The Living Seas with Nemo and Friends
I wasn’t sure what I was getting myself into, but I was going in anyways. The Living Seas has always been one of my favorite Pavilions. I was disappointed, when taking my son for the first time to WDW for Spring Break 2005 and instead of some of the cool underwater exhibits, Nemo characters were there to take your picture with instead. The Hyradlators were still there but the ride through the water tanks were not. The cast member I ask didn’t even know it had had a ride. It seemed to have lost it identity.
Fast forward to Mousefest, December 2006 and the new Nemo ride is open and the Pavilion is now The Living Seas with Nemo and Friends. I was admittedly skeptical. The talking seagulls saying mine, mine, mine ever few minutes was fun outside. It was strange not to have a pre-show, but the queue was not bad. It had some nice effects and felt ok.
The attraction was good. The effects were well done and the projections were great! The ride vehicles were cute. Over the multiple time we rode it, it had some problems, but the ride is new and I expect this kind of thing.
When you get off the attraction, the whole Nemo thing is lost. Ya there is Turtle Talk with Crush and places to take your picture with Nemo characters. But it still has that 1980’s future look. It seems out a place. The two two attractions, Living Seas the Pavilion and Nemo do not marry that well. The aquarium is still outstanding, the Nemo attraction is good, but together, they just don’t work.
I know I say this a lot, but this is not what EPCOT is supposed to be about. Disney went half way with this new addition. They really needed to go all out and change the whole pavilion. Instead they inputed different Nemo vignettes into various parts of the pavilion.
I rate the Nemo attraction an Imagineering My Way ‘D’ ticket. I like it.
I rate the Turtle talk with Crush an Imagineering My Way ‘C’ ticket. It’s entertaining.
I rate the aquarium and Manatee exhibits an Imagineering My Way ‘D’ ticket. I don’t know if it’s the lighting or if the tanks need a serious cleaning, but it seemed a little dim or dingy. Not sure which really, but it is still impressive. I’ve seen many aquariums like San Diego’s Sea World, the now defunct Marine World, Monterey’s Aquarium by The Bay, and The Long Beach Aquarium. The Living Seas is still one of my favorites.
As a whole I rate the Living Seas with Nemo and Friends pavilion an Imagineering My Way ‘C’ ticket because it is disjointed and still needs work as a whole.
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