Back to the Future: The Ride

Back to the Future: The Ride (1992)

It's a Blast from the Past, Present and Future!

After Biff Tannen hijacks a Delorean and ends up lost through time, Doc Brown enlists the help of guests to join him on a quest to get him back before he screws up the space-time continuum as we know it.

Date of release
1992-05-02
TMDB
6.2 / 10 (4)
Runtime
31m
Genres
Adventure, Comedy, Science Fiction
Director
Les Mayfield, Douglas Trumbull

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Budget: $40M
  • Based on: Back to the Future

Back to the Future: The Ride was a simulator ride located at several Universal Destinations & Experiences locations. The first installation opened on May 2, 1991, at the World Expo area of Universal Studios Florida in Orlando, Florida. A second installation opened on June 12, 1993, in the Hollywood Lot area of Universal Studios Hollywood in Universal City, California. A third installation opened on March 31, 2001, in the San Francisco area of Universal Studios Japan in Osaka, Japan. Based on the Back to the Future franchise, the ride is a first person adventure that takes place after the events depicted in Back to the Future Part III.

Production

The ride was a motion simulator with the DeLoreans located under a 70-foot (21.3–m) OMNIMAX Dome screen. Each of the 24 vehicles (12 per dome) were mounted on three pistons, allowing it to rise, fall, and tilt, following the motion on the screen. The vehicles were arranged on three tiers and were staggered to prevent riders from seeing the other vehicles in the theater. The front section rose eight feet (2.4 m) out of the "garage" when "flying".

The ride was actually composed of two OMNIMAX Dome screens with vehicles arranged around them. The experience of both was identical, but the ride enjoyed a very reliable in-service record as a result. If one screen was shut down by a mechanical problem, the other ordinarily remained in service. This increased wait times, but essentially eliminated a complete shutdown of the ride as a whole.

All onboard video for each simulator was played back from a LaserDisc onto a monitor within the vehicle. As of 3 May 2021, Car #8's onboard video still exists and is dated December 10, 1990. It is unknown which version of the attraction the video comes from.

Although Back to the Future creators Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale had no involvement with the ride, they were consulted as to whether they "got Doc right". They responded with a "yes" and also commented that "it's a great ride". In addition, references were made to a "Zemeckis-Gale diagram" and "Gale-Zemeckis Coordinates".

The film produced for Universal Studios parks in the United States saw Christopher Lloyd and Thomas F. Wilson reprise their roles as Doc Brown and Biff Tannen, respectively. Darlene Vogel starred as Heather, a receptionist for the Institute of Future Technology (IFT). Members of the production crew were also featured in the film.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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