Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
TOURING TIPS
Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage is a theatrical and technical success but in
manywaysanengineeringfailure.Bylengtheningthedurationofthevoyage,byfailingto
provide adequate loading facilities, and by being slowed down due to a technical dispatch-
ing constraint, the Imagineers have reduced the attraction's capacity to about 900 guests
per hour, a shockingly small capacity for a headliner attraction. Further, owing to the low
carrying capacity, the subs are not a good candidate for Fastpass (all Fastpasses would be
gone before noon).
Although Finding Nemo isn't as immensely popular as when it first opened, a sizable
percentage of the guests on hand at park opening head straight for the subs—only if you
are literally among the first 70 people to enter the park and arrive at the subs will you be
rewarded with a short wait. But here's the kicker: Adding the time it takes to reach the
subs, wait to board, ride, and disembark, you will invest 35-70 minutes to ride Finding
Nemo first thing in the morning, sacrificing in the process the most crowd-free touring
period of the day for the other popular attractions.
We've determined that, taking the day as a whole, you make much better use of your
time enjoying Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Peter Pan's Flight, and other popular at-
tractions during the first hour the park is open and saving the subs for later, when a parade,
fireworks show, or
Fantasmic!
has siphoned a large number of guests from the line. In-
cidentally, arriving 15 minutes before a parade or other presentation is not an arbitrary
suggestion—during this time window, the Finding Nemo line (or lines at other popular at-
tractions) will be its shortest. The last 30 minutes before park closing is another good time
to get in line.
Claustrophobes may not be comfortable with the experience, even though the sub
doesn't actually submerge (we saw one 30-ish woman who started hyperventilating before
the sub left the dock). Children may be scared of the same thing, or of the encounter with
sharks(theykeeptheirdistance). Thesharkshereareabitlessmenacing thaninthemovie
too.
Thebright-yellow subs,revivedfromthepreviousattraction, havebeenreengineered
with electric power to minimize noise and pollution. The subs fit 40 people. It's not easy
to get 40 aboard, however, because the seats are narrow and a few guests take up two.
Ideally, large guests should aim to be in one of the four seats at the front or back, but this
may be difficult to negotiate. Wheelchair-bound guests or those who can't get down the
spiral staircase into the sub can view the experience from a special topside viewing room
(seats about six able-bodied persons plus two wheelchairs). With the exception of one
small animated effect, the visual is identical (perhaps faster), but despite a large monitor
the creatures appear smaller than when viewing them through a real porthole. The wait for
the alternate viewing area is usually brief (ask a cast member how to bypass the standby
line), and there are Mickeys hidden in the dive lockers inside.
A reader from Sydney, Australia, disagrees with our Finding Nemo rating, writing:
The ride that was the most overrated was Finding Nemo. Perhaps it would rate
high for the under 8-year-olds, but for our group it was one of the worst rides.
