Experience a VR Recreation of Disney World’s Classic 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Ride
Photo by Alex Reinhart, shared via Wikipedia and a Creative Commons license
20,000 League Under the Sea has long been a mainstay of Disney theme parks, with a walk-through attraction opening in Disneyland a few weeks after the park itself in 1955, and a beloved ride at Disney World’s Magic Kingdom that similarly opened shortly after that park’s launch in 1971. You pretty much have to be old as heck to remember any of this, though; the Disneyland attraction closed in 1966, and despite being one of the most popular rides at the Magic Kingdom, the submarine ride at Disney World closed in 1994. Disney’s 1954 film adaptation of Jules Verne’s novel was one of the company’s biggest live action hits, and still has a notable presence at some of Disney’s international parks—there’s a 20,000 Leagues ride at Tokyo Disney Sea, and a walkthrough attraction in Disneyland Paris, whose version of Tomorrowland (known as Discoveryland) is mostly based on Verne’s works. Despite that, the only real sign of the movie’s long relationship with the theme parks that you can find in America is a drink at the Trader Sam’s tiki bar at Disney World; the Nautilus (recommended for two to four people) comes in a mug shaped like Harper Goff’s iconic submarine design from the movie, and a snippet of the audio from the old Magic Kingdom ride plays in the bar whenever the drink is served.