“ | This collaboration creates an emotionally engaging experience with innovative technology and definitely takes 4D storytelling to the next level | ” |
— Mike Frueh, Senior Vice President, Licensing & Distribution at SimEx-Iwerks[1]
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SpongeBob SubPants Adventure is a SpongeBob SquarePants amusement ride. In this amusement ride, the audience "dives into adventure on a submarine voyage along with SpongeBob and all his Bikini Bottom friends!" On this wild and silly deep-sea expedition, YOU choose the destination and YOU interact with your hapless captain -- Patrick Star!.
This "audience participation" show is located at Moody Gardens, Galveston Islands.
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“ | For the first time ever, the SpongeBob SubPants Adventure will allow guests to interact 'live and in person' with a 3D digital character, a major breakthrough in digital puppetry, and because guests also help navigate the sub, choosing which direction the adventure takes, every voyage will be truly one-of-a-kind. | ” |
— Michael "Oz" Smith, Super 78's Technical Director[1]
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Guests experience a whole new kind of submarine adventure as they take the "Le Plunger" into the hyper-real, life-sized world of Bikini Bottom which is viewed through a 30-foot wide observation window. Patrick Star and his friends are seen on screen through 3D technology, as guests are able to have real-time conversations with him and help choose their path through the underwater adventure. To further immerse guests, four large viewing portholes bring the experience of the entire submarine to life.
Super 78, an attraction design and production company, provided for the making of the ride their newest at the time, custom software and hardware for the SpongeBob SubPants Adventure named the Gepettoo™. This Animation Control System allows a performer behind the scenes to control all aspects of the full-sensory experience on screen in front of audiences. The performer's voice becomes an on-screen character, and he has an unlimited palette of animation options which brings the character to life. The performer also runs the lights, sounds, bubbles, and scents with the push of a button.
Also used in the design of this breakthrough attraction is Mushroom VR™, a proprietary attraction design tool that utilizes the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset to pre-visualise the experience. It provides an accurate guest-experience assessment of all the attraction content, including 3D environments, media, scenic and show elements, making it seem as if you are submerged within Bikini Bottom.
Trivia[]
- To celebrate the debut of the ride in the Discovery Pyramid, Moody Gardens would feature for May 23 to 25 free activities for the public:[2]
- Meet and Greet with SpongeBob SquarePants, Patrick Star, and Sandy Cheeks (Sandy only on Sunday)
- Watch Nickelodeon illustrators create original SpongeBob SquarePants artwork. Those who visited the SpongeBob SubPants Adventure on May 23 had the chance to win some of these drawings.
- SpongeBob SquarePants-themed arts-and-crafts
- Hourly performances from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on May 23 by Houston's Sweft Dance Troupe as they show guests and Sandy Cheeks how to line dance to songs themed around Sandy's home state of Texas.
- Patrick hosts the ride.
- This is the only time Bill Fagerbakke does not voice Patrick Star for the audience participation portion of the 3D show. Zach Briggs took over as the new voice for this interactive 3D ride.
- This show is similar to the other shows that also use "digital puppetry," Turtle Talk with Crush, Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor and Stitch Encounter at the Disney parks, the upcoming Po Live at Universal Studios Florida and Donkey Live at Universal Studios Singapore.
- In 2019 the attraction was replaced by "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea: An Interactive Adventure."
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