Turtle Talk with Crush

Turtle Talk with Crush is an interactive talk show type attraction that has appeared at Disney theme parks. It first opened on November 16, 2004, at The Living Seas pavilion (later renamed The Seas Pavilion) at Epcot; it later opened at Disney California Adventure on July 15, 2005, and at Tokyo DisneySea on October 1, 2009. It also operated as a temporary attraction at Hong Kong Disneyland from May 24 to August 10, 2008.

Designed by Walt Disney Imagineering in collaboration with Pixar, the attraction consists of an improvisational, real-time conversation with Crush, the green sea turtle from Pixar's 2003 film Finding Nemo.

A similar show is featured in the Animator's Palate restaurant aboard Disney Cruise Line's Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy. In addition, another Turtle Talk with Crush show was established inside the Children's Hospital of Orange County in early 2013 to entertain child patients and their families, and operates twice daily.

Guests are admitted to a movie theater-like room featuring what appears to be a large aquarium-style window opening onto an undersea vista. Children are encouraged to sit on a carpeted area up front so that they may have a better view, while parents and other adults sit on benches behind them. The host and moderator gives a brief introduction to the show, and then Crush swims down to appear in the window. Crush looks and sounds much as he does in Finding Nemo, complete with animated facial expressions and subtle gestures. With the help of the moderator, Crush selects children and adults from the audience and engages them individually in dialogue, asking them questions and responding with quick wit and humor to questions about his life as a sea turtle or any other questions guests choose to ask. Crush individually chooses the children by saying what they are wearing (e.g.: "Oh hey, dudette in the pink shell (shirt) down on the sub floor, what is your name?").

Other events may occur during this improvised conversation, including cameo appearances by other characters from the original film and its sequel. Though the format, structure and rough duration of the show are consistent, the show itself varies considerably depending on the guests' questions and comments. For example, if an audience member asks where Dory is, a special ending involving Dory and Destiny will be triggered, complete with another attempt by Dory and her friend Destiny to speak whale. Crush will also refer to the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage when asked where Nemo is, saying he is at the Tomorrowland Lagoon (where that attraction is).

The show was developed as part of Walt Disney Imagineering's "Living Character Initiative", a project to develop non-human characters—usually in the form of animatronics controlled and/or voiced remotely—that could actively interact with park guests. To overcome the limitations of physical animatronics, experiments had been conducted with attractions incorporating real-time 3D graphics and digital puppetry: a prototype attraction known as "Mickey's Toon Elevator" would have starred a 3D animated Mickey Mouse voiced and controlled by a cast member.

Concerns were raised over whether Mickey could be consistently and correctly portrayed in-character by varying operators, especially due to the character's status as Disney's flagship property. At the suggestion of Imagineering's vice president Tom Fitzgerald, the team pivoted to developing a tech demo incorporating Stitch from the then-upcoming Lilo & Stitch. This resulted in Stitch's Picture Phone—a Lilo & Stitch-themed exhibit at Disneyland's Innoventions which allowed guests to engage in an interactive meeting with a 3D animated Stitch, presented as being a video call from Hawaii. The character's actions were controlled using a gamepad and lip synced to the actor's voice, with the attraction containing a mix of interactive improvisation and a scripted progression.

A version of Mickey's Toon Elevator was in development by Imagineer Joe Garlington for Tokyo DisneySea's SS Columbia, but faced a logistical issue in the number of different actors that would be required to run the attraction with a sufficient throughput. This led to a retooled concept of a digital puppet character presented to an audience; with the nautical theme of the area, Garlington began developing an interactive attraction starring Crush from the recently-released Finding Nemo. Crush was chosen since his brief appearance in the film and easily-mimicable voice provided a level of flexibility in portraying the character via improvisation. After the pitch was declined by Tokyo Disneyland's owner, The Oriental Land Company, the attraction concept was repurposed for Epcot's The Living Seas pavilion (which had been receiving a Finding Nemo retheme).