Crush, Sea Turtle from Nemo, coming to Living Seas

[crazy4wdw]

Move over Stitch -- here comes Crush, the surfer sea turtle

By Sean Mussenden | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted November 15, 2004

Stitch isn't the only popular animated character getting a permanent spot at Walt Disney World this week.

Crush, the surfer-dude sea turtle from the Disney/Pixar hit Finding Nemo, is coming to Epcot.

Stitch's Great Escape -- a reworking of the ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter ride at the Magic Kingdom -- officially opens on Tuesday. That same day, Disney officials will also unveil a new attraction inside Epcot's Living Seas pavilion.

Turtle Talk with Crush will present the animated sea turtle on large display screens that mimic an aquarium scene. Imagineers promise "voice-activated, real-time animation" that will allow the turtle to "talk" to tourists.

As in: Hey, little dude with the yellow shirt and funny hat, are you having a good time?

"It's not just push a button and run a film. The presentation will be very personalized to the people in the room," Disney spokesman Dave Herbst said.

Another Nemo character is getting his own Living Seas exhibit: Bruce, the shark with a down-under accent, will headline a shark-education area.

The movie's characters have had a presence at the pavilion for months.

"It's a natural to bring the Finding Nemo characters into the picture at The Living Seas, because the two are thematically connected. It connects what The Living Seas is about with something young audiences might be familiar with."

Sean Mussenden can be reached at 407-420-5664 or smussenden@orlandosentinel.com.

 

[POOH&PIGLET]

 

[PhotobearSam]

Great something else that will be new to us!!!

 

[crow11ad]

wooohooo

 

[kimwim8]

very cool! Can't wait to go back!

 

[kupperman]

Yeah!! I can't wait to bring my daughter! She'll love that!!

 

[Miffy2003]

My daughter is going to love this

 

[Simba's Mom]

Although I'm not interested in Stitch, I LOVE "Finding Nemo". This is great news! I'm so excited!

 

[goofy4tink]

Cool dude!!!!

 

[bjakmom]

Awesome !!! I'm so glad that they are finally re-energizing The Living Seas !!!!

 

[flyingenie]

wow- awesome! how'd they manage to keep this one under wraps?!

 

[fizz13]

This is great! Something all my kids can enjoy without getting freaked out at all. My DS3 even goes to bed with a plush Crush and Squirt so he will be thrilled.....actually I'm pretty thrilled.
See you later dudes,
Claire

 

[Penny12]

I got into a soft opening/trial run of this last week, I think Tuesday (I thought they told us then that it was due to open that Friday 12th).

I can tell you that this is <b><i>very</i></b> cool for smaller children though as an adult I'll admit to it just being so-so.






*****potential spoilers below*****









All the kids were called to sit up front on the floor together so that they were right in front of a big screen where Crush comes to visit to teach us about turtles and for him to learn about us humans too (This thing I found is a bikini? What?!?! Dudes, you're telling me only Dudette's wear bikini's? I'd better take this off then!).

A CM moves around everyone with a mike so that Crush can hear what everyone's saying and he can also see everyone too so there's lots of personal interaction as he picks out 'the dude in the baseball cap' or the 'dudette on the end'. He also played hide n seek and then all the kids went 'surfing' at the end whilst the adults created the waves (we made Mexican waves naturally).

The animation is fantastic, Crush looks right at you when he's talking and his mouth moves just as it should, truly interactive - what can I say, the children there were mesmerised...they were all talking direct to Crush as far as they were concerned!

As I say though, as an adult I was personally less entertained - this may have been down to a couple of things. 1) This was extremely experimental - I didn't have to guess that, the CM's there made it quite clear that this was brand new and still a big learning curve for them. Things can only get better from what they learn now that they've gone live. 2) There weren't actually many people in the test group, just 3-4 rows of adults and maybe 15 children so I don't think there was a true atmosphere.

All in all it really is a pretty neat addition to the Living Seas