If there's a thing I won't be able to step back and be objective about, it's showing of the wonders of the ocean. As far back as I can remember, the things that live and breath under the waves have been endlessly fascinating. I'm a sucker for any ocean documentary, I've been an aquarium hobbyist for a quarter century, and if I visit a city with an aquarium I will be going to that aquarium.
Your mileage may vary on staring in wonder at the beauty of a school of fish, or a massive self-contained habitat, but I won't be able to wrap my mind around not finding it absolutely, enchantingly, incredible.
The Living Seas was not just another aquarium; it was Disney takes on an aquarium. When it opened, EPCOT Center boasted of the largest aquarium in the world, at 5.7 million gallons of water, with nearly 10,000 different sea creatures living in its liquid space. It held that ranking until 2005, when it was surpassed by the immaculate Georgia Aquarium, but it still sits comfortably in second place in the US to this day. The main tank is so large it feels at points like an actual reef in the middle of the open ocean, not an enclosed space in a theme park, thanks to a tank large enough to literally fit the entirety of Spaceship Earth.
Of course, Disney didn't just settle for the biggest; they also went full in on an incredible show to detail the margins of their massive aquarium. Somewhat like Maharaja Jungle Trek, The Living Seas real appeal were its animals, but all of that was supported by some of the best place-making the parks have ever seen, and an incredible example of sci-fi world design.
Your trip to The Living Seas was modeled like a simple museum about the history of ocean exploration. The displays were cool, but not what you go to EPCOT for. The floor and walls were covered in the ultra-80s carpet, culminating in a theater show about the importance of the ocean, and how we explore it. It all felt like it fit in any EPCOT pavilion to this point, albeit a boring EPCOT pavilion.
The real show started at the end of the film. The dream of a sea floor exploration lab -- like something seen in Sealab 2020 or The Abyss -- called Sea Base Alpha was pitched, with a wire frame model of the idea that suddenly turned into a photo of its actual production, followed by the theater doors opening. On the other side, the same image you'd just seen was directly in front of you. The story being told is: this is no dream, it's something you are going to visit right this second.
Next up was the legendary hydrolators. In reality, just a small hallway you were forced to stand in for a few seconds. In show, they represented elevators that would take you down to the ocean floor for your trip to Sea Base Alpha. The doors to the hydrolators were flanked by gushing water, representing the water below, in a smart effect that you noticed more subconsciously than otherwise. Inside, motion, bubbles, and moving rock walls sold the effect of you plunging below the waves.
The entire thing was extremely convincing, making it easy to forget there is no ocean anywhere near Central Florida. I remember as a child being so convinced about being somehow transported from Orlando to the Atlantic that I thought the waves crashing against the sign outside the building were caused by water flowing through the transportation system.
The crowning moment of your trip to Sea Base Alpha came after the hydrolator, though. An omnimover (of course) called the "sea cabs" took you down a sequence of tunnels representing your trip along the ocean floor. It was actually a ride system touring portions of the main tank, but it was incredible atmosphere.
As you sat back and relaxed, you were treated to so many different angles of the beautiful blue water, the detailed artificial reef, and the thousands of schooling fish, sharks, and rays swimming around it. Sounds of water and distant whales echoed through the hallway to complete the aesthetic, and the whole experience was one of the most hauntingly-beautiful sequences ever built in a Disney attraction. It was every bit as captivating as 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, except here the fish are real.
Re-reading that paragraph in editing, it really is hard to convey how incredible that sea cab ride was. It was short, but puttering along in an omnimover while looking out the windows to the sights of real, living aquarium was extraordinary. Nearly the entire trip was lined with windows on either side, and even some above. It truly managed to somehow be relaxing and exciting all at the same time, with a moodiness that filtered all the way to your core.
The sea cab ride dropped you off directly into the courtyard of Sea Base Alpha, with a perfectly engineered sight line to a set that could exist in any great science fiction story (and you can still see this part in The Seas with Nemo and Friends). The sea base was a place you could spend hours in, with lots of little details to sell its story as a working exploration base. Side bays contained smaller aquariums and educational exhibits. Divers (including Mickey Mouse) regularly loaded into tubes in the courtyard that would fill with water to carry them out into the main tank. A mid-sized tank held manatees to teach you about their endangered status and conservation efforts to protect them. The large tank, meanwhile, included (and still does) a nearly 360-degree observation deck out in the center, giving plenty of viewing space for everyone to see something amazing.
The whole experience from start to finish just felt incredible, and once the ride was over you got to experience it at your own pace. There was so much detail all over the place reinforcing the make believe of a futuristic sea base, and the exhibits were just so absolutely mesmerizing. There are about three (by my estimate) attractions coming up where "atmosphere" is the dominant word for what makes them revered, and The Living Seas belongs right there with them. All of that just icing on the cake for the fundamental splendor of sea life.
Increasingly, this section of the list is going to fit the category of, "like nothing else anywhere." The Living Seas checks that box through it's amazing atmosphere. Essentially, it was a cool queue, an entrancing ride, and a post-show that was the best of its class anywhere in the world.
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