About the Living Seas Ride

[mousermerf]

Hey- mousermerf- you make me nervous about the repairs that are needed with the tank. I'm scheduled to dive at TLS on July 6. Should I be worried???? Aimee

It's still more interesting than the real ocean - which many avid divers will tell with the excpetion of certain reef is entirely unremarkable. Just lots of blue and white and the occasional fish.

The underwater "things" haven't been painted in ages so they're really badly faded. One of those things you don't notice unless you remember what design is supposed to be on the tunnel the SeaCabs travel through, for example.

The faux-coral has held up pretty well, it's jsut the other props that need some TLC. Think kinda like an underwater "small world" prior to its rehab. Enjoyable, but not as grand as it can be.

 

[barnum42]

Could someone please tell me what the wave good-bye fountain is?

After illuminations, the majority of guests file out towards the main entrance, which involves passing on one side or other of the fountain in Future World where a group of cast members from various attractions and countries would have assembled, donned Mickey hands and wave goodbye to the guests as they headed towards the exit. It was a simple, yet nice touch.

 

[DisneyDellsDude]

Oh, thanks. They did that too when we went during the holiday season.
Hope it stays!

 

[gniko21]

gniko21

I would hate to see the 'Wave Good-Bye' go (shall we now commit to calling it the WGB since everyone seems so fond of confusing abbreviations?).
The wave had to be one of the most touching aspects of my last visit to Disney World. A little thing yes, but one that I'll always remember.

 

[barnum42]

The wave had to be one of the most touching aspects of my last visit to Disney World. A little thing yes, but one that I'll always remember.

But from a bean counting suit's perspective you are not putting money in a Disney Till when waving at them, so they decide to axe it.

Another example of some areas of management losing sight of the little things that make Disney special.

 

[chancellor]

The majority of the problem are the doors.

I know a few CMs who worked the attraction until it closed. If anything stuck out of a door, particularly the foot of a tall male, it would "skim" the intrusion mats and cause a full-blown E-stop. Everyone on the moving platform would fall, including the CMs who were very against the ride's existence because of the injuries it caused, and the ride would need to be reset.

Interesting. This is the first I had heard of this, and it actually makes more sense than the other reasons for the closure that get batted around (the leaks, the terrorist risk, etc.) The good news is, this can be fixed without having to rehab the new ride - just add doors to the cars, or get new cars with doors (whichever is cheaper).

As for the seacabs themselves, I never thought they were that great, but it's amazing what an impact the removal of them had on the overall experience. Instead of descending the hydrolators to go on a short "ride" and then explore Seabase Alpha, you are shoved into a gift shop which creates the impression that the hydrolators were the whole ride and it's now time to leave. Plus, the overall tackiness and destruction of illusion by descending the ocean depths only to find cheap souvenirs. Bottom line is, all the Nemo stuff in the world won't fix that mess - but bringing back the sea cabs will.

 

[Fordlover]

The majority of the problem are the doors.

I know a few CMs who worked the attraction until it closed. If anything stuck out of a door, particularly the foot of a tall male, it would "skim" the intrusion mats and cause a full-blown E-stop. Everyone on the moving platform would fall, including the CMs who were very against the ride's existence because of the injuries it caused, and the ride would need to be reset...

On my visit in 92, as a young boy, I remember sticking my foot out of the moving seacab, and hitting the floor along side the cab. Don't remember an emergency stop per say, but the ride did slow and come to a stop, and a CM walked along the pathway. After a minute or so, we were back up and running. Detection systems and video surveillance must have been much more limited back then, because nothing was said to me or my mother, was pretty obvious they didn't know who'd tripped the ride stop. And to think, all this I remember from when I was 11 years old.