Difference between revisions of "The Simpsons Ride"

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The Simpsons Ride
Universal Studios Florida's main sign for The Simpsons Ride.
General
Attraction type	Motion Simulator Ride[1]
Theme	The Simpsons
Height requirements	40" (102 cm)[2]
Universal Studios Florida
Area	World Expo[3]
Soft opening	April 23, 2008[4]
Grand opening	May 15, 2008[5]
Construction Costs	$30 million[6]
Previous Attractions	Back to the Future: The Ride (1991-2007)
Universal Studios Hollywood
Area	Upper Lot[7]
Opening date	May 19, 2008[8]
Construction Costs	$40 million[9]
Previous Attractions	Back to the Future: The Ride (1993-2007)

The Simpsons Ride is a simulator ride featured at the Universal Studios Florida and Universal Studios Hollywood theme parks. The ride is based on the long running TV cartoon series The Simpsons. It was first announced in 2007 and replaced the Back to the Future: The Ride at both locations.^[10] The ride at Universal Studios Florida soft opened on April 23, 2008, and the official ceremonies took place on May 15. The ride at Universal Studios Hollywood is planned for a grand opening on May 19, 2008 with no known soft opening date as of now. In the ride, patrons are introduced to a cartoon theme park called Krustyland built by Krusty the Clown. However, Sideshow Bob is loose from prison to get revenge on Krusty and the Simpson family.

Ride Summary

Queue

To enter the ride's queue area, visitors must walk through a giant Krusty the Clown head which leads them into a pavilion under various circus tents themed to carnival stalls. Various posters in the queue display advertisements for the attractions at the park, while various HD television monitors display clips from the TV show as well as moments from Krusty's past and live animated footage from Krustyland. The queue area ends with a sign instructing guests to wait for a short time before entering "Krusty's Carnival Midway".

Pre-Show

In the midway, riders line-up into rows to wait for a confirmation from Krusty. TV screens posted inside the walls on the left and right sides of the screen display the residents of Springfield running the midway booths at the park. Soon, Krusty appears on another screen in front of guests and prepares to pick a family to ride his "Upsy-Downsy Spins-Aroundsy High-Flying Teen-Operated Thrilltacular", the most extreme ride at the park. While Krusty is looking, Sideshow Bob appears in a Scratchy costume and steps on Homer Simpson's foot causing him to yell "D'oh!" and Krusty picks the Simpson family. Krusty asks them to pick another group to go with them, and Bart chooses the riders. While Krusty leads them into a waiting room, Sideshow Bob bursts out into evil laughter. Riders are then ushered into the pre-flight "Circus Tent" room by a team member. Here, Krusty leads the Simpsons into a backstage area where Grampa and Maggie Simpson are told not to ride due to certain safety restrictions. Grampa falls asleep while Maggie crawls into a nuclear reactor room, causing her to grow huge. Meanwhile, Krusty leads the Simpsons into a ride room where he tells them to enjoy the ride, before Sideshow Bob appears, knocks Krusty out and tells the Simpsons Family to enter the ride vehicle. Homer rushes into it, followed by the rest of the family also entering. Sideshow Bob then tells the Simpsons they must watch a legally required safety video. Itchy and Scratchy host this video, in which they show riders what can happen to them if they don't follow ride requirements. The screen then displays a list of the safety reminders while riders are ushered into the main ride room.

Ride

The ride portion is six minutes long. Riders with heart conditions, motion sickness, insomnia or similar conditions are not permitted to ride. Once riders enter a Krusty themed ride car vehicle, Sideshow Bob appears on a screen in front of them and lifts the car up onto a roller coaster with the Simpsons in front of them. The coaster begins going down various drops with Bob swinging a wrecking ball at riders, trying to kill them. Soon, the riders fly off the coaster and into the "Happy Little Elves in Panda Land" attraction with Bart and Lisa, where Bob takes control of an evil panda and chases them through the attraction. The ride then flies off the track again and enters "Captain Dinosaur's Pirate Rip-Off" with Homer and Marge. The riders then fall down a waterfall and arrive at "Krusty's Wet and Wild Stunt Show" where they are taken racing while tied to a killer whale before Bob corners them. Maggie, still giant-sized, grabs and bangs him, and the vehicles being dropped into hell before where they are saved by Professor Frink. Bob then steals Maggie's pacifier and tells her that she must destroy Springfield to get it back. Riders then take a wild ride through Springfield before encountering Maggie again, who trys to swallow them before being catapulted into the Simpsons house. The family is sitting on a coach when Kang and Kodos appear and strap them to Krusty's "Death Drop" ride. The riders are then dropped down from the sky encountering various characters along the way, and land back at the entrance to Krustyland, where Bob prepares to kill them before Maggie appears yet again and crushes him with the giant Krusty head. The vehicles are then lowered back down to the ground while mist, fire and smoke effects spray, and Krusty appears on the TV screen above the wall. Confused, he sees a red button in front of him and pushes it, causing the vehicle to vibrate, ending the ride. After the gullwing doors on the car lift up, guests exit the ride.^[11]

Production

The ride is located at both Universal Studios Florida and Universal Studios Hollywood in the former Back to the Future: The Ride buildings at both locations. In preparation for the renovation, the Florida version of "Back to the Future" closed on March 30, 2007, while the Hollywood version closed on September 3, 2007. The Simpsons creators James L. Brooks and Matt Groening as well as executive producer Al Jean collaborated with the Universal Studios creative team to help develop the ride.^[2] Music for the ride was composed by Jim Dooley, who worked with composer Hans Zimmer on the feature film The Simpsons Movie.^[12]

The six minute ride uses 80-foot IMAX screens and Sony Projectors.^[13] There are 24 ride cars, each seating eight people^[12] and approximately 2000 people can ride it per hour.^[14] The projection system features new digital technology which makes the resolution two times better than most digital movie thetres. The video is projected onto two dome screens which are made of 416 panels (each 4 feet by two feet) and is approximately 80 feet tall and 85 feet wide. The projector itself uses a custom-made semi-circular fisheye lens to project undistorted images and plays at a rate of 60 frames per second. In comparison, most feature films project at 24 frames per second.^[12] The animation in the ride uses computer generated 3D animation rendered by Blur Studio and Reel FX,^[15] rather than the traditional 2-D animation seen on The Simpsons and the other parts of the ride.^[16] The animation was provided by Film Roman, the animation studio that animates the series.^[17] Each car contains 12 speakers and a Dolby 6.1 surround sound while the domes contain an additional 90 speakers.^[12]

The Simpsons Ride uses new technology that cuts down on its energy consumption. According to Universal Studios, the ride is able to save over 55,000 watts of power per hour and 662,000 per day. The ride includes over 2,500 LED lights, the largest number in theme park history, which allows the ride to cut down on energy on lighting by almost one quarter when compared with incandescent lighting.^[18]

Construction

Krusty the Clown's facial features visible in a wide shot of Krustyland during construction of the ride in Universal Studios Florida.

The construction began at Universal Studios Florida in May 2007, shortly after the announcement of the ride's construction.^[1] In February 2008, the original concrete on the ground from Back to the Future: The Ride was dismantled, and replaced by a red and blue ground holding trees and benches. Following the close of the Back to the Future ride, the building was given a complete overhaul, the cars were changed and the mechanics system was updated.^[19] Construction was completed in April, 2008 while the ride itself opened on April 28, 2008, and Universal officials have confirmed that the attraction will celebrate a grand opening ceremony on May 15 and May 16.^[20] Technical rehearsals began on April 23, 2008.^[21]

The construction began at Universal Studios Hollywood in mid-September 2007, with the disposal of the building's Back to the Future insignia. Outdoor painting on the building began in January 2008. The construction's completion was at May 2008, and the park was confident enough in its progress to announce an opening date of May 24, 2008,^[8] which was later moved up to May 17 and then moved back to May 19.^[22]

Voice cast

The ride features 29 regular characters from The Simpsons and features the voices of the regular cast members, as well as Pamela Hayden, Russi Taylor and Kelsey Grammer.^[9] Harry Shearer decided not to participate in the ride, so none of his characters have vocal parts and many do not appear in the ride at all.^[23] In an homage to the Back to the Future ride that it is replacing, The Simpsons Ride's queue video features a brief animated cameo from Doc Brown, who is voiced by Christopher Lloyd.^[24]

• Nancy Cartwright: Bart Simpson and Ralph Wiggum
• Dan Castellaneta: Homer Simpson, Krusty the Clown, Grampa Simpson, Groundskeeper Willie, Squeaky Voiced Teen, Hans Moleman, Barney Gumble, Louie, Itchy, Kodos and the Happy Little Elves
• Julie Kavner: Marge Simpson, Patty Bouvier and Selma Bouvier
• Yeardley Smith: Lisa Simpson
• Hank Azaria: Chief Wiggum, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, Moe Szyslak, Professor Frink, Cletus Spuckler and Snake Jailbird
• Kelsey Grammer: Sideshow Bob
• Pamela Hayden: Milhouse Van Houten
• Russi Taylor: Martin Prince
• Christopher Lloyd: Doc Brown

Other attractions

In October of 2007, gift shops modeled after the Kwik-E-Mart were built, replacing the Back To The Future: The Store gift shop at Universal Studios Florida and the Time Depot gift shop at Universal Studios Hollywood. The stores sell Simpsons-related merchandise.^[25]

References

External links

• Official Website
• The Simpsons Ride at Universal Orlando Resort
• The Simpsons Ride at Universal Studios Hollywood