20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Submarine Voyage

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea at Magic Kingdom in 1998
Magic Kingdom
Area	Fantasyland
Status	Closed
Opening date	October 14, 1971
Closing date	September 5, 1994
Replaced by	Ariel's Grotto (1995-2004), Pooh's Playful Spot (2005-2010), Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (2014-present)
Tokyo DisneySea
Area	Mysterious Island
Status	Operating
Opening date	September 4, 2001
General statistics
Host	Captain Nemo (Peter Reneday)
Disney's Fastpass available at Tokyo DisneySea
Single rider line available at Tokyo DisneySea

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Submarine Voyage was an attraction at the Magic Kingdom theme park at Walt Disney World from 1971 through 1994.

In 1959, an ambitious expansion of Tomorrowland in Disneyland was completed, which included the addition of new attractions, including the Matterhorn Bobsleds, Monorail, and Submarine Voyage. "Commissioned" on June 6, 1959, in front of Richard Nixon, Walt Disney and his wife Lillian, and officers of the US Navy, the attraction made use of early animatronics to create underwater life, and the use of forced perspective to increase the feeling of realism. Eight submarines painted in Cold War-friendly grey took guests through the attraction, which took place in a lagoon visible from Tomorrowland and a large show building hidden behind two waterfalls. It became extremely popular with guests, and Walt Disney Imagineering consequently planned for more elaborate version for the forthcoming Florida Project concept, which would become Walt Disney World.

One of the signature pieces of 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea was the fleet of passenger vehicles, adapted for theme park use from Harper Goff's Nautilus design for the 1954 Disney live-action version by Disney Imagineer George McGinnis. The basic hulls were constructed by Morgan Yacht in Clearwater, Florida, with the final building work being transferred to Tampa Ship midway through. Another veteran Imagineer, Bob Gurr, oversaw the project. Upon delivery at Walt Disney World in August 1971, the vehicles weighed some forty tons, and were installed into a concrete guide (track), mounted on top of a mechanism that limited "bumping" accidents.