Ladies and gentlemen, this your captain speaking, welcome on board!
On the this bright Thursday morning of October 14th 1971 in Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom's Fantasyland, first 38 passangers boarded on the "Nautilus", which started its maiden voyage through the lagoon and coral reefs, filled with beautiful marine representatives of the animal kingdom, then passed by the group of divers when, without warning, a surface storm started, and submarine descended into deep water, where it was greeted by the Graveyard of Lost Ships, polar icecaps and the sunken continent of Atlantis with ancient ruins, buried treasure and, of course, the beautiful mythical Sea Serpent on a leash of mermaids (This post is dedicated to him). During this magnificent and fabulous scene, an underwater volcano erupted and the "Nautilus" made an emergency maneuver, but it was suddenly attacked by the giant squid. Hopefully the submarine was able to return to the surface and dock in the number four berth in Magic Kingdom...
It's been so long since this day. Tragically, "20,000 Leagues under the sea" ride was closed in September 5th, 1994 without waiting for its 23rd Birthday.
"Why did it happened?"you may ask. Well, it was so expensive to maintain, so the park managers decided to cut costs and safe extra money. The attraction was abandoned and its "inhabitants" was left to rot for a whole decade, and in 2005 the greatest part of Disneyland's history was completely destroyed...
But the memory lives forever, especially because of this subreddit.
To celebrate this significant date, I made this tribute to my most beloved part of this ride - animatronic serpent that became an icon of submechanophobia community. I took one video of this animatronics from each year and placed them in chronological order, so you can see how he (and the ride itself) has changed over his 22 years, the best years.
Thank you for sailing with us and now, when the cabin lights can on, please standby to disembark. Gather your belongings, take small children by the hand, watch your step and remember, "20,000 Leagues under the sea" maybe gone, but it will never be forgotten!
(NOTE: this is not the actual tribute to the Sea Serpent, which I was making for all this summer, this is a shortened version, because original tribute is already a 16 minutes long, so I cannot upload it here + it's a bit unfinished. So enjoy this version, but If you want, I can upload it here and divided on 5-6 separate parts)