolished onsite. Several 20K Imagineers or employees were able to salvage things such as various animatronics, 'coral', 'seaweed', or the head of that cross-eyed serpent. The lagoon was filled with dirt and soon trees were planted and a space that resembled a small city park emerged. This was considered to be an 'attraction' known as Pooh's Thoughtful Spot where the lovable silly bear could be met along with his friends and a family could sit in the shade of the trees. A small 'Hundred Acre Woods' appeared along with Pooh's home. In 2010, Pooh's Playful Spot was boarded up to start construction of the New Fantasyland that exists today. The 'attractions' in Pooh's Playful Spot were made to be more interactive and put in the queue of the ride as a way to pass time.
20K isn't completely gone from WDW. There are references to it in the stone work in the cliff where Prince Eric's Castle is built. One of these little grooves in the stone look very familiar. It's a carving of a 20K sub.
Throwing Tokyo DisneySea in Japan, I'd like to point out that there is a 20K ride there. In the Mysterious Island area of the park, there's a dark ride of the same name as the subs that were dearly loved. Similar to the rides of Peter Pan's Flight and Under the Sea Journey of the Little Mermaid, these 'mini-subs' were suspended cars in a show building.
Another 20K adventure would be located in Disneyland Paris at the Discoveryland area of the park. Located here is a walk-through version of the ride built in 1994 and named Les Mystères du Nautilus (Space Mountain was also built in Disneyland Paris the same year). The walk-through version used to be located at the original Disneyland from 1955-1966 and included original walk-through Nautilus sets. In 1966, the sets were destroyed. The new updated version in Disneyland Paris includes an accurate recreation of the Nautilus interiors and a mock attack from a large animatronic giant squid.
The LEGOLAND Windsor also has a similar ride as 20K. But, it's themed around LEGO's Atlantis theme and named Atlantis Submarine Voyage.
Part 4: What Happened to It and WHY?
There are various parts of the operation that went wrong that led to the closure of 20K. However, most of these did not apply to Submarine Voyage so that still continues to be a hit in Disneyland.
Lagoon
The lagoon that the ride takes place in requires nine million gallons of water to fill it up. The problem with that is in order to clean or maintain the audio-animatronics, divers needed to be sent in or the water needed to be drain. It was very expensive to do and took a long time to drain the water/put it back in. Not only this, but divers had to be employed to be sent underwater every night to clean up debris and fix and audio-animatronics if they broke. The same problem occurred with Submarine Voyage as well, but Disneyland attendance was stable enough at the time to keep Submarine Voyage afloat and it was when the concept of exploring 'liquid space' aka the ocean, was fairly new. When WDW opened, there was a bit of fluctuation because people were more educated and the younger audience didn't really know about the movie- not that they actually needed to to participate in the ride.
Queue
Another problem with Submarine Voyage and 20K was the queue. Since there were only 8 submarines with 4-5 working most days (there were never all 8 working and on the track at one time), the line was LONG. A long line of people sitting in the California or Florida heat is not good for business. The long lines were due to not only the lack of submarines but the amount of seats available in each sub as well. They tried to keep parties together but with the 36-40 seats available that would be hard with large groups. Another negative is wheelchair accessibility. There was none. In order for someone confined to a wheelchair to enjoy the ride, they had to get out of the wheelchair and walk down a flight of narrow stairs to the seating/view area. Then, once the ride ended, they had to do the same process.
Cost & Time
The final main reason that has to do with both Submarine Voyage and 20K was the cost. To operate a nine million gallon water-filled lagoon was extremely costly, not to mention how much it cost to drain it, hire divers, and repair anything that was broken and needed fixing. Not to mention how long it took to drain and repair everything. If an popular ticket selling ride isn't up and running, profits run down the drain and the park isn't as successful as it could be. The capacity also had a lot to do with the cost, the executives of Disney, at the time, were cutting costs on the things that were no longer profitable in order to make way for new attractions. This meant the destruction of the coveted Swan Boats and 20K. For how much it costed, 20K wasn't worth keeping up and running, no matter how popular it was with audiences. It was also outdated since audiences were now getting new effects and more realistic items dished out to them.
According to the websites I explored and people I talked to,
"The attraction closed, because Disneyland executives at the time considered it too costly to operate in relation to its capacity. [The] Management felt that continual maintenance of the attraction was simply too costly."
So in the end, in order to have a ride be worth the cost, it needed to be overly successful or a good character of Disney (unlike the Extra-TERRORstrial Ride).
Around the year of 2005, Disneyland Resort had an auction where several pieces of the original attraction scenery were sold. One of the notable pieces being the shark fighting with the octopus on a rock. Prior to the auction, they were removed from the lagoon to make way for new scenery for the updated Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage.
That's what happened to the Submarine Voyage (the auction), but what happened to 20K and all it's glory?
This is the part where you might want to take out some tissues if you hate seeing beautiful old rides go to hell. 20K's lagoon was demolished, the coral reef smashed. The workers pretty much treated it awfully, but the demolition was important enough to make a commemorative t-shirt of- so that's at least good. And it was really punny too.
'20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Demolition Crew
The Kingdom's Finest "Sub" Contractors
Walt Disney World'
So first, in 1994, the lagoon was boarded off and the subs sat stagnant in the water. A little while later, the subs were taken to the Disney Bone Yard (aka the Scrap Yard) and lined up all neat and nice (there were 12 in total for 20K). The water stayed as well as the novelties in such water. Anyway, the rest of the subs were either demolished or used for other purposes. In 2002, two of the submarines went 'missing' from the Bone Yard, one of these were to have nets cast over it and purposely sunk at Disney's private island (Castaway Cay in the Caribbean) for snorkelers to explore if they knew where to look and were willing to snorkel out to a far off corner of the reef (and 6 feet down). The other was half-buried in the sand (somewhere) for small children to play on. Though reports have pointed that neither of the subs are there anymore- or are they? A suggestion would be a hurricane like the one that claimed hell to Treasure Island but it's doubtable. Another suggestion would be that the subs either crumbled or were taken away, yet again, by Disney. A third sub was cut open and used as a decoration near the queue for the Disney MGM Studios Special Effects Tour for a while. The portion cut was actually just the fiberglass outer hull from the dorsal fin forward. The sub from the Special Effects Tour was then moved and used for decoration at special events and conventions. It was seen after the Special Effects Tour at the EPCOT Pin Trading Event, then it was on display in the Living Seas pavilion, then seen in a trailer in various parts of the park, and finally, as of 2007, spotted behind the building that houses Soarin' (Living with the Land pavilion).
After dragging the subs to the Bone Yard and dividing them off, they popped out the hand-cut glass windows and took apart various portions of the subs. The only part on the subs that weren't original to the one in the movie were the lack of a large side view hole and a sharp pointed nose on the submarine. The large side view hole would not let everyone see the sights and the sharp pointed nose could become a hazard and kabob someone. Soon after the shut down, the port-holes were seen being sold on Ebay and auctioned off. A little while after the portholes being auctioned off, the subs still sat in the Bone Yard and rotted. Years after the sales, a scrap dealer was given full access to the subs and took off everything that could be sold on Ebay. The subs were then ground up to dust and buried in the landfill. The remains of the subs had to be put in containers because, as most old paint does, the paint contained lead. After the scraper took whatever they felt like, Disney tried to take back a few things because of the possible lead poisoning. Did they? Most likely not successfully. A rumor drifting around that time was that one of the coveted subs was shipped to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC. It most likely isn't true though- but you can never be certain with how many wonderful things they have hidden there. Not all of the scraps were sold on Ebay, some were also sold in the Employee Only shop or were taken by the demolition team.
All while these beautiful subs were screwed, the lagoon was in a similar predicament. The animatronics were removed in 1994 with the closure of the ride. The rest of the items baked in the sun for ten years after the lagoon was drained in 1996. A few years later, after removing the animatronics and other necessities, the lake was refilled and a King Triton statue was put in place while the entrances to the dark area of the ride had camouflage put over them. Renamed Ariel's Grotto, this was where the Fantasyland Character Festival was held until 2004 when King Triton disappeared and the area around the lagoon was boarded up with the stereotypical green Disney walls. Finally, the lake was drained again but this would be the last time such an occurrence would happen. The demolition team and 20K employees (that were still there) saw sights they hadn't seen since the construction or refurbishment of the ride. Many were flabbergasted that treasures such as the ships frozen in icebergs were silently rotting away. The Viking ship stuck in an ice berg was saved by Disney employees from destruction. Flash forward a few months and that's when various items (such as the giant squid) were demolished. Several demo team members saved various items such as the cross-eyed sea serpent and the viking ship.
After demolishing all the cool things inside the 'dark' area of the ride, they headed outside. The loading area, queue, and coral reefs were all destroyed. Then the tracks were removed and everything was bulldozed out of there so the ground could be leveled and lagoon partially filled up with dirt. Trees were planted and mid 2005, Pooh's Playful Spot was in full swing. The Nautilus was not forgotten to those Imagineers though; they placed a small knot in the woodwork of Pooh's house. After a few years as Pooh's Playful Spot, the site was closed and a similar idea was placed in the queue for the ride. The space that once occupied 20K and Pooh's Playful Spot was now to be turned into the New Fantasyland. Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid and the Seven Dwarf's Mine Train occupy the area that was once known as 20K.
20K isn't completely forgotten. A little while after the ride closed Disney released a pin trading pin with the years 1971-1994 on it alluding to the ride being gone forever. A few years later they made another commemorative pin that contained two small cross-sections of a sub porthole. Last time I checked they were being sold between the amounts of $50-$200 dollars.
For the 35th anniversary of WDW, Randy Noble made a 12" model of the Nautilus. They were limited edition and only 500 were sold at the Art of Disney store in EPCOT. They went for $75 a mini-sub.
In the end, the WDW 20K ride may not have survived but it's in our memory. It will be greatly missed- almost as much as Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, but most likely even more.
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Hi guys,
I hope you enjoyed this super long chapter and the first about a ride. It's taken me forever to research, write, and edit it but I hope you enjoy my hard work! :)
Thanks again to @xTheBigBadWolfx for the suggestion and I hope you liked how I wrote it and I gave you all the information you wished to acquire.
If you couldn't tell, I really really like the new/old update regarding pictures. The one thing I don't like is that you can only have 20 pictures in a chapter (twenty one if you include the picture/video section at the top of the story). I have many more pictures than what I included in here, so I'll possibly do a picture chapter with just pictures and captions. I'm hoping for my twentieth chapter in this book to do a Top 5 CUAD (this idea was given to me by WereWolf-Child). That's just my plans for the future. I'm also going to go back to previous chapters, add more details/give them an overhaul and also include pictures. If you liked what I did regarding this chapter and would like to request something, please PM me.
Thanks and have a magical day!
-C
Word Count: 5105