As the story goes Walt an his Imagineerss were touring the park one day and realized that with the Rocket Ships, Fiberglass Boats, Railroads, and Racing Cars that the only thing that was naturally missing from his park was a submarine ride. Walt had already made the movie "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea" and with the news covering the happenings of the first nuclear submarine it couldn't be a more perfect time to build one.

 

By 1958 The USS Nautilus had made it's historic journey under the North Pole and Disneyland was about to receive it's first major update since it's 1955 opening. 3 Exciting new rides were on the drawing boards at WED Enterprises. The Matterhorn Mountain would be Disneyland's first coaster, and the worlds first steel tracked, themed coaster ever. The Disneyland-Alweg Monorail System, where streamlined electric trains would glide over the park on a 26 inch wide concrete beam. And finally the Submarine Voyage which would take guests on a journey to the depths of the ocean and back.

 

Walt's brother Roy wasn't too thrilled with the new projects. The Disney brothers had obtained a substantial debt building Disneyland and three years later were just beginning to crawl out of their finacial hole. When Walt announced the plans to build the three new mega attractions, Roy pleaded with him to reconsider the substantial costs it would require. Walt promised his brother he would reconsider, and Roy went off on a business trip to europe to do some fundraising. Without much hesitation, Walt went ahead and approved the construction costs and the Matterhorn, Monorail, and Submarines were to become a reality.

"The Submarine Voyage" officially opened on June 6th 1959, the 14th anniversary of D-Day and one week before the Matterhorn and Monorails. The eight submarines were painted in their best battle greys and were named, Nautilus, George Washington, Ethan Allen, Patrick Henry, Shipjack, Triton, Seawolf, and Skate, after their counterparts in the real nuclear navy. The eight submarines were built at a Navy Shipyard in San Pedro, California and the attractino was originally sponsored by "General Dynamics"- A Military contractor. Admiral Charles Kirkpatrick gave the dedication speach and the Nautilus was christened and on her way.

 

You can click here to hear a sound clip of the dedication ceremony [950k wav file]

 

Each Submarine has a capacity of 36 people (18 on each side) and the ride has an overall capacity of 1400 people per hour. The ride through liquid space takes approx. 8 Minutes.

 

The lagoon is 20 feet deep at points and is filled with over 9 Million gallons of water which are kept clear through a networked system of pipes leading to a filtration plant behind the "Innoventions".

 

The 8 Submarines were renamed and repainted in the 1980's to reflect a change from their battle use, to their research use. The new names, Nautilus, Triton, Argonaut, Seawolf, Explorer, Seeker, Sea Star, and Neptune adorned the submarines which while being a horrible White, Yellow and Blue for a time, were repainted a respectable yellow color in 1986.

 

Each submarine is 52 feet long and are powerd by a 4 cylinder diesel-electric engine. They move along their guidetrack in much the same way as the Monorail does. A series of wheels and tires guide the submarines along their guiderail and through the showbuilding which sits under the Tomorrowland Autopia. Air vents are located around the Autopia to allow the venting of the toxic diesel exhust. The Submarines displace 47 tons of water and move along their path at a steady 1.7 MPH.

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