EPCOT's The Seas with Nemo and Friends debuts a fresh color palette

FigmentFan82Feb 22, 2024

(enters Imaginations pavillion) "I think I'd like my money back."

FigmentFan82Feb 22, 2024

Baby, you got a stew goin'!

Tegan pilots a chickenFeb 20, 2024

The Land pavilion is my favorite place in all of Walt Disney World. Grab lunch, watch Awesome Planet, ride Living with the Land, take the Behind the Seeds Tour, ride Soarin, grab dinner. That’s an entire afternoon.

RoysCabinFeb 20, 2024

I did find it interesting to see the reaction a friend of mine had at The Land when I was there a couple weeks ago; we went into Awesome Planet, then Living with the Land, and then our Soarin' fast pass kicked in, and he said "Woah, I think we've been in this building for around an hour...and we've done a lot." Just made me miss the whole pavilion concept a lot more; it's most pronounced with Imagination, which in its heyday could easily provide around two hours of quality park time, but it's just not where things are, now. Can't help but think about how many of the newer ride ideas are all really short and lower capacity than the classic stuff, and if that fits into the concept of getting people to be more accepting of buying Genie plus.

Tegan pilots a chickenFeb 19, 2024

Most people don’t get to ride FoP 20 times in their lifetime. I think in these discussions it’s always best to imagine the experience through the lens of first time visitors.

Epcot82GuyJan 09, 2024

I totally agree. And, a lot of exciting rides could have been created based around sealife, health and energy. Or, even swapped the themes out for something else. I totally understand the cost of the high AA omnimovers and where they felt passe for a bit in the 90s. But, they have stood the test of time far better than some other things that have come and gone (if properly maintained and updated). Water under Moana's bridge, sadly, at this point. But, maybe the idea could catch back on someday.

Horizon1Jan 09, 2024

The issue I have with this argument is that much of original Future World was designed to be updated - if it even needed to. Other than Energy, WoL and the Seas, very little of the time on the omnimover rides was focused on the future. It showcased the past in SSE, World of Motion and Horizons. Horizons was also an exception to this with it's second half, but it was so far in the future it still had relevancy (with updated effects, of course). I wish they would have done this instead of replacing things. All of those great attractions could have been updated and kept but I think they were viewed as being outdated and maybe more importantly no IP integration. Horizons updated I think would have still been a popular attraction today. Beat the heat for a few, classic ride, and sort of a sequel to carousel of progress.

Epcot82GuyJan 09, 2024

The issue I have with this argument is that much of original Future World was designed to be updated - if it even needed to. Other than Energy, WoL and the Seas, very little of the time on the omnimover rides was focused on the future. It showcased the past in SSE, World of Motion and Horizons. Horizons was also an exception to this with it's second half, but it was so far in the future it still had relevancy (with updated effects, of course). LwtL certainly looked to the future - but in the most tangible way, as it still does today successfully. JII didn't need to, as it was all fantasy. They kept many of the attractions that were easier (cheaper) to simply update and took out those that could actually have become classics. I'm not saying there weren't major dated things. And, I'm not saying updates weren't desperately needed. It's the lack of a cohesive focus and idea that causes the replacements to fail. Without it, the attractions are just standalone attractions. And, the park as a whole suffers because of it. Whether people care enough about that or not is another question. But, there is little doubt it played into the popularity of the park in the 80s and 90s along with the innovation being showcased. Believe it or not, a lot of people like to feel inspired. Before Disney was hyper branded, that was the audience EPCOT Center went after and grabbed successfully.

Horizon1Jan 09, 2024

Kind of the issue with old Epcot. The technology was phased out or came to fruition and was no longer cool future tech. That being said we know more about space then we do about the sea and the world beneath the surface, definitely something that could have been done to update the living seas and is probably in order as Nemo is aging.

ChrisFLDec 23, 2023

I do think the omnimover in the original Living Seas was a bit redundant but knowing the history of the creation it seems it was the result of a lot of changes. If I was "in charge" when the original Nemo changes were going to take place, I'd have kept the original opening film and hydrolators but had a separate entrance/ride for Nemo once you get down to Seabase Alpha.....realizing that structurally that might not have worked that well due to the layout of everything.

Centauri Space StationDec 23, 2023

That was done by the hydrolaters, I was talking about the ride itself. It just seemed like it could've been alot more and didn't really add to it.

osianDec 23, 2023

It's the transport that takes you from land to the ocean-floor visitor centre. What do you mean by "aquarium"? It's literally the ocean. What part of that story did you miss? Rise of the Resistance - the transport ship takes you from land up into space where you're hijacked and diverted to the First Order ship. Without that boring transport bit, you just end up in a warehouse with no story. Space 220 - the transport takes you from land up to the unique restaurant in the sky. Without that boring transport bit, you're just climbing some stairs into a second floor dining room with a large projection screen and no story.

Centauri Space StationDec 23, 2023

Disagree, the star was always the aquarium. The concept was dying and the sea cabs didn’t even run in the last 4 years of its existence. Nemo isn’t the best ride but it’s not the worst either. The queue to Nemo transports you to a beach slowly descending to the ocean. The exit is what ruins the effect.

UNCgolfDec 23, 2023

No it didn't. That omnimover was part of the "story" of the pavilion and one of the reasons the Living Seas was among the best things Imagineering has ever done. It helped sell the concept that you had traveled to a base under the ocean. The Nemo ride, on the other hand, is one of the worst rides they've ever built. Even if you eliminated the whole Seabase Alpha concept so that the omnimovers actually were more or less pointless, they'd still be better than the current Nemo attraction because you'd at least get to see the actual animals in the aquarium from another perspective.