Bob was fantastic with the guests. Had the opportunity to be a castmember while Bob was there. His last day, as Bob was talking about the Diver Lockout Chamber, the other divers dropped a suit down the empty tube. The look on Bob's face was priceless. He would also sometimes, kneel at the bottom of the tank at unload and just move his arm back and forth. Convincing guests that he was an audioanimatronic. Great times
The concepts for The Living Seas are probably the most enormous and ambitious ideas to have ever come out of EPCOT, followed up closely by the idea for Body Wars to be a darkride through gargantuan working replicas of human organs.
I so miss the pre-Nemo version of this attraction. The Living Seas/Seabase Alpha was my favorite thing to do at EPCOT Center growing up. Nowadays, I just enter through the gift shop, skipping the Nemo portion of the ride (even my kids are disinterested), to enjoy the large tank. Thanks for the upload. As per usual, another job well done!
Really enjoy your videos. I worked at WDW back in the late 80's/early 90's and your videos bring back so many memories. Thank you for preserving the history.
This Seabase Alpha idea with its own body suits and mission reminds me of Tarpon Springs, Florida just a 2-hour drive west of Epcot where the largest Greek community in the U.S. built their community around harvesting sponges in the gulf. They would wear heavy body gear making them look like knights in armor or aliens to keep them down on the ocean floor. It was a very dangerous job and they depended on the suits and the people pulling them up quickly in emergency situations. Also, nearby in Clearwater, I remember standing on the pier watching dolphins diving and swimming under and around it. Just a drive south of Epcot into the Everglades is literally one of the most magical places in the US. This river unique to anything else showing up with alligators, birds, plant life, etc. is like nothing else. It's incredible what natural wonders are all around Disney World.
I love your videos, Martin, and the amount of details you put into them. It's like taking a time machine back to 1986. I really liked the slow SeaCab ride as a kid, looking at all the aquatic life... although I remember younger kids crying out of boredom on that ride, at least I liked it. : )
I spent 2 years working in that building. Just like how it's shown. Then I cross-trained at IMAG. 30 years later, I still miss that building. But I definitely don't miss the employee polyester costumes of terror, the $5.25 an hour we got paid or the morons who walked up and asked, "What time is the 10 o'clock fireworks show?" Stupid travels in packs. Don't even get me started about the moving stink commonly known as the "Taco Tours."
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR DOING THIS AND ALLOWING ME TO REVISIT THE EPCOT I GREW UP WITH AND STILL HOLD DEAR!!! I’m looking forward to watching your other videos 😁👊💙
I loved Sea Base Alpha! I only started to visit Epcot as a kid in the mid 90s, but even as the attraction atrophied, I still loved going there. I haven't been in there once since Nemo came along...
Great to see it in its glory days. That ride has become a bit of a poster child to me of all retheming and characterization going on in EPCOT. I always want to go to it - because its one of the last remaining original future world pavilions, but its always so disappointing when I get in there and I am surrounded by what they did to it.
Wonderful job Martin, as always. Really enjoying the extensive insight from your videos. The original Living Seas was a masterpiece - I still remember experiencing the hydrolators as a kid.
Wow I wasn't expecting it to be so different from what it is now. I always thought they just rethemed the dark ride, I had no idea they showed short films.
Yeah, they really ruined it with the Nemo re-theme. It used to be one of the best pavilions for getting kids excited about technology AND animals. Now it's just pure commercialization, with the entire aquarium playing second fiddle to a bunch of CGI tricks. :-/
I liked how the original Living Seas looked like a normal futuristic Aquarium instead of a Aquarium filled with Nemo merchandise (Nemo is still one of my favorite Pixar movies tho)
They've actually been taking some steps to bring back some of the old Living Seas theme. Much of the signage has been overhauled to use the old Living Seas logo.
Wow - my last day in the US on my seven week holiday would have been around 20/10/01. I was actually at Epcot on that day. I JUST managed to ride the seacabs before they were mothballed!!!
Me too! I thought that they were just under refurbishment but after a year I was so upset and knew something wasn't right. Getting rid of the hydrolators and getting rid of the music in the holding area ruined the experience for me.
The inside of the sea cab circle was the largest creepiest grate with a large dark drain in the center. I was told by a cast member that it was there in case one of the windows broke loose, the water would quickly drain away and no guests would drown. Well that was the freakiest thing to hear. Now the drain is obscured.
Thanks. A wonderful remembrance of an attraction and park that was the best in Central Florida. Only to be ruined later because soccer moms kept bitching that "children" were bored. Now it's nothing but a kiddy park where children holler and beg for just another stuffed animal. The Seas was totally ruined with a conversion from a brilliant learning attraction to an attraction based on a kiddy cartoon. I miss the REAL EPCOT so badly.
1:00:37 Amusing side note: Those bypass doors on the right exited straight out to the park, and often spoiled the idea that the hydrolators were underwater. Also, you could usually get away with "sneaking" in the bypass doors when someone left, to bypass the film. The Cast didn't really care since not many people knew about this.
I recall on one visit the main entrance was closed and you were directed to enter through the exit, with the hydrolator doors open on both sides, so you walked straight from the Orlando sun into an "underwater" base with no themed "journey" to get there. Based on the video I'm guessing this was during the period they were restructuring the entrance and preshow and walling off the cabs. Speaking of which.... why did the close off the cabs? Got to be some reason...
@@AJ17_ The Seacabs closed in October of 2001. I think the reason for the closure is pretty simple: between the loss of sponsorship and the decline in attendance post-9/11, they closed the Seacabs to save money.
Thank you Martin for the new updated Epcot Tribute videos I have a question for you Martin are you going to do a updated version of the 2nd version of the living seas with the updated finding nemo version?I can'nt wait to see the updated version of the wonders of Life video will that video be out next month? I have another question for you Martin are you going to do a new version of the original version of the Mexico old ride and do an updated version of the new version of the Mexico ride?
The Living Seas was Honestly Better than The Seas with Nemo & Friends even though that Ride is Still Good. And Even Better, The Seas with Nemo & Friends Now has the Original Color Scheme that Reminds Us of What it Used to be The Living Seas.
People are gonna disagree with me but this is one of the few times the new version is better than the original version. Don't get me wrong, the hydrolators were super cool, but the ride part of the ride was a complete slog and dare I say, Boring? Even the preshow was boring to get through. There's a reason The Living Seas isn't as remembered as fondly as things like Horizons or the Original Journey into Imagination, and it's because The Living Seas just doesn't feel like an EPCOT Center attraction. It feels more like a SeaWorld attraction. The Nemo version feels more like a classic EPCOT Center attraction than the actual classic EPCOT Center attraction, Nemo has a big sweeping song, there's actual sets on The Seas with Nemo and Friends, you still learn alot in the queue and post show, and it has a animatronic (yes I count the fish on the Kukka Arm as an animatronic). I can understand why someone would prefer the original The Living Seas, but I feel like that love comes from their rose tinted glasses.
Bob was fantastic with the guests. Had the opportunity to be a castmember while Bob was there. His last day, as Bob was talking about the Diver Lockout Chamber, the other divers dropped a suit down the empty tube. The look on Bob's face was priceless. He would also sometimes, kneel at the bottom of the tank at unload and just move his arm back and forth. Convincing guests that he was an audioanimatronic. Great times
Just watching these videos makes me feel like I’m stepping back in time…
It's nice to think about everyone who was inspired by these experiences.
We always came home from old Disney inspired and so full of hope for the future. It definitely had a big impact on my children - my tomorrow’s child.
The concepts for The Living Seas are probably the most enormous and ambitious ideas to have ever come out of EPCOT, followed up closely by the idea for Body Wars to be a darkride through gargantuan working replicas of human organs.
Nemo
The living seas pavilion and living with the land pavilions were both my second favorite attractions at epcot. I love old epcot.
I so miss the pre-Nemo version of this attraction. The Living Seas/Seabase Alpha was my favorite thing to do at EPCOT Center growing up. Nowadays, I just enter through the gift shop, skipping the Nemo portion of the ride (even my kids are disinterested), to enjoy the large tank. Thanks for the upload. As per usual, another job well done!
I’m a Japanese high school student, but this ride, especially Hydrolator is fantastic✨
If I have a time machine, I want to go there once!
Really enjoy your videos. I worked at WDW back in the late 80's/early 90's and your videos bring back so many memories. Thank you for preserving the history.
Janet A So, you were at EPCOT Center back when it was still relevant? What was that like?
Thank you for playing the music of Russell Browers.
This Seabase Alpha idea with its own body suits and mission reminds me of Tarpon Springs, Florida just a 2-hour drive west of Epcot where the largest Greek community in the U.S. built their community around harvesting sponges in the gulf. They would wear heavy body gear making them look like knights in armor or aliens to keep them down on the ocean floor. It was a very dangerous job and they depended on the suits and the people pulling them up quickly in emergency situations.
Also, nearby in Clearwater, I remember standing on the pier watching dolphins diving and swimming under and around it.
Just a drive south of Epcot into the Everglades is literally one of the most magical places in the US. This river unique to anything else showing up with alligators, birds, plant life, etc. is like nothing else. It's incredible what natural wonders are all around Disney World.
I love your videos, Martin, and the amount of details you put into them. It's like taking a time machine back to 1986. I really liked the slow SeaCab ride as a kid, looking at all the aquatic life... although I remember younger kids crying out of boredom on that ride, at least I liked it. : )
I spent 2 years working in that building. Just like how it's shown. Then I cross-trained at IMAG. 30 years later, I still miss that building. But I definitely don't miss the employee polyester costumes of terror, the $5.25 an hour we got paid or the morons who walked up and asked, "What time is the 10 o'clock fireworks show?" Stupid travels in packs. Don't even get me started about the moving stink commonly known as the "Taco Tours."
Martin thank you for all you've done to keep the disney dream alive and well once again good job
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR DOING THIS AND ALLOWING ME TO REVISIT THE EPCOT I GREW UP WITH AND STILL HOLD DEAR!!! I’m looking forward to watching your other videos 😁👊💙
Thank you Martin, its obvious you put a tremendous amount of work into your videos. They are so wonderful.
The original Living Seas Ideas where just phenomenal 🥺
Thanks so much for your efforts on all the EPCOT videos!
Epcot nostalgia at its finest. Love this history of Living with the Seas!
I loved Sea Base Alpha! I only started to visit Epcot as a kid in the mid 90s, but even as the attraction atrophied, I still loved going there. I haven't been in there once since Nemo came along...
This never gets old. Truly appreciate your videos!!
My favorite Future World pavilion. Thanks Martin!!
The ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter Original -1994- Martins Complete Ultimate Coming Soon To UA-cam
Great to see it in its glory days. That ride has become a bit of a poster child to me of all retheming and characterization going on in EPCOT. I always want to go to it - because its one of the last remaining original future world pavilions, but its always so disappointing when I get in there and I am surrounded by what they did to it.
I always watch these videos to get inspried for my Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 projects! Well done!
I really enjoyed going down the hydrolator, and riding the sea cabs.
Another of your amazing videos that I'll watch countless times over the years. Thanks!
Thanks again, Martin. Always enjoy your "Martins CUT" series.
Nemo
Wonderful job Martin, as always. Really enjoying the extensive insight from your videos. The original Living Seas was a masterpiece - I still remember experiencing the hydrolators as a kid.
I wanna know who would give Martin's videos a thumbs down. Great job as always. Its epcot nerd porn!
Martin did a great job. I would never give his videos a thumbs down.
Wow I wasn't expecting it to be so different from what it is now. I always thought they just rethemed the dark ride, I had no idea they showed short films.
Yeah, they really ruined it with the Nemo re-theme. It used to be one of the best pavilions for getting kids excited about technology AND animals. Now it's just pure commercialization, with the entire aquarium playing second fiddle to a bunch of CGI tricks. :-/
These short movies were the best of Disney movies;
Wonder if they can be found in the Disney+ Vaults?!
Great video, brought back many happy memories. Thank you so much
We LOVE your videos
I liked how the original Living Seas looked like a normal futuristic Aquarium instead of a Aquarium filled with Nemo merchandise (Nemo is still one of my favorite Pixar movies tho)
They've actually been taking some steps to bring back some of the old Living Seas theme. Much of the signage has been overhauled to use the old Living Seas logo.
This is so amazing!
Wow - my last day in the US on my seven week holiday would have been around 20/10/01. I was actually at Epcot on that day. I JUST managed to ride the seacabs before they were mothballed!!!
Me too! I thought that they were just under refurbishment but after a year I was so upset and knew something wasn't right. Getting rid of the hydrolators and getting rid of the music in the holding area ruined the experience for me.
Very relaxing and nostalgic for me. Thank you!
Thank you. Love your stuff.
im crying i love this attraction
This is bringing back the good memories of the ride. I remember why I loved this ride thanks for this vid!
I like the seas with Nemo and friends where it stands today.
The inside of the sea cab circle was the largest creepiest grate with a large dark drain in the center. I was told by a cast member that it was there in case one of the windows broke loose, the water would quickly drain away and no guests would drown. Well that was the freakiest thing to hear. Now the drain is obscured.
Always found the seas film very intriguing as a kid.
In September 2023, they restored the entrance mural to its original look, removing the animatronic seagulls and the cutout fish on the mural.
I miss the old music so much
Anyone else realize that Jason the UnderSea Robot is the voice of Fred Jones from Scooby Doo?
Thanks. A wonderful remembrance of an attraction and park that was the best in Central Florida. Only to be ruined later because soccer moms kept bitching that "children" were bored. Now it's nothing but a kiddy park where children holler and beg for just another stuffed animal. The Seas was totally ruined with a conversion from a brilliant learning attraction to an attraction based on a kiddy cartoon. I miss the REAL EPCOT so badly.
the first idea, is way better then what they ever did
Try to Imagine!
Just for a moment!
The Bike Watcher IMAGINATION!!!!!
They really need to go back to the original theme. They can still have Nemo for the ride portion and queues, but their is no immersion now.
this is peak epcot for me
I went to this pavilion the first year it opened. It was my first time seeing a manatee
Do you have the Atlas cartoon from The Living Seas and Dreamfinder School of Drama videos?
31:52 This gets me every time.
1:00:37 Amusing side note: Those bypass doors on the right exited straight out to the park, and often spoiled the idea that the hydrolators were underwater. Also, you could usually get away with "sneaking" in the bypass doors when someone left, to bypass the film. The Cast didn't really care since not many people knew about this.
Keep It Up
33:28 the picture says member of the marine safety research institute, looks like Stewie head family guy lol
ironically.. i was about 6 when the refurbishment happened, and I HATED the retheming.
Wonders of Life is next, right?
Ali Salverson it is :)
Sweet!
Ali Salverson he already did one on Wonders of Life about 4 years ago
I meant an updated version.
@@alisalverson7321 The ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter Original -1994- Martins Complete Ultimate
Publicado el 12 nov. 2018 Coming Soon To UA-cam
Where's the "Atlas" section in The Living Seas?
Where can I see those old Disney videos from the late 70’s that told what was going to be at that attraction
BTW the Nautilus model and diving suit in the queue were both screenused props from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
“And when I get down to business...I’ll get down...to 20,000 feet”
preshow narrator sounds bored 😂
I recall on one visit the main entrance was closed and you were directed to enter through the exit, with the hydrolator doors open on both sides, so you walked straight from the Orlando sun into an "underwater" base with no themed "journey" to get there. Based on the video I'm guessing this was during the period they were restructuring the entrance and preshow and walling off the cabs. Speaking of which.... why did the close off the cabs? Got to be some reason...
TreadwellJay during the transformation to Nemo?
Based on the video I think it was the change before that, when sponsorship was lost.
Years ago the story was "leaks" in the sea cab ride area, but there was never any proof of it.
@@AJ17_ The Seacabs closed in October of 2001. I think the reason for the closure is pretty simple: between the loss of sponsorship and the decline in attendance post-9/11, they closed the Seacabs to save money.
👯👯👯👯🦥
Thank you Martin for the new updated Epcot Tribute videos I have a question for you Martin are you going to do a updated version of the 2nd version of the living seas with the updated finding nemo version?I can'nt wait to see the updated version of the wonders of Life video will that video be out next month? I have another question for you Martin are you going to do a new version of the original version of the Mexico old ride and do an updated version of the new version of the Mexico ride?
Chris Schaeffer maybe, yes yes and yes.
The Seas With Nemo & Friends - Martins Ultimate Tribute.
Why does the voice in the preshow sound so depressed XD
Where was the seal and sea lion tank?
if i had tech money i would buy epcot and restore it.
or build a copy in my backyard.
The Living Seas was Honestly Better than The Seas with Nemo & Friends even though that Ride is Still Good. And Even Better, The Seas with Nemo & Friends Now has the Original Color Scheme that Reminds Us of What it Used to be The Living Seas.
1:10:21 is when the downfall begins.
People are gonna disagree with me but this is one of the few times the new version is better than the original version. Don't get me wrong, the hydrolators were super cool, but the ride part of the ride was a complete slog and dare I say, Boring? Even the preshow was boring to get through. There's a reason The Living Seas isn't as remembered as fondly as things like Horizons or the Original Journey into Imagination, and it's because The Living Seas just doesn't feel like an EPCOT Center attraction. It feels more like a SeaWorld attraction. The Nemo version feels more like a classic EPCOT Center attraction than the actual classic EPCOT Center attraction, Nemo has a big sweeping song, there's actual sets on The Seas with Nemo and Friends, you still learn alot in the queue and post show, and it has a animatronic (yes I count the fish on the Kukka Arm as an animatronic). I can understand why someone would prefer the original The Living Seas, but I feel like that love comes from their rose tinted glasses.
EORSCK