In Defense of The Living Seas

Image via Lost Epcot

Last week, the Disney Parks blog trumpeted that The Seas with Nemo and Friends was celebrating its 25th anniversary - which is pretty amazing, especially since Finding Nemo didn't come out until 2003. A subsequent blog post (with completely different statistics on how many animals live in the pavilion - 4000 vs 6000) touted a "look back" at how the pavilion has changed in 25 years, offering this summary:

The pavilion first opened in 1986 to house the Coral Reef Restaurant and The Living Seas attraction, which took guests on a journey to Sea Base Alpha on the ocean floor. There, guests could learn the wonder, mystery and possibility of the world’s oceans by taking a seacab tour of the pavilion’s 5.7 million gallon Caribbean Coral Reef aquarium.

... plus some publicity stills of The Seas with Nemo and Friends. Slow down, time machine! This "look back" is too intense!

I suppose that to properly acknowledge and fete The Living Seas is to acknowledge that Disney turned a pavilion that was already an attraction unto itself into a commercialized fish tank. It means remembering a time when Nemo, Kim Possible, and The Three Callaberos couldn't be found in Epcot, but you could meet their friends Buzzy, Fud Wrapper, and the Dreamfinder in EPCOT Center. And since Disney won't give The Living Seas (or EPCOT Center) the credit it deserves, I'll share my memories here, and I hope you'll do the same:

First, for the uninitiated: The Living Seas opened in 1986 and was sponsored by United Technologies. At the time, it featured the largest saltwater tank in the world. Guests would watch a short film entitled "The Sea," about how the oceans came into being. Then you would "descend" to the ocean floor in a Hydrolator and then - ta da! - you were in Sea Base Alpha. Guests got an up-close look at our fishy friends as you rode in a "sea cab" through the aquarium. As you disembarked, you were greeted with a variety of interactive multimedia displays. In 2001, United Technologies ended its sponsorship and in 2003, Disney began to re-theme the pavilion to be all about Finding Nemo.

See, at The Living Seas, the marine life was the star of the show, but nowadays, it's Nemo's world and everyone else just swims in it. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the "Clam Mobile" ride, when Finding  Nemo animation is superimposed over the aquarium, so that guests can barely see the actual fish. In a way, The Seas with Nemo and Friends is the most dramatic example of removing the L word from EPCOT. And what a dirty, dirty word it is:

Learning.

And I get it, I do. Kids don't want to learn on vacation because learning is boring and if you tell kids they might learn something then they aren't going to want to visit your park. At least, that's what the marketing people will tell you. But for me, a smart kid who never quite fit in because she was always the teacher's pet, the kid who asked lots of questions on the field trip to the museum instead of turning everything into a joke, the kid who wanted to know absolutely everything about the world she lived in - well, for me, EPCOT Center was the ultimate playground.

I remember my first trip to Sea Base Alpha like it was yesterday. I remember being so excited to ride that Hydrolator ("Mommy, we're going DOWN!"), and when the doors opened and you saw the enormous amount of fish - and the enormous amount of varieties of fish - my little jaw dropped. It was like getting to see another world that you had read about, but didn't really understand until then. (Mind you, this was also a year or so after The Little Mermaid hit theaters, and I was pretty well convinced I was going to be Ariel when I grew up.) And those of you who know me in person or follow me on Twitter know that I'm firmly committed to marine conservation issues and I'll preach for days about the importance of saving our oceans. It's a passion that I credit those early trips to Sea Base Alpha (and my local New England Aquarium) for inspiring.

Today, the Living Seas is a shadow of its former self, and yeah, an argument can be made that the pavilion is now a bigger draw for kids, and that while they're interacting with the Finding Nemo characters, they'll be learning about marine life. I'd like to think that's true. But the next time you visit the pavilion, watch where all the people are. They aren't visiting the rescued manatee area or reading the exhibits about the dangers facing marine life today. They aren't even looking at the actual aquarium. Instead, everyone is lined up for the next showing of Turtle Talk with Crush.

And so, instead of saying Happy 25th Birthday to the Seas with Nemo and Friends, I hope you'll join me in saying:

Thanks for the memories, Living Seas. You will be missed.

This post is part of the DisMarks Blog Carnival. For more great Disney reads, click here.
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Related Links:
* GM Hits the Brakes on Test Track
* Daily Dose of Wonderful
* Disney Memories: One to Forget