20K Seagulls?

[VicariousCorpse]

I wonder if any footage or photos exist of the original figures.

Theres a short clip here.
At 5:00 you can see non-moving eels and turtle wrangler along with some fish.

 

[GladToBeHear]

Man, I miss this attraction. LOVED this ride when I was a kid.

 

[Dead2009]

Is it sad that I came in expecting to see 20K seagulls in one area? Or a story of how you saw them?

 

[Dragonman]

I heard the lagoon used to have comely mermaids who would smile at passing men.

Disneyland did for sure but for WDW I don’t believe any evidence has surfaced but they did build a rock for them to sit on:

 

[Dragonman]

That means they were there.

They were probably scrapped around the same time as Disneyland’s because the chlorine was having an effect on them and I believe there were several incidents of men trying to swim out to them.

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

That means they were there.

They were never there in WDW - some believe that rock was designed as a perch for them while the ride was under construction, but even if that were true no performers ever swam in the 20K Lagoon.

They did appear at Disneyland in their Submarine Voyage lagoon, but they never appeared in the Florida equivalent:

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

Would you say it was a Flock of Seagulls?

 

[CHOX]

I have noticed some unseen really exciting photos popping up recently (these from Reddit).

@Dragonman I figured you’d definitely be interested and this seemed like a good place to dump these. Does anyone have any idea where these are coming from? Surely there’s more.

These are the type of photos I have wanted to see for decades, I can’t believe there’s this slow drip almost 30 years after closure.

On second thought, this looks like the Submarine Voyage. Probably taken right before the transition to Nemo.

 

[VicariousCorpse]

They were never there in WDW - some believe that rock was designed as a perch for them while the ride was under construction, but even if that were true no performers ever swam in the 20K Lagoon.

They did appear at Disneyland in their Submarine Voyage lagoon, but they never appeared in the Florida equivalent:

1967 was the last year the mermaids swam in Disneyland.

I have noticed some unseen really exciting photos popping up recently (these from Reddit).
Does anyone have any idea where these are coming from? Surely there’s more.
On second thought, this looks like the Submarine Voyage. Probably taken right before the transition to Nemo.

Yes, the statue is from the Atlantis section on the Submarine Voyage.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Just thought about this now...

One of the reasons used to close 20K was how labor intensive it was for an attraction with such a low throughput. I think it took at least 12 CMs to have the ride open.

But think about how many CMs it takes to run Fairytale Hall. An attraction with a far lower hourly capacity. You have 4 princesses, in duplicate rooms with other CMs to have back-to-back sets, plus the handlers and queue attendants. That's a lot for a meet 'n greet space. No way did Snow White ever need anything close to that.

Disney would say the meet 'n greets help to push photopass, costumes, autograph books, BBB, and other items, and that rides require more maintenance (and certainly 20K was the most expensive for that), but as far as staff vs throughput I don't think 20K has been the worst offender in WDW's Fantasyland.

 

[cranbiz]

The larger reason for closing 20K was that it was leaking into the utilidors. Labor and throughput was certainly was factored into the equation but those were not the deciding factor.

 

[Dragonman]

Another seagull photo from WYW

 

[Figments Friend]

Tony rules.



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[CHOX]

Tony rules.



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Yeah, so I have been meaning to ask you if in any of the times you met him if he talked about this ride? There is so much more to be said about this attraction!

 

[Figments Friend]

Yeah, so I have been meaning to ask you if in any of the times you met him if he talked about this ride? There is so much more to be said about this attraction!

We have talked a little about it, yes.
One of my favorites.

The 20K Submarines at WDW were one of Tony's first Attraction jobs in the field.
Before this, he primarily worked in the WED Model Department.
His mentor Claude Coats sent Tony to Florida to oversee installation of the Attraction.
Along with Snow White's Scary Adventures. it was these two major projects that Tony had a hand in during the creation of the Park.

He also contributed to a design element included in 'Country Bear Jamboree' ( corn stalk patterned sculpt on Gomer's piano, now removed ) and The Hall of Presidents ( life cast of his face was used for one of the figures ).

Of course a few years later he was heavily involved in other projects at WDW, namely certain Pavilions over at EPCOT Center.



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