During the 1990s, Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom would close their classic submarine themed attractions, in part due to their high maintenance cost and low capacity. While the Magic Kingdom version would never return, eventually being replaced by Journey of The Little Mermaid, Imagineers developed a plan for the Disneyland version that while it never happened, ended up saving the ride system at the park.
This is the story of how Disneyland almost rethemed their submarines based on the animated film Atlantis.
Disneyland was already looking for ways to redevelop classic attractions based on their new films, something they had already done with Tarzan's Treehouse so they began making plans for an attraction based on their upcoming film.
With the subs closing in their original form, it was the perfect time to develop a retheme based on the upcoming film that prominently featured submarines and an underwater city, Atlantis. With the sub ride vehicles still being usable it would have been a low cost addition that would have brought a new film into the parks alongside its release.
This retheme was even shortly advertised in the Disney Parks, with some plans even calling for a more exaggerated redo of the area based on the film.
But when the film underperformed at the box office, any plans for an attraction based on it were canceled and the attraction was left closed until it was eventually replaced by the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage. The only reason that ride exists though is that Disneyland saw fit to maintain the ride for a never built proposed replacement.
Comments
Post a Comment