Throwback Friday: The Living Seas

To celebrate the 39th anniversary of the opening of The Living Seas. The Living Seas was an aquarium and attached dark ride attraction located on the western side of Future World at Epcot. The pavilion was themed as an underwater exploration base called Sea Base Alpha, with several exhibits devoted to oceanic study. The pavilion opened in 1986, but had been planned as part of the park since its opening in 1982. It housed the largest saltwater tank in the world at its completion, holding 5.7 million US gallons (22,000,000 L) of water. The concept of the building and attraction was to take visitors under the ocean to "Sea Base Alpha". Guests viewed a short movie about the formation of the oceans entitled The Sea, which was followed by an elevator ride to the ocean floor aboard a "Hydrolator". Guests then boarded a Seacab on the Caribbean Coral Reef Ride, and rode through the middle of the tank. They then disembarked into the main exhibit area where they could interact with various multimedia displays. Once finished, guests leaving the pavilion would then board another Hydrolator to the surface (which, similar to the first set of elevators, simulated upward motion). The Living Seas was sponsored by United Technologies from its opening until 1998. After the departure of United Technologies as sponsor of The Living Seas, significant changes were made to the pavilion. On October 21, 2001, as a result of declining patronage following the September 11 attacks, the Seacabs closed down and were walled off. The queue of the Seacab ride was left intact and the Seacabs were still visible to guests through the ocean tank windows. After they closed, guests leaving the Hydrolators walked along the former wheelchair bypass corridor to Sea Base Alpha. Now, guests had the option of viewing the preshow or going directly to the Hydrolators and simply walking to Sea Base Alpha. In December 2003, Disney began to re-theme The Living Seas into a new pavilion based on the recently released Pixar film Finding Nemo.