I hate to have to do this kind of article but sometime it's the right thing to do and for sure an alert is needed about the terrible condition of the Nautilus at DLP Discoveryland as the submarine is almost falling apart - no kidding, folks. If Captain Nemo was still - and for real - aboard the Nautilus he would probably send a message to his home base Vulcania Island and ask for some urgent help...
As you will see on the pictures below the Nautilus is in really bad condition, not as bad as was Captain Hook ship in Adventureland, but not far. I'm talking here only about the exterior part, the one in the middle of Discoveryland lagoon, as the inside of the Nautilus had regular maintenance and is in good condition if we except some light effects which are missing.
Now, for the defense of Disneyland Paris maintenance it's true that the maintenance of the exterior part of the submarine is not easy as it needs to empty the lagoon, etc... But as we're going to see on the pictures below now is the time to do it - not in one or two years, right now, before it'll be too late!
Let's have a look at all the problems. First, some parts of the hull and painting are no longer there, from the bow to the stern...
Don't think that this is happening only on one side of the sub as it's the same on the other side...
Then there is also a huge problem of moss all along the ship...
And if all this was not enough there is also another problem which will be harder to resolve: seagulls! There is more and more seagulls who are coming from the sea at 200 km from Paris and it seems that these seagulls have found home on the Nautilus. After all, it looks like a ship, it's surrounded by water and no one can catch them as it is in the middle of a lagoon! Note that the seagulls could work fine with the theming....but the problem is not that they stand on the submarine and that they've obviously declared that the Nautilus is their own territory but also that they spend a big part of their time to defecate on it!
So, what can DLP maintenance do? To restore the Nautilus is perfectly technically possible, that's for the good news. But to do it they have to empty the lagoon, probably put fences all around it to avoid guests to "see the trick" as many DLP guests still think that they're really entering the submarine that they saw outside when they go inside. Then, they probably have no other choice than to strip all the painting, restore the missing parts, paint it all over again, refill the lagoon, etc... It's not a refurbishment, it's a full restoration that we're talking about here and they can't do it in two weeks.
And here comes the bad news. Because of the needed time and although i've heard that a maintenance is scheduled anytime soon - but this would be probably the usual maintenance of the inside of the submarine - DLP maintenance will probably not have the time to do it before DLP 20th Anniversary. Eventually they could have the time to do it before April 1st if they begin tomorrow but i'm afraid this is not going to happen. Which means that the Nautilus will stay in this condition - and probably getting worse - during all the 20th Anniversary as i don't see DLP putting fences all around the lagoon during two months during this anniversary year.
Is it a shame? For a DLP fan probably, but to take the defense of DLP maintenance they had a lot of work this year all around parks and hotels and they did a great job. They also had to do a new Captain Hook ship and this was even more urgent as guests can go on it and there was a real security problem. They probably had to make a choice and they did the right one by doing Captain Hook ship first. That said, the Nautilus must really be the next one to be restored, don't you think so?
Edited: Last news about the Nautilus: Apparently DLP maintenance has confirmed that the lagoon should be emptied in March, and we can suppose that this will be done for a rehab of the Nautilus exterior. Because why should they empty the
lagoon, if not for that? Let's cross the fingers that it's going to happen for real and that we'll have a fresh and new Nautilus for the 20th!
Tomorrow i'll be back with great shots of the inside of the sub, and these should put you in a better mood!
Pictures: copyright disney and more
7 comments:
Hello Alain,
I have a direct question for you that I kind of always had in my mind but just popped out again after reading your article.
I was wondering if the Disney teams reads and take account of the park reports (photo, written, video) made on the Disney blogs and use it to spot things to restore/improve they might have missed.
I mean, when you look at how precise your article is or for instance at the weekly photo reports on the WDWNT Network websites, I'm pretty sure they can learn a thing or two from it right ? They obviously have units to wonder around the parks and do the same thing but they can't see everything...
Then have you ever been contacted by DLP about one of your article on this subject ?
That actually leads to another big question for me which would be to know how much you, as an influent Disney blogger, are in relation with the park. Have they ever contacted you ? Do they give you informations, etc. ?
I hope you'll have the time to answer those "existential" questions !
Keep up the good work, it's such a pleasure to read your articles !
SP, Here are the answers: No, DLP has never contacted me, mainly because they're perfectly aware when something is going wrong somewhere. They don't need me, really, and for instance, i'm pretty sure they know that the Nautilus is in bad condition. You'll need to be blind to don't see it!
Honestly i don't think i am that influent and i'm not trying to be, just trying to do a good web site. And no, DLP don't give me other infos than what they give to the different web sites. All the other infos i have are coming from my own (and secret!) sources.
I have run across this seagull or bird problem before and know that the solution was a small air cannon set on a regular interval set timer, that with a pop blasts a shot of air towards the birds, chasing them off the artifact or area. WDI has the special effects to do such a thing as they have demonstrated. Honey West
They need to paint the Nautilus with a special truck bed rubberized paint after stripping the old paint off and doing repairs needed. Honey West
malheureusement le parc entier est dans cet état ! C dommage pour un aussi joli parc qui fête tristement ses 20 ans.
C'est peut-être un petit peu exagéré...le parc n'est pas dans cet état-là, heureusement d'ailleurs . Et la maintenance passe son temps à repeindre les bâtiments ou à refaire les sols...
I hope that they refurbish the Nautilus soon, I really love it!
In fact 20,000 leagues under the sea is my favorite Disney movie, and I think that it is the best movie that Disney has ever made. I think that it is a shame not to have anything related to it in the American theme parks anymore, removing the 20,000 leagues attraction from the MK was the worst thing ever done in a Disney Park. At least we still can see the Nautilus in Paris and in Tokyo, and that is always a plus on these parks.
DLP maintenance is not that bad, they have improved a lot as a matter of fact, and the park in general is in good conditions and looking beautiful, but for sure the Tokyo version of the Nautilus is never going to be looking like that...
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