Defunctland: The History of Earthquake: The Big One and Disaster!

welcome to one of the most fun and exciting parts of my job here at Universal Orlando Resort the opening of an exciting new attraction when you create a theme park attraction hops on the list of must-haves is excitement you might guess to scream cheer laughs to enjoy themself but what if there was an attraction that made you a part of the show what if there was an attraction arise so interactive that you were one of the stars today I'm proud to say that we have just that kind of attraction here at Universal with disaster a major motion picture ride starring you help me push this okay but we're going to do it on a count of ten I need some help from everybody out here we'll count down so pretend nine Hey seven six hi three two [Music] see [Music] crisis alert my name is Kevin perjurer and welcome to another edition in defunct land for background slash context on this series please visit defunct ENCOM with the link below if you want to keep up to date on future video topics release dates and the funk plane to VR news make sure to follow at Kevin purser on Twitter this is probably the social media outlet where I am most active and responsive to go follow the account if you want consistent updates onto [ __ ] land today we will be attempting to resurrect Universal Studios for does opening day attraction earthquake the big one and its successor disaster a major motion picture ride starring you this was another highly suggested video so thank you to all of these commenters like many of Universal Studios forward as original attractions earthquake the big one originated as a tram stop on the Universal Studios Hollywood tour presented on stage 50 the elaborate effects show simulates a violent earthquake in 8.3 on the Richter scale it lasts two and a half minutes and features power surges a ceiling collapse of the gas trucks sliding toward the tram a runaway subway fire and a flood the tram then moves out of the stage and the effects reset in only 15 seconds the attraction was based off of the 1974 disaster film earthquake but the tram stop was set in San Francisco rather than the film setting of Los Angeles the tram stop was spectacular and Universal Studios saw its potential even before it opened as they decided to recreate it as a standalone attraction for Universal Studios Florida earthquake the big one opened with the park on June 7th 1990 [Music] nothing can match the spectacle of nature in full fury and no other medium of the arts can capture it the way a movie can with the aid of special effects a volcano buries a city in ashes fire consumes a high-rise building or a hurricane submerges an island earthquake was awarded an Oscar for special effects and here you will experience the power of the most shattering natural disaster on earth as the 8.3 earthquake strikes Orlando of course it could only happen here within a great sound stage but then Universal Studios Florida is adventure we've boarded our subway train in Oakland it carries us into a tunnel and under the bay to the Embarcadero in San Francisco a tremor shakes the Train guess we'll approach the san francisco Transit Authority building located in the San Francisco area of the park the fictional company and their building was based off of the ferries and cliff house railway a real live San Francisco company then in 1906 had many of their cable cars crushed when their building collapse during an earthquake among the references to the company there were also numerous props and models from the earthquake film in the outside to the guest entered the building and the first pre-show theater in this area there were large photographs of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake the universal crew member acting the casting director let's the audience know that they had been selected as extras with a big earthquake scene they would then choose a few select guests to be extras for demonstration in a future queue theater guests are then ushered into the second part of the queue where they're shown a behind-the-scenes video explaining some of the special effects that went into the earthquake film hosted by the star of the film Charlton Heston the screen would also lift revealing impressive miniatures from the earthquake film that the audience had just seen in the behind the scenes footage guests then entered the final cue theater here there were large scale sets in which the volunteers from earlier appeared to demonstrate how map paintings and chroma keying works and the audience gets to see a live look at the final effect planners and gentlemen we need to be having a few minor problems mr. Roberts safety equipment we hope this will cause any more delay okay well in the meantime let's go ahead and try to recreate that scene you just saw take a look above me on the right those are math painting over here the last time [Applause] once this demonstration was completed guests entered a subway station and boarded at Golden Gate transit subway unlike Jaws and confrontation the actual ride experience of earthquake was not much different from the tram stop version the main difference was that it ended with the universal crew member and a control booth acting as the film's director shouting cut and thanking the audiences for participating however like Jaws and confrontation the ride did not function well in opening day and was closed intermittently for tweaking and repairs Peter Alexander and totally fun company designed the ride as they did with the majority of universal Florida's original attractions luckily for Universal earthquakes repairs followed the timeline of confrontation with the ride operating smoothly within the first few months of operation the attraction remained the same for 12 years until 2002 when the ride received a slight revamp Universal noticed that over the years fewer people were aware of the film that the attraction was based on so they attempted to update the attraction for new audiences the main show remained the same but the pre shows were updated to include references to other Universal Studios movies such as ET u-571 and How the Grinch Stole Christmas this sloppy attempt at updating earthquake was not well received but the references continue to be shoehorned into the attraction until September 8 2007 when the three pre-show feeders ceased operation and were converted into simple queues two months later on November 5th 2007 Universal closed earthquake the big one announcing that it will be replaced by another non property based disaster attraction entitled disaster a major motion picture ride dot dot starring you starring the renovation took less than two months making it the fastest construction time for a new attraction at Universal Studios Ford the attraction started previews on December 23rd 2007 and has the official opening on January 17 2008 with the rock one of the stars of the update making a guest appearance at the ceremony you disaster studios the maker of bamboo public apology and then more the most explosive pulse-pounding motion picture mega events in the history of mankind when she was cinematic spectacle unlike anything you've ever experienced disaster a major motion picture rod starring you detonating January 2008 at Universal Orlando Resort Universal Orlando Resort is not responsible for excessive adrenaline rushes burst of wild abandon wardrobe malfunction bad hair incidents or acts of sheer exhilaration guests walk through the exterior cue giving glimpses of props and posters from the films of the fictional disaster studios they then entered the studio where they are greeted by Universal Studios employee going by the name of Ronnie long is the assistant director to the CEO of disaster studios Frank Kincaid played by Christopher Walken like earthquakes part of her introduction included picking several guests for future demonstrations Ronnie told them that they would be playing key parts in the scene for Frank's upcoming movie after the guests were selected Lonnie would lead everyone into the next pre-show theater where Frank would appear to tell the audience about his love for disaster movies especially his new one mother nature Frank would also revealed that the studio was running out of funds which was the reason that he was using yes to star in several scenes after Frank had finished talking to the audience they were escorted to the final pre-show theater this is where the volunteers from earlier would act out a variety of scenes after this Frank would come onto the screen to tell them that he loved their performances and one of the entire audience to be involved in the big disaster finale yes would enter the main show and board their subway train Mikey the assistant director would appear on the monitor to give them some instructions about filming their scene the main show is basically the same as earthquake the big one and the tram stop with a few notable differences the main changes that Mikey is giving commands on how to react as the audience films are seen after shooting is over the lights dim and the monitors show a trailer for Mother Nature starring Dwayne the rock Johnson and the audience who has been inserted into the trailer through means of high-speed real-time editing after the trailer is over guess X the attraction the new attraction received a few technology upgrades first Christopher Walken appeared in the attraction through mutant technology in effect never before seen at the theme park if you remember the defunct line on ghostbusters spectacular you should know how the Pepper's Ghost effect works using technology is similar to this except for instead of an object being lit a projector is used to display an image onto an angled glass this is what allows Christopher Walken's character to appear in real-time and interact with objects around him there were also numerous references to earthquake the big one in the ride in the first cube there's a crash plane with the name EQ 1990 on it referencing the previous attraction and its opening year there's also a poster of Frank with a still from the earthquake film behind him during the video montage clips from earthquake can be seen in another one of the pre-show areas that the earthquake special effect models are still on display as well as the dummy that fell during the third free show theater and finally Mikey references the disaster the audience's encounter as the big one the crew of both earthquake and disaster had to make sure that they weren't spending too much time in each pre-show station there were large clocks on the walls to let them know when it was time to move on and these clocks could also indicate if the employee had to stall on busy days the employees were working as fast as possible to get guests through which was extremely difficult given all the different aspects of the production this became less of a problem with both attractions as they age though due to the lack of traffic coming in and out of the ride disaster Studios used Universal guests in their films for over seven years until the August of 2015 when Universal announced that the attraction was closed on September 8th of that year it is to be replaced with fast and furious supercharged a new attraction based off of the Universal Studios Hollywood tram stop the opening the ride has been delayed numerous times and is now set to open in spring of 2018 so why did disaster closed well for one it wasn't based on an IP which is pretty much a death sentence for any attraction nowadays especially one at Universal and in fairness it was not drawing huge audiences by any means on its last day of operation it only had a 10-minute wait time also Fast and Furious apparently needs the space because not only disaster but also Betelgeuse is rock and roll graveyard review had to close to make room for it the tram stop still exists in Universal Studios Hollywood and it is still nearly identical to the main show in Florida earthquake and disaster weren't the most beloved attractions Universal if they still entertain guests for decades Plus earthquake the big one is another of universal Florida's extinct opening day attractions proving that at any point with any attraction the Universal might decide that they are [Music] that was great wasn't it so that's the history of earthquake the big one and disaster don't forget to subscribe to the defunct land podcast on iTunes and Google Play if you have any questions relating to earthquake disaster or universal Florida that you want answered head over to our Facebook group or our subreddit to learn more about the remains of earthquake and disaster and our plans to recreate them please visit the function calm with the link below otherwise thank you for watching and don't forget to comment to share and subscribe

Channel: Defunctland

Views: 1,599,876

Keywords: defunctland, kevin perjurer, theme park, extinct, abandoned, defunct, history, disney, disneyland, disney world, previous, attractions, on ride, lights on, Universal Studios, universal studios florida, universal studios hollywood, tram tour, earthquake, earthquake the big one, disaster, a major motion picture ride starring you, amusement park, fun, old rides, old ride, universal, the big one

Id: _u4fcaXXhUc

Length: 12min 45sec (765 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 21 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/WeBuiltPimpCity]

I see you and your sound-alike of the ECW theme.

[u/likethecolour]

Great episode.

[u/flyinghighguy]

Keep it up, quite enjoying your series.

[u/321floridaguy]

Really liked this episode I binged watched a couple videos from this series and decided to subscribe. Good stuff!