Magic Kingdom’s 20,000 Leagues: Submarine Voyage closed unexpectedly in 1994 – most likely an indirect victim of Disneyland Paris’ financial collapse. But Disney executives at the time would no doubt explain that the ride was expensive to maintain, aging poorly, and with a very low hourly capacity unsuited for the number one most visited theme park on Earth.

Still, the ideas behind this adventure through liquid space continue. Here are just a few examples.

1. Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage

Image: Disney

Where? Disneyland Park
When? Debuted June 11, 2007

What ever came of Disneyland’s Submarine Voyage – the Tomorrowland ride that inspired the Magic Kingdom version?

Well, its fate began on a similar track. In 1998, Disneyland opened a very poorly received low-budget New Tomorrowland that saw the closure of another Lost Legend: The Peoplemover and the fall of Walt's Tomorrowland. To make matters worse, cost-cutting executives at the time then turned around and closed the Submarine Voyage – another Walt Disney original. What a way to celebrate a "New" Tomorrowland.

Click and expand for a larger and more detailed view. Image: Disney.

And just like at Magic Kingdom, executives promised that Disneyland’s Submarine Voyage would be refurbished, refreshed and re-opened just a few years later. The difference is, Imagineers actually did have plans for the California ride. Unfortunately, they revolved around the 2001 film Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Disney’s first animated science-fiction adventure film.

Submarine Voyage: Atlantis Expedition would’ve placed guests into the (Nautilus-inspired) Ulysses submarine from the film and no doubt would’ve included the ancient waterlogged tunnels beneath the city, protective bioluminescent stones, and an encounter with the dreaded guardian Leviathan. Atlantis was a gorgeously stylized and unique film that perfectly translated Jules Verne style adventures into Disney’s style.

Image: Disney

But Atlantis failed to make an impression on critics or at the box office and left practically no fingerprints in pop culture, so the ride was canceled before it had even begun. Without a worthwhile intellectual property to float on, the submarines appeared sunk.

Fast forward to 2003 when Disney and Pixar’s Finding Nemo made nearly a billion dollars, won an Academy Award, and (most importantly) became a tremendous fan favorite. Under the leadership of a new Resort president (Matt Ouimet, now CEO of Cedar Fair), Disneyland set out to undo the cost-cutting of the past, and the Submarine Voyage was brought out of the mothballs as the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage - a triumphant return from a decade-long closure of a Disney classic.

Image: Loren Javier, Flickr (license)

While the Finding Nemo overlay has practically no scenes in common with its predecessor, at least the ride sees the continued preservation of a ride system Walt pioneered and so loved for a new generation. The subs were even redesigned to run on electricity instead of diesel (upping their capacity from 38 to 40). To solve that pesky ADA accessibility problem, they even constructed a virtual recreation available for guests unable to access the subs.

But faced with many of the same complex problems (low capacity, high expense, and occupying a huge parcel of land), the subs always feel endangered. As recently as 2015, the ride closed for a lengthy refurbishment that many fans believed was a permanent closure in disguise, just as Magic Kingdom's had endured. But, the ride re-opened as scheduled with refreshed scenes. As for the future? We'll see how long the ride – and the precious land it occupies – can survive.

2. Discovery Bay

Image: Disney

Where? Disneyland
When? Never built.

Remember Tony Baxter, the young, upstart production designer plucked right some school and plopped down to work on 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea? Tony obviously went on to be a Disney Imagineering legend, responsible for the original Star Tours, Indiana Jones Adventure, Journey into Imagination, and many other beloved Lost Legends.

And though 20,000 Leagues was his first major project, it would go on to influence others. What does Captain Nemo have to do with Big Thunder Mountain Railroad? If Tony had had his way, the "wildest ride in the wilderness" would’ve been only one part of a brand new land at Disneyland, meant to bridge the gap between Frontierland and Fantasyland. Called Discovery Bay, the land Tony Baxter envisioned and designed was a steampunk, Victorian San Francisco filled with submarines, lighthouses, inventors, hot air balloons, airships, and countless elements of Jules Verne lore.

At one time, a simulator attraction (using the technology later applied to Star Tours) was planned for Discovery Bay, all themed to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. So just a few years after Magic Kingdom’s, Disneyland would’ve received its own 20,000 Leagues, but in a very different format. Also planned was an "underwater" Grand Salon restaurant set inside of a Nautilus docked in the Rivers of America.

Unfortunately, Discovery Bay was never built. The plot of land set aside for this Frontierland / Fantasyland hybrid back in the 1970s remained empty until it became Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge in 2019. You can check out the full story in our must-read Possibilityland: Discovery Bay feature to learn all about the massive and stunning steampunk attractions planned for this land and the reasons it never came to Disneyland. But remember, good ideas never die at Disney, which brings us to our next evolution of 20,000 Leagues' DNA... 

3. Discoveryland

Where? Disneyland Paris
When? Debuted 1992 

When Disney decided to build a new resort in Europe, they knew that the Parisian park would need a little something extra – something to warm European guests to Disney's very American brand. So instead of cloning the very mid-century Americana elements of Disneyland, Disney sought out (you guessed it) Tony Baxter to take over as executive producer and designer of the French park.

Tony and the Imagineers dove in, creating what’s often regarded as the most beautiful, detailed, and romantic Disney Park on Earth. In Disneyland Paris, almost every tried-and-true attraction from the original Disney Parks was recast through a romanticized, story-centric lens. That's why Disneyland Paris doesn’t have a Tomorrowland at all! Instead, the land was replaced with “Discoveryland.” Instead of the white, mid-century, Space Race Tomorrowlands, Discoveryland is meant to be a retro-futuristic land. In other words, it’s a view of the future rooted in the past; the kind of future great European thinkers like H.G. Wells, Leonardo da Vinci, or Jules Verne might’ve envisioned.

Instead of the Space Age architecture, silver, white, blue, and purple that fills Tomorrowland, Discoveryland is cast in gold, bronze, sea foam, and copper. It’s filled with rivets, bolts, panels, organic towers, red rocks, bubbling lagoons, and plants that evoke the "steampunk" Victorian style. Among the land’s most unique attractions is a walkthrough called Mysteries of the Nautilus (including a very cool encounter with a giant squid in one of the sub's galleries) and a completely original version of Space Mountain designed to be based on the Jules Verne novel From The Earth to the Moon. 

Mysterious Island

Image: Disney

Where? Tokyo DisneySea
When? Debuted 2001

The epitome of Jules Verne’s literary world brought to life exists at none other than Tokyo DisneySea. The park – often cited as the best theme park on Earth, and certainly a Mecca for Disney Parks fans the world over – features themed “ports” situated around a 200-foot-tall volcanic park icon.

By the way, one of the park’s themed lands is located inside that volcano, in a collapsed caldera. Mysterious Island (based on the Jules Verne novel of the same name) is Captain Nemo’s hidden base situated deep within Mount Prometheus. The land is a wonder; perhaps the only Disney Parks land to exceed Cars Land and Galaxy's Edge in scale and scope. Guests are relegated to iron and copper catwalks that circle the interior of the caldera, with bubbling water and steaming geysers below.

Image: Disney

The land’s two attractions are both standouts. Perhaps the most popular attraction at the park (as well as its signature ride and a bucket-list goal for most Disney Parks fans who cite it as Imagineering's best creation ever) earned it own in-depth entry in Lost Legends' sister series, Modern Marvels: Journey to the Center of the Earth. It's worth noting that the mysterious, mythical creature lying in wait deep inside Mount Prometheus ranks high on our must-read Countdown of the Most Incredible Audio Animatronics on Earth.

Image: Disney

But Mysterious Island’s second attraction is... 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea! Japan’s version of the ride is not a submerged boat ride at all. Rather, it’s a suspended dark ride (think of Peter Pan’s Flight, and see image above) wherein guests are situated in six person subs – two looking out of a right porthole, two front, and two left.

The ride sends guests deep into the ocean with each pair equipped with an adjustable flashlight for exploring the depths. The ride’s big secret? You’re not really in water at all. Instead, the portholes are double paned with water between the two panes of glass. Whenever the ride needs to “dive,” that thin layer of water is overcome with rising bubbles that give the impression of diving. The effect – like so many of Disney's best – is unimaginably simple, but incredibly believable. 

Image: Disney

The ride includes magnificent and stunning scenes including a sunken city (made all the more interesting by your ability to “choose” what to look at with your flashlight), a coral reef, a shipwreck, and (of course!) an electrifying a stunning encounter with a massive giant squid. The ride’s finale is equally show-stopping, with a deep-sea Atlantean race granting you a magical return to the world above.

Among DisneySea’s massive line-up of world-class, E-Ticket attractions, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea feels like a C-Ticket diversion for families. But if the same ride were duplicated in any other Disney Park, it would be a headlining dark ride in its own right. Videos of the ride are practically impossible to capture, but our friends at Attractions 360 used their astounding low-light camera to capture what may be the only accurate account of this awesome ride.

Sailing for the horizon

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was a classic – a stunning dark ride equipped with groundbreaking technology and outstanding storytelling.

Magic Kingdom may never play host to a Jules Verne ride again. But we can’t help but be hopeful that more of the engaging and literary stories like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea find their way to Disney Parks. Even if the submarine ride itself is gone, elements of it live on in the plans for Discovery Bay, and the paths of Discoveryland and Mysterious Island. The lesson? Disney's international parks are altogether willing to tell the adventurous stories from Jules Verne's world, whereas the U.S. Disney Parks won't seem to greenlight anything unless it's tied to Frozen, Marvel, Pixar, or a box office boom.

Image: Disney

Which is a shame. If 20,000 Leagues (and its international cousins) proves anything, it's that these stories do fit among Disney classics. They're timeless, engaging tales set in fantasy environments that only Disney can bring to life. And we'd love to see that happen again.

For now, help us immortalize the experience of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Share your thoughts and memories in the comments section to preserve this ride for a new generation of Disney Parks fans who never got the chance to become part of Nemo's crew. Then, visit our In-Depth Features Library page to set course for your next Lost Legend.

And until then, thank you for sailing with us.