Changes

Following the release of the Disney-Pixar movie "Finding Nemo", in December 2003, Disney began to tie the popular animated characters into The Living Seas. While this integration originally took place mostly in the pavilion's gift shop, exterior and in some of the SeaBase Alpha exhibits, a large change was coming <ref name= "Martin2"> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wj6VD1bJEYs </ref>. In 2004, Module 1C and Module 1D in Sea Base alpha closed. When the modules reopened on November 16, 2004 they featured two new Finding Nemo based exhibits- "Bruce's Shark World" (in Module 1D) and a new attraction [[Turtle Talk with Crush]] (in Module IC) <refname="book">Pedersen, R. A. The EPCOT Explorer's Encyclopedia:. United States: Epcyclopedia, 2011. Print. </ref>. While Bruce's Shark World was a playground for younger guests, Turtle Talk With Crush was an interactive show that featured Disney's newest technology, "digital puppetry". Looking through an arcylric window, on Turtle Talk with Crush, guests could 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 whole pavilion closed to the public<ref name= "Martin2"/>.

On November 23, 2005, the SeaBase Alpha half of The Seas pavilion reopened <ref name= "MartinMartin2"/>. During the refurbishment, the exit Hydrolators were removed from the pavilion, and guests now (temporarily) entered and exited through large glass doors <ref name= "MartinMartin2"/>. 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= "MartinMartin2"/>.

Although Sea Base - and thus Turtle Talk with Crush - was operational by November, the front half of the pavilion remained closed. In this area, Imagineers were hard at work creating a new dark ride attraction, "The Seas with Nemo & Friends". The new attraction was constructed in the location that had previously housed one of the pavilion's preshow theaters, the Hydrolators, the holding areas, and the old Caribbean Coral Reef Ride <Ref name= "MartinMartin2"/>.

The Seas with Nemo & Friends's queue replaced the Hydrolator portion of the attraction. The new queue was themed so that guests would travel from the beach, under a pier, and finally underwater. This allowed Disney to eliminate the need for the Hydrolators, but retain the original story that they told. The removal of the third Hydrolator as well as the preshow theater allowed Imagineers to install nine new dark ride scenes <Ref name= "MartinMartin2"/>. In order to extend the original Caribbean Coral Reef Ride track to include these new scenes, 280 ft of additional track was installed<Ref name= "MartinMartin2"/>.The SeaCabs themselves were remodeled into the "Clamobiles" that would take guests through the story.

Finally, on October 10, 2006, the construction walls outside of the pavilion came down. The rest of the pavilion opened to the public on October 19th as The Seas with Nemo & Friends. The Seas with Nemo & Friends now features a substantial dark ride (also named the Seas with Nemo & Friends) to go along with Turtle Talk with Crush and the rest of Sea Base. With the Seas with Nemo & Friends operational, there was still one final change to The Seas pavilion. On January 29th 2007, Turtle Talk with Crush closed <ref name= "Martin"/>. The popular attraction was then moved from module 1C to the larger module 1A. A corridor was then built to connect the module to the old preshow theater #2, allowing Turtle Talk to have a much higher capacity <ref name= "MartinMartin2"/>.