Will 20.000 Leagues under the Sea ever return to WDW?

[menamechris]

Was Splash Mountain the last water ride built (outside the water parks)? It's 100 degrees here today...my mind isn't working.

I THINK so...it sounds right. Unless you are counting the rapids at AK, I guess, but I look at that is a different type of attraction altogether.

That was my favorite part as a kid - looking up and feeling like I figured out some big Disney secret.

I actually hated that as a kid. I REALLY wanted to believe we were deep down. Even if the sun was really bright - you could see the top of the water. Ggggrrrr...

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Did you do the DLP attraction? I did. It's only a walk-through exhibition without any ride qualities. Nice but nothing spectacular.

I haven't been to DLP, but from what I've seen it looks nice, even if it's not a true ride.

I also think the first E-Ticket to close in WDW was The Mickey Mouse Reveue in 1980, even if it was downgraded to a D shortly before closing.

 

[Scuttle]

I doubt it will return. One of my biggest regrets is not going on it when I was younger, it always looked like a lot of fun.

It was a lot of fun! I miss it tons, but I believe the Mine Train is going to be a deserving replacement (20 years later).

 

[AEfx]

I think the closed 20k is overrated. I remember it being a very charismatic, but slightly dissapointing attraction.

That's exactly how I felt when I finally got to ride the subs at Disneyland last year.

When I was a kid we came to WDW several times, always during Oct, and it was always drained. I have some great pics from the Skyway, though. I grew up with this big feeling that I had missed out - because not only do I love dark rides, I also thought it was amazing since it was really underwater.

When I finally got to ride them in Disneyland, as I said, I felt exactly as you said. It's gorgeous looking at, I loved standing near the lagoon and just watching the subs go through. However, the actual attraction is kind of uncomfortable, sitting hunched over trying to see out the tiny viewports. It was neat, but it wasn't some amazing thing.

That's why, personally, I think we got the better version of Nemo. We get to sit in comfortable omnimover seats, see basically the same story and effects save actually being underwater, and at the end we get to see a massive water tank with real animals in it. I also couldn't help but feel bad how inaccessible the subs at Disneyland are - no one with any mobility issues whatsoever is able to experience that attraction.

It certainly is neat, but I lost that "wow I missed out when I was a kid" feeling once I actually rode it and sat hunched over a few times.

 

[The Duck]

If you have Google Earth, you can see one of the subs (along with a Jungle Cruise boat) parked behind "The Land" at Epcot. My guess is that the picture is a bit old so I don't know if they're still there or not. Does any one know why they would have wound up at Epcot?

 

[nemofinder22]

Was Splash Mountain the last water ride built (outside the water parks)? It's 100 degrees here today...my mind isn't working.

Dont forget about Kali River Rapids.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

That's exactly how I felt when I finally got to ride the subs at Disneyland last year.

When I was a kid we came to WDW several times, always during Oct, and it was always drained. I have some great pics from the Skyway, though. I grew up with this big feeling that I had missed out - because not only do I love dark rides, I also thought it was amazing since it was really underwater.

When I finally got to ride them in Disneyland, as I said, I felt exactly as you said. It's gorgeous looking at, I loved standing near the lagoon and just watching the subs go through. However, the actual attraction is kind of uncomfortable, sitting hunched over trying to see out the tiny viewports. It was neat, but it wasn't some amazing thing.

That's why, personally, I think we got the better version of Nemo. We get to sit in comfortable omnimover seats, see basically the same story and effects save actually being underwater, and at the end we get to see a massive water tank with real animals in it. I also couldn't help but feel bad how inaccessible the subs at Disneyland are - no one with any mobility issues whatsoever is able to experience that attraction.

It certainly is neat, but I lost that "wow I missed out when I was a kid" feeling once I actually rode it and sat hunched over a few times.

It's funny that you should say all of that. I remember visiting this 20k blog once, a big site, lots of effort put in. However...the owner had no actual memory of ever being on 20k, but he thought it the best attraction ever. I can see why that is: 20k looks phenomenal on pictures. There are some pics...a slight fog....damp rocks...the mystery of the deep....a Nautilus looming in the distance. Add the thrill of being actually underwater! It all looks like the greatest, most mysterious ride ever.
While it has its moments, its ups, the ride was overall not the best on property. It hadn't aged all that well either I think.


So yeah, I thoroughly miss 20k, but I have no false nostalgia about it. I remember it vividly, and it is not something one should terribly regret having missed out upon. (Horizons on the other hand...no video can do this greatest ride on property justice.)

 

[progroupie]

I think if they were going to bring it back, they would have already done it. It seems like they've missed the boat on this one so to speak. Unless there is a major upheavel at the upper management level I don't see them going to the expense of totally redoing an extinct ride. It's one thing to bring back the original Tiki room because that's mostly a matter of reprogramming the AA's and even if they were to bring back JII the basic ride system is still in place. I feel like if they were going to bring it back, they would have done it back when it was easy.

 

[Spike-in-Berlin]

I haven't been to DLP, but from what I've seen it looks nice, even if it's not a true ride.

I also think the first E-Ticket to close in WDW was The Mickey Mouse Reveue in 1980, even if it was downgraded to a D shortly before closing.

Thanks animaniac, I didn't know about that as my first visit was in 1982 when it was gone, just like the ticketing system (very glad about that). But I corrected it.

 

[Penelope]

What makes me so very sad to see 20K gone is that as a young child, I truly thought I was in a real submarine and that we went very far down into the sea. That type of "magic" for a child is lost with the closure of this ride. With new technology, the ride could be really spectacular if done over to use new technology and incoroporate some of the old props for those who remember it. I wish Disney would seriously consider bringing the ride back.

Has a removed ride ever returned?

 

[graphite1326]

It's gone for good and I really don't miss it. It was a very boring ride.

That being said lets think about the ride. You are going on a ride that goes underwater with several people cramped up in a small vessel. To top it off there is only one small opening to get in and out of. Now think about how many times lately you have been on a ride and it stops! Last time I was on SE we were stuck which seemed like 30 minutes (probably closer to 15). Not much oxygen in that small submarine. Let alone the feeling you would get if you were a little phobic. AND there is no way out!!!!

You couldn't force me to go on that ride.

 

[KentB3]

Does anyone know the reasons that Disneyland's Submarine Voyage survived and was re-opened after it's initial closing, while WDW's closed permanently and was removed?

 

[montyz81]

20k will return when Horizons/WOM/the Original JII return.

 

[Spike-in-Berlin]

20k will return when Horizons/WOM/the Original JII return.

Why don't you just write "Never ever", it's shorter.

 

[Spike-in-Berlin]

Does anyone know the reasons that Disneyland's Submarine Voyage survived and was re-opened after it's initial closing, while WDW's closed permanently and was removed?

That would be an interesting question. Perhaps one of our insiders knows the answer?

 

[rodserling27]

That would be an interesting question. Perhaps one of our insiders knows the answer?

I believe part of it had to do with the fact that Disneyland's version provides structure and support for the monorail.

 

[bjlc57]

WHAT, DISNEY SPENDING MONEY ON AN E TICKET RIDE? Surely you jest..

The pool was there for years.. even once Disneyland was bringing back the subs in California, WDW had a chance to bring their own subs back.. NO WAY.. pull the plug on the lagoon and bring in two D ticket rides at best, and call it cotten candy..

Sorry, but the short sighted , bean counters at Disney World would never consider giving the coustomers what they wanted. I was approached by a poll taker at Magic Kingdom as I came out of the park.. She asked me , what is the one thing that Disney could change.. and I said bring back the subs..

She said.. I GET THAT ALL THE TIME... the number one response is 20K..

so just sit back and watch as Disney, does what it does best.. Sit on it's hands and do nothing.. Tear more stuff like the Adventure's Club down.. and replace it with a sign.. telling you how much more you now enjoy your trip.

oh and watch its competition continue to build on its 68% gain in attendance..


DISNEY spend money on a real E TICKET RIDE.. ? You must be high..

 

[menamechris]

Does anyone know the reasons that Disneyland's Submarine Voyage survived and was re-opened after it's initial closing, while WDW's closed permanently and was removed?

I knew a cast member at the time, and apparently there was a leak into the utilidors that could not be fixed....

 

[Spike-in-Berlin]

I knew a cast member at the time, and apparently there was a leak into the utilidors that could not be fixed....

There seem to be a lot of different versions why 20.000 LutS had to go.
I found this on a fansite that is dedicated to the ride:

Quote:

"...If I had to pick the most extreme example of WDW staffers deliberately faking out the folks back in Burbank - I'd have to say that it was "20,000 Leagues Ovitz the Sea." Or - as this incident is better known in WDW inner circles - "The time we slipped Mike Ovitz a Mickey."

Okay. In order to properly appreciate this story, you have to understand that, while WDW visitors may have loved the Magic Kingdom's "20,000 Leagues Under the Seas" ride, the park's operations staff absolutely HATED that attraction. Why? Because the subs were a maintenance nightmare. Each year, the ops crew would have to pour tens of thousands of dollars (and devote hundreds of hours of back-breaking labor) into the upkeep on that attraction. They'd spend weeks scraping scum out of the bottom of the lagoon, repainting the coral, repairing the fish, etc. And they had just grown tired of dealing with this annual headache.

So - when Disney's CEO Michael Eisner put out the word out in the summer of 1994 that the theme parks really had to start toeing the line, cost-wise - WDW ops staff finally saw their chance. By shutting down this single Fantasyland attraction, they could automatically save the company beaucoup bucks (as well as shine in Team Disney Burbank's eyes for moving so quickly to honor Eisner's wishes), not to mention putting an end to their enormous annual maintenance headache forever.

What these WDW ops guys hadn't counted on was that the public would get so upset when they found out that "20K" had quickly and quietly been closed back in September 1994. Within weeks of the attraction's closure, calls and letters began pouring in to company headquarters in Burbank - insisting that Disney immediately re-open this Fantasyland favorite.

Of course, the news of this uproar didn't sit well with WDW ops staff. Here they had finally found a way to close "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" and they intended to keep this Fantasyland ride closed. No matter they had to do.

So they were ready in early 1995 - when then-president of the Walt Disney Company Michael Ovitz came through the Walt Disney World resort on a corporate familiarization trip. Of course, while Ovitz was touring the Magic Kingdom, he brought up all the guests' complaints about "20K" being closed. In response to this, the ops staff insisted that they had only shut down this Fantasyland attraction because the ride was in such awful shape. Not to mention being unsafe.

Ovitz then said "Well, I'd still like to personally take a look at the attraction. Judge for myself whether or not the ride can be repaired and then re-opened." The WDW ops staff said "Well - okay, Mr. Ovitz. But we'll have to do this early tomorrow morning before the other guests enter the Magic Kingdom."

Which is why the following morning at 7 a.m. Mike Ovitz found himself standing in the queue at "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" as a sub that was loudly belching smoke came rumbling up to the dock. The Disney Company President then climbed down the stairs and found a quarter inch of water sloshing around in the bottom of the boat. When Mike pointed this out, the WDW ops staff said "Well, you have to understand that a lot of our subs are over 20 years old, Mr. Ovitz. So many of them have developed small pinhole leaks over time."

The sub then lurched away from the dock and took Ovitz & the ops crew on a somewhat jerky trip around the "20K" ride track, with the attraction's soundtrack barely audible through the ship's crackling loudspeakers. As you might imagine, once the boat pulled up to the dock, Michael quickly climbed out of the mildewed interior. He then turned to WDW's ops staff and told them that they had made the right decision. That - given the shape that "20K" was currently in - the safest and smartest thing to do with this Fantasyland attraction was keep it closed. Permanently.

Now I don't have to tell you smart people that WDW's ops staff had sandbagged Ovitz. That they had deliberately picked out the "20K" sub that was in the worst possible mechanical shape for him to ride in. That they recruited a ride operator that they could trust to give Michael the roughest ride imaginable. That they had even thrown a few buckets of water down into the bottom of the boat to simulate a pinhole leak. All in an effort to leave Ovitz with the impression that WDW's subs were beyond salvaging.

So - if you were one of the poor souls who got sucked in by that fake video shoot at Disney-MGM back in the summer of 1989 - don't feel too bad. After all, at least you weren't on the receiving end of one of ________ Nunis' infamous paint jobs. Or torpedoed like Mike Ovitz was with that "20,000 Leagues" sub scam."
Unquote

Of course it's difficult to know which version is the truth or comes near to it.

 

[montyz81]

Why don't you just write "Never ever", it's shorter.

Seemed like the point would be made better the way I said it.