In fact, many opening day attractions in Disneyland were themed to Disney films and characters. Walt Disney was always a genius when it came to cross promotion and the synchronized use of his intellectual properties. Vice President Richard Nixon and his family were on hand on Jto officially witness the opening of the new attractions, which included “commissioning” eight new submarines. This included the addition of the three new attractions – Matterhorn Bobsleds, the Disneyland Monorail, and Submarine Voyage. In 1959 – just a few years after the release of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea – Disneyland completed an ambitious expansion of Tomorrowland.

It won two Academy Awards, for Best Art Direction and Best Special Effects. The film was a critical and commercial success, being famously remembered for the fight with the giant squid, and James Mason’s outstanding performance as the charismatic anti-hero Captain Nemo. Nemo and his guests encounter a gigantic squid, and ultimately have to fight to survive an attack from warships around a volcanic island. Throughout the film, we learn of Nemo’s peculiar plan for self-sustenance in the deep blue sea, with some assistance from his small colony of supporters. In the process, they encounter an advanced submarine – the Nautilus – commanded by Captain Nemo.

In the film, Professor Aronnax and Conseil board a ship sent to investigate a wave of mysterious sinkings. The film was directed by Richard Fleischer, and starred Kirk Douglas as the happily mischievous Ned Land, James Mason as the mysterious anti-hero Captain Nemo, Paul Lukas as Professor Pierre Aronnax, and Peter Lorre as Professor Aronnax’s assistant Conseil. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, released on December 23, 1954, was Walt’s most ambitious live-action film to date, adapted from Jules Verne’s 1870 novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.The science fiction adventure film was one of the first features shot in CinemaScope, and was personally produced by Walt Disney himself, through Walt Disney Productions. Walt Disney was always pushing boundaries when it came to animation and live action filmmaking. Join us here as we dive 20,000 leagues deep into the ocean blue, to uncover the curiosities of Captain Nemo and his undersea world.

Calling all seafarers! We’ve got an undersea adventure worthy of many a galleon! In today’s installment of Dearly Departed Disney, let’s look beneath the water’s surface, to look at a legendary former attraction created from a literary fiction classic.

10000 leagues under the sea