SSE Postshow/New Turtle Talk/Character Spot

[mousermerf]

Lots of new stuff going on at Epcot as of today.. I'll have pics up shortly.

In breif, what to expect in the next hour or so as I get the pics resized and uploaded:

Spaceship Earth has stopped unloading out of the East-side emergency doors and now unloads out of the West side emergency/handicap exit - through snazzy newly built tunnels.

Character Spot construction has taken over the entire Pasta Piazza building, closing down Fountainview Cafe, and the Character Connection, which now resides in the old Segway tour room (sometimes the Wine Cellar for Food and Wine events). The entire area is torn up, the Fountainview just roped off because it can see everything so they don't want you in there.

New Turtle Talk has its walls down, and the pod above it too. It had shows all morning until 5pm, I got to the park at 7pm. I got to take photos though. The upper pod is nice, and the lower pod has a waiting room to hang out in and then the rear opens into the theater.

So - pics in a few!

[darthjohnny]

Thanks for the info.

[mousermerf]

So, the Spaceship Earth Exit..



Again, we're now popping out the West side, but not the old west exit, but the west side handicap door/emergency exit area. This is the view looking back in to the building from that door. Just around the corner would ben the good ole "Siemens is bringing good things to life..." yadda yadda wall and such.

What can we see? Cool new architecture! And on the left, a little blue and black "mini-refurb" wall blocking guests from touching the sloping wall. I suppose it hasn't gotten it's final overlay or treatment yet.

On the exterior of the building, which simply wont photograph at night, the old West exit doors had that wall that acted as sort of a baffle between them and the sunlight to keep the postshow area dark. It's getting an angled/slanted look. So, who knows, maybe the intent is to match the paint on the front of the building with the whole thing.

[mousermerf]

Well.. there used to be Mickey and Minnie and firends right here...



And you can get into the building from the doorway in the breezeway anymore either, both are blocked.

Pasta Piazza is a goner.

Finally finding an entrance over from the side that faces Soarin and the Land, we wander in to find - we can't even use the potties - and this..



The "Epcot Character Spot" is going to be bigger then Character Connect ever was. You can't go down the hallway anymore...



You can't goto the potties..



And someone must have decided that Wall-Carpet is officially "out."



Nearby, a tiny queue is set up for the temporary "Character Connect" down in the old segway/wine cellar area. You have to walk around and enter from past Club Cool to get there are a few signs telling you the way. We peeked through the cracks in the doors and the backdrops they had in Character Connect are set up in there.



And so the world turns and i'm kinda happy they finally decided to do SOMETHING with this space.

[cm1988]

Originally Posted by mousermerf

So, the Spaceship Earth Exit..

Amazing how "not show ready" that area looks. Granted, it is temporary, but before directing guest traffic in that direction you'd think they would have put a second coat of paint on the ceiling. Spots between the sprinklers are really bad, then the vertical spaces surface above them has bare spots as well. The black trim you mentioned as well seems half-done.

It's just a mess. Time was, WDW employed Show Quality people to protect the quality of the brand. Seems they must have been redeployed elsewhere or laid off some time ago.

[imamouse]

Thanks for the update and the pics, Merf. One questions - is Character Connection sharing the Segway indoor training space for now? I suppose that's possible since the Segway tours are in the early AM and the characters could come out after all of the Segways are put away?

[mousermerf]

Originally Posted by imamouse

Thanks for the update and the pics, Merf. One questions - is Character Connection sharing the Segway indoor training space for now? I suppose that's possible since the Segway tours are in the early AM and the characters could come out after all of the Segways are put away?

Segways (tours and all) moved to "Segway Central" in Innovention West sometime last year. It's sorta like an igloo, and when the tours aren't using it, they let tourists test drive them now free of charge. But that area has a very nice setup for the indoor training with ramps and such. I think it was Tom Morrow 2.0's Playground with the rainbow tunnel once upon a time.

[coasterridr]

I hope they will remove the lower ceiling panels in the SEE post show, I remember the ceiling being much higher in the past, when it was worldkey information.

[mousermerf]

Time for Turtle Talk!



Same sort of idea as before, but rather then the marquee being on a real wall, it's a short curved semi-wall that just funnels you to the left or right and into a large open circular area. Wether that area will become formal queue, I dunno, but they had stantion setup with "enter here" signs near the far side from the entrance leading to a pair of double doors that appeared to lead into the theater itself.

View to the left...



And we see - Jellyfish! Well, their tanks, which are currently dark, but I was assured they'd be back soon. Yay squishy! To the left of the Jellyfish is the same backlit informational sign that was there prior to the refurbishment (or atleast i think it was) and then to the right are some new interactive kiosks.

Looking into the space from the right side..



We see more interactive kiosks. So, I get the impression that this area is really a "wander around" room more then a "form a line" type room. Either the line is through the double doors at the rear, or they just don't expect one to really form, or maybe they even have a countdown clock.. who knows. Oh, just out of visual in that photo, "Nemo's Neighborhood" which was the big tank in that module on that wall is still there. The "Find Nemo" and "Mr Rays Lagoon" ones were not visible to me.

Running upstairs, and if you had noticed that the marquee wall isn't a full wall.. you might have noticed that another large tank is MIA.



The giant 2-story kelp tank that previously was just a sign for Nemo and Friends below is now completely gone. I tried to get a photo that showed something downstairs, since it was closed off.. but all i could see was the carpet, which was grey, so nothing exciting.. but then I looked up directly above the giant hole in the floor between the levels!



Oo.. pretty.. I like it better then the butt in the ride queue. It's big and really pretty. Both levels can see it assume.

The second floor has kept it's tanks, and even the video on turtles and all.. it just ditched everything that ahd anything to do with Seabase Alpha.



See, the folks are still checking out the fishies on the second floor. But, the kiosks, which appears to be identicle to the ones on the lower level, are brand spanky new.



Not to mention they have a nice metallic wall treatment behind them.



So, there ya have it... your first look at the Brand spanky new Turtle Talk. It unloads into the hallway that runs along side the Nemo and Friends queue and back out into Seabase. The old Turtle Talk module has yet to reopen. They said the show officially reopens Saturday, the test shows were probably only for today, so don't go tomorrow with your hopes up.

[Pixiedust1393]

Thanks for the pics! I love the new Turtle Talk walls. Much better than before

[SirNim]

...closing down Fountainview Cafe...

Er... I don't like the sound of that...

Good info though...

[CJR]

Thanks for the update! The news on Turtle Talk's move is pretty exciting. What are they going to put in TT's old spot? Also, where is Nemo and Friends being relocated? I'm sure this has been said before, but I'm positive that I missed it. Again, thanks for the update and great pictures!

[Rob562]

Originally Posted by mousermerf

The giant 2-story kelp tank that previously was just a sign for Nemo and Friends below is now completely gone. I tried to get a photo that showed something downstairs, since it was closed off.. but all i could see was the carpet, which was grey, so nothing exciting..

Looks like those plexiglass panels on the railings are new. My guess is that they deemed the railings a "climb-and-fall-over-and-down" hazard. Before, there was the large tube tank coming up through there, so the ladder-like railing didn't matter, you couldn't fall through to downstairs. Hmmm.... I'm imagining some sort of glass floor being installed in the round hole. Something with a water effect sloshing through it... I dunno, just an idea.

-Rob

[CaptainMichael]

The new Turtle Talk queue looks great, thanks Merf.

[the-reason14]

Thanks for the pics Merf, when is all this stuff supposedly going to be finished. I will be there on Spring Break which is about 3 weeks, and I just want to know if its going to up and ready awaiting my arrival.

Still cant wait to see Nemo and RRNR's new line and stuff.