A blog by Cameron and Shannon

Now that we are in the top 5 on this theme parks listing, we’re getting to rides that I’m really ticked aren’t running any more. Which means I have to work a little harder to actually be informational in what I am saying and not just break into a rant.

That said…

Theme Parks #4 - Back to the Future, Universal Studios Orlando

Opened: 1991. Closed: 2007.

I really can’t think of a movie that is more deserving of a theme-based ride. Not only does this movie star Michael J. Fox, it’s about time travel. Interestingly, time travel is one of the few topics in the world that can be an awesome plot basis for any type of movie…comedy, blockbuster, drama, romance, thinker, action…really, any type.

Additionally, BTTF has one of my favorite movie songs ever. Anyone? Anyone? I’ll give you a hint:

Don’t need money / Don’t take fame / Don’t need no credit card to ride this train!

That’s right, it’s “Power of Love” by Huey Lewis and the News.

You can clearly see this movie not only has all the elements for successful box office results, but for an awesome ride.

And, man, this ride…was…AWESOME. For the entirety of my youth, the Back to the Future ride was the uncontested pinnacle of all Orlando theme park rides. Who cared about the particularly hellatious lines in Floridian heat? No one, that’s who. Because once you got in that Delorean…woooo boy.

Not even Micheal J. Fox himself actually got to travel through time (or the air) in a flying Delorean, but at Universal Studios, anyone could. I’m convinced the BTTF the ride experience was as close as you can get to actually travelling through real time, in a real Delorean.

A real Delorean, of course, would not be conspicuously open-topped, leaving you exposed to the elements of time (literally, as you travel THROUGH it), the ice age, volcanic dinosaur-y landscapes and Texaco signs.

And, fun fact, when the motion simulation footage was filmed, there was no CGI to do all that…so they made all of those sets in miniature.

Even with all this awesome going for it, they still shut the ride down. The creeps.

I realize this ride couldn’t have kept going forever. I mean, what would have happened once we got to the real year 2015 and in the ride, you’re still traveling to 2015? That would have been a little awkward.

The real kick in the pants is that it’s been replaced with a similar ride, except this new ride is about the Simpsons. The Simpsons are cool, sure, but…come on. Almost no one and no thing is as cool as anything Michael J. Fox did in 1985 and you all know it.

What I want to know is…what happened to the train engine that used to stand outside of the BTTF ride? Is it still there, but now it’s outside of the Simpsons ride? Or did they take it away? That’s what makes me really upset - the ride is not only gone, but they may have taken away any trace of it. Or, it still stands there today, but it doesn’t make sense to a lot of people because it’s standing outside of the Simpsons ride. There’s really no win in this kind of a situation.