This was one of the E-ticket rides from the new Tomorrowland in 1959. It is going return and open sometime this summer. I going to tell you some history of the original ride(1959-1986). The seven orignal gray colored subs were:Patrick Henry
Seawolf
Skate
Skipjack
Triton Ethan Allen
George Washington
Did you know that the names of the subs are names of the real US Navy subs
Here is one of the orignal gray subs this one is the "Sea Wolf"
From 1965 through summer 1967, ladies dressed as mermaids would sit and pose on the island in the center of the lagoon.
The is a picture of one of the orignal gray sub passing a mermaid
Reasons of closing were:
the mermaids' hair turned blue & green from the high chlorine concentration in the water
crowds gathered to look and thereby interfered with foot traffic in the passage between the Matterhorn and sub lagoon
guests would swim out to the island to have their photos taken with the mermaids
The submarines were painted yellow in the 1980s, since the military connotation of gray battle subs was politically incorrect. The yellow color was supposed to make them look like research subs, instead.(The reason research subs are typically painted yellow is because yellow is one of the last colors to be visible at great depths.)
The names of the yellow subs were (including some name changes)(1987-1998):
Nautilus
Formerly Seawolf ->Neptune
Formerly Skate->Sea Star
Formerly Skipjack->Explorer
Formerly Triton->Seeker
Formerly George Washington->Argonaut
Formerly Patrick Henry->Triton
Formerly Ethan Allen->SeaWolf
(notice how the Nautilus didn't change its name)
Heres a picture of the yellow subs in 1995
Finally, in September 1998, the Submarine Voyage carried its last passenger.
But then in 2003 Finding Nemo, a Disney/Pixar film, came out and its popularity started to make an idea for the Finding Nemo theme for the Submarine Voyage.
Planing to open sometime this summer the 8 orignal subs are renamed again to: Nautilus
Formerly Neptune->Scout
Formerly Sea Star->Voyager
Formerly Explorer->Mariner
Formerly Seeker->Seafarer
Formerly Argonaut->Explorer
Formerly Triton->Neptune
Formerly Seawolf->Argonaut
(Notice yet again the Nautilus didn't change)
The planed storyline is that you are taking a scientific voyage to an underwater volcano but on the way you see Nemo and friends and if you but on the headphones you can here them talking.
Here's a concept picture of what you might see out of the portholes.
Here's the new sign.
Here is a concept of the lagoon notice the seagulls on the buoy. Probably when the sub passes them they will say mine! mine! mine!
