Welcome to Extinct Attractions. This week, we’ll be going on a journey through Universal Studios history and looking at my favorite theme park show of all-time.
Via Screenrant
Terminator 2: Judgment Day was released in 1991 and immediately became a smash hit, with critics and fans alike falling head over heels for the movie. It has a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes today and was the highest-grossing movie of the year both domestically and worldwide. It was one of those rare sequels that was nearly universally regarded as even better than the first one, and it remains many people’s (including my) favorite film in the Terminator franchise.
With all this success in place, Universal decided that they wanted to add a Terminator stunt show to their park in Florida, which was an interesting move considering that they didn’t distribute the movies and thus would need to acquire the theme park rights to it. But they were determined on their front and secured the rights, letting the group assemble the right team to make the attraction a reality.
At the time, Terminator was such a large franchise that Universal decided to go all in with the attraction, bringing back the creative and on-screen forces that made the films so popular to begin with. Once they got director James Cameron on board, he was able to bring along Linda Hamilton, Robert Patrick, Edward Furlong and of course, Arnold Schwarzenagger, then at the height of his fame and one of the biggest draws at the box office. Cameron also recruited much of his crew from the films to come back and film the 12 minutes of film that would make up a large portion of the attraction.
It’s hard to put into words how large the scope of this attraction was, so if you are curious the documentary above is a full behind-the-scenes experience that really showcases how large the scope of the attraction was.
To start, the film portion of the attraction cost $24 million to make the 12 minutes of film that took 3 weeks to film. That’s $2 million per minute of film, making this part of the attraction more expensive than almost any film ever made on a per-minute basis and quite frankly, higher than most full length films in general (in those days). But Universal was looking to gamble because they believed in the gold mine that they had on their hands.
Via YouTube
Everything I’ve laid out may sound impressive, but what made this attraction so special was that it was so much more than a 3D film in the Terminator universe. No, it was also a live-action show that melded perfectly with the action happening on the screen in front of you. These live actors would either emerge from or into the screen multiple times throughout the show, leading to some of the coolest effects I’ve ever seen in a theme park attraction.
To get the timing perfect, the show designers built a full replica of the set in an airplane hangar in California to rehearse the action over and over. There were so many moving parts that needed to work seamlessly, and in a few cases they needed to add or subtract seconds of film to adjust for how fast the actors could move around the stage and its surrounding area. Everything was such a huge endeavor, and that doesn’t even include the theater itself.
Via Producers Group
To further immerse guests in the experience, all of the seats in the theater would move in unison with the action. In addition to the actors, there were also 6 animatronic T-70 Terminator units and retractable walls that expanded the action to three different screens during the finale.
The more that I think about the technical achievements that went into this attraction, the more impressed I become. They combined so many new and old pieces of theme park technology into one attraction, that I personally still consider to be the most technologically advanced theme park show of all-time, even nearly 25 years later.
Via Inside Universal
Terminator 2 3D opened at Universal Studios Florida on April 27, 1996 and immediately became a huge success. Even without that success, there were already plans to include the attraction in Hollywood, where it took another three years but opened on May 6, 1999 to similar acclaim. With these two wins in the book, Universal Studios Japan also joined the fun when the attraction opened along with the park on March 31, 2001.
In case you couldn’t tell, I thought that this attraction was the greatest thing since sliced bread. I can still remember seeing it for the first time and looking over at my dad with the most gobsmacked look on my face. I was so completely and utterly blown away by the attraction to an extent that I have only ever experienced two other times in my life (Escape from Gringotts and Rise of the Resistance).
To start, T2 3D: Battle Across Time (its name is styled many different ways) is unique in that the story continues the journey that Terminator 2 started. James Cameron repeatedly proclaimed that the experience was designed as a sequel to Terminator 2 that could potentially lead to a third film in the franchise. At the time, the only other attraction that I can think of to have done something similar was Back to the Future: The Ride.
But what truly blew me away was how seamlessly the attraction switched between live actors and film. It was unlike anything I have ever seen, even to this day. They managed to combine two completely different types of shows into one of the coolest experiences possibly for a guest. I’m sure the day-to-day expenses were high, so that’s why we haven’t seen anything emulate it since, but it made for such an amazing time that I wish we still had something like it in the domestic parks.
It’s just hard to put into words how much I loved this attraction. The best way I can describe it is through a quick anecdote about myself. Personally, I almost never buy theme park merchandise. I think that in my life I have maybe bought 5 pieces of park apparel. But out of that small collection are a T2 3D hat and shirt that I wear every time that I go to a Universal theme park to pay tribute to this attraction that I loved so much.
Via TripSavvy
With all of this love in my heart, you can only imagine how distraught I was on December 31, 2012 when the attraction closed at Universal Studios Hollywood to make way from Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem (which I curse every time I walk by at Universal). Luckily, I still had its counterpart at Universal Studios Florida. Well, I had it until October 8, 2017 when they closed the version there for The Bourne Spectacular, which was set to open sometime this spring but was pushed back indefinitely.
I still have one more chance to experience it again since the attraction is still around at Universal Studios Japan. I was scheduled to go to that park in early June of this year, but I needed to cancel that trip for obvious reasons. There hasn’t been any heavy buzz about them closing the show in Japan, but I’m definitely worried that by the time I get there it’ll be out of commission. However, I’m keeping the faith and just hoping that one day, I’ll be able to complete the trifecta and experience every version of the groundbreaking, amazing, and most of all, super attraction.
Well, now that I’m done crying, here’s what’s coming next week.
- This attraction helped guests become part of the movies.
- This attraction was based on a non-Universal television series and movies series but appeared in two Universal parks.
- Guests got the chance to man a flight deck in this attraction.
Via Twentytwo Words
Thanks for reading and have a magical day!