Uncovering SEA: Disney's Society of Explorers and Adventurers - Inside the Magic

Kungaloosh! This is an all-purpose word meaning hello, goodbye, and how are you! Derived from an Adventurer’s Club beverage of the same name, the word has become a greeting synonymous with Disney’s Society of Explorers and Adventurers.  Come explore with us the background and global mentions of SEA: Disney’s Society of Explorers and Adventurers.

Origins of Disney SEA: Society of Explorers and Adventurers

This mystical and secretive society has grown on the minds of Imagineers all over the world. Some credit The Adventurer’s Club lounge as the birthplace of the Society, while others insist it was the later Tokyo DisneySea Fortress Explorations attraction.

While many suppose that Imagineer Joe Rhode was responsible for this complex puzzle of Society members, he didn’t even know the origin of the club until a few years ago. The  Society of Explorers and Adventurers continues to be so popular because of its complex deep cut nature that is strung together all over the world.

Attractions that Reference Disney’s Society of Explorers & Adventurers

Adventurer’s Club, Pleasure Island

A long time ago in a galaxy… um, wait… this one? There was a lounge called the Adventurers Club. Located in Pleasure Island (before it became Downtown Disney and later Disney Springs at Walt Disney World), the bar was told to be owned by adventurer Merriweather Pleasure. The bar contained an extensive collection of artifacts that were collected from his travels around the globe, including artifacts that now reside in various attractions at the Disney Parks. Much beloved by Adventureland enthusiasts, some of the last used relics are barstools at Trader Sam’s Grog Grotto at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort. Disney Springs’s The Edison restaurant now stands in this same location.

Fortress Exploration

Fortress Exploration is a walkthrough attraction at Tokyo DisneySea in the Mediterranean Harbor area that opened on September 4, 2001. The attraction provides nearly all the details from which the Disney SEA Society originated, including the logo, shield, crest, and mottos. Guests are challenged to solve a series of puzzles in order to join S.E.A., whose backstory is spelled out on maps. The entrance to Fortress Exploration mentions when the original organization was founded, in 1538.

Consisting of scientists, explorers, researchers, artists, travelers, and adventurers from around the world, the Society of Explorers and Adventures is dedicated to the exploration of the world. Guests can join the society if they can complete the puzzles!

Nearby is Magellan’s Restaurant, which originally served as the Society’s meeting place, and much like Jungle Skipper Canteen includes a secret cellar room behind a bookcase door. Historical figures such as Leonardo da Vinci, Marco Polo, and Ferdinand Magellan can be noted here.

Mystic Manor

Disney Imagineer Joe Lanzisero headed the team to create Mystic Manor in the Mystic Point expansion of Hong Kong Disneyland. The Park was missing a Haunted Mansion…something that, at the time, existed in all other Disney Parks across the globe. Lanzisero understood that truly spooky haunted houses weren’t something that the people wanted, so he went with a more magical, friendly-ghost experience that’s loaded with adventure…and Disney SEA nods.

Disney’s storytelling describes Lord Henry Mystic, a collector of antiquities and treasures from around the world, who was deemed the owner of Mystic Manor. Opening the home tours of his collections, Disney guests can see portraits, certificates, and anecdotes of Mystic’s adventures, including the aforementioned Disney SEA society portrait from 1899.

In these hallways, we see the portraits of Doctor J.L. Baterista, Maestro D’Elfman (a nod to musician Danny Elfman), flight man Professor R. Blauerhimmel, Captain Brieux (a supporting character from Disney’s 1974 The Island at the Top of the World and captain of the Hyperion airship), artist Charlton J. Taboret and more.

Nearby, the Explorer’s Club restaurant continues Mystic’s detailed story. Decorated with Mystic’s collection of artifacts and antiquities, many of these treasures originally hung in the Adventurer’s Club.

Tropical Hideaway

Airman Professor R. Blauerhimmel’s paddle, which marks his 1904 expedition on the Ucayali River in Peru, is on display at the Tropical Hideaway in Disneyland Park in California. He is a close friend of Henry Mystic and his portrait can be seen hanging in Mystic Manor. Other notable paddle owners include:

• C. Falco, Zambezi River, 1831
• B. T. Bullion, Colorado River, 1870
• J. Chandler, Elaho River, 1882
• H. Mystic, Ganges River, 1874
• S. Shio, Amazon River, 1910
• H. Hightower, Yangtze River, 1872
• Dr. J. L. Baterista, Congo River, 1906
• Dr. A. Falls, Mbeki River, 1903
• M. Oceaneer, Orinoco River, 1899
• M.A. Pleasure, Kissimmee River, 1900
• Chef Tandaji, Irrawaddy River, 1913

Jungle Skipper Canteen and Jungle Cruise

Dr. Albert Falls, famed discoverer of Schweitzer Falls and owner of the infamous Jungle Cruise Navigation Company, (which hosts the Jungle Cruise Attraction) is a famed member of the Disney SEA Society. Dr. Falls and his daughter, Alberta Falls, created the Jungle Cruise Navigation Company (and subsequently the Skipper Canteen) to help his fellow explorers navigate remote areas.

The Jungle Skipper Canteen is rich with Disney SEA paraphernalia such as Jungle Cruise Skipper portraits, collectibles, member’s apparel, and a secret meeting room located behind a bookcase door. On your way to the restrooms, be sure to notice the Disney Society of Explorers and Adventurer logos, names, books, and more in the bookcase area.

In Disneyland Park, you can visit the FASTPASS machines to see luggage tags from Disney SEA members, Pamela Perkins (linked to Aulani Resort) and Emil Bleehall.  These were added after Tokyo DisneySea’s additions to enrich the queue.

They did the Fastpass machines up as Travel Trunks with address tags. pic.twitter.com/1bmKfQiDYz

— FigmentJedi (@Figment_Jedi) June 1, 2018

Hightower Hotel

The Classic Tower of Terror storyline we know from Disney’s Hollywood Studios wasn’t popular in Japan, so Imagineers needed to craft a new storyline for the Tokyo DisneySea attraction. Show writer and Imagineer Michael Sprout concocted Harrison Hightower III (who reportedly was modeled on the image of Imagineer Joe Rhode) for Creative Lead for the Tokyo Disney Resort, Imagineer Joe Lanzisero. A ruthless explorer and known thief, he had an “ill-fated ending” when traveling in an elevator was a stolen idol. Hightower III passed at the stroke of midnight on the way to the penthouse when the idol came to life and blasted the surrounding area.

The website Jungle Skipper posts this photo of Henry Hightower III (read in the caption of the photo) which is hung in the Jungle Skipper Canteen. It cements Hightower III as a Disney SEA member.

Soaring: Fantastic Flight

Soaring: Fantastic Flight is a Soarin’-like attraction from Tokyo DisneySea in which guests seem to fly in hang gliders. In the queue, we meet adventurer Camellia Falco (who is so popular that she has her own Twitter account) in the year 1850, taking over the direction of the flight museum. We can see a portrait of Falco being inducted to S.E.A. which is on display at the Museum of Fantastic Flight. Lord Henry Mystic being seen in the crowd and member Jason Chandler having witnessed her initiation. Vitale Robustelli’s signature is seen on her certificate nearby, linking him to the Society.  Note the SEA banners with the club crest being held high.