The Seas with Nemo & Friends (Attraction)
The Sea's With Nemo and Friends is an attraction located in Epcot. If you are looking for the pavilion which houses the attraction see: The Seas with Nemo & Friends.
| The Seas with Nemo & Friends (Attraction) | |
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| The entrance sign to The Seas with Nemo & Friends | |
| Epcot | |
| Land | Future World |
|---|---|
| Attraction type | Dark Ride |
| Opening date | January 24, 2007 |
| Vehicle capacity | 2-3 |
| Ride duration | 5:00 minutes |
| Based on | Finding Nemo |
| FastPass + | Yes (Group A) |
| Sponsored by | United Technologies (1986-2001) |
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Contents
Attraction History
The Seas with Nemo & Friends is a dark ride attraction which replaced the former Living Seas attraction in 2007. The Living Seas pavilion had originally included a movie theater, a dark ride (known as the Sea Cabs) and Seabase Alpha, which featured various aquamarine exhibits. After entering the Living Seas, guests would watch a preshow film titled "The Seas" before boarding their Sea Cabs and heading for the Seabase. While aboard their Sea Cabs, guests would travel through the pavilion's 5.7 million gallon aquarium, before reaching their destination. The structure of the pavilion remained unchanged until 2001 when the Sea Cab portion of the ride was discontinued. Although the track and Sea Cab's were still visible to guests, the ride ceased to function. Now, after watching the Sea's video (or skipping it altogether) guests were required to walk to Seabase Alpha. This change led to a decline in attendance for that pavilion, which many guests referred to as "The Dead Seas". Following United Technologies dropping of it's sponsorship, and the success of the Disney-Pixar movie Finding Nemo, it was decided that the pavilion would tie in with the movie. In 2004, a new attraction was added to Seabase, titled, Turtle Talk with Crush. The new interactive show proved to be so popular, that it was decided that the whole pavilion would receive a Finding Nemo theme. From 2004 through 2006, almost every part of the pavilion was renovated or removed. The exhibits in Seabase Alpha were changed to tie in with the the movie, Turtle Talk with Crush was expanded, and the pavilions store, restaurant and color scheme were completely changed. The final phase of the renovation came In 2005, when the pavilion was closed so that work could begin on a new dark ride attraction. The new attraction was originally referred to as "The Clamobile attraction", but it was eventually also titled, The Seas with Nemo & Friends. To create the ride Imagineers used the existing Sea Cab track, plus additional track added to the former location of "The Seas" movie theater. The concept of the attraction, was that guests would board their Clamobiles and follow Merlin and Dory as they once again searched for Nemo. To do this, characters from the film are projected onto screens, which guests pass by in their "Clamobile". The Clamobiles are in fact restructured Sea Cabs, which are now shaped like clams.
Imagineer Jerre Kirk oversaw the creation of the attraction, which features cutting edge technology. The first three scenes in the attraction are set in a coral reef. To create this environment, Imagineers used "very thin castings of fiberglass", which had never been done before. The final scene in the attraction features the animated characters swimming with real marine life, in the pavilion's giant aquarium. To create this effect, Imagineers needed a new kind of projection technology. Disney had never projected animation into an aquarium before, but Research and Development Designer, Alfredo Ayala, came up with the new projection technology that allowed Disney to create the scene, using special effect glass. After much trial and error with the new projectors, Imagineers were able to create the environment that they wanted. The final scene also features Nemo and the rest of the characters singing "In the Big Blue World" which was taken from the Finding Nemo - The Musical attraction. Finally, on January 24, 2007 the Seas with Nemo and Friends was officially rededicated and opened to the public.
Attraction Plot
The Seas with Nemo & Friends is a dark ride attraction, that tells guests the story of Nemo and Marlin after the movie ended.
Queue
The Seas with Nemo & Friends begins when guests enter the pavilion. The first room that they encounter is themed to look like a beach. Sand, high grass, beach signs and wooden fence posts can all be found here. Oceanic sounds such as waves and birds cawing can be heard in this room. After winding their way through the beach room (or going directly to the Sea Base part of the pavilion), guests enter a room which is themed to look like it's underwater. The room is dimly lit and on the walls, guests can see schools of fish swim by. After exiting the underwater room, guests enter the loading area, where they board their Clamobiles.
Main Ride
The first scene that guests come upon in the Seas with Nemo & Friends takes place in a coral reef. Here, Nemo playfully hides from his father, who is panicked that he lost Nemo again. In fact, Marlin shouts "not again!" before guests enter the next scene. The second scene in the attraction shows Nemo swimming away from Mr. Ray and his classmates. As his classmates call out for Nemo, one explains "(he's) swimming off to sea!". Mr. Ray however does not seem overly concerned, as he continues singing and calmly talking to his class.
After passing by a school of fish, guests see that Marlin has met up with Dory, who (predictably) does not remember who Nemo is. Marlin, stunned by her lack of memory reminds her that "We went on a huge adventure together!", although this does little to spark her memory. As guests continue on, they can see many jellyfish hanging overhead. Although Marlin is yelling about them, Dory does not seem overly concerned. Instead she treats the situation like a game. At this point, the Clamobiles come across a frightening anglerfish, who is trying to eat Dory and Marlin, but he is stuck. While Marlin is predictably panicked by the situation, Dory taunts the fish.
As guests move further down into the ocean, they come upon a ship wreck in a mine field. Here, Bruce the Great White Shark, and Chum the Mako Shark are trying to find Nemo themselves. Bruce menacingly says, "Fish are friends, not food", but luckily Nemo swims by unnoticed. The next scene takes place in the Eastern Atlantic current where Nemo has met up with Crush and Squirt. The three of them (as well as other turtles and the Clamobiles) quickly swim by after propelled by the current. The current deposits guests into the large aquarium, where the characters swim along with real fish. Here Nemo, Marlin, Dory, Crush, Squirt, and Mr. Ray and his class sing the song "In the Big Blue World". As guests return to the surface (the unloading area), they pass by a starfish who makes humorous quips as the Clamobiles pass by.
Cast
Nemo- Alexander Gould
Marlin- Albert Brooks
Dory- Ellen DeGeneres
Bruce- Barry Humphries
Squirt- Nicholas Bird
Mr. Ray- Bob Peterson
See the Attraction!
To see The Seas With Nemo and Friends click play below:
Fun Facts and Trivia
- In recent years guests have noticed that their are less fish in the main aquarium then their used to be.
- The song "In the Big Blue World" does not appear in the movie "Finding Nemo", instead it was taken from the Finding Nemo - The Musical attraction in Disney's Animal Kingdom.
- The Clamobiles were made from the Sea Cabs that guests used to ride in while on The Living Seas.
- Approximately 280 feet of track was added during the construction of The Seas with Nemo & Friends.
References
http://lostepcot.com/livingseas.html
http://mike151.web.officelive.com/TheSeasWithNemo.aspx
http://themeparks.about.com/od/disneyridereviews/fr/NemoRideEpcot.htm
