Dive! Dive!

Okay old people, does anyone remember the old 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea rides that used to be at Disneyland (the one in California) and the Magic Kingdom (the one in Florida)? I barely remember them and what I do remember of it was the long line, the cramped conditions, the stifling atmosphere, and tentacles wrapping around the sub as it shook.

Dad took the family down to Disney World and its Magic Kingdom in 1999 and I was hurt to see that the ride had been closed down. (I was even more pissed to find out the next time we visited, they took down the Skytram) The next few times we visited, the ride area was turned into a character greeting place called Ariel’s grotto. You could still tell that a ride was supposed to be there though. Then the last time we were there in 2005, the area had been filled in and a play place built.

An article in the June 25th issue reported that Disneyland had overhauled the ride and reopened it. It’s no longer the 20,000 Leagues ride though. It’s now, “Disneyland’s ‘Finding Nemo’ Submarine Voyage” and is based, of course, on that wonderful movie. Hmm, I wonder what Captain Nemo thinks about that?

The one picture in the article still reminds me of the old ride. It still looks cramped but at least it doesn’t look like I’d be gasping for air conditioning if I went on it. And if the article is correct, I might be impressed by what lies beyond the portholes. It’s just too bad that I would have to go all the way to Anaheim to see it.


UPDATE 22 June 2007 8:17am:
After reading this site, I have to say that the two submarine rides of Disneyland and Disneyworld were different. I thought that they were both 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea based. Turns out that only the Florida one had that. The one in California had more modern looking subs.