The Living Seas

The Seas with Nemo and Friends Pavilion opened to the public on January 15th 1986 as The Living Seas. It housed the largest saltwater tank in the world at its completion, holding 5.7 million gallons of water, but was surpassed in 2005 with the opening of the Georgia Aquarium. The concept of the building was to take visitors under the ocean to 'Sea Base Alpha'. Visitors would watch a short movie about how the oceans were formed entitled The Sea, and then take an elevator ride to the ocean floor on a Hydrolator (in reality, guests only moved down approximately two inches). Guests then would ride the Caribbean Coral Reef Ride in a "seacab" along an underwater tunnel through the aquarium. From there guests would ride around 'Sea Base Alpha' getting an up-close view of the marine life. They would then disembark into the main exhibit area where they could interact with various multimedia displays.

The Living Seas was sponsored by United Technologies from its opening until 2001.

In December of 2003, Disney started re-theming The Living Seas into a new pavilion based on the recently released Pixar film Finding Nemo. Most of the transformation started in exterior elements, but in January of 2004, the interior began to see change as well. On November 16, 2004, Turtle Talk with Crush opened in what was once Module 1C, or the Earth Systems exhibit. The show's unexpected success was overwhelming to the pavilion, causing plans to be made to move Turtle Talk to a larger area of the pavilion.

Turtle Talk with Crush was just the beginning of changes to The Living Seas. On August 21, 2005, The Living Seas closed for its transformation into a new pavilion called The Seas with Nemo & Friends. Part of the pavilion reopened in late November of 2005. The exit Hydrolators were gone, replaced with glass doors that served both as a temporary entrance and the exit. While 'Sea Base Alpha' was already re-themed to Finding Nemo, the entire original pre-show area was still being rebuilt. Decor and signage was replaced, and scientific displays replaced by Nemo-themed versions of them. Turtle Talk with Crush was still as popular as it had been before.

Outside, the facade and mural were changed with some additions, depicting species of sea life seen in Finding Nemo.

Throughout 2006, construction walls hid away the undergoing-reconstruction pre-show area. With the former 'Sea Base Alpha' opened, work progressed on the new queue areas and the new 'Clamobile' attraction that the Seacabs were being rebuilt as. The project resulted in the complete removal of the remaining Living Seas pre-show theater, the entrance Hydrolators, the holding areas, and the Seacabs queue line. A new themed queue area would replace all of these, replacing the Hydrolator story. Hydrolator Three and Theater 1 were replaced by a number of new dark ride sets. The former Seacabs ride was lengthened by 280 feet, but the final section still took place inside the tank. The tank and the new show scenes received a new projection technology. The existing Seacabs were given a clam shell shape to them and renamed 'Clamobiles'. The entrance also received three animatronic seagulls, who, as in the movie, constantly squawk "Mine! Mine! Mine!"

On October 10, 2006, the walls in front of the entrance to The Living Seas, now The Seas with Nemo & Friends, came down, and the temporary entrance/exit became just an exit. The Seas with Nemo & Friends was rededicated on January 24, 2007.

Turtle Talk with Crush closed five days after the pavilion was rededicated. Its unusual success was overwhelming the pavilion. When it opened, it occupied Module 1C, formerly Earth Systems. Reopening a few weeks later, Module 1A was closed and its displays moved to Module 1C, 1A becoming the new entrance to Turtle Talk with Crush. A corridor was constructed from the module into the second preshow theater, which had been unused since United Technologies dropped sponsorship of The Living Seas, when Disney had built a bypass corridor so guests could skip the attraction preshow.

A loosely related attraction, Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage has also been built at Disneyland which is located in the same area as the original Submarine Voyage, which closed on September 9 1998. This attraction opened on June 11th 2007.