tampasteampunk:

japanablog:

Everyone who visited Disneyland or Disney World back in the 1980’s and 1990’s remembers 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.  This ride in the US parks was submerged in a giant pool in the park where vehicles moved on a guided track through the story of the 20,000 Leagues film from 1954.

The Japanese ride is a wholly different experience.  In the Japanese version, you never actually go underwater at any time.  Instead, you ride in a “dinghy” that escapes from the Nautilus as it’s trying to escape from the crazed Capitan Nemo.

The effect of going underwater is achieved by using the porthole windows of the dinghys.  They have a narrow area between two layers of glass that fill up with water and add to the underwater effect.  The ride itself is a suspended coaster similar to the old Peter Pan ride at Disney World/Disneyland.

The ride runs about 5 minutes and during you get to escape from the clutches of a giant octopus, visit Atlantis, meet merfolk, and see some of the buried treasures of the deep.

Some people may deride the attraction since it’s not as “authentic” as the originals, but I think the ride holds up well and the effect executed very nicely.

That’s it. Going to Japan.