And Turtle Talk with Crush
By Cassie
The Living Seas, the name of the original pavilion, was changed as was the focus of the pavilion. It now features the characters and story from the 2003 Disney Pixar film “Finding Nemo”. Adults enjoy seeing the enormous tanks of sea creatures, but children absolutely love it! Disney managed to put just the right amount of animated characters into it to keep the kids attention.
5. The queue is interesting and unlike any other in the Disney Parks. The once large crashing waves are much reduced making it difficult to even see a wave form. There are sea gulls outside each saying “mine” repetitively, as they do in the film Finding Nemo. You enter the pavilion and first scroll your way amid sea oats, sand dunes, and then under the sea. Above you is a small boat bottom, the light dances as it does under the water. The queue gates look like rusted metal, as you would expect under the water. It is actually calming. You then come to the ride boarding area. The ride vehicles are sea shells and seat 2-3 adult sized people. Your journey under the sea continues as you pass reefs, and view Nemo and his friends swimming through the scenes. This use of the characters blends into the real tanks of fish. While the kids are laughing at the animation they are also learning about the true living seas.
4. There are two levels of fun. You enter on the first floor where The Seas with Nemo & Friends ride is. You exit the ride on the same level where you will also find the entrance to Turtle Talk with Crush, a great Photo op Bruce in Bruce’s Shark World with interactive learning opportunities for kids. The kids can actually stand inside Bruce and get their photograph behind his many teeth. In the Nemo and Friends room there are tanks full of real live versions of Nemo, a Clown Fish, Dory, a Blue Tang and Gill, a Moorish Idol along with other unique sea life such as Sea Horse, Eel, Lionfish and Scorpion fish. Check your Times Guide to find times for all the demonstrations throughout the pavilion each day. Don’t miss the demo with a diver going through preparations needed to enter a water tank to exit into the sea, on the lower level. There is a large tank with Manatee that can be viewed on this level, and the one above. The upper level has more educational opportunities including short presentations on the Manatee at one-and three-quarters of each hour and you can watch the lumbering cows munching away on heads of lettuce. You can watch as the handlers feed the dolphins and other fish in enormous salt water aquariums. Learn more about coral reefs and problems caused by overfishing.
3. The vastness of the 27-foot deep aquariums holding 65 species, is stunning. The glass windows between you and the some 3500 sea dwellers on the other side are 4-8” thick, measuring 8 by 24 feet, weighing up to 9000 pounds per panel. When it was built the aquarium was the largest in the world. (There were also more than 8500 marine animals covering more than 100 species, sadly this did not remain.) It has been replaced as the largest aquarium in the world by the state of Georgia’s aquarium built in 2005 in Atlanta. The dolphins originally inhabited the same saltwater pool as the fish and sea turtles, but have been separated due to their idea of fun was slamming into the sea turtles, causing them to move head over heels for great distances. Since Nemo, the sea turtle, is tremendously important to this attraction, Disney could not have the dolphins to continue this aggressive behavior toward its star, so the Dolphins were put behind some very sturdy metal bars. Now everyone can get along swimmingly. If you want to join them there are diving opportunities available through Disney if you are a certified diver. Your friends and family can observe your dive either from the general viewing area or from the Coral Reef Restaurant.
2. If you enjoy watching the fish swim you may want to pick this spot as a meet-up place as there is much to see and the center area is wide open. There are restrooms and a few places to sit but most take a break on the floor in an out-of-the-way spot in front of one of the tanks. You could also choose to enjoy sea life on both sides of the glass by dining on some in the Coral Reef Restaurant that also has glass aquarium walls. This is the best spot where you can observe live creatures up close in Epcot. The other places with sea creatures are Living with the Land and Koi Ponds in China and Japan. You can dine on fish you see in the Living with the Land attraction at the Garden Grill Restaurant.
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1. November 2004 is when Turtle Talk with Crush was added and it has brought in a lot more visitors to the pavilion. There is rarely a wait longer than 20 minutes for this attraction, or the Living Seas with Nemo and Friends. I personally enjoyed the former attractions in the pavilion, particularly the magnificent filmography, not so much the audio script that accompanied it. I was disappointed that they took that out, but after visiting with a young family I can see the great charm it has with them. We wandered into the queue for Turtle Talk and looked at even more tanks with Jelly Fish, Stingrays and fish from the Great Barrier Reef. As you move inside there is a large carpeted area for children to sit on so they can be close to the screen. There are benches for adults or bigger kids to sit on. The screen looks like another window into the sea even as you are coming in so it is more realistic to children. Crush is the name of the sea turtle in Finding Nemo. He swims in and introduces himself to everyone and tells the children he wants to hear some of the questions they may have about sea creatures and turtles in particular since he is an expert on that. As the children raise their hands he calls on them, identifying them first as the boy wearing the striped shell, or the like. As he learns their names he may also ask the little ones where their parental unit is and may carry on a conversation with them. It is a very funny show and your young children will love this! Be prepared to hearing “Dude” the rest of the day though. I cannot tell you how they do it, but Crush does not miss a beat in responding vocally and with facial expressions and body movements to whatever is said. It is quite an amazing show even if you don’t have children.