You’re ridin’ it, dude!

Mixing an indoor (and outdoor) spinning roller
coaster with a dark ride, this new attraction is totally unique and sure to
be turtally “awesome”…

Let Crush show you the wonders of ocean life,
from colourful clownfish and the thrilling EAC to hungry sharks and stinging
jellyfish! You’ll plunge into a larger-than-life film set from Finding Nemo
and coast along the swirling underwater currents…

Production Guide

Your wild coaster ride begins in Toon Studio,
outside Disney Studio 5 – the massive soundstage currently hosting the
unique underwater film sets from Finding Nemo.

A giant blue backdrop of turtles and fish covers
the front of the building, which also features a frame of colourful coral
and undersea plantlife. Every few seconds, a turtle shell swoops out of the
aquarium building and dives through the coral, be re-entering the building
on the opposite side. Ready to take a ride on the EAC, dude?

You enter the soundstage on the far right of the
building, following a winding downhill path past the Genie’s Agrabah filmset
until you reach a covered section of the queue, themed to Sydney Harbor
fishing pier. Luckily, the tide is out, so you can shelter under the pier on
the sand until Crush is ready for you on set! Be sure to watch out for pesky
seagulls and peckish pelicans!

As you step inside, day turns to dusk and you
climb up and around the maze of fishing piers. As you descend the other
side, you’re on the edge of the docks, with turtle shells bobbing up to the
surface and gently carrying guests away on their exciting tour of the set.
Surrounded by the warm glow of lights from the fishing huts, you can see the
full skyline of Sydney on the dusk horizon. The infamous seagulls line the
walls, shouting “Mine! Mine!” and watching the turtle shells dip underwater.

You leave the pier seated in rows of 2, back to
back, onboard your 4-person shell, and suddenly take a dive underwater!
Don’t worry, through the magic of the movies you won’t even feel a single
drop of moisture! As you take a sharp turn left, you become surrounded by
colourful and mysterious underwater life. The shells begin to climb a rapid
descent back up to the surface, and, as you reach daylight again, you swerve
to the right and swoop down a sudden dip, outside the soundstage! The fresh
air doesn’t last long – the shell darts to the right through the coral and
you’re back underwater, but now you’ve been joined by some very special
friends…

The turtle shells twist slowly through the
beautiful Australian coral and colourful habitats of Marlin’s home turf.
Wait – you’ve got some tour guides! Nemo and Squirt swim effortlessly around
the rockery and introduce you to their undersea world. From scene to scene,
you’ll see the incredible scenery and hilarious dialogue of the movie come
to life. But are you going in the right direction?

Never trust a blue Regal Tang with directions!!
You’re headed right for the sunken submarine! Don’t let the “balloons” fool
you – this is no party! As your turtle shell gets whipped up by the current
and carried upwards and into the submarine, everything goes deathly
silent… Until, slamming into the submarine from all angles, a trio of
sharks come in for attack! Bruce, Anchor and Chum have dropped their “fish
are friends” motto, and they’re looking for lunch! You’re not a fish, are
you?

Suddenly, the quick movements of sharks cause the
current to swirl and sweep through the submarine. You’re thrown speedily out
the top, round a corner and then sweep downwards into frightful, deep, dark
waters, spinning and spinning with the current. You’re carried around sharp
swooping curves and through gravity-defying dips and dives. Past the eerie
light of the Angler Fish, through glowing, purple fields of stinging
jellyfish, with the three ravenous sharks on your tail!

Luckily, the lightning current of the EAC appears
on the horizon, and Crush guides you safely back to brighter waters. As you
glide gently along the sweeping current, your movie set adventure comes to a
wrap. You float through the backstage of the sets and pop up on the surface
again at the fishing pier, exiting the attraction through a tunnel in the
coral reef exterior of the soundstage.

Production Footnotes

Crush�s Coaster uses the Xtended SC2000 spinning roller coaster system, with
the custom-designed loading area, outside drop and dark ride section being
complemented by an off-the-shelf design for the coaster section, designed by
the ride�s manufacturer, Maurer S�hne of Germany.

The coaster section reaches a maximum speed of
37.3mph, with a height of 50ft and a duration of 1 minute 10 seconds. The
coaster section on its own usually costs around $2m to $3m to manufacture,
with a throughput of 930 guests per hour. With the lengthy additional track
being used for Crush�s Coaster, however, these details (particularly the
cost, considering the themeing involved) will be greatly inflated.

The dark ride section will utilise brand new
digital projection technology to allow Nemo, Squirt and Dory to swim around
the underwater landscape and interact with guests. There will be at least
two scenes using this technology, which has been developed by the Imagineers
for use in three Finding Nemo attractions, including the overhaul of
Disneyland�s Submarine Voyage.

History

Construction
began 24th February 2006 with the first foundations for the attraction. The
coaster section was completed by 4th May 2006, with the outside track
completed by the end of July. The attraction is due to open June 2007, along
with Cars Race Rally and the rest of the Toon Studio placemaking and
expansion project.

The attraction was infact not officially
announced, but gradually emerged out of a sea of rumours… Euro Disney SCA,
operating company of Disneyland Resort Paris, announced three new attraction
projects on 11th January 2005. One of these was �Toon Studios�, announced as
a toon backlot where guests could meet their favourite animation characters.
It quickly became clear that a key attraction in the new area would be some
kind of Finding Nemo dark ride, although the true nature and design details
of Crush�s Coaster took some time to become clear.

Early concept art showed the building with no
exterior track, whilst a second concept art piece showed track swerving out
the front of the building at its highest point. The large undersea backdrop
and rockwork/coral base has, however, been a feature from even the earliest
concepts.

The attraction was known briefly as �Crush�s
Sea Turtle Spin� before the true project name of �Crush�s Turtle Twister�
was revealed in June 2005. In June 2006, however, an official press release
for the attraction revealed the final name would be �Crush�s Coaster�. It
seems the Imagineers discovered the difficulties foreign language guests
would experience in both understanding and pronouncing �Turtle Twister�.

Guests were originally set to ride in vehicles
fully decorated to represent turtles, with a tail, flippers and even a full
head attached to each turtle shell vehicle. In later concept art revealed in
2006, however, it became clear the vehicles will be themed simply to turtle
shells. It is unclear whether this was an artistic/storytelling decision
(guests should not ride �inside of� Crush) or a practical change (they would
not work with the logistics of the coaster).