It’s safe to say that Crush’s Coaster is now the Peter Pan’s Flight of the Studios. The universally-popular attraction with the low capacity that everyone knows they have to ride. Only… for Crush’s Coaster, there’s a different element in there — the element of thrill.
Anyone who followed the project from its conception in 2005 will know that, for a very long time, the attraction was officially known as Crush’s Turtle Twister. A name that, whilst keeping some of the mystery about exactly what type of ride this is, spelled out the rather thrilling twisting — spinning — nature very clear.
With this later changed to the easier-to-pronounce and more understandable Crush’s Coaster, plus the Imagineer’s decision to keep the turtle shells from spinning until they reach the real coaster section inside, rather than during the outside drop, and some guests might be a little surprised. Only the most cautious English and French speaking guests who read the warning signs in full would know about the real free-spinning nature of the turtle shells.
Just last month, then, Crush’s Coaster saw its first “major” (though still relatively minor) changes since opening one year ago. Outside the entrance, where previously on the right you’d find two warning signs and the queue time indicator pointing toward Cars Quatre Roues Rallye, you now find that the waiting time sits on a single wooden pier stump and points more toward Animagique and the Flying Carpets — the direction in which the queue extends into on most days.
In addition, the queue time displayed on the counter is now accurate — previously, it would cap at about 45 minutes and the Cast Members would need to put a temporary board at the entrance to the extended queue, since it usually extends way beyond the area the Imagineers built.
Before / After
Next to this is a brand new feature — a scale model of one of the turtle shells themselves, filled with four miniature guests, that constantly spins and turns on an axis to shout loud and clear — “It spins, dude!”. The shell is rather larger in real life than it appears in pictures, and actually serves to add a nice bit of kinetics to the otherwise static entrance.
You can see a brief videoclip of the shell in action here.
On the other, left, side of the entrance path, the original Crush figure and main entrance sign remains the same, though a second new warnings board has been installed toward the so-called Flying Carpets “Oasis” — now permanently a queue space for Crush’s Coaster.
Will the spinning shell put a few people off from riding who might not enjoy the experience? If it doesn’t, the Imagineers have also come up with another new addition just as you step inside Studio 5.
Watch it for yourself:
The video works in the same way as that at Space Mountain: Mission 2, playing on a loop in French and then English with clips cleverly cut from the film to not only introduce the very thrilling nature of the ride but also what it is meant to simulate, for anyone who has forgotten the film.
The female voice in English actually appears to be the familiar sound of one of the resort’s main parade announcers, albeit with a good attempt at a faux Australian accent to fit the theme.
[Pictures: DLRP Today.com/Photos Magiques; Video: DLRP Today.com]
