Subtraction of the Week:Submarine Voyage
Music for Diving:
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Subtraction of the Week:Submarine Voyage
Music for Diving:
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Iago: You know what I like about living at Disney, Zazu? They got this ENORMOUS bird bath!
Zazu: You mean the swimming pool at the resort?
Iago: Naw, those are always full of noisy tourists and there's no privacy. I'm talking about those really big pools right inside the Magic Kingdom and Disneyland between Tomorrowland and Fantasyland. They're big, empty, and both have these nice waterfalls for times I feel like a shower instead of a bath.
Zazu: Iago, it sounds like you're describing the Submarine Lagoons! At 7.1 and 11 million gallons, they would be hard to mistake for birdbaths.
Iago: Submarines? I never saw any submarines. I never saw any kind of marines in them at all ... except for that one time during the Night of Joy last year....
Zazu: The submarines may not be there now, but those are very famous lagoons! They once housed the world's eighth largest fleet of submarines, and the largest fleet of non-combat submersibles.
Iago: You gotta be kidding! Since when did Disney have a navy?
Zazu: Well, since 6 June 1959, deep in the heart of the cold war, and less than a year since the US Navy's Commander Anderson sailed the real Nautilus beneath the ice to the North Pole. Along with the Matterhorn and Monorail, the Submarine Voyage was one of the original three "E-Ticket" rides at Disneyland.
Iago: "E-Ticket"? "E-Yuck", I say! Who would want to be stuffed in a can and dunked underwater? You wouldn't be able to see a thing.
Zazu: Well, it seems that 38 passengers at a time for almost 40 years were quite willing. You see, unlike every other submarine afloat -- or submerged -- Disney submarines have portholes.
Iago: That doesn't sound like standard equipment.
Zazu: Of course not, this is Disney! They had the submarines built their own specifications by Todd Shipyards in San Pedro. And a fine fleet it was, too. The design was based on the first nuclear submarine, the Nautilus. Others carrying the authentic gray livery were the Triton, Seawolf, Skate, Skipjack, George Washington, Patrick Henry, and Ethan Allen.
Iago: How very patriotic.
Zazu: That was the fifties for you. Thirty years later, times had changed, and Disney changed with them. The submarines were reassigned to undersea research, and five were renamed. The fleet now boasted the Nautilus, Triton, Seawolf, Neptune, Sea Star, Explorer, Seeker, and Argonaut -- all painted a bright safety yellow.
Iago: You mean as in, "We All Live In A"?
Zazu: I'm afraid so.
Iago: Sheesh! And I thought Donald's rubber ducky was tacky! At least the subs at the Magic Kingdom never had to put up with that indignity.
Zazu: No, they were a completely different model. Instead of being based on real submarines, they were based on the Nautilus from the movie "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea", and were named for that film.
Iago: Wasn't that also the name of an old Disneyland attraction?
Zazu: You have a good memory for being such a parrot. Yes, the set pieces from that film were on display at Disneyland from opening until August 1966. They even had the giant squid on display there.
Iago: I remember that. Looked like a cross between calimari and Godzilla! Can you imagine how much marinara sauce that would have needed?
Zazu: As I was saying, the Magic Kingdom submarines opened in October 1971 with a fleet of nine. Like their west coast counterparts, these too were powered by diesel engines.
Iago: Are you saying the nuclear subs were liquid fueled?
Zazu: What more appropriate way to visit the wonders of "Liquid Space" as it was billed.
Iago: "Liquid Space"? What's that?
Zazu: Like most Disney spaces, it's mostly fiberglass, only wet. The submarines began their voyages by diving to periscope depth. As soon as you cleared the docks, you could see the colorful life of a tropical reef. There were fish, sharks, starfish, kelp, whales, octopus, lobsters....
Iago: And mermaids? I especially like mermaids!
Zazu: As a matter of fact, there were mermaids in the Disneyland lagoon during the inagural summer and again during the summers of 1965 through 1967.
Iago: Why did they leave? Did the animatronics get wet?
Zazu: No, no, no. These weren't animatronic, they were real live mermaids (at least, from the waist up). Lovely lasses, they smiled, waved, and blew kisses to passersby.
Iago: Hubba, hubba! That would explain the marines in the birdbath then.
Zazu: Er, yes. Unvited guests were one of the problems with the mermaid program. That and the scuba divers swimming out to check on the girls all the time.
Iago: For some scenery like that I could put up with some fish scales in my bathwater.
Zazu: Iago, it's not your ... oh nevermind. The rest of the finned creatures weren't quite so convincing as the mermaids, and some sharp-eyed birds could even see the monofilament line used to hold the swimmers in position.
Iago: That's a nice touch! For once fishing line is used to keep fish in the water.
Zazu: Exactly. Other features of the attraction were a cruise under the ice cap at the North Pole, views of shipwrecks (not Disney piloted ships, of course), and sunken ruins believed to be the lost city of Atlantis. Not to mention the thrill of sailing into the cave under those big waterfalls.
Iago: Those caves led directly to the ocean, right?
Zazu: Er ... no, they went to the submarine vault.
Iago: Is that anything like Vault Disney on the TV?
Zazu: No, it's the huge show building the size of several football fields where most of the attraction took place. It was located underneath the Autopia at Disneyland, and just north of the lagoon at the Magic Kingdom.
Iago: Autopia? Isn't that all surrounded by trees and bushes? How could there be a building under all that?
Zazu: Just think of it as a roof garden. Nicely hidden, isn't it?
Iago: I'll say, for a moment there I thought you were starting to hallucinate.
Zazu: Hallucination is not all that uncommon on this attraction. Many visitors return with claims of having sighted sea serpents, though I suspect they were just hyperventilating from the excitement.
Iago: Speaking of ventilating, how did people breathe under all that water?
Zazu: Oh there was never any danger of not breathing. There were air vents on the deck of the submarine and a tiny blower jet under each porthole.
Iago: Hello? Excuse me Zazu, but submarines go underwater!!! How much good is an "air vent" going to do them?
Zazu: Actually, the submarines never got any further under the water than they were at the loading dock. They stayed at the same depth the whole way.
Iago: You mean all that stuff the captain said about, "Dive! Dive! Dive!" and "Periscope Depth" and all that was just....
Zazu: A recording, yes. All part of the magic of Disney imagineering.
Iago: You're breaking my heart here. So you're saying they just floated along like the boats in the Jungle Cruise?
Zazu: Um, no, I wouldn't exactly call it floating....
Iago: So what would you call it then?
Zazu: Er ... Rolling.
Iago: Rolling? As in wheels?
Zazu: You have to remember Iago, the subs weighed 58 tons. They also didn't want them bobbing around at the dock, so it was much simpler to just make them heavier than water and let them roll along a track in the bottom of the lagoon.
Iago: I am so disappointed! I'm crushed! Look at me, I'm so mortified I'm molting!
Zazu: Perhaps, but it is safer this way. Better molting than drowning.
Iago: Good point. Everybody does stay dry this way.
Zazu: Well, not everybody. Remember how the submarine vault is underneath the Autopia at Disneyland? Well guess what's underneath the submarine vault at the Magic Kingdom?
Iago: Nervous worms?
Zazu: Hardly, that's the location of the Magic Kingdom Wardrobe Department. It's part of the vast Utilidor system that's underneath most of the Magic Kingdom. The sad thing is, the lagoon leaks.
Iago: Now I've heard everything. A leaky ocean!
Zazu: Yes, but only when the submarines roll across the seams at the bottom of the sea. Since they stopped operating the subs in September 1994, the leaks have largely stopped.
Iago: So I have to go to California to ride a submarine now?
Zazu: Alas, you're too late (as usual). The entire California fleet was decomissioned recently. The day after Mr. Toad closed in Florida, in fact.
Iago: So what's going to happen to my birdbath?
Zazu: Rumor has it that the Disneyland lagoon is going to be completely rehabbed, and themed to "Atlantis".
Iago: "Atlantis"? Isn't that a ride at Sea World?
Zazu: Yes, but that's not what I mean. "Atlantis" is also an animated feature that's still under development at Disney Animation. If all goes as presently scheduled, in the year 2003 we may actually see an attraction opened at the same time as the film.
Iago: That would be novel.
Zazu: No, actually Iago, that would be naval.
The music selected to accompany this page is "Under the Sea" by Howard Ashman from the film "The Little Mermaid".