Sub Story (continued)
Climbing down the narrow winding stairs, you make your way to a
tiny fold-down seat. Since they are the original ride vehicles, the interior of
the subs looks about the same as it used to (although two seats have been
added), they have been spruced up of
course, and are now "Dory blue" and silver inside. It's pretty cool to be
sitting in front of that porthole once again, anticipating the voyage. For me,
it was kind of like seeing an old friend, an old friend who's got a great
plastic surgeon and is looking good.
As the sub pulls out from the dock, you glide past walls
encrusted with barnacles, starfish, and other crusty sea life. The new narration
replaces the captain of old and you are now sailing with an Aussie to the Great
Barrier Reef. The ship starts to "dive" and the surge of bubbles gurgling just
outside the porthole really makes it seem as though the ship is headed deep down
in the water.
When the sub reaches its cruising depth, you see brilliantly
colored corals and sea life just as pretty and colorful as found in the movie,
Finding Nemo. In the tradition of the old sub attraction, there are fish
swimming around, but unlike those old fish, these guys don't look like big
plastic fish suspended with wire.
And then... all of the sudden, there's Darla. You remember her?
The little terror from the Dentist's office in Finding Nemo who meant
death to fishies-in-plastic-bags? There she is, in all her orthodontic glory,
scuba diving, and she's got a baggie with a poor unfortunate fish within.
You float on a little further, past the relics of an what
appears to be an ancient city (an homage to the lost city of Atlantis from the
old sub voyages?) and you'll notice there's more than one scuba diver out for a
swim.
Darla isn't the only once collecting fish. Look closely on the back strap
of the diver's mask and you just might see,
P. Sherman
42 Wallaby Way
Sydney, Australia
Anyone out there remember the giant clams from the former subs?
I confess I had a fascination with them (it must have been something to do with
an old John Wayne movie I loved as a kid). Well, the clams are back, popping
open every now and then to reveal a giant pearl and the hiding place of a fish
or two.
And then ... you get to the nitty-gritty.
Mr. Ray sails by with his school fishies and the story starts.
The attraction isn't called Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage for nothing,
so of course, Nemo makes an appearance and then immediately
disappears and you have to set out to find him.
I think I am going to segue here from detailed description and
deal with generalities. It's for your own good, dear readers, you just don't
want to know everything, trust me.
Marlon and Dory and various other characters from Finding Nemo
swim by here and there all throughout the ride. You see more ancient ruins,
there's a mine field to navigate through, and a deep, dark abyss illuminated by
lots of very attractive tiny lights.
Remember Dory, in Finding Nemo,
being drawn to the lights saying, "It's soooo pretty ..." oh wait, she
does that here. And if you remember that scene, you know what comes next, a
scare-the-kids moment ... big, sharp, frightening teeth. Nope, not Bruce, the
shark, but an angler fish that's really pretty gruesome looking.
You catch the EAC (that's the East Australian Current for all
you non-turtle-dudes) with Crush and Squirt swimming around.
There is still a graveyard of ships (the first ship is a relic of the original
Sub Voyage) which is where you do find Bruce (the shark who swears, "Fish are
friends, not food."), and out of all the scenes with the animated characters,
this was my favorite. I thought the ship graveyard with Bruce was pretty believable
and darned fantastic.
Did I mention the jellyfish? No? Jellyfish, loads of them ...
they're so pretty, but you really don't want to get caught in them. They're not
as nice as they are pretty.
Towards the end of the ride, the sub starts to shake and you
come upon a pretty fabulous looking erupting volcano (think Mount
Wannahockaloogie from Finding Nemo and you'll get a mental picture of
what it looks like), there's an encounter with a blue whale (and Dory,
naturally, tries to speak to him) and then all of the sudden ... Hey! There's Nemo. You found him!
As the sub sails back into the harbor and you prepare to
disembark, make sure you listen for the mention of a sea serpent and mermaids, a
nice nod to the attraction's past, (and if you keep a sharp eye out, you might
just spot them).
Now since each view from each seat can be a little different,
your voyage may not look quite the same as mine did. But one thing is for
certain, it will be every bit as cool as the voyage I took on my old friend with
the new look, Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage.
Do the effects work to make it look as if you are actually
seeing the characters from Finding Nemo swim right outside your porthole? Well,
while the effects are pretty astonishing, for me, I felt that it looked
more like I was seeing a movie screen, and it wasn't quite a fabulous as I think
I expected it to look. Nonetheless, it's still pretty wonderful.
My thoughts about the look of the effects aside, the kiddies are
going to love this new version of the subs so much so, I think it's safe
to say there's a new classic at Disneyland, one that will stand the test of time
and be loved with the best of them.
Now that I think about it, I can't wait to go on Finding Nemo
Submarine Voyage again.
Do say hi to me when you see me in line.
Here are some fun facts that I thought were
interesting:
- The subs are 52-feet long and hold a pilot and
48 passengers.
- Original construction was supervised by Admiral Joseph Fowler and cost $2.5
million dollars.
- Live mermaids swam in the lagoon from 1965 to 1967.
- The Submarine voyage was the first E-Ticket.
- It took nearly 6.3 million gallons of water and 50 hours to refill the
lagoon.
- The subs are no longer powered by diesel but now operate on a nonpolluting
electrical system.
- Each rider will see and hear different experiences with a traveling sound system
that follows the characters as they swim from one side of the sub to the other.
- The coral and rocks in the lagoon are made of an environmentally friendly
material.
- The lagoon is colored with recycled glass which will retain its original color
and provide the translucent quality needed for underwater.
- In the graveyard of ships scene, the first ship comes from the original
attraction.
- Each porthole measures 12-inches across.
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