Changes

Although The Living Seas would not open until 1986, plans for The Seas pavilion had been apart a part of EPCOT Center's early designs. The first mention of The Seas pavilion appeared in the 1977 Walt Disney Productions Annual Report. While touting the breakthrough of their newest plan to make EPCOT Center a reality, Disney described the planned Seas pavilion:

{{Quotation|'''The Seas''' -- Guests will board the clipper ship, "Spirit of Mankind," to sail through moments of peril and triumph with seven legendary mariners ... the great explorers who charted the seas for civilization. In another adventure, Poseidon the Sea Lord will challenge visitors to journey through ocean depths ... from the Continental Shelf to the Great Coral Reef. Finally arriving at "Sea Base SeaBase Alpha," guests will experience an authentic ocean environment with live marine life, an undersea restaurant, and a showcase of oceanographic exhibits and displays <ref> Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Productions 1977 Annual Report , 1977. July 2018. </ref>.}}

At this pointAs plans for The Seas continued to develop, the entire theater was makeup of the pavilion began to turn 180 degrees as change. By 1980, the action on "clipper ship" attraction seems to have been removed. In this new version of the screen followed pavilion, guestswould enter The Seas through a “portal” which transported them into a grotto <ref name= "Martin"> https://www. Another crash youtube.com/watch?v=P7TGeBE_0cQ </ref>. From here, they would enter a large preshow theater. As a storm raged around them, the doors of the theater would close. With a strike of lightning , Poseidon would then reveal appear and calm the storm with a load area in stroke of his hand. He then noted that despite mankind's superstitions regarding the distancesea, it was the oceans themselves that were the “cradle of life”. As Poseidon called guests to move Looking back at the few men who were brave enough to explore the load areaoceans, they the god would travel down a long corridor to their ride vehiclesthen note that with wisdom and courage, which were shaped like large glass bubblesguests too could explore the sea<ref name= "Martin"/>.

At this point, the entire theater was to turn 180 degrees, as the action on the screen followed guests. Another crash of lightning would then reveal a load area in the distance. As Poseidon called guests to move forward, they would travel down a long corridor to their ride vehicles, which were shaped like large glass bubbles<ref name= "Martin"/>.  After boarding their omnimover vehicles, guests would go on an adventure where they would pass through a “series of scenes depicting the visual drama of ocean kelp forests, abyssal canyons and other marvelous and mysterious ocean environments” <ref name= "intercot"/>. They would then enter a clear acrylic tube which was to run through the pavilion's 5 million gallon sea water tank. Following this journey, they would arrive in SeaBase Alpha, where they could further examine interactive exhibits , as well as enter a long viewing platforms platform to observe the activity in the large aquarium.

By the end of 1980 plans for The Seas pavilion were still changing. At this point the omnimover ride was shortened and the tone became more scientific. In the 1980 book Walt Disney's Epcot Center, the Seas pavilion is described:{{Quotation| "Visitors to The Seas pavilion will explore the wonders of the aquatic frontier through two major presentations. First, "The World of the Sea," a ride-thru experience presenting various ocean environments; and second, "Sea Base SeaBase Alpha," a futuristic undersea research station complete with a 5,000,000-gallon tank supporting a living coral reef community." <ref name= "intercot"> http://www.intercot.com/edc/LivingSeas/lsconstr.html </ref>}}

{{Quotation| "Visitors to The Seas pavilion will explore the wonders of the aquatic frontier through two major presentations. First, "The World of the Sea," a ride-thru experience presenting various ocean environments; and second, "Sea Base Alpha," a futuristic undersea research station complete with a 5,000,000-gallon tank supporting a living coral reef community." <ref name= "intercot"> http://www.intercot.com/edc/LivingSeas/lsconstr.html </ref>}} Between 1980 and 1982, the tone of The Seas had clearly changed. Gone was the fantasy elements of the pavilion's designs(including the "bubble" ride vehicles, as the focus of The Seas shifted completely to the scientific, with an emphasis on the SeasBase Seas Base Alpha portion of the pavilion the . The 1982 book EPCOT Center: Creating the World of Tomorrow, notes that while in The Living Seas ride guests would see:

The completed Living Seas pavilion was unique among the original EPCOT Center pavilion's in that it did not house a "feature attraction". Instead, the pavilion was made up a series of interconnected smaller attractions, concluding with guests arrival at the futuristic underwater research station [[Sea Base SeaBase Alpha]].  The Living Seas pavilion began with guests entering a winding queue that featured artifacts from the history of sea travel. They would then enter the first preshow , where they watched a slideshow touting United Technologies. Following the slideshow, guests would walk into another theater, where they were shown the 6 minuted 7 minute film "The Sea". This movie showed guests how water made life on earth possible, while also touching on how humanity's understanding of the seas has developed. After the film, guests exited to the Hydrolators, which were "sea elevators" designed to take 30 guests "below the surface". Exiting the Hydrolators, guests would then board their "SeaCabs" and travel on the Caribbean Coral Reef Ride through the pavilion's Caribbean Coral Reef Aquarium (thus the name of the ride) to SeaBase Alpha.

SeaBase Aplha was designed to look like a futuristic, underwater research center (thus guests had to take Hydrolators to get there). While Imagineers had originally planned on SeaBase Alpha being made up of eight modules, the final version only featured six <ref name="Martin"/>. Each of the modules housed a series of interactive exhibits which focused on a central theme. In addition to the modules, guests could also further observe the Caribbean Coral Reef Aquarium from a viewing platform. Finally, The Living Seas was also home to the [[Coral Reef Restaurant]], which allowed guests to look into the pavilion's aquarium while they dined. Of note is the fact that in order to exit the pavilion, guests would enter another set of Hydrolators.

Aside from minor changes to Sea Base SeaBase Alpha, The Living Seas remained essentially unchanged until June 1999 when United Technologies ended their sponsorship of the pavilion <ref name= "Martin"/>. With the end of United Technologies sponsorship, all references to the company were removed from the pavilion by the end of 1999 <ref> http://www.intercot.com/EDC/LivingSeas/index.html </ref>.

The next major change to come to The Living Seas took place in 2001, when one of the two preshow theaters was also closed in order to allow returning guests to skip "The Seas" film altogether and move directly to the Hydrolators <ref name= "Martin"/>. Subsequently, on October 21, 2001, the Caribbean Coral Reef Ride portion of the pavilion closed, with guests now walking from the Hydrolators, past the Coral Reef Aquarium, and into Sea Base SeaBase Alpha. Although the SeaCabs remained intact, in January 2002 they were boarded up <ref name= "Martin"/>.

With no sponsor and a decreasing popularity, Disney decided that The Living Seas needed to change. In order to increase the pavilion’s popularity, Disney began to tie the popular 2003 film Finding Nemo into the exhibits in Sea Base SeaBase Alpha.

In December 2003, references to Nemo began to appear through the pavilion, especially in the gift shop <ref name= "Martin"/>. Next, in January 2004 Module 1C and 1D in Sea Base SeaBase Alpha were closed <ref name= "Martin"/>. When the modules reopened they were replaced by "Bruce’s Shark World" (in Module 1D) and a new attraction [[Turtle Talk with Crush]] (in Module IC) <ref>Pedersen, R. A. The EPCOT Explorer's Encyclopedia:. United States: Epcyclopedia, 2011. Print. </ref>. Turtle Talk With Crush was an interactive show that featured Disney's newest technology, "digital puppetry", which allowed guests to talk and interact with Crush the Turtle from Finding Nemo. The new show proved to be so popular that Disney decided to integrate Nemo into the entire Living Seas pavilion. In order to do this, on August 21, 2005 the entire pavilion closed to the public<ref name= "Martin"/>.

On November 23, 2005, the Sea Base SeaBase Alpha half of The Seas pavilion reopened <ref name= "Martin"/>. During the refurbishment, the exit Hydrolators were removed from the pavilion, and guests now (temporarily) entered and exited through large glass doors <ref name= "Martin"/>. The Sea Base (as it was now called) had also been completely remodeled. New signs and decor were added and some of the previously scientific exhibits were replaced by Finding Nemo themed ones<ref name= "Martin"/>.