Back to the Future: The Ride

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The De Lorean on display outside of the ride

Back To The Future: The Ride is a simulator ride based on the popular film trilogy of the same name. It opened May 2, 1991, at Universal Studios Florida, and currently operates at Universal Studios theme parks in Hollywood, California and Osaka, Japan as well. The Orlando and Hollywood versions are scheduled to be closed and replaced by a new simulation ride. Each ride vehicle has a screen built in that acts as a "live" video feed of Doc in the institute and Biff in the stolen DeLorean and of the vehicle's condition. Here, ride patrons sit in a vehicle beneath a huge IMAX Dome screen.

The ride opens with a set-up video featuring characters from the film trilogy. Somehow, due to an error made by one of Doctor Emmett Brown's (played by Christopher Lloyd) time-travel crews, Biff Tannen (played by Thomas F. Wilson) stows away and finds himself at Doc's Institute of Future Technology. There he tries to locate Doc's 'Flying DeLorean,' as well as cause plenty of mayhem for Doc and the Institute's crew.

Just as each party of Institute "volunteers" (i.e. park guests) is getting ready to take Doc's 8-passenger DeLorean on a journey across the space-time continuum, Biff complicates matters even further. He locks Doc in his lab, and steals the original DeLorean time machine, causing Doc to worry about the possible ramifications of Biff's joyride through time. Unable to escape the lab himself, Doc devises a plan and recruits the volunteers to help, using the 8-passenger DeLorean to chase Biff across time. If the 8-passenger DeLorean gets close enough to Biff, it can 'bump' him back to the present time by reaching 88mph. Using his remote control, Doc sends the DeLorean's party to follow Biff into the future, back to the ice age, and even into the heart of an active volcano that existed in the primeval Hill Valley.

The "waiting rooms" feature prop-replicas from the movies including hoverboards, notes from Edison to Doc, and much more. The actual ride features video from both Doc and Tannen who tell the passengers what is going on throughout their adventure.

Outside the ride at the Orlando location, the DeLorean from all three films and Doc's locomotive from the third film were on display. Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale had nothing to do with the ride, though the writer of the ride's set-up video handed them a script and asked if "he got Doc right". The two responded with a "yes". The two have also said "it's a great ride". The ride film was directed by Douglas Trumbull, the director of another Universal Studios feature, The Last Starfighter. The ride's score was composed by Alan Silvestri, the same composer who scored the Back to the Future Trilogy.

Diagram of the ride theater and motion base system for each of the cars.

The ride is a motion simulator with the cars located under a 70-foot (21.3–m) IMAX Dome screen. Each of the 12 cars is mounted on three pistons, allowing it to rise, fall and tilt, following the motion on the screen. The cars are arranges on three tiers and are staggered to prevent them from seeing the other vehicles in the theater. The front section of the cars rise eight feet (2.4 m) out of the "garage" when "flying". The actual range of motion from the simulator base is about two feet (0.6 m) in any direction. The motion and the visual input from the screen images combine to make the riders feel as if they are in a high-speed pursuit, as they chase Biff through 2015, prehistoric times, and even the beginning of Earth, before finally tracking him back to the present.

The Orlando ride is currently only operating one dome (see below). The second dome is scheduled to close once an announcement is made about the new attraction to replace it. The Hollywood ride is also expected to follow, though rumored to be sometime in summer 2007.

[edit] Trivia

In the line video, a reference is made to a "Zemeckis-Gale diagram." Also, on the ride itself, the "Sub-Ether Time Tracking Scanner" reports its radar-like findings in "Gale-Zemeckis Coordinates." Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis were the writers and Zemeckis was the director of all three movies.

The ride is actually composed of two IMAX Dome screens with cars arranged around them. The experience of both is identical, but the ride enjoys a very reliable in-service record as a result. If one screen or "dome" is shut down by a mechanical problem, the other will likely remain in service, increasing wait times for "volunteers," but meaning that the ride as a whole will rarely be shut down entirely.

During the ride, as the vehicle is about to crash into the clock tower, if one looks to the right in the alley next to the building, a Styrofoam cup can be seen that appears to be one story tall. This is reportedly due to someone leaving a cup in the miniature set during filming.

The preride video features footage and clips from Back to the Future, Back to the Future Part II and Back to the Future Part III. Early in the ride's history, when lines were long, the pre-ride also featured diagrams for other inventions by Doc Brown, and newsreel footage of Doc with Albert Einstein and other historical figures, similar to scenes in Forrest Gump, another film directed by Robert Zemeckis.

The female public relations representative in the preride video is Darlene Vogel, who also appears in Back to the Future Part II as a member of Griff's gang.

The ride was featured in the Universal Studios Theme Park Adventure video game as a mini-game.

[edit] External links

BTTF.com- A website devoted to the movie trilogy as well as the ride

Back to the Future trilogy
Back to the Future \| Back to the Future Part II \| Back to the Future Part III
Timeline \| Hill Valley \| Animated Series \| The Ride \| Video games \| Characters