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The Seas with Nemo & Friends

700 bytes added, 19:11, 8 October 2021
{{Template:Infobox Disney ride |
| image= seasfacade.jpg
| caption='''The coastline facade façade in front of the Seas With Nemo & Friends.'''
| theme=Finding Nemo, the sea
| sponsor= United Technologies (1986-1998)
| land=Future WorldNature
| park= Epcot
| opened=January 15, 1986
| custom_label_2 = Formally Known As
| custom_value_2 = The Living Seas (1986-2005)}}
The Seas With Nemo & Friends is a pavilion within Future World Nature in [[Epcot]]. If you are looking for the attraction located within the pavilion please see [[The Seas with Nemo & Friends (Attraction)]]
==Pavilion History==
===Development and Construction===
Although The Living Seas would not open until 1986, plans for The Seas pavilion had been 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 "SeaBase Sea Base 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>.}}
[[Image:Seas2.jpg|400px|thumb|Early concept art for The Living Seas pavilion featuring the glass bubble ride vehicles.]]
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 Sea Base Alpha, where they could further examine interactive exhibits, as well as enter a long viewing platform to observe the activity in the large aquarium.
Continuing to tinker with the pavilion, eventually, Imagineers cut the large entrance hall between the Poseidon show and the omnimovers<ref name= "Martin"/>. Furthermore, the ride path the that the omnimovers would take was changed so that instead of going straight through the pavilion's massive tank, the ride vehicles now went around its circumference , before entering and exiting through the central viewing module<ref name= "Martin"/>.
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, "SeaBase 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>}}
[[Image:Seasopening.jpg|400px|thumb|The Grand Opening of The Living Seas.]]
Between 1980 and 1982, the tone of The Seas had clearly changedshifted. Gone was the fantasy elements of the pavilion's designs (including the "bubble" ride vehicles), as the focus of The Seas shifted moved completely to the scientific, with an emphasis on the Seas Base Alpha portion of the pavilion. The 1982 book EPCOT Center: Creating the World of Tomorrow, notes that while in The Living Seas ride guests would see:
{{Quotation| The environment, designed to look like a futuristic sea base, is an actual working environment in which man and machine coexist with the sea and its original inhabitants. All around us, we see diver’s carrying on their tasks, often accompanied by their coworkers, the dolphins, trained to work alongside man.<ref> Beard, Richard R., and Walt Disney. Walt Disneys EPCOT: Creating the New World of Tomorrow. Harry N. Abrams, 1982. </ref>}}
When EPCOT Center opened on October 1, 1982, however, The Seas pavilion was nowhere to be found. Instead, an empty large plot of land could be found in Future World West, with a sign that announced that The Living Seas would be opening in 1984<ref name= "Martin"/>. Despite this promise, Disney had yet to find a sponsor for the pavilion. This changed on July 20, 1983, when United Technologies agreed to sponsor the 90 million dollar pavilion<ref name= "Martin"/>.
With United Technologies now sponsoring the pavilion, the final layout of The Living Seas began to take shape. At this time, the Poseidon preshow and the long dark ride attraction (which United Technologies was unwilling to pay for) were removed <ref name= "Martin"/> <ref> https://futureprobe.blogspot.com/2012/10/from-seas-to-living-seas-and-beyond.html </ref>. Instead, guests would now enter the pavilion and watch a short preshow video. After this, they would take a short quick trip through the pavilion's aquarium before arriving at SeaBase Sea Base Alpha. After a series of setbacks, construction on The Living Seas began in March of 1984 <ref name= "Martin"/>.
===The Living Seas Presented By United Technologies (1986-1998)===
The Living Seas officially opened to guests on January 15, 1986 <ref> https://d23.com/a-to-z/living-seas-the/ </ref>. On hand for the pavilion's Grand Opening were Disney president Frank Wells (who cut the opening ribbon inside the pavilion's 5.7 million-gallon tank), chairman Michael Eisner, Florida Governor Bob Graham, United Technologies chairman Harry Gray, and Roy E. Disney <ref> http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1986-01-16/news/0190190142_1_walt-disney-disney-productions-living-seas </ref>.
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 center [[SeaBase Sea Base Alpha]].
The Living Seas 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 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 Sea Base Alpha.
SeaBase Sea Base 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 Sea Base 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.
The first major change to The Living Seas came in 1991 when the pavilion's corporate lounge was closed due to due United Technologies' budget constraints <ref name="Martin"/>. Following the closure, the space was used for park events. Subsequently, between August 10th and September 14th 1998, the Coral Reef Restaurant underwent major renovations <ref name= "Martin"/>. At this time, the restaurant was moved upstairs to the former corporate lounge. During the refurbishment the restaurants restaurant's color scheme and original wood was removed, and the decor was lightened.
===The Living Seas (1998-2006)===
In June 1999, United Technologies decided to end its sponsorship of The Living Seas <ref name= "Martin"/>. With the end of the sponsorship, all references to the company were removed from the pavilion by the end of the year <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 Caribbean Coral Reef Aquarium, and into SeaBase Sea Base Alpha. Although the SeaCabs remained intact, in January 2002 they were boarded up <ref name= "Martin"/>.
By 2003, The Living Seas was a far cry from the busy and vibrant pavilion that it had been when it opened in 1986. The changes to the pavilion's structure in the previous years had killed the natural flow the pavilion that it relied on. As previously mentioned, the original Living Seas was designed to be more than the sum of its parts. With the ability to bypass the preshow and the loss of the SeaCabs however, the pavilion no longer worked. As attendance problems continued to plague The Living Seas, Disney began to look for a change.
Following the release of the Disney-Pixar movie "Finding Nemo", in December 2003, Disney began to tie the popular animated characters from the film into The Living Seas. While this integration originally took place mostly in the pavilion's gift shop, exterior and in some of the SeaBase Sea Base Alpha exhibits, a large larger change was coming <ref name= "Martin2"> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wj6VD1bJEYs </ref>. In 2004the end, the first Nemo references would only be Phase I of a complete remodel of The Living Seas. The next step of the overhaul came in 2004 when 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) <ref name="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(although the [[Coral Reef Restaurant]] remained open)<ref name= "Martin2"/>.
===The Seas with Nemo & Friends (2006-Present)===
[[Image:SeasMickeyjpg.jpeg|400px|thumb|Mickey swimming in the Coral Reef Aquarium.]]
On November 23, 2005, the SeaBase Sea Base Alpha half of The Seas pavilion reopened <ref name= "Martin2"/>. During the refurbishment, the exit Hydrolators were removed from the pavilion, and guests now (temporarily) entered and exited through large glass doors <ref name= "Martin2"/>. 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= "Martin2"/>.
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 (the SeaCabs) <Ref name= "Martin2"/>.
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 , also allowed Imagineers to install nine new dark ride scenes <Ref name= "Martin2"/>. 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= "Martin2"/>.The SeaCabs themselves were remodeled into replaced with 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 pavilion 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. On January 4, 2007, the pavilion was officially rededicated<Ref name= "Martin2"/>. 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 also built to connect the module to the old preshow theater #2, allowing Turtle Talk to have a much higher capacity <ref name= "Martin2"/>.
==Current Attractions==
==Restaurants==
'''[[Coral Reef Restaurant]]'''- The Coral Reef Restaurant is a table service restaurant which specializes in seafood. The restaurant is located to the right of the entrance to [[The Seas with Nemo & Friends (Attraction)]]. Inside, guests can look out into the Caribbean Coral Reef aquarium and observe over 4000 6000 sea creatures.
==Shopping==
==Fun Facts and Trivia==
*When United Technologies signed on to sponsor The Living Seas, the company wanted their own set of characters similar to Dreamfinder and Figment in the [[Journey Into Imagination pavilion]]. Perhaps in jest, Imagineer John Hench designed Captain Saltyhinder and his pet mackerel. The characters were never used <Ref> https://d23.com/the-saga-of-captain-saltyhinder/ </ref>.
 
*The background music played in the original Living Sea's Hydrolators was composed by Russell Brower and based on a theme by George Wilkins <ref name="D23"> https://d23.com/a-to-z/living-seas-the/ </ref>.
* There are 61 different windows through which guests can view the Caribbean Coral Reef aquarium<ref name= "intercot2"/>.
* Spaceship Earth could fit completely inside the Caribbean Coral Reef aquarium <ref> https://twitter.com/wdwtoday/status/872105819361480704 </ref>.
* Many of the interior pipes in the Seas With Nemo & Friends have the name and extension number of Imagineers who worked on the pavilion <ref name= "trivia"> http://www.wdwradio.com/2007/09/the-seas-with-nemo-and-friends/ </ref>.