20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Submarine Voyage, Former submarine ride in Fantasyland, Magic Kingdom, Florida, US
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Submarine Voyage was a submarine ride in Fantasyland at Magic Kingdom in Florida. Fourteen grey Nautilus-style boats, built by Morgan Yachts and finished by Tampa Ship, carried 40 riders each along a concrete guide track through a lagoon and a show building hidden behind rockwork. The lagoon and attraction held 43,532 m³ of water and covered nearly a quarter of Fantasyland.
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Submarine Voyage opened at Magic Kingdom on October 14, 1971, about two weeks after the park, delayed by infrastructure problems. It was one of the park's few original E-ticket rides, designed by WED Enterprises with Imagineers Tony Baxter, Claude Coats and Marc Davis. In 1994 its queue was shortened for the Fantasyland Character Festival, and it closed on September 5, 1994; Disney announced permanent closure in 2004, and the lagoon was filled in 2005.
The name comes from Jules Verne's novel and the Disney film that told the story of the mysterious Captain Nemo. Guests experienced animated creatures and a recreated underwater world that made it feel like actually traveling through the ocean.
Each vessel could hold up to 40 people, and the entire fleet carried around 480 guests per hour through the experience. The ride lasted several minutes and passed through a series of staged rooms beneath the water surface of an artificial lagoon.
After the closure, two of the original vessels were moved to Castaway Cay, a private Disney island in the Bahamas. They now serve as artificial reefs and provide habitat for fish and other marine life in a snorkeling area.
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