S.E.A.: The Stories Behind Disney's Secret Society of Explorers and Adventurers

If there’s one thing Imagineering fans adore, it’s an original mythology; an invented world and an overarching story that connect attractions in unexpected or mysterious ways…

Sometimes, those connections are visible! Consider the long-lost universe of Magic Kingdom’s 1994 New Tomorrowland, that once intertwined the Lost Legends: Timekeeper and Alien Encounter, with each ride, shop, and even restaurant falling into the frame story of the “real, living” sci-fi city. Or Disneyland’s Adventureland, anchored by the Modern Marvel: Indiana Jones Adventure, drawing the land’s other inhabitants into its 1930s timeline and assigning guests the role of nouveau riche European tourists.

But sometimes, the threads are vast… and much more subtle… Such is the case with the most mysterious, enigmatic, and sought-after cross-continental tale Disney has ever woven… a global mythology that just may connect some of the world’s best rides into one story. Welcome to the legend of S.E.A. – The Society of Explorers and Adventurers.

With a manifesto hidden in time, no one seems entirely sure of the origins of S.E.A., a secret society determined to illuminate the vast, dark corners of the globe. It seems that only the brightest, most cunning, and most enterprising minds ever see the Society’s inner workings. For the rest of us, the members of S.E.A. have left behind a few hints as to their findings, hidden in adventurous rides scattered across the globe…

Could Indiana Jones Adventure, Mystic Manor, Typhoon Lagoon, Tower of Terror, The Enchanted Tiki Room, Pleasure Island, Jungle Cruise, and even Haunted Mansion all be connected by this cross-continental secret society? Today, we’ll dig into the attractions, rides, and restaurants that play a role in the global mythology of S.E.A., then see some potential connections fans only dream of… for now…

1. Fortress Explorations

Location: Tokyo DisneySea, Mediterranean Harbor
Setting: Modern day
SEA Connection: Confirmed

Some say S.E.A. is rooted in the early work of (potential S.E.A. founder) Leonardo da Vinci, famous artist, inventor, and dreamer of the Renaissance… It seems possible given the first indication of the secret society’s existence emerged alongside Tokyo DisneySea in 2001.

Just inside the park, guests arrive on the shores of Mediterranean Harbor – the park’s central waterway – with a picture-perfect view of the looming Mount Prometheus. But there, settled into the volcano’s cooled lava flows, stands the stalwart Fortress Explorations.

The Renaissance-era fortress of golden domes and stone catwalks is a land in its own right: a four-story complex comprised of ten individual exhibitions housed throughout hidden towers and domes. In fact, Fortress Explorations is essentially a museum of arts and sciences concealed within the Renaissance palace, tucked away in one of the most spectacular theme parks on Earth.

Spiral staircases, stone turrets, drawbridges, hidden chambers, optical illusions, grand murals and frescoes, and ancient engravings abound within.

Image: tdrfan.com

Within its hallowed halls, you’ll find a three-story Foucoult pendulum, a recreation of Da Vinci’s Flying Machine, a Navigator’s Hall containing perhaps the world’s classiest remote-controlled ship game (piloting antique sailing ships around ancient continents), and even a centuries-old (and very real) camera obscura – an early, dark chambered projection device that seems more from Milo Rambaldi’s realm than ours.

One of the fortress’s stone bridges even leads to a seismic recording station embedded in Mount Prometheus, where S.E.A. members have tracked and recorded the volcano’s activity – one stop of many on the “Leonardo’s Challenge” scavenger hunt quest that sends guests throughout the fortress collecting clues and puzzle pieces.

Image: tdrfan.com

Even with all of its oversized wonder, the most breathtaking and beautiful element within this ancient citadel of knowledge must be the Chamber of Planets. Residing in the Fortress’s main golden dome, guests here can manipulate antique cranks and cogs to send metal planets revolving around a glowing Sun.

Outside is Explorer’s Landing, an interactive dockside play area of crates, cargo nets, and the docked sailing ship Renaissance, open for adventurers to all ages to climb aboard.

More than just an elaborate palace and dock, Fortress Explorations is the home base of S.E.A. In fact, a bronze plaque near the water’s edge touts: “We, the members of the Society of Explorers and Adventurers, herewith establish Explorers’ Landing in order to promote the sharing of nautical and scientific knowledge for world exploration.”

The Class of 1899

While literal centuries of adventures likely bridge the gap from the founding of Fortress Explorations to today, of particular interest to Imagineering fans is the portrait above, seemingly painted of the secret society’s meeting in 1899.

While some of that year’s S.E.A. members are still shrouded in mystery, a few are well-known to Disney Parks guests, as they host some of the most ambitious and beloved attractions around the globe… On the next page, we’ll set course for the rides you’ll find around the world that connect to the Society of Explorers and Adventurers… if you know where to look.

Read on…

As we draw nearer and nearer to our time, the more modern class of S.E.A. members begins to emerge, with interconnected stories told in one-of-a-kind rides across the globe… And it all begins just days after that 1899 class portrait was painted…

2. The Hotel Hightower

Location: Tokyo DisneySea, American Waterfront
Setting: New York, 1912
SEA Connection: Confirmed
SEA Host: Harrison Hightower III

Hollywood, 1939; the Hollywood Tower Hotel, a beacon for the showbusiness elite; a rogue lightning strike on Halloween night, and a descent into The Twilight Zone. Forget it all. When planners at the Oriental Land Company (owners and operators of Tokyo Disney Resort) decided to bring a version of Disney’s popular free-fall dark ride to Japan, they faced a major hurdle: The Twilight Zone was entirely unknown in Japanese pop culture. Luckily, a miserly member of S.E.A. offered an alternative…

Image: Disney

Built in the late 1800s in the bustling young metropolis of New York, the Hotel Hightower was indeed a star in its own right… but only in service of the ego of its financier: Harrison Hightower III. A millionaire shipping magnate, Hightower earned his fortune (and a collection of antiquities) the easy way: stealing. Throughout the lobby of his hotel, Hightower has proudly commissioned paintings and murals that show his daring escapes from the natives, weapons drawn, who try to chase him down as he makes off with their sacred relics.

And in fact, it seems that Harrison – a prominent if disliked member of S.E.A. – would return with his riches to this opulent headquarters here in New York, stashing his stolen treasures in a gargantuan vault and flaunting his vast collection to the old money of the city’s elite.

Image: Disney via themeparkinsider.com

However, something is indeed about to happen that will change all that. New Years Eve, 1899, Hightower invited the city’s best and brightest to a New Year’s Eve party at the hotel, eager to show off his greatest “find” yet: an African wooden idol called Shiriki Utundu. When local reporters questioned if Hightower was intimidated by tales that the frightful idol may be cursed, Harrison laughed and – just to prove he held no fear – put his cigar out on Shiriki Utundu’s head.

What followed defied explanation, but suffice it to say that Mr. Hightower never made it to his penthouse that night. His body was never found… though Shiriki Utundu was inexplicably returned to his prized pedestal in Hightower’s study without a single scratch…

Image: Disney

We arrive in DisneySea’s American Waterfront thirteen years after Hightower’s disappearance… and the abandonment of the hotel. A blight on the otherwise bustling streets of New York, the Hotel Hightower is slated for demolition. But the New York City Preservation Society has begun an aggressive campaign to protect the building as an architectural landmark, running tours of the once-grand hotel (and Hightower’s untouched collection of cursed artifacts) with an attention-grabbing name to bank on the urban legend of Hightower’s disappearance: “The Tower of Terror.”

Replace the Hollywood Tower Hotel’s lobby, library, and boiler room with Hightower’s lobby, study, and vault and you get the idea. But Shiriki Utundu stands now as one of the most sinister and genuinely scary villains in the Disney Parks catalogue. In fact, our first encounter with him ends with one of the most unsettling “how’d they do that?” special effects ever.

Image: Disney

Tokyo’s one-of-a-kind reinvention of the treasured fan-favorite freefall is so spectacular, it earned its own in-depth entry in our series, Modern Marvels: Tower of Terror tracing the history of Disney’s drop ride from Florida to Japan and beyond. Make the jump there to dive deep into the haunting history of the Hotel Hightower.

While the ride itself mirrors its cousins in California and France, Harrison Hightower and his standing in S.E.A. create a tantalizing tale that gives this Tower of Terror timeless and international appeal… and our first concrete figure to stand among S.E.A.’s enviable ranks. But Hightower wasn’t the only member of S.E.A. to spend his life collecting antiquities and treasures…

3. Mystic Manor

Image: Disney

Location: Hong Kong Disneyland, Mystic Point
Setting: Mystic Point, Peru, 1916
SEA Connection: Confirmed
SEA Host: Lord Henry Mystic and Albert

Sure Harrison Hightower might give S.E.A. a bad name, but a visit to Mystic Manor across the sea at Hong Kong Disneyland will help you see the bright side of this international organization. Lord Henry Mystic is just the saving grace that S.E.A. needed. Mystic toured the world just as fervently, stumbling upon many cultures and locales and all the while collecting his treasures the old-fashioned way: without stealing them. The kindly fellow did just as much exploring as Hightower, but made a lot more friends in the process, including the mischievous monkey Albert, whom he saved from a giant spider somewhere in the African jungle.

When Lord Mystic decided it was high time to retire from S.E.A. and his expeditions, he took one final journey to Papau New Gineau where he constructed the elegant Victorian estate of Mystic Point and an elaborate hilltop mansion. The mesmerizing architecture of Mystic Manor (featuring elements from many different cultures around the world all combined together) well represents the experience within, where Lord Mystic and Albert welcome guests to tour their collection of treasures. The queue weaves through an Exhibition Room where black-and-white photographs on the wall show the opening of Mystic Manor in 1896, and that group portrait of S.E.A. (including Harrison Hightower!) dated 1899.

Lord Mystic and Albert usher us deeper into the home where we board his latest and greatest invention: magnificent Mystic Magneto-Electric Carriages that will whisk us into the manor and through the priceless artifacts stored there.

Cleverly, these Magneto-Electric Carriages are brought to life through Disney’s groundbreaking trackless ride rechnology, as four carriages at a time are dispatched into the home, weaving, spinning, and dancing around each other effortlessly with no track in sight.

The journey begins in the Acquisitions and Cataloguing Room, where Lord Mystic sets us loose to explore his newest arrivals before they’re properly sorted. His most valuable? A newly-arrived ancient music box – encrusted with jewels and golden monkeys – whose music is said to grant life to the lifeless. A silly superstition, of course, so Lord Mystic leaves us alone with Albert, who can’t seem to keep his eyes off the thing. One touch later and the trackless ride sends guests through Mystic’s collection in a whole new way. The manor’s many rooms – dedicated to ancient Greece, Norway, Egypt, Medieval England, and more – all spring to life as the inexplicable floating dust of the music box spreads through the home.

After a stunning finale wherein the Chinese collection literally tears the mansion apart, all is restored to order as we return to the Cataloguing Room and the musical dust is sucked back into the Music Box just as Lord Mystic returns to check on us. “Now, Albert, you didn’t touch my music box, did you?” The monkey rolls his eyes at his master and chirps, “Oh no, no!” and another S.E.A. adventure has come to a close.

Mystic Manor is commonly understood as one of the most impressive and amazing attractions at any Disney Park in the world. That’s why it, too, earned an in-depth look – Modern Marvels: Mystic Manor – that tells the complete story of how a monkey and a music box fuel an Imagineering masterpiece.

Mystic Point also includes the Garden of Wonders, a collection of oversized relics too large to fit into the mansion, each providing unbelievable optical illusions and astounding scale. There’s also a Mystic Freight Depot Stage, the Archives Shop, and an Explorer’s Club Restaurant, all connected within the same S.E.A. backstory.

We may have met two of S.E.A.’s most avid artifact collectors, but the ship hasn’t sailed yet. On the next page, we’ll find out about a third member and the first S.E.A. ride in the United States… Read on…

4. Miss Adventure Falls

Image: Disney

Location: Typhoon Lagoon
Setting: Typhoon Lagoon, present day
SEA Connection: Confirmed
SEA Host: Captain Mary Oceaneer

One of the more enigmatic members of S.E.A. that we’ve yet met is Mary Oceaneer, first introduced to us via an oil painting among Lord Mystic’s collection. Oceaneer is a treasure-hunting heroine who, according to legend, tamed the seven seas with her parrot, Salty, in her search for fortune! Diver, sailer, snorkler, and navigator, Mary is a master of the nautical world.

Consequently, each Disney Cruise Line ship debuted an Oceaneer Club and Lab onstensibly named for Mary and her high-seas exploits, including plaques “commemorating” the S.E.A. figure and the organization’s mission.

Image: Disney

But her first real appearance at any of Disney’s theme parks was in a most unexpected place… As the legend goes, a rogue storm left her stranded in the waterlogged tropical paradise of Typhoon Lagoon (which may mean that the Miss Tilly precariously perched atop Mount Mayday is hers)! And in 2017, Walt Disney World’s waterpark debuted Miss Adventure Falls – the longest ride at any Disney water park.

If her merits and her presence at Mystic Manor don’t convince you, consider that Mary made the coveted cover of Under the S.E.A. Quarterly, and that the queue for her new water ride is littered with recurrances of the S.E.A. coat of arms. But the story doesn’t end with the queue. Once on board, guests ascend into Mary’s past and then journey through the tropical paradise for close encounters with the treasures and artifacts she collected, spilling out into a lagoon of treasures.

Image: Disney

Miss Adventure Falls is not only the first official S.E.A.-connected ride to debut in the United States… It’s also the only Disney Water Park attraction ever to include an Audio-Animatronics figure… in the form of Salty himself, as the ranting-and-raving parrot who recalls grand adventures through the bow of a wrecked ship alongside the raft’s conveyer lift.

Image: Disney

What’s piqued even more interest among Disney Parks fans is that the ride’s marquee contains some hieroglyphic-like writing that appears to belong to some ancient language… But wait… Is that…? Could it be…? Whether you like the idea or not, could it be that the 1914 tale of Atlantis: The Lost Empire is connected to S.E.A. as well?

5. Soaring: Fantastic Flight

Location: Tokyo DisneySea
Setting: Mediterranean Harbor, present day
SEA Connection: Confirmed
SEA Host: Camellia Falco

Believe it or not, the latest S.E.A. attraction returns us to where it all began: Mediterranean Harbor at Tokyo DisneySea. There, nestled in the hills of the harbor, amidst the backdrop of an old-world Italian village resides Il Museo Del Volo – the Museum of Flight.

“Dedicated to humankind’s enduring dream of flying,” guests’ tour through the palatial domed queue, passing models of history’s attempts at flight. It all culminates in a special exhibition celebrating the life and legacy of S.E.A. member Camellia Falco—a visionary innovator in the fledgling field of aviation.

A magical visit from the spirit of Camellia invites guests to experience the unthinkable sensation of flight aboard a device of her own invention: Dream Flyers capable of bringing Camellia’s imagination – and ours – to life. The free-flying spirit of Camellia promises to send our spirits soaring across the world.

Given DisneySea’s history of hosting spectacularly reinvented versions of U.S. rides, many hoped that the park’s version of Soarin’ would, for example, soar over the wonders of the ancient world, or through entirely original sights and sounds. Instead, what follows is simply the attraction known to U.S. fans as Soarin’ Around the World (and Shanghai visitors as Soarin’ Over the Horizon). However, the monumental addition of Falco and the beautiful museum the ride occupies elevate the experience to the legendary levels S.E.A. deserves.

And believe it or not, there’s plenty more S.E.A. to discover… and much closer to home. Read on…

RESTAURANTS

Though there are only five known rides to overtly and officially connect to members of S.E.A., that doesn’t mean our globe-trotting trip through the society’s story is over. Believe it or not, the stories of S.E.A. have come alive in a number of unexpected places around Disney’s U.S. theme parks… restaurants. Here are the signs to look for.

1. The Adventurers Club

Location: Downtown Disney, Walt Disney World (closed)
Setting: Pleasure Island, 1937
SEA Connection: Confirmed

By far the most beloved Disney restaurant ever to meet the wrecking ball, the Adventurers Club was one of the unique offerings at Walt Disney World’s Downtown Disney. More specifically, it was part of the now-defunct Pleasure Island and its collection of adult-oriented restaurants, comedy clubs, and bars. Pleasure Island itself was the result of an extensive backstory tracing the life and times of the eccentric inventor Merriweather Pleasure and his successful business selling sails after World War I.

The story goes that Pleasure’s wife became so frustrated by her husband’s hoarding of travel treasures, she demanded he build someplace on the island to house his artifacts and remnants (and to entertain his globe-trotting friends). And so, Pleasure constructed a library that became the Adventurers Club. Set in 1937, the Adventurers Club was sort of a restaurant, pub, theater, and walkthrough in one. The club was supported by an elaborate backstory involving dozens of original characters with intricate motivations of their own who mingled, performed, and participated with visitors to the club.

There were a half-dozen unique rooms in the club, from the Treasure Room to the Library, each with a unique personality and function. The restaurant was filled with animatronics and surprising, hidden special effects. Even in its relatively short life, the Adventurers Club developed a cult-like following with fans who knew the Club Creed and participated in the many traditions and theme songs the club was known for.

Naturally, the Club outlived Merriweather Pleasure, and eventually his Pleasure Island became a swinging hotspot when Downtown Disney was built around it. The unusual attraction became a fan-favorite stop with a built-world all its own, and inspired an in-depth entry in Lost Legends: The Adventurers Club – a must-read for fans of Walt Disney World history.

In the Club’s continuity, Mr. Pleasure was intimately aware of S.E.A. Check out this letter written from Club President Pamelia Perkins discussing Harrison Hightower (who met his demise decades before the club opened, as a renegade member of S.E.A.’s earlier generation) and how “his idol really took him for a ride.” Later, Mr. Pleasure was officially “retconned” into S.E.A., as evidenced below.

2. Magellan’s

Location: Tokyo DisneySea, Mediterranean Harbor
Setting: Fortress Explorations, present day
SEA Connection: Confirmed

Actually located inside Fortress Explorations at Tokyo DisneySea, Magellan’s is an ornate and astounding fine-dining restaurant that is most certainly meant to be the official dining room for S.E.A. members visiting their Explorers Landing headquarters. With a magnificent globe at its center, carved wooden booths, ornate balconies, and perpetual candlelight, any seat in Magellan’s is sought after.

However, if you visit, you might want to inquire about the secret dining room hidden behind a bookcase. Certainly reserved “back then” for S.E.A.’s most elite members, it’s now available to commoners… if you ask nicely… and preferrably in Japanese.

3. The Tropical Hideaway

Image: Disney

Location: Disneyland Park
Setting: Lost River Delta, present day
SEA Connection: Confirmed

Way back in the early ’60s, the Tahitian Terrace was one of Disneyland’s preeminent dining locales. Born of the same Polynesian “Tiki Craze” that would also form the Modern Marvel: The Enchanted Tiki Room, this outdoor dinner theater nestled between the Tiki Room and the rivers of the Jungle Cruise was a fan favorite.

In 1993, the venue was remodeled to become Aladdin’s Oasis with a similar dinner theater set-up. After two years, the dinner stayed, but the theater went dark. That left Aladdin’s Oasis a lavishly decorated full service restaurant centered around an empty stage. Soon after, food service stopped, too. From 1997 – 2017 (twenty years!) the Adventureland real estate was merely a mostly-closed meet-and-greet.

Image: Disney

Then, Disney announced the unthinkable. The area would return to its roots… sort of. The new Tropical Hideaway would make use of the waterside real estate, creating a Polynesian-inspired bazaar centered around tropical tapas, floats, and Disneyland’s legendary Dole Whip (now offering orange and raspberry swirls in addition to classic pineapple). While purists will remind us that it’s no Tahitian Terrance, the very point of Tropical Hideaway is very different from its predecessors – consider it a “Dole Whip and chill” spot; a new, leisurely, “Instagrammable” spot built specifically for Disneyland’s Annual Passholder base, meant to act as a crowd sponge to help alleviate congestion in the cramped park.

Tropical Hideaway is a brilliant example, too, of how Disneyland’s Adventureland somehow seamlessly blends the Enchanted Tiki Room, Jungle Cruise, and the Modern Marvel: Indiana Jones Adventure into one overarching continuity, feeling as if they might all take place in the same, ecletic jungle port.

Image: Disney

As for its connection to S.E.A.? One of the most talked-about elements of the bazaar (aside from its Audio Animatronic cockatoo and its expansion of the Tiki Room mythos) is a wall of oars with plaques honoring famous adventurers and the rivers they conquered… Among the wall of fame is H. Hightower, M. A. Merriweather, A. Falls, and M. Oceaneer, officially connecting this Tropical Hideaway (and by extension, all of Disneyland’s Adventureland) to the S.E.A. story.

4. Jungle Navigation Co. Ltd. Skipper Canteen

Image: Disney

Location: Magic Kingdom
Setting: Adventureland, present day
SEA Connection: Confirmed

In 2016, the iconic Adventureland Veranda restaurant at Magic Kingdom got a new lease on life when it re-opened after years of vacancy as the Skipper Canteen. The idea is brilliant… that the Jungle Navigation Company – proprietors of the “world famous” river ride across the way – have seen fit to open up the Skippers’ mess hall to tourists for a bite of international flavor. Woven in is the story of the Jungle Navigation Company and its founder (the renowned Dr. Albert Falls, for whom the River’s Schweitzer Falls is hilariously named), though it’s his granddaughter Alberta you’ll find at the helm of the company today.

The Skipper Canteen immediately earned acclaim and appreciation from fans for its brave and exotic menu (which has since been toned down, even if it remains more ambitious than most Magic Kingdom fare), but the real highlight was all in the details. The restaurant was designed in a manner similar to the nearby Be Our Guest Restaurant, with multiple themed rooms in which to dine. The main dining room is the Skipper’s Mess Hall, packed with the Falls’ family’s mementos and early Jungle Cruise concept art (plus some can’t-miss allusions to the very real Imagineers who built the Disneyland opening day original).

Image: Disney

But a narrow, dark corridor of bookshelves leads to something grand… A hidden room discovered to be the secret meeting room of the Society of Explorers and Adventurers. That’s right. You can dine in the elegant, intimate, and beguiling meeting room once reserved for S.E.A. members visiting the river delta. While the room is packed with artifacts shared with Dr. Falls by grateful S.E.A. members, the iconic central round booth is encircled with preserved butterflies… a sincere sight to behold. For that reason, many fans consider Dr. Falls to be both the Jungle River Navigation Co. Ltd.’s founder and an early member of S.E.A.

The Skipper Canteen, it should be mentioned, was the first outright, direct, and overt experience with confirmed S.E.A. connections that appeared in the United States, with all other U.S. references to the organization being indirect ties, hidden hints, and tantalizing asides until Miss Adventure Falls.

5. Jock Lindsay’s Hangar Bar

Location: Disney Springs
Setting: Disney Springs, present day
SEA Connection: Confirmed

You might recognize Jock Lindsey as the freelance pilot who helps out Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark. But fans were shocked when Disney came right out with it, confirming in a Disney Parks Blog post that Jock’s globe-trotting hobby was no accident; he was indeed a member of the Society of Explorers and Adventurers (albeit, a generation after Hightower, Mystic, and Oceaneer, given the 1930s setting of his adventures).

What’s even more astounding? According to official Disney canon, one of Jock and Indy’s adventures together occured in 1938, when the pair flew across the Sunshine State in a biplane in search of the legendary Fountain of Youth (including a stopover at the tourist attraction version in Saint Augustine). While they didn’t find it, Jock was apparently enamored with the crystal clear springs the duo saw in Central Florida, returning in the 1940s to establish (wait for it) the town of Disney Springs. Though Jock is long gone, the airplane hangar he constructed remains at the heart of the ever-expanding town, now converted into a bar showcasing his mementos from his journeys, including numerous call-outs to his fellow S.E.A. members.

Sure, Disney Springs was “reverse engineered” to look decades old, with leveled layers of story applied overtop one another to convincingly appear to have grown gradually from a historic town to a modern shopping metropolis. But would you ever have assumed that Indiana Jones’ trusty pilot was the one to found the town, much less that he would retroactively be written into the story of S.E.A.?

And does the rewritten origin of Disney Springs at the hands of Jock Lindsey undo the story of Merriweather Pleasure’s founding of Downtown Disney?

The End?

Surely you can already imagine the entangling questions S.E.A. raises… How fans can connect Jock Lindsey’s Hangar Bar to Indiana Jones Adventure to the Tropical Hideaway to the Enchanted Tiki Bar to the Adventurers Club to Pamela Perkins to Jason Chandler to Big Thunder Mountain to Discovery Bay… Could so many of Disney’s best attractions exist in one massive, shared universe? That’s the mystery and intrigue earned by S.E.A.

While these five attractions and five restaurants finish off our overt and official list of S.E.A. connections, they don’t tell the whole story… On the last page, we’ll dissect five potential pieces of the puzzle… The “Expanded Universe” of could-be connections that make fans feel that even classic Disney rides might be tangentially connected to this incredible frame story… Read on…

The “Expanded Universe”

Think of S.E.A. as a call to arms for Disney Parks fans… It’s an international scavenger hunt that has Imagineering fans digging into the Disney Parks catalogue looking for potential connections, possible hints, and attractions tied to S.E.A. even if through retroactive-continuity.

To be sure, the “sightings” we chronicle on this page are unconfirmed, many fueled only by fan persistance. But, a few very intriguing educated guesses reside here, perhaps finding S.E.A. connections in corners you might not expect… And given that S.E.A. hasn’t shown up in any notable rides in the United States, fans are willing to take any teases they can get.

So to finish off our list, here are some “could-be” connections that Imagineers have teased merely as ways to keep fans engaged, interested, and exploring. In our imaginations, we like to look for these cross-continental connections while realizing they can be hard sells!

1. Jungle River Cruise: Curse of the Emerald Trinity

Location: Hong Kong Disneyland
SEA Connection: Confirmed, but lost to time

Unbound by nostalgia or expectations as to what Disney can be, Hong Kong Disneyland is well-known by fans as an unrepentent lover of all things scary. In fact, the park’s annual Halloween celebrations come with genuine haunted houses, real scares, and attraction overlays. (In fact, Space Mountain: Ghost Galaxy originated in Hong Kong before being relocated to California.)

Among its experiments in seasonal scares was 2015’s Jungle River Cruise: Curse of the Emerald Trinity. Though it’s not the first time Disney’s experimented with overlays to the ultra-classic, this is one of the most unique. News stories throughout the ride’s boathouse reveal the story of Professor Garrett Reed, a disgraced adventurer, rival to Indiana Jones, and a former member of S.E.A. (dismissed, as the story goes, by Lord Mystic, for his graverobbing, underhanded ways).

The disturbingly dark take on the ride sends guests into the near pitch-black jungle in search of a set of legendary jewels called the Emerald Trinity, said to be hidden in the lost Altar of Souls. With Reed having apparently stolen the gems, supernatural havoc had overcome the outpost, with a hazy green fog carrying sinister vines through the jungle.

With two live actors on board (the traditional Skipper plus a double-dealing associate of Reed’s, the Navigator), the turbulent nighttime journey including projection mapped vines strangling the ride’s temples and chasing the boat, a voodoo tribe intent on restoring peace to the jungle, skeletal “vine zombies” rising from the hippo pool to attack the ship…

…and the gruesome end of the disgraced Reed, seen in silhouette against camp tents when the cursed vines pull the enchanted stone from his pocket, then promptly do away with him.

While Professor Reed is a confirmed (removed) member of S.E.A., the seasonal, temporary, and lost nature of his adventure seem to firmly establish him as an “extended universe” piece of the story. But it also doubles down on the connection between S.E.A. and the Jungle Navigation Co. Ltd., cementing once more that the two exist in the same shared universe, by extension confirming a place for the Indiana Jones mythos in both…

2. Raging Spirits

Image: tdrfan.com

Location: Tokyo DisneySea
SEA Connection: Perhaps a piece of the “expanded universe.”

The Raging Spirits roller coaster at Tokyo DisneySea is a wonder to look at. (At this point, we can agree that everything at DisneySea is a wonder, right?) The temple – meant to look like an ancient Peruvian altar – is rich with detail and stunning architecture that looks fittingly ancient. But how does Raging Spirits fit into the continuity of S.E.A.?

Image: Disney

Simple. Remember those murals in Harrison Hightower’s hotel lobby, depicting his dastardly thievery from ancient cultures? One of those paintings shows Hightower making off with a giant stone serpent head. It should look familiar. As the painting clearly shows, Mr. Hightower got to the Raging Spirits site long before we did, making off with one of the temple’s magnificent stone serpants. It’s a tangential connection, but for Disney fans it’s a gasp-worthy moment to see the two attractions theoretically connect, even if by a single story thread. Now that’s Disney detail.

3. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

Image: Disney

Location: Disneyland and Magic Kingdom
SEA Connection: Perhaps a piece of the “expanded universe.”

When Magic Kingdom’s Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at the Magic Kingdom re-opened after an extensive refurbishment in Spring 2013, it brought with it an interactive queue where guests waiting in line could feel like they were part of the old mining operation. There were opportunities to explode dynamite (with real repercussions outside on the mountain), listen to miners down in the caverns below, and tour the Mining Office.

The thing that was most striking for Disney fanatics, though, was the hinting of a new back-story… and a never-before-seen character.

Image: Disney

A portrait of a miserly looking man named Barnabas T. Bullion adored the new queue, and it seemed certain that this man (who was indicated as President and Founder of the Big Thunder Mining Company by a brass plaque) could have a connection to S.E.A. After all, it certainly fits the late 19th-century mythos to imagine the enigmatic persona (who looks suspiciously like Imagineer Tony Baxter, the ride’s creator) as a member of the society.

But what’s even more interesting is the character’s connection to another. Originally, Tony Baxter envisioned Disneyland’s Big Thunder Mountain as merely the first part of an entirely new land that would continue Frontierland’s narrative. On the north shore of the park’s Rivers of America (where Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge sits today) would rise the Possibilityland: Discovery Bay – a steampunk, sci-fi San Francisco of inventors, storytellers, merchants, and explorers drawn to the eclectic coastal port founded by the inventor of Big Thunder Mountain’s drilling equipment: a man named Jason Chandler.

Now, Discovery Bay never came to be, and Jason Chandler was relegated to an Imagineering myth… Until the introduction of Barnabas T. Bullion. New props added to Magic Kingdom’s mining offices include a letter to Barnabas from Chandler, written on S.E.A. letterhead:

Dear Barney,

Great Caesar’s Ghost, old chap, I haven’t heard from you since our little misadventure in El Dorado! I am indeed sorry to hear of the second disturbance within Big Thunder Mountain, but I did warn you that you were prospecting at your own peril when I sold you the drilling machine. I took the liberty of consulting Madame Zarkov at the Museum of the Weird , and it is her considered opinion that you should abandon the entire operation at once and find a less volatile site. I wish I had better news for you, old boy, but some forces simply are not to be trifled with.

On behalf of your compatriots of SEA, I do hope to see you around the club a bit more often!

Yours in Exploration and Adventure,

Jason Chandler

Founding Member The Society of Explorers and Adventurers

That’s not all, either. Chandler – now a confirmed member of S.E.A. – appeared elsewhere in Disney parks, as well. At Disneyland, a stagecoach parked along Big Thunder Trail is carrying a trunk addressed to him; at the Skipper Canteen, a map of the Hyperion Airship’s journey (another Discovery Bay reference) has Chandler listed as its author; Chandler owns one of the S.E.A. paddles on display in the Tropical Hideaway (for his 1882 trip down the Elaho River in British Columbia); and in Il Museo del Volo, Chandler himself signed Camellia Falco’s S.E.A. membership certificate as the Society Secretary.

Disneyland’s Big Thunder Mountain has its own separate mythology with a potential connection to the Society of Explorers and Adventurers in the form of an entire lost land chronicled in our in-depth feature Possibilityland: Discovery Bay – one of the most incredible and ambitious projects Disney Imagineering ever designed.

4. The Haunted Mansion

Click and expand for a much larger and more detailed view. Image: Disney

Location: Disneyland and Magic Kingdom
SEA Connection: Perhaps a fan-service piece of the “expanded universe”

The Haunted Mansion was not developed overnight. As a matter of fact, Walt’s untimely death left the project in limbo. Without his final seal of approval, his Imagineers weren’t sure what exactly the Haunted Mansion’s stately white plantation house should have inside… a sincerely scary haunt? A somber, grim, and unsettling walkthrough? A musical, whimsical, silly ride? While the Mansion that eventually opened in 1969 had a little of everything, one thing it intentionally lacked was a story. There’s really no through plot or overarching tale; rather, the Mansion is full of vignettes and special effects that are haunting in their simplicity.

In 2006, an ethereal, spooky bride who had long inhabited the Attic scene was replaced with a more overtly murderous mistress whose husbands just can’t seem to keep their heads on. “I do… I did…” she coos as a ghostly axe appears in her hand. Throughout the attic, portraits of the so-called Constance with a handful of different men appear, with the grooms’ heads fading away as if by magic. It was a ret-conned story, and still not an overarching one to explain away the whole Mansion.

Image: Disney

But one particular portrait is of great interest for fans: a painting of the bride smiling while gripping a rose with a mustacheoed would-be husband in a gilded frame marked: “Constance & George, 1877.” (Clicking and expanding the image at the top of this section will allow you to see that this frame is the one Constance keeps closest to her in the attic.) If you believe the legend of the newly-contrived backstory, this final husband was the reclusive owner of the Mansion, bequeathing it to Constance in his quickly-enacted will.

Interestingly, it would seem that the infamous Stretching Room also includes George, though only as a tombstone with an axe in his head and a woman smiling stop, holding a rose…

Image: Disney

… look familiar?

What’s this got to do at all with S.E.A., you’re doubtlessly wondering. Perhaps it would help to know Constance’s final husband’s full name: George Hightower. Yes, it’s supposed that George’s brother, Harrison, was the millionaire magnate and hotelier in New York City who would follow his brother into the afterlife 22 years later in a most unusual elevator accident…

5. Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar & Grog Grotto

Image: Disney

Location: Disneyland Hotel (Disneyland) and Polynesian Village Resort (Walt Disney World)
SEA Connection: Probable, but not direct

Located in a tribal hut outside the Disneyland Hotel in California, Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar is certainly a possible U.S. S.E.A. outpost. The miniscule bar (which fills quickly) serves drinks based on Polynesian landmarks and adventures. Order the right one and the bar will come alive in response. Krakatau Punch? Watch as the volcanoes outside erupt, the building rumbles, and the bar’s lights turn red.

The walls of the bar are completely covered in maps, newspaper articles, and relics from adventurers. While the Bar gives the impression of a S.E.A. storyline, that’s not confirmed. What we do know is that Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar takes place in the same continuity as Disneyland’s Adventureland (newspaper articles announce the discovery of the Temple of the Forbidden Eye by Indiana Jones, for example), which is pretty cool in its own right!

And if you believe that Adventureland takes place in the S.E.A. universe by way of the Tropical Hideaway, than Trader Sam’s does, too, even if indirectly.

Image: Disney

In 2015, the original Tiki Bar was joined by the equally-miniscule Trader Sam’s Grog Grotto at Walt Disney World’s Polynesian Village Resort. Even if Trader Sam wasn’t a member of S.E.A., his bar fits the timeline and aethetic perfectly.

6. Jules Verne’s Voyages Extraordinaires

Image: gadgetfreak.gr

Location: Disneyland Paris & Tokyo DisneySea
SEA Connection: Unlikely, but very interesting!

In keeping with the late 1800s / early 1900s stories that most of the existing S.E.A. tales occur in, we can’t discount Jules Verne or his character. Captain Nemo (of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Mysterious Island fame) was exploring in the 1870s. If you can imagine him as a member of S.E.A., it brings Tokyo’s Mysterious Island land into a whole new focus. Even with Nemo’s potential admission notwithstanding, it just fits the bill. After all, S.E.A. members at Fortress Explorations are examining and recording Mount Prometheus’ activity… Certainly they realize that volcano is also Nemo’s Mysterious Island, right?

Even beyond DisneySea’s stunning central land and its headlining inhabitants (20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Journey to the Center of the Earth), imagining that the Extraordinary Voyages of Verne’s character might’ve taken place in the same universe as S.E.A. gives new depth to Magic Kingdom’s Lost Legend: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea – Submarine Voyage and to the unimaginably brave, French reimagining of Tomorrowland and its creative anchor, Disneyland Paris’ Lost Legend: Space Mountain – De la Terre à la Lune. If those adventures happened in tandem with Hightower, Mystic, Oceaneer, Pleasure, et. al, that would be a breathtaking connection…