Abandoned - Disney World's 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea

a long time ago I came across this photo of an abandoned Disney World animatronic that used to be within a submarine ride at the Magic Kingdom the photo itself is very eerie and the concept probably unlocks some sub mechanophobia that I never knew I had but the real story behind this is actually pretty interesting it's from an attraction called 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea a once beloved opening day ride at the park and one that ultimately closed in the '90s and mysteriously sat a abandoned for years so today let's take a both metaphorical and literal dive into the story of this highly requested topic here from a cast member who actually worked at the attraction and find out why it was ultimately left [Music] abandoned this episode is sponsored by incog use code bright Sun at the link below to get an exclusive 60% off an annual plan the concept of a submarine attraction in a Disney park or any park for that matter began in the late 1950s with Disneyland's new expansion of Tomorrowland it carried on with the theme of new and exciting technology submarines being one of them it was called the submarine voyage and it was basically a series of halfs submerged 38 guest ride vehicles that would have Port holes looking underwater for each guest the submarine Vehicles would follow a 1300 ft underwater track where they would journey through a Labyrinth of underwater props and effects it became a very popular attraction at Disneyland so by the time the company was beginning to plan their new park in Florida a version of this ride was a must in fact Walt Disney World's submarine attraction could be seen in the earliest Master planning concepts for the park it wouldn't be until 1969 though when the attraction was finally announced a now expanded concept of the Disneyland version now with a new theme 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea sub Marine Voyage as its name suggests was based on the classic Jules Vern novel by the same name it tells the story of Captain Nemo and his adventures aboard the Nautilus traveling 20,000 Leagues across the oceans it was also a story that was adapted for the big screen in Walt Disney production's 1954 film of the same name the iconography of that film would be translated into this new attraction first with the subs being commission by a yacht Builder on Florida's West Coast ultimately being trucked across the state to the park which by this point was gearing up for the grand opening ultimately 20,000 Leagues came in around $800,000 over budget with the company spending what is the equivalent of around $67 million to build regardless it would open more or less with the rest of the park on October 10th 1971 immediately from opening day the ride was very popular much like the ride system it was based on over in Disneyland this two would follow an underwater track and discover various environments around the tank after simulated diving bubbles cover the guest Port holes the subs would pass underwater sets of aquatic plants animals and even divers after another bubble sequence simulating even further descent the subs would enter the covered show building there guests would pass by shipwrecks and deep oceans filled with black lit creatures guests would then encounter the lost city of Atlantis along with mystical creatures like mermaids a serpent and a giant squid attacking the Nautilus this whole attraction was was pretty cool and it's no wonder why it was so popular with guests it was an overall very impressive and practical journey through a jewels ver Adventure this was also a time when Disney sold ticket books and people would pay per attraction 20,000 Leagues was considered an EET attraction the highest category Disney would sell and it was also among some of the highest attended attractions at the park it did benefit from having a decent capacity of around 2400 people an hour because it was an EET attraction it also generated decent sales around $10 million worth a year adjusted for inflation however despite that it was also the lowest profit generating attraction in the E ticket category its operating expenses dwarfed every other ride at the park at 7.4 million dollar a year adjusted for inflation for comparison Haunted Mansion a massive Omni mover ride that had a way higher capacity only cost around $4.4 million adjusted for inflation a year so Des despite how popular 20K was it consumed a lot of operating money just to keep it going even this early on so as time would pass that problem would only get bigger regardless 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea would continue to operate over the next few decades standing as a significant attraction at the Magic Kingdom and continuing to be a fan favorite this was in part thanks to the 20 or so cast members per shift who worked at the attraction one of them being Chris Cooper who worked at K between 1991 and 1994 I know for me one of the most special moments for me in my 3 years working there was I was working on the dock one day and this kid about 10 years old gets off the the boat he goes that was awesome I was like yeah it is so I think for a certain age uh where you're still you can still focus on the magic then yeah it was a very magical experience I just like to think that maybe someone stepped off that ride and decided they wanted to be a marine biologist or some sort of engineer you know wow we can do that man can do that but I know in my time there in the early mid 90s there were so many people got off the sub and said oh that's so fake you can see the wires blah blah blah so as the '90s rolled in the attraction was still suffering from high operational costs perhaps still the highest in the whole Park the ride was now 20 years old and the more it aged the more it took to keep keep it going problems with air conditioning as well as general wear and tear had plagued the attraction through its history and internally it was well known that park operations were pushing to have it sunset though the attraction was certainly not falling apart and many aspects were still working fine the political atmosphere within the park was shifting however and this spawned rumors on the idea that the attraction might close curiously it was omitted from the VHS promotional material for the Magic Kingdom in 1983 but without any cause for concern on September 5th 1994 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea would casually close for maintenance the Orlando Sentinel made note of this and they asked a Disney spokesperson who said quote it will be back at an undetermined date and may include improved effects sounds like a very loose promise for a massive EET attraction but okay sure now internally the attraction was scheduled to be back in service by December 16th of the same year as time went on however no work or announcement had been made instead the Lagoon was left untouched with the submarines parked in a staggered configuration around the track but then news finally came with Disney Park's president Al wise stating that the attraction would return for the summer of 1996 he said that guests should expect the same attraction specifically saying quote we will go through and do a rehab and add a few surprises but shortly after this the renovation was apparently sced crapped internally it was thought to have been too complicated and costly to perform though that is a little strange because the entire attraction received a major rehab just 6 years prior again a Disney spokesperson said that they would weigh their options sort of leaving the attractions future open-ended but already semi-permanent changes were being made first with clearing note the Switchback queue area and using the load canopy as a meet and greet area called the fantasy land character Festival the Nautilus submarines had also been cleared away from guest View and canvas canopies with fake foliage had been hung over the rock entrances into the show building meanwhile to the west of the Lagoon Ariel's Grotto had been opened up another meet and greet area that also featured a splash pad and a waterfall rock formation that flowed into the 20K Lagoon a part statue part water fountain from Ariel's Grotto had also been erected in the water it was pretty clear by this point that the attraction was not coming back anytime soon and these semi-permanent installations were proof that Disney was abandoning their attraction to further drive home the suspicion the ride Vehicles were then completely removed from the attraction and placed in the Boneyard that's actually the site along Bay Lake where the canceled Persian resort was going to be the only official acknowledgement from Disney came in 1998 with the show designer stating simply that it was a very valuable piece of property he went on to say that the next major attraction to occupy the site will take years of development and that's exactly what would happen as both the subs and the physical attraction would continue to sit this way for the next few years unbelievably the massive Lagoon filled with all 112 million gallons of treated water plus all of its theming would just stay in place completely untouched with the track clearly visible underwater and the load station still in place only the overgrown vegetation and lack of submarines were any indication of the attraction's weird state of limbo in fact it would remain this way for nearly a decade 9 and 1/2 years of the 4 acre attraction pretty much a quarter of fantasy land all just sitting abandoned during this time and in the background there were some rumors about what might be replacing it perhaps the most developed was a mountain in some iterations taking the name Fire Mountain but nothing was ever really concrete and the location of this concept would change and ultimately never got greenlands I remember hearing things like uh it might be replaced with a Little Mermaid attraction or um some sort of walkth through attraction and and the thing about was the the Fire Mountain I remember hearing about these things maybe that last summer I was working there in 94 it was likely down to the sheer cost to demolish the attraction which was holding Disney back from moving forward and for a company and a corporate position that was more fragile than ever Parks were struggling to find the budget to replace it or even even remove It ultimately by early 2004 that demolition would finally come first with draining the entire site that revealed the sunw Warn and corroded props in the main Lagoon which then began to be ripped out however inside the show building well things were a lot more eerie since 1994 all of the props formerly underwater had remained in place also corroded and now in the process of being removed in the dark rather low height of the show building St ing from the wooden service catwalks cast members Demolition and Salvage Crews all took some truly incredible photos of the former attraction with just about a foot or two of standing Black Water below all of the show pieces were now exposed in no way a guest would have ever seen out of the water they also showed how decayed everything had gotten with these show scenes just sitting idly in the water presumably without any maintenance for almost a decade sediment had settled on much of the fiberglass Rock work while the water line is a distinct indication of the amount of fading perhaps the most Eerie section though is the Atlantis the decapitated Stone heads along with all of the other stone structures just feel so Lial and both animatronic serpents are genuinely frightening sitting there in around a foot of Dark Water in a pitch black room those along with both disintegrating giant squids are nightmare Fuel and it's pretty weird to think that all of this was just sitting here within the most visited theme park on Earth but that wouldn't be for long as shortly after these photos were taken in mid2 2004 the show buildings props and show scenes were then ripped out front loaders carried out everything else that had now turned into Brown Rubble while the outside Lagoon also got the same treatment by fall of 2004 the demolition was complete and Crews brought in dirt to grade the land during this fill of the site only a fraction of of the land would actually be used for something that would be a very small kids play area called Poo's playful spot the remaining perimeter of the former attraction was just graded with a decently tall berm that had thick Landscaping surrounding it with this Transformation Magic Kingdom lost not only an e tiet attraction but also a few Acres of guest capacity which is honestly pretty rare for the park while all of this was happening the subs in Disney's Boneyard would continue to rot away they had sat here since the '90s and were clearly in rough shape finally they were taken to another location on property here they would be stripped for parts by a thirdparty auction host who had proceed to sell many of those stripped parts on eBay the subs would continue to sit there for a little bit longer until they were buried in place in late 2005 of the 12 ride vehicles that were built only two were saved in their entirety both were treated for contaminants and sent on a barge to Disney's Private Island Castaway K sometimes in the year 2000 they were then deliberately sunk in the snorkeling Lagoon allowing guests to swim right up to them though I'm honestly not sure what happened to the second one as there really isn't a conclusive answer as to where it went as I understand it only one remains submerged in the snorkeling area to this day though many of the distinctive design features have been broken off and just the core body remains meanwhile back on the mainland Magic Kingdom was gearing up to finally put all of this cleared land back to use in 2009 they announced new Fantasy Land a massive expansion that was going to use up every square inch of the former attraction site this new area would feature a bunch of new meet and greets a big table service restaurant a dumbo relocation and expansion along with a Little Mermaid attraction however this plan was altered slightly by 2011 replacing the center meet and greet area with a family coaster called seven dwarf's M Train ultimately the Poo play area and Ariel's Grotto would close in 2002 10 to make way for construction it would start almost immediately transforming the site into the massive expansion for Fantasy Land which the opening of seven dwarf's Mine Train marked the end of in 2014 besides Disney employees marking the opening of The Little Mermaid attraction by pouring the former 20,000 Leagues water into it plus a small nod to the Nautilus and the rockwork there really isn't much of a trace of the former attraction its entire footprint has been completely developed over while only one ride vehicle still exist exists albeit underwater well I guess the other ride Vehicles technically still do exist but they're buried under Disney property so until Disney ever digs them up that's really it for this beloved opening day attraction now that's not to say the theme and spirit is entirely gone Disney parks around the world have various takes on the same classic Jules ver story and remember the ride system was an adaptation of Disneylands which does indeed still exist though weirdly it too would close in the 9s and sit abandoned for years but thanks to hard lobbying from imagineers the attraction was spared and reopened as Finding Nemo's submarine Voyage likewise is the myus at Disneyland Paris it opened in 1994 ironically the park which caused the company's Financial stress to put pressure to close the Florida attraction perhaps the most similar though is Tokyo Disney C's version of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea honestly it might be the best adaption of this theme which has guest pods that go on a similar Journey though not through actual water instead water is filled between two glass panels in front of you to create the illusion they you're underwater but I think people will always especially love the original attraction in Florida one that was expertly developed as a ride concept that lasted for decades as a convincing and engaging attraction in the end though 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea had so much going against it despite a relatively decent guest capacity the amounts of actual people being moved through the attraction was slower than others and that's because the boarding process was much more complicated guests needed to descend down a narrow and steep set of stairs into the sub and that took time obviously this would also not make it ADA Compliant in the years later this often caused long lines to form with low hourly guess capacity this was also an attraction that dealt with real elements it had real treated water both with props and moving vehicles in it all of which would need to be serviced if a prop or section of track needed minor attention you couldn't just drain the whole Lagoon you had to send down qualified divers to make those repairs I'm not going to say it was falling apart but obviously the Soaps were exhibiting somewhere some age there a boat that's in the water 24/7 all of this of course was very expensive even from day one it required the most Financial Resources out of any other attraction in the park to keep going and while we don't know for sure we can make an educated guess that cost only Rose as both the ride system and vehicles aged and those Vehicles were also problematic with sporadic air conditioning problems and diesel engine issues since these were propelled by their own onboard power guests also reported minor leaks in the hole and over the years the tracks became bumpy while guest still rated it very high and revered it as a classic Magic Kingdom park operations wanted a gone it was a constant headache for them and I'm sure dragged down profit margins for the park as a whole after Euro Disneyland opened and failed to generate profit the company as a whole also became a lot more frugal and park Executives seized this opportunity to close the attraction for good we may never know why Disney gave such erroneous quotes in the Press stating that the ride was safe from the wrecking ball then saying it was just a refurb then giving various reopening dates that would obviously never happen it's been reported that Disney had internally announced the attraction was indeed going to close when it did in 1994 that was despite Disney publicly saying otherwise on the record regardless they closed the attraction without any clear plans of what they were going to do with it and that was clearly evident by the fact that the attractions had abandoned for nearly a decade in fact it would turn out to be over 16 years until Disney World actually broke ground on a permanent replacement for the attraction it's just a bizarre series of events and while many may be sad that they missed the attraction or never got to experience it at least the concept does live on in other iterations across Disney's theme park portfolio and of course the ride has been well documented by passionate fans like those at 20K ride.com a great website which has enormously helped me for making this video perhaps all that's physically left of the attraction is a good metaphor for its story an attraction that stayed above the water for all of its years operating only for it to finally SA sync for good though in this case it's now only 85 leagues from where it started no matter where you go on the internet your personal data is always being collected it's really hard to avoid and that data is usually being sold through data Brokers which as you probably know all too well lead to spam emails and Robo phone calls I have experienced these for years and taking the time to manually submit requests to remove your data is very tedious to say the least that's why I've been using incog they simplify the process of submitting requests to remove your data they essentially just do it all for you all you need to do is 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Channel: Bright Sun Films

Views: 2,118,884

Keywords: disney world, abandoned, walt disney world resort, disney world ride, abandoned disney, abandoned ride, abandoned attraction, bright sun films, history of, family friendly, creepy, submechanophobia, abandoned disney ride, magic kingdom, disney magic kingdom, 20k leagues, 20000 leagues, disneyland, submarine ride, submarine voyage, tokyo disney sea, vintage disney, walt disney, disney fantasyland, 2024, 1994, interview

Id: UFEVu5jcDqI

Length: 21min 20sec (1280 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 05 2024