The old 7 Seas lagoon wave machine?

[tracyandalex]

I would like to swim in the lagoon when i'm on the poly beach

 

[UltimateCoaster]

Without digging back through this thread I believe it only lasted a few years before the above-water part was removed, the foundations are still there. Beach errosion at the Poly was the main culprit.

Right, this is what I thought too.

Without making an outlandish request, could anyone (on their next trip), if they rent the mousers, try to get near where it was and see if the foundation of it is still there?

Ill look myself the next time I go, but I wont be there for a while.

And any other up-close pics of the site as it is today is greatly appreciated.

I would also like to thank all of you for taking so well to this.....I was afraid that this topic wouldn't get any responses, seeing as it is fairly old.

 

[MyNameisStitch]

It kinda looks like there may be something still there underneath the water judging by the waves. Look in the small crescent shaped cove and you can see the water looks a little calmer. Perhaps the mechanism is still submerged there.

-DGJ

 

[disneydata]

I thought I had a picture of it that I took my last trip, but I can't find it.

The entire machine is still there. Nothing of it to my knowledge was removed above or below the water. You can see with the naked eye by just looking at the corner of the island. I was told (not sure if this is true) that it wasn't removed because they would have to drain the lagoon since it had to be installed in the lagoon when it was empty. Next trip I will take a picture of it, but I know it's still there, just disentegrating (sp?).

 

[disneydata]

I borrowed you pic Jake to illustrate what I mean. This is part of the machine above the waterline.

 

[djronnieb]

I borrowed you pic Jake to illustrate what I mean. This is part of the machine above the waterline.

with all due respect sir, I believe what you are pointing out in that pic are trees, I think the machine was further up the coast of the island, and nothing is on land, it's all underwater.

 

[Robfasto]

I borrowed you pic Jake to illustrate what I mean. This is part of the machine above the waterline.

Although it is the right island I don't think it is the wave machine, those are speakers on the island to help with the water pageant music...

Here is another picture of the speakers on the island closest to the Magic Kingdom and Contemporary Resort, also note the empty land where the Grand Floridian now sits.

EDIT: As for the machine still being there it is clear in the satelite picture from 2002 that it is not there... Even it part was under water I don't think they would let the water craft get that close to the island due to insurance reasons...

 

[UltimateCoaster]

They do warn you not to come too close to land, and the machine wasn't that far off the coast. It seems to me that by the time you get close enough for the thing to actually damage a boat, then you are obviously too close to the land to begin with.

I would think that enough of it is removed as to not be a hazard to the boats. Clearly something of the machine was removed, considering pictures on the first page of this thread show a clear white machine that current pictures do not. However, I am sure there is still something down there - would Disney really invest that much money into an underwater removal of something that causes no problems or eyesores in the first place?

I made a pic showing where the machine SHOULD be if it was above water - how do you post an attachment?

What Im really looking for here is if anyone has any recent pictures or proof one way or the other of the status of the machine today.

 

[boo52]

The columns highlighted in the pictures are speakers for audio when FITS music was piped all around the lagoon. The wave machine is long gone but the pilings are still present. You can see them when you get close to the island. Also a link that shows a close up of the wave machine was posted. Post # 27. I can assure you that it is not there anymore. Something that big, if it were out there rusting away, would be highly visible.

 

[UltimateCoaster]

Yeah I know about the wave machine when it was tehre, I meant are there any pictures of what is left (the pilings, underwater machinery, etc.).

 

[Timekeeper]

The water is so dark that it would be difficult [impossible] to photograph anything underwater in that lake without using some James Cameron Titanic expedition-like equipment. Even in a crystal clear pool in broad daylight, if you've ever tried using an underwater camera, you know that anything more than 5-10 feet away becomes unidentifiable.

 

[Spike-in-Berlin]

Does anyone know if they tried to solve the problem with the erosion or did they just say after a few months "Hey it erodes the beach, lets turn it off".
I mean they had invested quite some money into this installation and the idea behind it was terrific. The waves were high enough for real surfing (actually they planned surfing competitions) and were planned also to increase with the sound of the breaking waves the immersion of the resort area into the Polynesian theming. I remember in the late 70ies or early 80ies as a child that I saw some travel catalogues or travel guides that showed pictures of the Polynesian with waves. It really looked fascinating and fueled my first desires to get to the World and stay at this hotel.
Of course today I know these pictures were already outdated (not really a rare thing about travel catalogues) as the wave machine, and all sources are stating the same, was shut down very soon after the opening of the World.
But I really would like to know if they didn't at least try something to stop beach erosion because it seems a little odd that the invest a lot of money and then scrap the entire idea when first problems occur. It's not the imagineers way.

 

[PurpleDragon]

Necroposting a 5 year old thread FTL!!

 

[Phonedave]

Necroposting a 5 year old thread FTL!!

Yet if he had posted a new thread asking questions about the wave machine, somebody would have posted this thread as a response and made some snarky comment like "The search button is your friend"

-dave

 

[PurpleDragon]

Yet if he had posted a new thread asking questions about the wave machine, somebody would have posted this thread as a response and made some snarky comment like "The search button is your friend"

-dave

True, but the person who asked the question was not the one who necro posted this old thread. Timekeeper was the one who revived this thread with a completely random post about camera visibility underwater.:brick:

 

[Timekeeper]

Yet if he had posted a new thread asking questions about the wave machine, somebody would have posted this thread as a response and made some snarky comment like "The search button is your friend"

-dave

Exactly. It's a lose/lose scenario. :shrug:

 

[s8film40]

You know the story I read (don't remember where) was that ________ Nunis was the one behind this, and pushed for it even though others said it wouldn't work or be impractical. Supposedly he was even the first one to attempt to surf to prove it worked. Also the beach for many years was called "Surfrider Beach" even after the wave machine had stopped.

 

[s8film40]

Apparently I can't say the name of a former WDW President, heres a link to who I'm talking about http://legends.disney.go.com/legends/detail?key=________+Nunis


Edit:
Ok, I give up, if someone can't figure out who I'm talking about than oh well too bad.

 

[PurpleDragon]

Apparently I can't say the name of a former WDW President, heres a link to who I'm talking about http://legends.disney.go.com/legends/detail?key=________+Nunis


Edit:
Ok, I give up, if someone can't figure out who I'm talking about than oh well too bad.

LOL, that's pretty bad that the language filter edits links as well and makes them unusable. ><

 

[mp2bill]

Man, the more I read these threads, the more I discover about old WDW stuff! I had no clue there was a wave machine across from the Polynesian!