Wallpaper pictures of "The Seas with Nemo & Friends" (former "The Living Seas") in Future World in Epcot - presented in 4:3 regular and 16:10 widescreen formats!

"Try to imagine, just for a moment . . ."

Those were the words to the start of the main preshow movie (appropriately called "The Seas") for the old "The Living Seas" pavilion from 1986 until 2005.

When "The Living Seas" opened in October of 1986, the underwater themed pavilion offered park guests another attraction in the growing theme park along with dozens of aquatic exhibits and at the time the world's largest aquarium with 5.7 million gallons of salt water.

"The Living Seas" was a pretty cool experience back in the late 1980s and up to the mid 1990s before it started experiencing cut backs and showing signs of deterioration.  The attraction started out with guests entering the front of the building and going past the rock sign and crashing waves (similar to today's sign, but minus the seagulls).  The line queue was short and showed people the history of underwater exploration from early concepts for diving bells to a model of the Nautilus from Disney's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea hit movie (the same model is now visible in the "Walt Disney: One Man's Dream" museum exhibits in Disney's Hollywood Studios).  After that initial line queue the park guests gathered in the first preshow room, which was mainly a five minute slide show presentation about United Technologies and it was displayed on a 360º screen.  Once that show ended, the guests were ushered into one of two preshow movie theaters for the ten minute showing of "The Seas".

After the second preshow, the guests then went to the upper level of the futuristic "Sea Base Alpha" laboratory.  There, we waited for one of three "Hydrolators" to take us down to the main visitor complex part of Sea Base Alpha.  To me, riding the Hydrolators was always fun even though you only descended an inch or two in reality.  The sound effects, wobbling floor and moving rock wall with bubbles were cool.  After making that long decent it was time for the final and always short line queue to board the "Sea Cabs" for the final trip to the visitor's complex in Sea Base Alpha.

The Sea Cab ride was simple and to the point.  The Omnimover ride system allowed a constant stream of guests to make the final voyage to the main part of The Living Seas, and along the way you had great views of the main aquarium.  There wasn't any special theming along the way, nor any animated creatures or Audio-Animatronics.  The hallways were wide open and you had many clear views into the main aquarium to spot passing sea turtles, sharks, large schools of fish, and the occasional diver.

After finishing the Sea Cab ride the guests were now in the main part of "The Living Seas" and could spend all the time they wanted to explore the building and learn from one of many exhibits.  There were many smaller tanks with more exotic species of fish, and several displays instead focused on manned and robotic exploration of the oceans.

To leave Sea Base Alpha, once again the guests got to ride in a Hydrolator.  After all, we were like sixty or eighty feet below the water and needed to get back to the surface to enjoy the rest of our day at EPCOT Center.  The exit Hydrolator was more like an express version as it didn't have the moving rock walls or air bubbles.  But the ascent to the surface only took about a minute and the doors opened to reveal Future World.

It took about thirty minutes on average to make a quick visit to "The Living Seas," with most guests staying inside the building for forty-five minutes to about an hour.

The biggest change to happen to "The Living Seas" before its 2005 total conversion was the experience of going from the first line queue to the Sea Cabs.  At some point around 1999 (if my memory serves me correctly), after the presentation in the 360º room the guests had the option of skipping the viewing of "The Seas" and just go directly to the Hydrolators.  There was a corridor built through the left preshow theater that took guests directly to the ride's loading station.  And change came again around 2002 when the Sea Cab ride was closed and the people walked directly from the fist line queue all the way into Sea Base Alpha.

Not surprisingly, during the Dark Ages of the pavilion from the late 1990s through 2004 it was nearly empty of people inside of the building.  The main theming was gone as there was no longer a primary story for guests to follow.  The closing of the Sea Cabs ride took away the ride part of the pavilion.  At that point it was just a fish tank to many of the visitors.  That was it.

But thanks to a highly successful animated movie known as Finding Nemo, big changes were coming to save the future of "The Living Seas."

"Turtle Talk with Crush" originally opened on November 16, 2004 in one of the lower-level exhibition spaces in Sea Base Alpha.  The short show gave children the ability to verbally interact with their favorite sea turtle and proved to be a worthy addition to "The Living Seas."  The line queue for the show often filled the entire lower level of Sea Base Alpha, and forty-five minute wait times were common.  It was only natural to keep this show around after the conversion of the pavilion.

Around 2005, the front entrance and entire line queue and ride area for "The Living Seas" were at last closed to the general public.  The main exhibits were still open, and for the time being all traffic was in and out through the side exit doors (former Hydrolators).  For the next year the building and main attraction were re-themed for the characters from Finding Nemo.

Finally, in October of 2006, "The Seas with Nemo & Friends" was open for the general public.

Today's version of the pavilion has guests enter through the main entrance like before (though entry through the side doors is permitted and generally used by people skipping the ride).  Instead of learning about ocean exploration, we're now walking amongst the sand dunes at a beach.  We then continue through the line queue and descend under the breaking waves and journey underwater to the ride's loading station.  Once on board the "Clamobiles," we take a brief dark ride journey past familiar scenes from Finding Nemo, with the main characters appearing in the main aquarium tank at the end of the ride.

Most of the exhibits have been changed to either add the Finding Nemo characters or entirely different content, and "Turtle Talk with Crush" was moved to one of the old preshow theaters to accommodate a larger viewing audience.

Like its predecessor, "The Living Seas," "The Seas with Nemo & Friends" stayed true to the main theme of the world's oceans and its biology.  The biggest difference between the two versions of the pavilion dealt with how the material was presented to the general public.  The old, boring methods of the 1980s may have been cool back then, but it was outdated and unable to keep up with the shorter attention spans of today's visitors.  So now instead of the scientific approach to the pavilion, we're now guided along by the main characters of Finding Nemo as they briefly educate us about the oceans and ocean life.

As much as I enjoyed "The Living Seas" back when everything was brand new and correctly working, "The Seas with Nemo & Friends" is a good change to the pavilion.  I do like the themed line queue and dark ride to the main exhibit area.  I would have liked it if a few of the older displays had made it through the change intact, but it's not that big of a deal.  Hints of the original pavilion are still around in the current version, and so far it looks like the crowds have a solid approval rating of this undersea pavilion at Epcot.

Note - Each picture can be opened in one of two styles - regular (4:3 ratio) and widescreen (16:10 ratio). You may download and share these pictures, but please, do not modify or alter them in any way!

The above Epcot guidebook and guidemap pictures are (c) The Walt Disney Company.

The regular 4:3 pictures all have a resolution of 1600x1200 (960x1280 for vertical pictures), unless it's otherwise noted.  They can also easily fit monitor resolutions of 1280x960 or even 2133x1600 without needing any special modifications.  Just select the image and have Windows stretch and fit it to the other 4:3 resolution.

The widescreen 16:10 pictures all have a resolution of 1440x900, unless it's otherwise noted.  They can also easily fit a resolution of 2560x1600 without needing any special modifications.  Just select the image and have Windows stretch and fit it to the other 16:10 resolution.

Warning - There will be some slight variations between the regular and widescreen pictures!

To help save bandwidth for the other visitors, please open each picture only once. If you like it, save it to your hard drive. You can also right click on the link and select "save as" instead of manually loading each picture.

- Epcot - Future World - "The Seas with Nemo & Friends" - 01 - regular, widescreen

- The Seas - walking up to the building - 01 - regular, widescreen

- The Seas - walking up to the building - 02 - regular, widescreen

- The Seas - walking up to the building - 03 - regular, widescreen

- The Seas - Finding Nemo display - 01 - regular, widescreen

- The Seas - Finding Nemo display - 02 - regular, widescreen

- The Seas - Finding Nemo display - 03 - regular, widescreen

- The Seas - Finding Nemo display - 04 - regular, widescreen

- The Seas - Finding Nemo display - 05 - regular, widescreen

- The Seas - New Year's Eve 2008 line queue - 01 - regular, widescreen

- The Seas - tropical plants - 01 - regular, widescreen

- The Seas - tropical plants - 02 - regular, widescreen

- The Seas - sign & entrance - 01 - regular, widescreen

- The Seas - sign & entrance - 02 - regular, widescreen

- The Seas - sign & "Spaceship Earth" - 01 - regular

- The Seas - tropical plants & "Spaceship Earth" - 01 - regular, widescreen

- The Seas - seagulls - 01 - regular, widescreen

- The Seas - New Year's Eve 2008 line queue - 02 - regular, widescreen

- The Seas - fish mural - 01 - regular, widescreen

- The Seas - fish mural - 02 - regular, widescreen

- The Seas - entrance sign - 01 - regular, widescreen

- The Seas - dedication plaque - 01 - regular, widescreen

- The Seas - fish exhibit - clown fish (Nemo) - 01 - regular, widescreen

- The Seas - fish exhibit - clown fish (Nemo) - 02 - regular, widescreen

- The Seas - fish exhibit - clown fish (Nemo) - 03 - regular, widescreen

- The Seas - fish exhibit - clown fish (Nemo) - 04 - regular, widescreen

- The Seas - fish exhibit - lion fish - 01 - regular, widescreen

- The Seas - fish exhibit - regal tang (Dory) - 01 - regular, widescreen

- The Seas - fish exhibit - starfish (Peach) - 01 - regular, widescreen

- The Seas - fish exhibits - 01 - regular, widescreen

- The Seas - fish exhibits - 02 - regular

- The Seas - fish exhibits - 03 - regular

- The Seas - hammerhead shark (Anchor) - 01 - regular, widescreen

- The Seas - main aquarium - 01 - regular, widescreen

- The Seas - main aquarium - 02 - regular, widescreen

- The Seas - main aquarium - 03 - regular, widescreen

- The Seas - manatee exhibit - 01 - regular, widescreen

- The Seas - manatee exhibit - 02 - regular, widescreen

- The Seas - Mr. Ray's Lagoon - stingray - 01 - regular, widescreen

- The Seas - Mr. Ray's Lagoon - stingray - 02 - regular, widescreen

- The Seas - Seabase Challenge trivia game (extinct) - 01 - regular, widescreen

- The Seas - Seabase Challenge trivia game (extinct) - 02 - regular, widescreen

- The Seas - store - stuffed Finding Nemo animals - 01 - regular

- The Seas - "Turtle Talk with Crush" - original location - 01 - regular, widescreen

- The Seas - exit - 01 - regular, widescreen

- The Seas - "Coral Reef Restaurant" sign - 01 - regular, widescreen

- "The Seas with Nemo & Friends" - night - 01 - regular, widescreen

- "The Living Seas" (old version) - monorail green - 01 - regular, widescreen

- "The Living Seas" (old version) - 02 - regular, widescreen

- "The Living Seas" (old version) - 03 - regular, widescreen

- "The Living Seas" (old version) - line queue - Nautilus - 01 - regular, widescreen

- "The Living Seas" (old version) - monorail lime - dusk - 01 - regular, widescreen

- "The Living Seas" (old version) - night - 01 - regular, widescreen