20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
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| Designer / calculations | WED Enterprises | ||||||||||||||||
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| Capacity | 12 submarines seating 38 guests each | ||||||||||||||||
| Hourly capacity | 2400 | ||||||||||||||||
| Speed | 1 mph | ||||||||||||||||
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, also known as 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Submarine Voyage, is a submarine Dark Ride that was formerly located at the Magic Kingdom in lake Buena Vista, Florida, United States. Located in the Fantasyland, it was one of the major E-ticket attraction in the park in its earlier years. However, rising costs and other issues would result in its closure in 1994.
History
In 1959, the Submarine Voyage opened alongside Matterhorn Bobsleds and other attractions at Disneyland.[1] The attraction sat guests in half-submerged, slow-moving submarine vehicles to simulate going into the seas and seeing several ocean creatures, and even creatures only seen in legends. The ride in its opening years proved to be very popular and become one of the highlights of the massive Tomorrowland expansion.
By the time Walt Disney World was in its planning stages, a submarine ride was already planned for the park in the initial master phases.[2] Just like the original ride, it would incorporate elements from the 1954 film, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. However, the vehicles would now be identically designed to the Nautilus submarines seen both in the film and in the original 1870 novel, Twenty-Thousand Leagues Under The Seas.
However, during construction of the ride when Magic Kingdom was taking shape, the ride had a few issues. The ride was going over $800,000 over budget, delaying construction further.[3] In addition, the Nautilus vehicles had to be shipped across the entire state to reach the park and be aligned with the track layout.
Despite all the issues and delays, the ride was able to open with Magic Kingdom and the rest of Walt Disney World on October 14, 1971.[4] Right away, the ride was extremely popular, gaining a E-ticket category in the ticketing system of the Disney Parks at the time.
Over the course of its lifespan, the ride would see little to no changes. All that would be done to it was repainting the side of the building to blend into the then Mickey's Birthdayland section of the park, and annual refurbishments to keep it going, which ballooned due to rising costs. However, management ideals at Disney leadership were changing, and the ride's future was up in the air instantaneously.
Closure and abandonment
On September 5, 1994, the ride would close for what was described as "maintenance". Although this was the reason stated for its closure, it was obvious to management that the wear and tear and costs were too much to keep up with, and so, in April 1996, the ride closure was officially made permanent.[5]
After the ride's closure, it was left abandoned, with part of the lagoon used for the Ariel's Grotto meet-and greet, until 2004, when it was filled up, covered with empty space, with part of it taken up by Pooh's Playful Spot, a small play area that operated between 2005 and 2010.[6] The spot would remain vacant until Seven Dwarfs Mine Train made its way into the area in 2014 as part of the New Fantasyland expansion of the park.
Images
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![The ride, abandoned and used as a scenic point in 1998, by Larry D. Moore, 4.0 [1]](https://images.coasterpedia.net/thumb/6/6a/Disney_world_submarine_ride_1998.jpg/120px-Disney_world_submarine_ride_1998.jpg.webp)
The ride, abandoned and used as a scenic point in 1998, by Larry D. Moore, 4.0 [1]
![The ride, abandoned and used as a scenic point in 1998, by Larry D. Moore, 4.0 [1]](/wiki/File:Disney_world_submarine_ride_1998.jpg){kind=small}
References
- ↑ "Photos: A look back at Matterhorn Bobsleds, Submarine Voyage and Monorail on 60th anniversary of Disneyland rides". Orange County Register. 2019-06-11. Retrieved 2025-01-04.
- ↑ Bright Sun Films (2024-04-05), Abandoned - Disney World's 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, retrieved 2025-01-04
- ↑ Bright Sun Films (2024-04-05), Abandoned - Disney World's 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, retrieved 2025-01-04
- ↑ Curator, The (2018-06-05). "Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom Grand Opening Newspaper (1971)". DISNEY COLLECTOR ARCHIVES. Retrieved 2025-01-04.
- ↑ "Disney World puts 20,000 Leagues back in dry dock, will weigh options". The Orlando Sentinel. 1996-04-11. p. 13. Retrieved 2025-01-04.
- ↑ "Yesterland: Submarine Voyage". yesterland.com. Retrieved 2025-01-04.
External links
- 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea on the Dark Ride DataBase.
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