Disneyland Paris – known as Disneyland Resort Paris at the time – began a placemaking project as early as 2006 to improve and expand the Animation Courtyard area within Walt Disney Studios Park. The project was completed in 2007, and the area was renamed Toon Studio. No true official press announcement was given until the launch of the resort's 15th Anniversary Celebration on April 1, 2007. Crush's Coaster is one of the feature attractions in Toon Studio. The ride debuted on June 9, 2007 and is the first and only ride at Disneyland Paris to be themed to Finding Nemo.
Synopsis
Guests enter the Toon Backlot of Toon Studio and stumble upon the beached sound stage and film set of Disney·Pixar's Finding Nemo, themed as Sydney Harbour, where Crush and his sea friends invite guests to climb aboard turtle shells for a ride through memorable scenes from the movie. The ride starts off with shells "diving" into the ocean. The first part of the attraction is a dark ride taking guests to the Great Barrier Reef, where they meet Nemo and Squirt, then to the darkness of the depths, which the sunlight cannot reach and where they encounter the voracious glowfish, and finally to the Sunken Submarine surrounded by an army of jellyfish where they meet the sharks and their chief, Bruce. The second part of the ride is a coaster in the dark, representing the spiraling, churning East Australian Current itself. The ride ends up with shells returning to Sydney Harbour, with cheers from Crush and his friends.
Technology
The attraction employs several instances of new technology developed by Walt Disney Imagineering, the key being two large digital videoprojection effects in the early dark ride scenes of the ride, which place Nemo, the clownfish, and Squirt, Crush's son, seamlessly within the 'underwater' environment. The technology was developed for Crush's Coaster in conjunction with Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage and The Seas with Nemo and Friends. Crush's Coaster marks the only second Disney-themed spinning roller coaster, and the first ever collaboration between German roller coaster engineers Maurer Söhne and Walt Disney Imagineering.
In a bid to decrease the long queues that frequently plague the ride, Disney conducted preliminary tests during July 2008 at the Crush's Coaster site to investigate the possibility of installing a Fastpass system at the attraction. Fastpass was ultimately not implemented at the ride, though a single riders line subsequently was. Fastpass was again trialed in January 2018
Re-theming
On Halloween Night in 2010, the whole park was turned into a horror-based park, meaning most popular attractions were horror-re-themed. As such, the same happened to Crush's Coaster, which became Crush's Coaster : Avis de Tempête for this night.
