The Seas (originally The Seas with Nemo & Friends Pavilion) is a pavilion located in the Future World section of Epcot, a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Originally opening as The Living Seas in 1986 and focused around ocean ecosystems and exploration with a journey to a futuristic underwater research base, elements of the Finding Nemo film were gradually brought in starting in 2003 before a full re-theme of the pavilion took place in 2007.
The Seas is located in Future World West, which is planned to be re-designated World Nature.
History[]
The Entrance to The Living Seas before its refurbishment
The Seas Pavilion was part of plans for Epcot Center since the late-70s, with an early version of the attraction planned to feature the Greek sea god Poseidon as a host for a dark ride using bubble vehicles exploring different aspects of the ocean before dropping guests off at a futuristic marine research base. It didn't make it into the opening line-up as Disney had trouble finding a partner to sponsor the pavilion with and the dark ride portion was scaled back when United Technologies signed on to sponsor the attraction.
In 2003, the process of bringing in elements of the Pixar film Finding Nemo began. This includes the now-popular Turtle Talk with Crush show where the character Crush talks to the audience about marine life by usage of an innovative live CGI system. In 2005, The Living Seas closed for its extensive Finding Nemo layover, which included removing the hydrolators and changing the Seacabs ride. The pavilion reopened in October 2006 with a new name, The Seas with Nemo and Friends Pavilion, as part of Disney's Year of a Million Dreams celebration.
A loosely related attraction using much of the same animation, Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage opened at Disneyland as an update to the original Submarine Voyage, which closed on September 9. 1998. This attraction opened on June 11, 2007.
In late 2019, as part of Epcot's ongoing transformation, the pavilion was renamed The Seas Pavilion. The original pavilion icon returned to its regular use and signage throughout Sea Base began to change to more strongly emphasize the Sea Base theme again and incorporate the park's new fonts and graphic design look.[1]
Attractions[]
Pavilion attractions and services[]
The Living Seas logo now shown on the door to the Conference Center
- Coral Reef Restaurant - a table service dining establishment whose primary draw is the fact that one of its walls is the aquarium's glass back. Mickey can occasionally be seen scuba diving in the aquarium.
- Sea Base - the main aquarium portion of the pavilion with two levels of viewing into the main Caribbean Coral Reef exhibit, home to dolphins, sea turtles, rays and sharks. This main tank is adjoined by several modules containing smaller exhibits. (1982-)
- Turtle Talk with Crush - an interactive show wherein the sea turtle from Finding Nemo answers children's questions about the sea. Originally opened in Module 1C, it was relocated to Module 1A and one of the original preshow theaters for additionaldeo clips narrated by Mr. Ray explaining wildlife rehabilitation projects across Florida.
- Ocean Life - Reef Ecosystems - Located in Module 1C, home to various small coral tanks and a view out into a digital ocean leftover from Turtle Talk's previous occupancy in the module.
- Nursery - Coastal Ecosystems - Located in Module 2A, home to younger fish and tanks for cultivating live coral to assist with reef restoration projects.
- Lockout Chamber - Located in the central atrium, the Lockout Chamber consists of a scuba diver who dives in a circular tube to teach people about fish and scuba.
- Gift Shop
- Diving Tours
- Epcot DiveQuest
- Epcot Seas Aqua Tour (2002-)
- Dolphins in Depth
VIP room[]
This pavilion has a backstage VIP room that is used for private events, such as weddings and conventions. The room is a long, curved room, with wood-paneled walls. One side has floor-to-ceiling windows into the aquarium. The room also has an acrylic glass see-through piano.
Consultants and advisers[]
- Dr. Robert Ballard, Senior Scientist, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
- Dr. Sylvia Earle, Vice President, Ocean Engineering, Inc.
- Mr. Gilbert Grosvenor, President, National Geographic Society
- Dr. Murray Newman, Director, Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre
- Professor William Nierenberg, Director, Scripps Institution of Oceanography
- Dr. David Potter, Vice President, Public Affairs, General Motors Corporation
- Dr. John Ryther, Director, Division of Applied Biology, Harbor Branch Foundation, Inc.
- Mr. Robert Wildman, Deputy Director, NOAA, Office of Sea Grants Program
Kingdom Keepers[]
The VIP room was featured in the third Kingdom Keepers book, Disney In Shadow. Here, the keepers used it as a temporary HeadQuarters for their missions at Epcot.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The Seas aquarium is the second-largest saltwater tank in the world after the Georgia Aquarium, holding 5.7 million gallons of water.
- Among the fish in the aquarium is a female round ribbontail ray with a hidden Mickey on her back.
References[]
See also[]
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This page uses content from the English Wikipedia page The Seas Pavilion. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. Text from Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. |
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