Nolan,
Enjoyed your article on the demise of the 20K ride at Walt Disney World.
I had not given
it much thought until planning a trip with my own kids and discovered the
ride no longer existed. As a postscript to your article, I wonder how the
undersea ride at Disneyland California received approval to be renovated and
technologically upgraded to open this year as a "Finding Nemo" ride while
the WDW ride turned into Pooh corner.
Google Earth shows the former lagoon and show building as just a big vacant
lot now. What a waste.
John McCall
John, thanks so much for writing (and the photo!) and I appreciate the props, but I cannot take credit for the "20K" article -- that honor belongs to PCR staff writer ED Tucker, who responds below! ---Nolan
ED TUCKER RESPONDS:
Hi John - ED Tucker here, Nolan was kind enough to forward your e-mail
to me. I think it is really sad that 13 years after the 20K ride was shut
down, people are still planning vacations to WDW thinking it is still there.
I am sure this is exactly what Disney wanted when they did absolutely nothing
to publicize its demise or even admit to it for many years. The short
answer to your question about why the Submarine Voyages ride was not destroyed
when 20K was is "the employees". The shut down of the 20K ride in Orlando was
orchestrated by employees of the park who did not want to maintain the ride
and hoped that by scrapping it and the maintenance costs they would improve the
bottom line of the park and be looked upon more favorably by the parent
company. Because the employees at Disneyland did not take this same mercenary
stance against the Submarine Voyage ride, Disney had more time to decide what
to do with it and not only made the necessary repairs but revamped it into a
new but similar ride. Granted it would have been much harder and more
expensive to retool the 20K ride into a Finding Nemo one but, let's face it, 20,000
Leagues under the Sea is still going to be a timeless classic long after
people forget what Finding Nemo was.
- ED -
To send an email to Letters to the Editor write to: Crazedfanboy1@aol.com. Any emails sent to this address will be assumed intended for publication unless you specifically instruct me not to. I can and do respond privately, if that is your preference. Frequently, it's both ways.---Nolan
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