The Seas Pavilion
The Seas With Nemo And Friends Pavilion is about to undergo a massive refresh as well! First, simply becoming "The Seas", the genre is a lot less specific and becomes home to many different stories and characters, all interconnected with the theming of a Marine Wildlife Sanctuary building. Yes, there will be characters in the pavilion, however, the way they are executed is much more appealing as it fits the idea of EPCOT and still manages to create very fun Disney feelings!
Unlike the UoE overhaul, which is done in one massive closure with one grand reopening, this pavilion's overhaul is done in phases throughout the upcoming years.
Schedule:
Early 2017- Turtle Talk With Crush Update
Spring 2017- Coral Reef Restaurant Update
Summer 2018- Reworking of entrance, retheming, new marine exhibits, opening of
Moana: Legends of the Sea
Summer 2019- The Big Blue World- An Adventure With Nemo and Friends!
Turtle Talk With Crush:
A TTwC refurbishment will enhance this wildly popular interactive theater show immensely! New in-theater lighting/other special effects will make it all the more fun, with Crush having fun checking out the humans in the human tank! Plus, the video quality will be considerably upgraded in a much needed change to make it feel much more of a real character interaction for the youngsters!
The Coral Reef:
The Coral Reef is currently the lowest attended full sit down restaurant on property, which is a shame considering how unique of a dining experience it is! During a brief refresh, the restaurant will receive a brand new menu and an overall overhaul of the interior aesthetic. In addition, you can now expect to see real expert divers around the restaurant, not only in the tank, but walking around, and even talking to guests! All in all these changes will very much help the restaurant and hope to put it back on the must-visit list of dining options with the likes of Be Our Guest.
Overall Retheming and Layout Overhaul:
The pavilion as a whole will get a completely new fee to it with the overhaul. No longer will it be a ride into the pavilion, treating all of the incredible exhibits and tanks afterwards as just the little post show to the ride. The Seas will take on an atmosphere much like The Land, with the setting of an open main area that you enter to/exit from, with the attractions all around it. The theming and fish exhibits will all receive major TLC, and will be themed to the strictly scientific Marine Wildlife Sanctuary concept. The new layout is below.
Module A- A Big Blue World
Module B- Moana
Module C- Turtle Talk With Crush
Module D- Exhibits/Tanks
Moana- Legends of the Sea:
There will be two rides in the final plans of The Seas, one a family friendly dark ride, and one a bit more thrilling. The family ride will be themed to Moana, and will make use of the omnimovers in the pavilion. Moana: Legends of the Sea will tell the story of the connection between mankind and the water, much like in the movie. It is not purely a situation of man feeding off of the water, but rather living with it and respecting it. In the dark ride scenes, the screens that currently show Nemo and friends will be replaced by different scenes explaining different legends of the seas and man, much like in the style of the opening scene of the movie, with animatronics of Moana, Maui, and even Tamatoa in the water! This then transitions to guests riding "into the ocean", using state of the art projection/simulation effects. The ride then concludes with a ride through the fish tanks, made even more emotional, inspirational and grand by the amazing music of the movie riding along with you.
A Big Blue World- An Adventure With Nemo & Friends!:
The big new addition to The Seas pavilion will be the new e-ticket Finding Nemo simulator attraction, A Big Blue World. The ride will include two large theaters on expansion plots to the northwest of the pavilion. This isn't your ordinary Star Tours or Soarin' simulator though, it will make use of the very most cutting-edge ride technology! For this ride, a variation of the new Dynamic Attractions Motion Theater will be used:
Using this Motion Theater, there will be a mixture of practical effects and sets set up in the attraction, all behind and in front of massive 3D screens that help produce the immersion in the experience. A layout can be seen below, which outlines the different scenes. Similar to American Adventure in a way with moving sets, screens and sets will move throughout the course of the show and reveal themselves as you make it to a new destination.
The story of the attraction is that you are going on an adventure throughout the sea with Nemo and friends! It creates opportunities for edutainment in EPCOT style, with incredibly fun characters that appeal to all ages! The motion base vehicle will be themed to riding on Mr. Ray's back as you go on this tour. The ride starts out with just the 3D screens surrounding you, and the coral reef/anemone set pieces in front of you as shown above. As the simulator begins, Nemo is wondering where Dory and Marlin are, as he was excited for them to join everyone on the adventure. So, you begin riding through the ocean, looking for Dory and Marlin. The first 'stop' is turning to the school of fish in front of screen 8, who demo asks directions from (these are the famous fish of course that helped direct Dory OVER the ledges in the original film!). They are created using drones, as they constantly are swimming to make new shapes, and is much more exciting than just on screen. They all you they last saw Dory and Marlin with Crush riding the current! So, off you go racing through the ocean!
Eventually you make it to the Crush and other turtles scene, with turtle animatronics "swimming" in front of you, dude! Briefly inside the current you can see Dory and Marlin trying to swim towards you, but get sucked away, so Nemo has Mr. Ray follow them.
The next scene that this leads to is the sharks, with Bruce and the sunken boat and "balloons". A massive Bruce animatronic smiles in front of you, comparable to the Kong animatronic. He is more than ecstatic to see a hundred or so fish riding on Mr. Rays back, that are in fact friends and not food, of course... Slowly, Nemo swims around, motioning to Dory and Marlin to swim out of the boat piece and to Mr. Ray, but as they are moving, one of the balloons explodes, with a huge blast of light and heat that sends the vehicle twirling and riding all around in the water as the finale adventure!
Eventually, you slow down, back where you started. And guess who's joining you?! That's right, Marlin and Dory! Dory of course is lighthearted and wants to do that again, while Marlin swears he is never leaving the anemone again.
Lastly, you swirl around to the school of direction fish one last time, who are in formation to direct you to the exit.
All in all, this expansion plan for the Seas pavilion will bring some much needed energy to the pavilion, with more Disney fun for those who love the characters, and more nostalgic and EPCOT-esque aspects for the huge fans. We hope you are excited for what we have in store! Thank you for visiting the EPCOT 3.0 D23 Destination D exhibits here, and we hope to see you in the park sometime soon!