Crush N' Gusher- Employee Preview w/photos 3/12

**Marcus** · #1 03-13-2005, 03:48 PM

There's one thing you can count on when you dare to brave Disney's Newest:Water:Thrill. Your Life Raft will become a RIDE-OF-YOUR-LIFE-RAFT! Feel the Thunderous Force of Crush n' Gusher as powerful water jets LAUNCH you up and beyond gravity's grasp. You'll squirt through Hairpin Turns and Unexpected Dips faster than you can say -"GRAVITY PANTS." Why would anyone ever say Turnaround U ask? Maybe they would, maybe they wouldn't. But KNOW this. Once they've ridden the most Fearsome Gravity-Defying Water Coaster in Central Florida, they will GUSH, OH YES!!!

Now I know some of you might be thinking WTF right now...but it's ok, let me fill the blanks. You see, this is a desciption of Disney's new Crush N' Gusher as worded on the back of the brochure. But of course it is expressed in the "Disney Way". This means fun, but not aggressive. Words such as Death-Defying are unexceptable. As for the crazy slogans and word play, hey this is Disney, you take your Thong Song and your teapots, that run up the dress, over to Universal.

I awoke in a daze Saturday morning. Apparently I had wandered over to the girl's apartment and passed out on one of the beds in my drunken rage. A girl was beside me, half clothed and still asleep. Unaware of the activities of the past night, I gathered my belongings, threw fifty cents on her bed, and left to find my car. It was then I realized this morning was the day Disney was allowing employees to preview the new water coaster, Crush N' Gusher, at Typhoon Lagoon. I put on a bathing suit and then drove off with my roommate Philip. We arrived at TL around 11AM. Few cars were in the parking lot and most of the surrounding area was littered with construction items and viechles. We flashed are IDs at the entrance and proceeded to the area of the park where Cn'G was located.

The whole area they renovatted is impressive. Trees and Themeing are heavy in the area. In front of Cn'G are lounge chairs in soft white sand, which provide a good view of the water coaster and a great place to tan in the sun. As we neared the entrance to Cn'G, you could now hear the screams of the riders as they went in and out of tunnels on the ride, though there was less than 100 people at the preview. After spending a little time taking in the scenery, I impatiently ran to the entrance and picked up my raft. It was a short climb, three flights, to the top. The area was completely covered, convient to keep out of the sun in the summer, though cold in the 60 degree windy weather we were currently in. As we reached the top, I saw the rides mechanics. How it uses a conveyer belt to transfer the rider on the raft forward onto the slide. Also many managers were asking questions on rider opinion and testing capacity. As for the slides on Crush n' Gusher, they were as follows...

Banana Blaster- This slide was closed most of the time, not opening until 2 hours after we had arrived. It was the last one of the three we experience. This slide was a disappointment. It was slow and the dips were gradual. It was more tunneled than the other two, but not exciting at all. I see this only as a slide to take riders away from the other two. A one time try, but that's it.
2/10

Pineapple Plunge- This slide was the first one we tried. This is the fast one. It hits the turns hard and has drops after tunneled turns, so you don't see it coming. My first ride I was freaking out. I put the raft down on the belt and got on. I was given the clear signal and the operator sent me on my way. Talk about your H2Whoa! You start down this STEEP drop and then you hit those jets and it feels like a launched lift hill with water shooting you on the back. Now I bet your wondering about airtime. Now on this slide it's not that intense, but you do get some good pops. We tried it later with two people on one raft and it was even faster! But be careful when the slide spills out into the pool. I was in the front and I guess I put too much weight on the front because the raft and me nosedived into the pool, while Philip on the back, was catapulted over me. Overall I really liked this slide and is perfect for those speed and lateral freaks.
7/10

Coconut Crusher- Ladies, ladies, gentlemen, gentlemen let me present to you an automatic, supersonic, hypnotic, so funky, fresh water slide that dares to explore the limits of hydro airtime. From the top, this slide appears to be nothing more than the reverse layout of Pineapple Plunge, but ohh no. This slide is quick, powerful, and has some intense airtime. It does the same large dip as PP, then flows through the some tunnel, with sharp decending slants into the turns, and then you hit the ultimate portion of the whole ride. I can only describe it as a double dip, which accelerates slightly upward like a launched lift hill between the first and second dip with the water jets. The result, heavy airtime at the peak of the second hill of the double dip. It feels like your gliding over the hill, except there are a few ways to increase that sensation. You can lift up on the two sides of the raft so that there is less friction touching the slide, which makes the whole ride faster, but makes you more vulnerable to falling off. You could also bounce at the peak of hills, like a ball filled with air, instead it's a raft. Or you could combine these with two people and make everything faster and hit your head on the top netting. Or if you can get three people and use the rare, three man raft, you'd probably crash the whole raft into the netting above. There's lots of room to experiment, just becareful not to fall off your raft. If you do, the whole ride shuts down, including the water jets, so other rafts don't hit you and you have to escape out of hatches on the side. I could have ridden this slide all day, and it was obvious why this slide would have a long line while the others were walk-ons. I loved this slide and I will certainly ride it again before I leave Disney World.
9/10

I'm so glad Disney offered this preview to employees because it was a lot of fun. I was very impressed with Crush N' Gusher as a well need attraction to be added to Typhoon Lagoon. I recommend all the slides, though the only thing I don't like is how they are fairly short, though you may not notice. I only hope this attraction will shift the opinions of guests that it is indeed, Typhoon Lagoon, is the better of the two waterparks.

**Marcus** · #2 03-13-2005, 04:12 PM