Changes

Although The Living Seas was originally planned as an opening day pavilion for EPCOT Center's Future World, when the park opened on October 1, 1982 the Seas pavilion did not open until 1986 was nowhere to be found <ref name= "Martin"> http://www.martinsvids.net/?tag=the-living-seas-pavilion </ref>. Part of this delay The pavilion was delayed due to the fact that both the design and tone of The Living Seas changed drastically during this timebetween its conception and construction. The original concepts for the pavilion were more fantasy based then scientific.According to the 1977 Walt Disney Productions Annual Report, with one of the early ideas for an attraction within the pavilion allowing would have allowed guests to “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” <ref name= "Hill"> http://jimhillmedia.com/editor_in_chief1/b/jim_hill/archive/2006/06/06/2772.aspx?PageIndex=1 </ref>

By 1980 it was apparent that the pavilion would not be opening with the rest of Epcot Center in 1982. Instead, Disney originally planned to open the pavilion in 1983. In the 1980 book Walt Disney's Epcot Center, the Seas pavilion is described:

Another early concept would have begun with guests entering The Living Seas and seeing a preshow where the Greek god Poseidon would calm a raging storm. After the preshow, Poseidon would have narrated guests on their dark ride adventure <ref name= "Martin"/>.. This dark ride would have been a fully immersive experience, with shark attacks, shipwrecks, and various special effects adding to the excitement <ref name= "Martin"/>. Guests would eventually enter the pavilion’s 200 ft. tank at the rides conclusion. Following the dark ride, guests would have arrived at Sea Base Alpha- an underwater research facility <ref name= "Martin"/>.. According to the 1982 book EPCOT Center: Creating the World of Tomorrow, while in The Living Seas ride guests would see:

Inside of Sea Base Alpha, guests could see a "television" system that allowed them to follow various divers’ activities. One camera would be set on the sea floor, the second mounted on a robotic device which followed the diver, and a third would be on the diver’s helmet itself. In the research facility, guests would also be able to see a series of exhibits that showcased not only underwater life, but also the future of underwater science. Unlike its successor, the original plans for The Living Seas pavilion’s architecture called for a two story pavilion, with a glass roof. As designs for the pavilion changed, and the entire Living Seas took on a more serious tone, the glass ceiling was replaced by a conventional one.

Due to this change in tone as well as logistical issues, construction on The Living Seas was pushed back. Before construction began however, the layout of The Living Seas was altered. This was either due to a change in the pavilion's tone or the unwillingness of of the pavilions pavilion's sponsor United Technologies to fund the elaborate pavilion design <ref name= "Martin"/>. Instead of the extensive dark ride that would have led guests to Sea Base Alpha, a preshow video and short trip through the aquarium were instead installed <ref name= "Martin"/>.. The pavilion was now designed with essentially two parts: the large Coral Reef Aquarium, and Sea Base Alpha, where guests could look at the future of underwater research <ref name= "Martin"/>. After a series of setbacks, construction on The Living Seas began in March of 1984, and the pavilion opened to the public on January 15, 1986 <ref name= "Martin"/>.

When The Living Seas opened it featured three connected attractions, and the Coral Reef Restaurant. After winding their way through the queue (where guests could see historical artifacts from the history of sea exploration), guests watched a short film called The Seas. This movie showed guests how water made life possible on earthpossible, and while also touching on how humanity's understanding of the seas have has developed. After watching the short film, guests entered the Hydrolators, which were elevators that took guests "down" to the ocean floor (although in actuality they did only went down two inches) , before they were loaded into their Sea Cabs SeaCabs for the Caribbean Coral Reef Ride. The Caribbean Coral Reef Ride took guests through the ocean's depths (the Coral Reef Aquarium) in omnimover fashion, to Sea Base Alpha, in omnimover fashion. Once at Sea Base Alpha, guests could explore various interactive exhibits that allowed them to learn about marine life, and the technology that made underwater research possible. From Sea Base Alpha, guests could also look out into the various tanks. After exploring Sea Base Alpha, guests could enter another set of Hydrolators and exit the pavilion.

With no sponsor and a decreasing in 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 Alpha. The integration of Nemo into The Living Seas was done in four parts <ref name= "Martin"/>.

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 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> Epcot Encyclopedia </ref>. Turtle Talk With Crush was an interactive show that featured featuring 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 Alpha half of the Seas pavilion reopened <ref name= "Martin"/>. During the refurbishment, the exit hydrolators 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 been completely remodeled. New signs and decor were added, and the previously scientific exhibits were replaced by Finding Nemo themed ones<ref name= "Martin"/>.

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 queue for the old Caribbean Coral Reef Ride that took guests through the Coral Reef Aquarium in the SeaCabs <Ref name= "Martin"/>. 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 9 new dark ride scenes <Ref name= "Martin"/>. 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= "Martin"/>.The SeaCabs themselves were remodeled into the "Clamobiles" that took would take guests through the story.

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.  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 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= "Martin"/>.