20,000 Leagues Under The Sea - the ride

Other than the fact that it did keep breaking down AND the fact that the cars tended to leak a lot and towards the end of it's life, since it was mostly underwater they considered it a serious liability. The cars ran on tracks and imagine what would have happened if it would have became stuck on the track while underwater, Glug,glug, glug. I have heard (rumor only) that they had scuba divers available for fixing any underwater problems, and remember that ride technology was not as advanced as it is today. It was though a great ride and I did have the pleasure of going on the ride shortly before it was retired.

This is one ride I wish I could have tried this ride before it retired. I hear the new fantsyland will have a rock shapped like the ship in tribute.

That was always one of my favourite rides at Disneyland when I was a kid. Even there, it sometimes wasn't running. I never did get to try it at WDW - I seem to remember a "not in operation" sign every time we were there - or am I remembering Disneyland? WAS it at WDW too?

Does anyone remember the flying saucers at Disneyland? That was another ride that was rarely running whenever we were there. I think in 5 trips, we got to try it once! It wasn't a surprise when they just shut it down, but it always seemed to have promise - too bad they couldn't get the mechanics right.

I remember riding it several times, and we rode it the last year it was in operation. I even took video, its on vhs, gota try to find it and copy it to the computer. Then I'll post it.

http://www.20kride.com/home.html

Here's a link to the wiki article about this ride but it doesn't say why it closed. I don't think I ever rode it because I think my first trip to Disney was in like 94 or 95. What is in it's place now? It said Pooh's playful spot was there from 2005-2010 but we went in 2009 and 2010 and I don't know what Pooh's playful spot is

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20,000_Leagues_Under_the_Sea:_Submarine_Voyage

This second article talks a little bit more about why it closed but are basically the same reasons everyone listed

http://allears.net/tp/mk/20000.htm

Here is a picture of where it was. From WDW Radio.

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Hmmm...so is it where the pinnocho restaurant is now?

I'm always very sad about this. I totally feel that WDW should still have a lagoon. It was dumb to fill it in and I think just another Eisner short cut. If it's still running in California, there's no reason it couldn't be running in Florida as far as insurance goes. I mean really, it's not like the subs completely submerge.

They still have a submarine ride at Disneyland, but it's finding Nemo themed rather than 20,000 leagues. They use the same technology that they do at Epcot's "The Seas with Nemo and Friends" to show the characters swimming along with you in the lagoon. Pretty cool, however last month I noticed the "Mine, Mine, Mine" Seagulls had been removed and that made me sad.

I remember riding it on my very first trip and when I went back it was no more! I remember being a little bit scared to go underwater. It would be a cool things to bring back to the park. I agree that the lagoon should have stayed- it's so nice to look at as opposed to the ton of pavement that covers everywhere else.

Love the little girl from Nemo holding the bag....that's awesome

I never got to ride it and as a kid it probably wouldn't of bothered me because I wouldn't of thought about it....but as an adult it would kind of scare me to go underwater on a ride that is prone to breaking down....that's kind of why I have my fear of rollercoasters....there is always a "chance" the train could fly off the track...LOL

Ok so since it was driving me batty about the location of this I did some more research....It was located where they are now doing the fantasyland construction. Our past two trips they have been doing the constuction but our first year there in 2009 they hadn't started the constuction yet. Me and Mase looked up pictures for pooh's playful spot and have no recollection of ever seeing it....the majority of the things that were in it have been moved to the new interactive queue for the pooh ride...we also looked through our pictures and have no pictures of it....so the only thing we can come up with was that year we only went to Magic Kingdom once and we didn't go over to Fantasyland till after dark since they had the EMH's and we just didn't notice it because it was dark.....and I'm sure you all cared to know that...LOL

Okay, I totally feel like I'm ruining the fantasy, but... y'all know that the subs didn't fully submerge, right?

There was never any danger of drowning, or getting stuck under water for hours. If it broke down they just opened the hatch and you climbed out.

I rode the "subs" way back in '87 and it was a decent ride. However, from what I saw last week I think the new Fantasy Land will be a huge improvement. I mean who is not going love playing the the cranes, backhoes, bobcats, and cement mixers.

Im down with playing with some cranes... even a bobcat would be a lot of fun!

did you happen to ride Kilamanjaro Safaris? since they are doing the construction at the end, they have a huge backhoe out there covered in stuff so that you don't notice it. Like you wouldn't notice it!!!! But our driver was really awesome about it and she said "keep your eyes peeled folks! we may see a big CAT around here!"

Yes that's true BUT if they opened the hatch to let you out, you had to walk on water to get back to land.

Here is our video from way back when!
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I use to LOVE this ride. Thought it was the coolest thing... till I realized you could see the top of the water...................