Greg Maletic
Page 3 of 7

The Columbia

The Attractions
…are what I always get most excited about. Most new Disney parks borrow heavily from their older siblings, copying existing attractions from the established parks in order to keep budgets in line. As such, it’s refreshing that DisneySea has only one attraction that exists anywhere else, and it’s even hard to object to that since it’s such a good one: a version of Disneyland’s Indiana Jones.

I had to start my exploration of DisneySea’s attractions with one big disappointment, however: Journey to the Center of the Earth, the park’s premiere attraction, was closed for refurbishment while I was there. I knew about this ahead of my departure, but unfortunately, scheduling considerations prevented me from taking the trip at any other time, so I just had to live with this sorry state of affairs. Not willing to give up without a fight, however, I hatched an elaborate scheme that involved traveling to the park by myself during the last five hours of my stay, stowing my luggage in a Disney locker, buying an admission to the park just to see the ride, then taking the train out to the airport to meet my family and catch my departing plane in the nick of time. Unfortunately, I discovered, even going to those extremes wouldn’t be enough: the attraction was opening the day after I left, not the day of my departure. I was beaten. (On the bright side, though, it does give me a rationale for heading back to Japan in the near future!)

I plowed ahead, and it wasn’t hard to raise my spirits. Mysterious Island’s other big attraction, 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, was easily the attraction that I wanted to see most at DisneySea. I absolutely love the movie; I love Harper Goff’s beautiful Nautilus design, and I have fond memories of Disney World’s much-maligned version that closed down for good several years ago.

In this updated version of the attraction, you don’t literally go underwater. Using techniques termed "dry-for-wet," 20,000 Leagues tries to make its terrestrial sets look like they’re under the sea. Why go "dry-for-wet?" For one, it’s theoretically possible to make a dry experience seem more realistic than an underwater one that takes place in a pool fifteen feet deep, as Disney World’s old version attempted. And presumably building the ride visuals is easier in a dry environment, allowing grander, more elaborate scenes than would be possible in a lagoon. Lastly, maintenance costs should be lower: it’s easier to keep up ride equipment that isn’t submerged twenty-four hours a day.

So there are plenty of reasons to go "dry," and the Imagineers use a clever technique to make the vehicles seem like they’re underwater. (I won’t detail it here, but I will say that it works very, very well.) Unfortunately, having made the investment in creating a submerged illusion, Disney reaps none of the benefits for having done so. Remember, the first 20,000 Leagues attraction created a perfect representation of being underwater: it was underwater. To expend huge engineering effort to replicate that effect isn’t worth it if it’s not going to pay off in some additional fashion. And 20,000 Leagues doesn’t collect on any of these dividends. Even though the motion of the vehicles moving through simulated water feels completely authentic, the sea environment doesn’t look very realistic at all, with the simplest of animatronic effects (is that the exact same moray eel from the old Disney World attraction that pokes its head out at the riders?) painted in the standard black-light color palette we see in Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. It feels more like a "dark ride" than a real underwater experience.

The sets in the attraction seem tiny: there isn’t a moment where you don’t feel like you’re staring at a wall. How about a few big dioramas, like in the original attraction (only better since we’re not underwater!) showcasing some incredible seascapes? No such luck: ultraviolet paintings try to give the same sense of size, but unfortunately, they don’t. It’s like the Imagineers got so wrapped up in creating the virtual underwater experience that they forgot to give us anything interesting to look at. If you’re going to build an attraction, what’s inside has to be better than what’s outside, and in this case, it’s not: nothing in the ride looks half as cool as its Mysterious Island exterior. This wasn’t the 20,000 Leagues attraction I had dreamt about.

Although the ride vehicles are incredibly impressive, sadly, this new 20,000 Leagues isn’t as good as Disney World’s old version or Disneyland’s Submarine Voyage. It’s over in less than half the time of the original, the visuals aren’t as compelling (and less realistic!), and the ride isn’t interesting enough to compensate for losing the novelty of really going underwater.

So Journey was a no-go, and 20,000 Leagues was a disappointment. Depressing. My group and I trudged ahead, and fortunately, we found what I thought was the park’s best attraction. Sinbad’s Seven Voyages is one of the park’s sleepers, buried deep in the back corner of the park’s Arabian Coast section. Unfortunate guests who bypass it are missing one of DisneySea’s most enjoyable and impressive experiences. Sinbad is a "dark" boat ride, and with its tiny animatronic figures, seems superficially like It’s A Small World. But there’s an actual story here--and not too much singing--so it’s more like a non-thrill version of Splash Mountain or a Fantasyland dark ride than anything else. The animatronic figures are astonishing: they move with a fluidity and realism that’s truly hard to believe, like wooden toys magically sprung to life. The sets look fantastic, with bright storybook colors and cool lighting effects. (Ironically, the sets are a little too big for the tiny figures; the environment sometimes seems a tad empty.) The ride is quite long as well. One of Disney’s best attractions ever, Sinbad brightened my spirits considerably after the disappointment of 20,000 Leagues.