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{{Template:Infobox Disney ride || image= seasfacadeteacup.jpg| caption='''The coastline facade Mad Tea Party in front of the Seas With Nemo & Friends.Fantasyland'''| theme=Finding Nemo, the sea| sponsor= United Technologies (1986-1998)| land=Future WorldFantasyland| park= EpcotMagic Kingdom| opened=January 15October 1, 19861971| theme= Unbirthday Party| custom_label_1 = Number of AttractionsBased on| custom_value_1 = 3Disney's Alice in Wonderland| duration=1.5| custom_label_2 = Formally Known AsFastPass +| custom_value_2 = The Living Seas (1986-2005)Yes}}The Seas With Nemo & Friends Mad Tea Party is a pavilion within Future World an attraction located in [[EpcotFantasyland]]. If you are looking for the attraction located within the pavilion please see [[The Seas with Nemo & Friends (Attraction)]]==Pavilion Attraction History=====Development and Construction===Although The Living Seas was originally planned always envisioned as an opening day pavilion for EPCOT Center's Future World, when the park opened attraction based on October 1, 1982 the Seas pavilion was nowhere to be found <ref name= "MartinUnbirthday"> http://www.martinsvids.net/?tag=scene from Alice in Wonderland, the-living-seas-pavilion </ref>. The pavilion was delayed due to the fact that both the design and tone of The Living Seas changed drastically between its conception and construction. The original concepts plans for the pavilion Mad Tea Party were more fantasy based then scientificdrastically different from the final result. According to Early designs for the 1977 Walt Disney Productions Annual Report, one of the early ideas attraction called for an attraction within the pavilion would have allowed guests to “Board enter a "Mad Tea Party" that the clipper ship ‘Spirit Mad Hatter and March Hare were throwing. Guests would enter their tea cups (walking past giant depictions of Mankind’ to sail through moments of peril the Cheshire Cat and triumph with seven legendary marinersthe Caterpillar) and spin around a giant Unbirthday table, while the great explorers who charted Mad Hatter and March Hare sang the seas for civilization” <ref name= "HillVery Merry Unbirthday"song <ref> http://jimhillmedia.com/editor_in_chief1columnists1/b/jim_hilljeff_lange/archive/20062005/0605/0627/27721484.aspx?PageIndex=1 </ref>. When the Mad Tea Party opened on Disneyland's opening day however, its scale had been drastically reduced. Gone from the attraction were the Mad Hatter, March Hare and the "Unbirthday" party. Instead guests twirled around inside psychedelically colored tea cups.

By 1980 it Due to its popularity in Disneyland, a version of the Mad Tea Party was apparent that recreated for the pavilion would not be opening with of Walt Disney World. Opening on October 1, 1971, the rest attraction was an exact copy of Epcot Centerthe Disneyland attraction. InsteadShortly after the Mad Tea Party opened however, Disney originally planned a large canopy was added to open give the pavilion in 1983ride some cover from the Florida elements <ref name= "dated"> http://waltdatedworld. In com/id252.htm </ref>. Also added at this time, was a large teapot (housing the 1980 book Walt Disney's Epcot CenterDormouse from the film) which the teacups now rotated around <ref name= "dated"/>. After the addition of the canopy, the Seas pavilion is describedattraction remained unchanged until 1992 when Japanese lanterns were added <ref> http://www.florida-project.com/walt-disney-world-photos/magic-kingdom/fantasyland/mad-tea-party </ref>. At this time, the Mad Tea Party also received a new color scheme and new music. In 2010, the attraction was once again repainted <ref> http://www.orlandoparksnews.com/2010/11/mad-tea-party-has-reopened.html </ref>.

{{Quotation| "Visitors to ==Attraction Plot==The Seas pavilion will explore Mad Tea Party begins with guests boarding their teacup ride vehicles. Once the wonders of attraction starts, festive music begins playing, to give guests the aquatic frontier through two major presentationsfeeling that they are at an Unbirthday Party. First, "The World Although each of the Sea," turntables that the cups sit on spin at a ride-thru experience presenting various ocean environments; and secondconstant speed, "Sea Base Alphaguests can choose the speed of their individual teacup. To do this," they spin a futuristic undersea research station complete with a 5wheel in the center of each cup (spinning the wheel faster,000increases the teacup's speed). As the cups spin around,000-gallon tank supporting a living coral reef communitythe Dormouse from Alice in Wonderland will pop out of the large teapot in the center of the attraction from time to time." The Mad Tea Party lasts for 1 minute and 30 seconds <ref name= "intercot"> http://www.intercotwdwinfo.com/edcwdwinfo/LivingSeasguides/lsconstrmagickingdom/fan-teaparty.html htm </ref>}}, before the attraction stops spinning and guests disembark.[[Image:madteaconcept.jpg|thumb|400px|Concept art for the Mad Tea Party]]

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, =Fun Facts and various special effects adding to the excitement <ref nameTrivia= "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:

{{Quotation| * The environment, designed to look like a futuristic sea base, is an actual working environment in which man and machine coexist with canopy over the sea and its original inhabitants. All around us, we see diver’s carrying on their tasks, often accompanied by their coworkersMad Tea Party lights up at night, giving the dolphins, trained to work alongside man.| EPCOT Center: Creating the World of Tomorrow }}[[Image:Seas2.jpg|400px|thumb|Early concept art for The Living Seas pavilionattraction a very different look.]]

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 Doormouse only appears in the sea floor, the second mounted on a robotic device which followed the diver, Walt Disney World and a third would be on the diver’s helmet itself. In the research facility, guests would also be able to see a series Tokyo Disneyland versions 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 oneMad Tea Party.

Due * If you want to this change in tone as well as logistical issues, construction on The Living Seas was pushed back. Before construction began, the layout see an image of The Living Seas was altered. This was either due to a change in the pavilion's tone or the unwillingness of the pavilion's sponsor United Technologies to fund the elaborate 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 partsMad Tea Party before it got its canopy check out: 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"/>.

===The Living Seas Presented By United Technologies (1986-1998)===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 on earth possible, while also touching on how humanity's understanding of the seas 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 only went down two inches), before they were loaded into their SeaCabs for the Caribbean Coral Reef Ride. The Caribbean Coral Reef Ride took guests through the ocean's depths (the Coral Reef Aquarium) 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.[[Image:Seasentrance.jpg|350px|thumb|The entrance to The Living Seas prior to the 2005 refurbishment. Photo Michael Grey.]] ===The Living Seas (1998-2006)===Aside from minor changes to Sea Base Alpha, The Living Seas remained essentially unchanged until 1998 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://wwwland.intercotallears.comnet/EDCblogs/LivingSeasjackspence/index.html <2008/ref>. At this time, one of the two preshow theaters was also closed in order to allow returning guests to skip the film altogether and move directly to the Hydrolators <ref name= "Martin"05/>. Subsequently, in 2002 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 Alpha (of note is the fact that the SeaCabs remained intact after being discontinued, they were just boarded up) <ref name= "Martin"/>. 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. 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 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"/>. ===The Seas with Nemo & Friends (2006-Present)===[[Image:SeasMickeyjpg.jpeg|350px|thumb|Mickey swimming in the Coral Reef Aquarium.]]On November 23, 2005, the Sea Base 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 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 <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 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 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"/>. ==Current Attractions== '''[[The Seas with Nemo & Friends (Attraction)]]'''- This dark ride allows guests to explore the "Big Blue World" with Nemo and his friends. On The Seas with Nemo & Friends, guests board Clamobiles and set off to help rescue Nemo who is once again missing. The Seas with Nemo & Friends is based on the 2003 Disney-Pixar movie Finding Nemo. [[Image:TurtleTalk.jpeg|350px|thumb|Turtle Talk with Crush opened in The Seas with Nemo & Friends in 2005.]]'''Turtle Talk with Crush'''- This interactive show allows guests to meet and talk to Crush himself. Turtle Talk with Crush uses digital puppetry to help Crush (from Finding Nemo) answer guests questions.  '''Sea Base'''- This interactive area allows guests to further explore the seas. Here, guests can look out in the aquariums, and learn more about aquatic life from various Finding Nemo themed interactive exhibits.  ===Tours===The Seas with Nemo & Friends features three different tours that guests can experience (for an additional cost): '''Epcot DiveQuest'''- Epcot DiveQuest is 3 hour experience that certified SCUBA divers can take. The experience is broken up into three parts, a 40 minute underwater tour in the Caribbean Coral Reef Aquarium, a backstage tour, and free time. Guests must be at least 10 years old to participate in Epcot DiveQuest '''Seas Aqua Tour'''- This tour allows guests to swim in the Caribbean Coral Reef Aquarium with the assistance of a SCUBA Assisted Snorkel system. The tour last approximately two and half hours, and guests must be at least 8 years old to participate.  '''Dolphins in Depth'''- This three hour tour allows guests to learn about, meet, and even swim with the dolphins. Guests must be at least 13 years old, but do not need to know how to swim to participate. Only one group of up to 8 guests can participate in the Dolphins in Depth experience per day. ==Former Attractions==[[Image:SeaBaseAlphaSeas.jpeg|350px|thumb|Sea Base Alpha]]Originally, The Living Seas featured three separate but interconnected attractions. The attractions formally located in the pavilion included:  '''Seas'''- This short video explained to guests how the Earth changed from a volcanic planet, to one covered in oceans. The Seas film played from 1986 until 2005.  '''Caribbean Coral Reef Ride (aka The SeaCabs)'''- The short omnimover attraction allowed guests to board SeaCabs and take a ride through Caribbean Coral Reef Aquarium to Sea Base Alpha. While on board the ride vehicles, guests could get a 270 degree view of the large aquarium. The Caribbean Coral Reef ride closed to guests in 2001. Following their closure, guests simply walked down a corridor to Sea Base Alpha.  '''Sea Base Alpha'''-Sea Base Alpha featured many scientific exhibits related to underwater research. Although the exhibits changed over time, they always had a marine focus. From Sea Base Alpha, guests could look out into the pavilion's aquariums and see many exotic marine animals. Sea Base Alpha was open from 1986-2005. At this time, the area was renamed simply Sea Base, and the exhibits housed within were given a Finding Nemo Theme. ==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 sea creatures. ==Shopping== '''The Seas with Nemo & Friends Gift Shop'''- The pavilion's gift shop is located in Sea Base, near the pavilion's exit. The shop sells Finding Nemo and aquatic merchandise, as well as general Epcot souvenirs. ==Fun Facts and Trivia==  * There are 61 different windows through which guests can view the Caribbean Coral Reef aquarium. * Spaceship Earth could fit completely inside the aquarium.  * Many of the interior pipes in the Seas With Nemo & Friends have the name and extension number of Imagineers who worked on the attraction.  * Montgomery Watson was the prime architectural and engineering contractor for The Living Seas pavilion. * The gravel floor in the Caribbean Coral Reef aquarium was replaced for the first time in 1998. * In 1991 the VIP lounge and conference center in The Living Seas closed due to United Technologies' cost cutting efforts. * Lorilei the first manatee born in captivity was born in The Living Seas pavilion in 1991.  ===Consultants <Ref> http://www.intercot.com/edc/LivingSeas/lsfacts1972_magic_kingdom_walt_disney.html </ref>===Consultants that helped in the creation of The Living Seas included: {| class="infoList"|-| '''Consultant'''| '''Credentials'''|-| Dr. Robert Ballard| Senior scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution|-| Dr. Sylvia Earle| Vice President of Ocean Engineering, Inc.|- | Gilbert Grosvenor| President of the National Geographic Society.|- | Dr. Murray Newman| Director of the Vancouver Public Aquarium|-| Professor William Nierenberg| Director of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography|-| Dr. David Potter| Vice President of public affairs, General Motors.|- | Dr. John Ryther |Director of the Division of Applied Biology at Harbor Branch Foundation, Inc.|-| Robert Wildman| Deputy Director of the NOAA, Office of Sea Grants Program.|-|}