Why Did 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Close?

[Scott M]

Before I get chastized for not doing a search before asking this question, allow me to explain that I did indeed do a search. I'm either too computer illiterate to accomplish the search correctly, or too lazy to wade through the pages of hits with regard to this subject.

In any event, please indulge me with either fact or theory: Why did 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea close?

Scott

 

[wdwmagic]

It had capacity problems, lack of support for disabled guests, required a lot of maintenance, and was looking a very dated attraction in terms of the show quality. Hope that helps

 

[bgraham34]

There was always a wait for this attraction. I never remember walking right on it just always waiting nearly an hour.

 

[bhg469]

It is the one ride i will miss the most.

 

[LongballMG]

the following link may be of interest. Just click on it and it will open a new page.

www.20kride.com

Mike

 

[ImagineeringOrg]

The reason for 20K's demise

Basically, 20K was closed because the attractions maintenance people hated it--it was a very maintenance-intensive attraction, and they snookered Michael Ovitz into believing the attraction should be closed down.

 

[princesskait09]

When i was on the Disney Cruise a few years ago one of the submaires was in the ocean. I thought it was the coolest thing, because i dont remember the ride. Is it still there? I heard that they took it away if they did WHY!

 

[mountainmaster1]

This was one of the attractions I looked forward to going on. I remember thinking it was the coolest ride in the world. Words cannot express how I feel now that it is gone.

 

[MeTa]

I always hated that Disney didn't keep or create some sort of remembrance of these nostalgic rides. Even though the new rides are awesome I would rather the older ones because of the feeling you get when you rode them.

But thats just me.

 

[Mecha Figment]

i seem to recall them carving an image of the nautalus in Pooh's tree that is now in that same spot.

 

[lebeau]

As you can probably tell from the replies, there are a lot of rumors, speculation and urban legends surrounding the closing of 20K. The truth is, no one outside of those who pulled the plug know exactly why the ride was closed. But any of the reasons listed here could have been correct. It was likely a combination of several of these reasons.

 

[mousermerf]

Yup, they did - and the Horizons logo is found a few places inside Mission: SPACE. Energy refers to its old show a few different ways, and you can still see Mr. Toad inside of Pooh (handing over the deed). The three mounted heads from Country Bear Jamboree are inside of DL's Pooh (which was their swap to make space).

Only place I can think of with no real reference is Test Track and Soarin (for World of Motion and Food Rocks). Even all the prior Alien Encounter/Stitch's Escape shows are referenced on the TTA.

 

[CoasterJunkie]

In SGE there is a nod to AE, besides Sgt. [...]90210 being a remodeled SIR and Skippy being cloned. In the second pre-show (Skippy), the two teleporters are XS-Tech series 1000 teleporters, as shown on the tops of them. But sadly, no Mission to Mars tribute anymore that I'm aware of.

As for other attractions without tributes, is there a Dreamflight/If You had Wings tribute in Buzz? I don't remember seeing anything.

 

[zuzudog]

My take

For the 6 months that I worked on 20k we usually had one or two maintenance folks behind the scenes every day. It was fun to go through the dark part while driving and see maintenance folks working some part of the attraction that had stopped spinning or needed to be cleaned. Also, each sub had a huge diesel engines that I sure where a bear to keep running and expensive (comparatively) to other attractions. The audio was also horrible. While running the course the driver had to turn on and off the audio based on where you where in the attraction. Each sub was different so one played the audio really slllooow and another to fast. The worst was trying to sync up when the squid attacked. You had to get the flashing lights and the sound of the shock played just right. It was a lot of PRESSURE!!! %-)
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If I remember right we could have a maximum of 9 subs running, three in dock and six running the course. It would take FOR EVER to get guests on and off so three of subs would have stop at some point along the trip.
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While I can understand from a business perspective getting rid of it I still miss it. I took my kids down for the first time this year and had to describe to them where Daddy use to work because only they could look at was a big wooden wall.

 

[WhyteAL]

This was one of my favorite rides when I was younger...neither one of my two little girls ever had a chance to experince it. I wished they would have done something else with that area instead of a play area. Because I don't pay about 50 bucks per head and god knows how much money on food just to have my kids play in a playground even though it is themed. But a slide and monkey bars are the same themed or not. On a side note I do like the playground in MGM. The Honey I shrunk the kids one. That makes more sense next to an eating area. But really they should lay off the playgrounds its kinda wack..

 

[MissM]

If you want to see the process of it going from Lagoon to Pooh's Playland, you can also check out: http://www.giveneyestosee.com/20k
-m

 

[Glasgow]

the following link may be of interest. Just click on it and it will open a new page.

www.20kride.com

Mike

That is a great website about 20k. Here's my favorite part, which references the replacement attraction, Ariel's Grotto :

"Oh and look! It's Ariel! La-de-da! You're not even a real mermaid so why don't you just get the heck out of here"

 

[mitchk]

I never got to ride 20,000 leagues under the sea. My first trip was in Oct of 87', and it was down for a rehab. I still remember looking threw the cracks of the construction wall and seeing one of the Subs out of water on the ground next to the lagoon. When I finally got back to Disney World in April of 2000 it had become Ariel's Grotto. I had no idea that they had closed it, and was looking forward to riding it for the first time. When I saw the empty lagoon I was very upset. So I figured I would relive my childhood on one of my favorite rides from my first trip, Mr. Toads Wild ride. Needless to say I didn't get to ride Toad either

 

[DisneyFreak529]

I thought it closed down because people were passing out on it & it was really hot.

My husband loved it when he was little. I never got to ride it , but I always here great things about it.

 

[lamarvenoy]

There was always a wait for this attraction. I never remember walking right on it just always waiting nearly an hour.

That is one of its greatest flaws. Extremely limited riding capacity made this a real lonnnnnng and boring wait. It's lack of a/c in the open aired barely covered line made this attraction unbearable in the summer.Not that it closed for these reasons, those memories just popped in my head.