Tell me about The Seas With Nemo And Friends

[atilley01]

Can anyone tell me what's involved with the Seas With Nemo And Friends? From watching videos it seems that there is a Nemo ride and also an aquarium but I can't get an idea of the layout of the building. Can you choose to do either the ride or the aquarium or is it set up in a way that you have to do both? Is there anything special about the aquarium that can't be found at a regular aquarium?

Thanks for your help and I hope my questions make sense. I'm trying to figure out if I should add the aquarium to our Epcot touring plan or if it's something we can see at our local aquarium and our time would be better spent seeing something new.

 

[BrianL]

There is a ride and an aquarium that the ride lets off in. To most it is an underwhelming ride, but the last part is cool when you can see into the aquarium tanks. Once at the "Seabase" there are several rooms with aquarium tanks and you might even see divers. The best part is the Manatee tank where you can see them from below and above. There is also Turtle Talk with Crush, an interactive show with Crush from Finding Nemo. He will answer questions from children. It's pretty cute and popular. If you just want to go into Seabase you can just enter through the exit (gift shop) and walk right in. The line for this ride is usually pretty short though unless it's a very busy time.

 

[Joltin Joe IV]

Turtle Talk with Crush is a must! Even if you have no kids. My wife and I (mid 20s) really enjoyed it. A tot asked Crush if he existed, Crush's response (woaaaah, duuuude) had me in stitches!

 

[atilley01]

Awesome. I do have a little one so I know we definitely want to do the Nemo ride and Turtle Talk. We don't have manatees at our local aquarium so that sounds like it's worth checking out.

 

[jtowntoflorida]

It is an omnimover ride using the same clamshells that the Little Mermaid ride uses. It takes you through various scenes, just like all omnimovers, with one scene showing you the aquarium in the Seas pavilion. That little scene isn't enough to see the aquarium, though...we typically allow for about a half an hour to explore the Seas pavilion. There's other stuff to do there besides just the aquarium and the ride, and it's really nice on hot days because it's all indoors. There is also an attraction called Turtle Talk with Crush that's pretty much a must-do with kids (but don't waste a FP on it).

One note about the Seas with Nemo and Friends...the ride is badly in need of a refurb. Many of the effects and animatronics don't work. It's bad enough that our kids even noticed it, and then never notice anything like that.

 

[atilley01]

It is an omnimover ride using the same clamshells that the Little Mermaid ride uses. It takes you through various scenes, just like all omnimovers, with one scene showing you the aquarium in the Seas pavilion. That little scene isn't enough to see the aquarium, though...we typically allow for about a half an hour to explore the Seas pavilion. There's other stuff to do there besides just the aquarium and the ride, and it's really nice on hot days because it's all indoors. There is also an attraction called Turtle Talk with Crush that's pretty much a must-do with kids (but don't waste a FP on it).

What exhibits do you like the most in the Seas pavilion?

 

[mollmoll4]

I'm partial to this area because my sister was an aquarist here as part of the professional internship program. The aquarium is really lovely and set up so that you can view from lots of places.

Last time DH and I went we were able to watch them target training the dolphins from the circular observation platform.

 

[jtowntoflorida]

What exhibits do you like the most in the Seas pavilion?

I like the manatees. There is a tank where a diver does dive demonstrations that's pretty cool. And there's a little play area with sharks the kids can pose with, including Bruce. Yes, you can take a picture of your kids in Bruce's mouth.

We also like hanging out in the holding area for crush because they have a few open fish tanks there.

They also do dolphin demonstrations that people seem to like to watch. I'm not a fan of dolphins in captivity, though.

 

[PurpleKomodo]

I will add a vote for the manatees. They are really cool to see. My kiddo also really liked watching the diver swim around in one of the aquariums. If your little one is into Nemo, they also have tanks with all the species from the movie. My DS also really liked the Bruce the Shark section and made us wait in a line to get his picture inside the Bruce (which I am glad we did now because the pictures are really cute!). I would say half an hour is sufficient though if you are trying to add it to a touring plan.

 

[MischaOz]

It is a nice aquarium. If I recall correctly, when you get out of the ride it kind of spits you out into the aquarium, so if you have kids there's really no way to avoid it.

 

[atilley01]

Thanks for all the help. It sounds like I'll be scheduling some extra time in there.

 

[DonaldDuck77]

The aquarium is the attraction. Nemo ride is the "pre show".

 

[Simba's Mom]

Wow! Sounds like I've been missing a lot! I never knew about the manatee demonstrations or the circular platform with dolphin training. Will I have any trouble finding that stuff? All I ever knew of was the room with the Nemo exhibit and the shark for picture taking, then the store. Like a PP, sounds like I'll be planning for some extra time there!

 

[Anne5555]

The aquarium is worth a quick visit if you don't frequent a local aquarium, and I hear Turtle Talk with Crush is fun. However, I HATED the Finding Nemo ride. It got off to a cute start with interesting Omnimovers through an aquarium and with the finding nemo characters appearing to be in the tanks with the real fish. However, if I heard "Where's Nemo?" asked one more time I felt like I would go insane. Your kids might enjoy it, but it drove me batty. Then we waited for Turtle Talk, but after waiting 10 or 15 minutes we left.