A blog by Cameron and Shannon

Theme Parks #2 - 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Disney World, Orlando

Opened 1971. Closed: 1994.

The first time I went to Disney World was my Epcot visit when I was 6. Believe it or not, my first visit to the Magic Kingdom at Disney World was the summer I was 10 years old. That’s right, even living in Florida I didn’t make it to Magic Kingdom until the ripe old age of 10.5. That visit was the only time I got to ride 20KL, as they closed it the same year (on my birthday, no less. They closed 20,000 Leagues the Ride on my birthday. Thanks, Disney.)

Being a sea life/sea anything fanatic, and at the time wanting to grow up to be a marine biologist, not to mention having read and watched the book and movie of the same name, I was really excited about riding 20KL. Pretty much the only rides I really rememeber from that trip are Space Mountain and 20KL.

I was young enough at the time for the magic to still work enough to the point that I didn’t really think about how we weren’t really descending and ascending in the submarine. Or that… well…let me explain a little more about my experience. Here are some great pictures to help you visualize

I was so psyched about this ride. Yes, psyched. When you were 10 in 1994 you got psyched about stuff. Anyway, we finally got on the ride and took seats at the benches/portholes. I eagerly had my face pressed up to the porthole for the first, oh, minute and a half of the ride. Somewhere around the sighting of a sea bass, I rememebered an integral plot detail of 20KL: Giant Squid.

I leaned back from the porthole, suddenly feeling sick. Literally sick. Oh geez, oh geez, ohgeezohgeezohgeez. We were going to be attacked by a giant squid. We were, after all, on Nemo’s submarine, which getsattackedbyagiantsquid!!! I broke into a cold sweat.

I remained highly uncomfortable until we reached the point in the ride where you see a different sub being attacked by the giant squid. Whew.

I’ve long thought this ride was incredible, due to it’s kitschiness combined with the absolute terror/wonder it bestows in any child that has imagination and has read the book or seen the movie. You can ride it here. I don’t think I’ll ever fully warm to Disney rides involving the “modern” characters - part of the appeal of Disney as I knew it growing up was that in some ways, once you were within the gates, you could easily have been in 1960 or 1990, and that added a special feeling to the place.

Something else adding to the absolute awesomeness of this ride in particular was that it was built with two of everything you see out of the windows during the ride! You see, people were seating lining both sides of the sub, which meant they had to build the same ride…twice…for everyone to have the same experience. Just think of it…two giant squids. It’s almost too much to handle.

The tragedy of the ride closing is significantly upped by how the actual closing of the ride went down. First, they closed it, “for special maintenance.” (On my birthday.) I remember going to Magic Kingdom when I was 14 and seeing the maintenance sign. No big deal, I naively thought, I will ride it next time. Sigh.

Once they shut it down for “maintenance” here is what they did. Here! Is! What! They! Did! Are you ready? Some of you may cry.

They let it sit around for, oh, about 10 years. For a while they even let the submarines just sit in the water. They finally moved those to a “boneyard” to let them bake in the sun while everything else underwater in the ride (i.e. the squid, the sea bass, the mermaids, that crazy shark. Everything) rotted in the lagoon for 10 whole years. Somewhere toward the end of that 10 years, they decided to put a statue of Triton in there. Finally in 2004, they really shut it down and started doing work.

If you are not afraid of the possibility of shedding real tears, here’s a page detailing, in pictures, the entire shutdown process.

They tore it down. Filled it in. And as of 2005, it is Pooh’s Playful Spot.

The least they could have done was built an actual attraction in it’s place. It’s insulting to have a playground located anywhere you have to pay $75 to get into. Let alone as a replacement for the Best Ride Ever.