Seas With Nemo & Friends at Epcot
Florida theme park makes it easier to find the cute clown fish
Walt Disney World has developed two new attractions based on its popular animated film Finding Nemo and in this article, I'm reviewing "The Seas With Nemo & Friends."
This new attraction can be found at Epcot. The park has already utilized Finding Nemo themes in it's Living Seas attractions for several years, from a photogenic replica of Bruce the shark to the recently added Turtle Talk with Crush. But Disney is always looking for ways to add new excitement to the parks, to justify the ticket prices and make them a better entertainment value.
So after several months of refurbishment, "The Seas With Nemo & Friends" has opened. It is a clam shell ride that is a family friendly entrance into the aquarium areas of the Living Seas attraction. Guests board these "clamobiles," which are similar to the cars used in the Disney attraction The Haunted Mansion, and begin a journey through the story of Finding Nemo. Several different sections present short vignettes of scenes from the film, culminating with a final sing-a-long as the characters are magically superimposed upon the actual aquariums.
What I liked:
- Each scene is presented in a separate way, from animated screens to physical props that make you feel like you are in an ocean scene. My favorite vignettes were the jellyfish room, which had larger-than-life jellyfish that bobbed up and down next to the clamobiles, as if in the ocean, and surfing the EAC with Crush, which took place in a tunnel that was covered in animated projections and felt as though you really were moving in the current.
- I also liked that people in wheelchairs could ride this attraction, with special cars equipped with ramps that fit even motorized chairs.
What I didn't like:
- Walking through the queue took longer than the ride itself -- and that was with the park mostly empty. If the line for this ever reaches towards the entrance, you'll be in for a long, long wait for the ride. And frankly, while the ride is cute, it's not worth more than a ten minute wait.
- I also didn't like that it's not clearly marked that you don't have to ride the attraction if you just want to enter the aquarium areas. Many people I talked to were unaware of the gift shop entrance to the left of the attraction. But I guess this way, they get the majority of the people to do the ride.
The second of the two new Finding Nemo attractions can be found at Disney's Animal Kingdom, and I'll review it in next week's article.
Have you been on The Seas With Nemo & Friends? I welcome your comments and questions.
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