1) I think over time I’ve been a little too vague about my issues with the Nemo/Seas overlay. Nemo is really popular and actually topical to the attraction, so I really don’t have a big problem with them incorporating it into the pavilion. I *do* have a problem with the way it was done – none of the Nemo characters do anything to help increase our understanding of actual fish or the actual ocean.

It would have been so easy to change the plot of the ride so that we’re following Nemo’s class on a field trip, as he re-traces the path of his adventures and fills his class in on everything he learned. You have the characters, the school of fish and the teacher right there in the attraction already and they totally whiffed it.

It also doesn’t help that Turtle Talk, which is a fantastic idea and is executed really well, has just devolved into an excuse to goad kids into goofing off and telling silly jokes instead of having any informative content whatsoever.

It would have been totally possible to keep the Sea Base theme – I loved those hydrolators! – and still incorporate Nemo and friends. They do it in Disneyland, where the “real world” scientific submarine voyage puts out their sonophone and suddenly we’re hearing the fish talk. It could have worked great, but it would require a little – dare I say it? Imagination.

2) You’re right that El Rio didn’t really teach us much about Mexico, especially when the voice-over parts weren’t synced correctly. But the thing about Fiesta is there’s no real connection to Mexico at all – they’re just looking for Donald. They could be anywhere, it just happens that they’re in Mexico.

And I’ll add that both these attractions consist primarily of lots of scenes of characters shouting someone’s name over… and over… and over… and over. Not exactly riveting.

Thanks for the comments!

and (2) What did El rio del tiempo (which was in my top 5 attractions of the entire MK) teach us about Mexico before the refurb?I don’t remember the commentary being especially enlightening. The main thing I got from that attraction (and still one of my favorite bits) was that souvenir sellers are very aggressive, lol! The whole thing was one long tourism ad. There were no indicators of where in Mexico any of the events took place. BUT it was magic – you felt like you were on a whirlwind trip through the country and didn’t notice that you weren’t ‘learning’ anything – the magic more than made up for it…

That being said, I *hate* the Fiesta thing. And I love the movie ‘The Three Caballeros” but as you so appropriately mentioned, the ride is too short to do justice to the movie, so it just ends up seeming like a frenetic jumble with no cohesiveness whatsoever…

Don’t get so bent out of shape over these changes. Most of the guests enjoy them, including yours truly, so just sit back and relax!