The Theme Park History of Shrek 4-D (Universal Studios Hollywood/Florida/Japan/Singapore)

[Music] i lay in bed and it's really cold a warmth is moving towards me i feel something touch me [Music] it's shrek i'm so happy he whispers in my ear this is my swamp he grabs me with his powerful ogre hands and puts me on my hands and knees i'm ready i spread my ass cheeks for shrek [Music] [Laughter] hello and welcome to theme park history the channel for everything to do with theme parks old and new big and small in today's episode we're pulled into the greatest folk tale never told as we explore shrek 4d a 4d simulator attraction that opened at universal studios hollywood on may 23 2003 universal studios florida on june 12th 2003 universal studios japan on june 20th 2003 and universal studio singapore on march 18th 2010. this attraction was suggested by all these brokers so thank you to everyone for the comments acting as a mini sequel to the 2001 hit animated film shrek shrek 4d takes guests on an in-your-face fairy tale starring everyone's favorite ogre featuring all new original animation in 3d plus an extra dimension of special effects guests see hear and actually feel the action right from their seat thanks to the magic of ogre vision with the help of moving seats wind and mist guests embark on a fun funny and multi-sensory adventure with shrek and donkey that is sure to leave them laughing long after it's over [Music] alright so i'm not going to lie that intro didn't go as planned it wasn't very pg and i apologize if it offended anybody hopefully after a productive meeting with the tech team where no threats of flogging were being burned at the stake were mentioned we can get this video back on track is everybody ready okay let's try it again from the top once upon a time there was a green fat ogre with brown eyes and a bald head by the name of shrek by the name of shrek is he going to come out i don't have all day to wait while he's sitting on the toilet doing his business i have to make a video you know what let's skip this part for now let's go right into how the ogre made universal studios his home away from his swamp i'll check up on him later i wonder what he had to eat he's been in there for like 45 minutes now that can't be healthy as we've mentioned numerous times on this channel and at this point it's just a cop-out to transition from one topic to another universal studios florida wasn't doing that well by the early 2000s between the marketing mishap of universal studios escape and the september 11th attacks that crippled the tourism industry the only place where you could see the stars and ride the movies saw attendance drop both in 2001 and 2002 by a combined 8 in an attempt to draw visitors back to the resort universal began a reimagining of the park by 2002 with the focus on becoming the home of the hottest brands the most popular stories and the biggest box office hits you couldn't experience anywhere else this new approach for the park would officially begin on may 17 2002 when universal announced an attraction based on the hit dreamworks movie shrek was coming to universal studios florida hollywood and japan simultaneously the first to ever do so for those uncultured souls out there who don't know who or what shrek is first how dare you and second let me take a few minutes to explain the importance of the jolly green ogre and his noble ass don't worry i'm allowed to say ass because that's a nickname for a donkey go look it up i'm not lying to you the timeless classic we brokers came to know and love actually began as a fairy tale picture book of the same name released in 1990 by writer and cartoonist william steig featuring a repugnant green monster who leaves home to see the world and ends up marrying an ugly princess the book was generally well received upon publication with critics praising the illustrations originality and writing so much so that an up-and-coming filmmaker by the name of steven spielberg acquired the rights to the book just a year later with plans to create a traditional animated film based on the book which would have starred bill murray and steve martin as the voice of shrek and donkey respectively after numerous failed attempts to get the film's production up and running spielberg shelved the project in 1994 to instead focus on the creation of a brand new movie studio teaming with former walt disney studios chairman jeffrey katzenberg and music executive david geffen to create dreamworks skg better known today as dreamworks pictures shortly after dreamworks opened for business film producer john h williams convinced spielberg to bring the project to the new studio allowing it to purchase the rights of the book from spielberg for half a million dollars and putting it in active development in november 1995. unlike spielberg's plans that called for an animated film dreamworks instead took a different approach creating a live action cg animation hybrid with background plate miniature sets and the main characters composite into the scene as motion captured computer graphics using an expert vision hires falcon 10 camera system to capture and apply the realistic human movement to the characters after spending a year and a half filming and tinkering with the unique film style it was dropped by the studio as early test footage was met with a negative reception and instead it was decided to go completely computer animated due in part to the success of the first entirely computer animated feature film released in november 1995 walt disney pictures toy story dreamworks hired computer animation production company pacific data images to animate the film responsible for 31 sequences with 1288 total shots because of the eventual success of the film dreamworks acquired pdr who became responsible for producing many of dreamworks animations films throughout the 2000s in regards to who would voice shrek its maximus just like with the style of the film the role would go through some changes during development spielberg's plan to have bill murray voice the character were dropped and instead dreamworks offered the part to nicholas cage who turned down the once in a lifetime opportunity because he did not want to look like an ogre stating quote when you're drawn in a way it says more about how children are going to see youth than anything else and i so care about that with the academy award-winning actor out of the fray okay before i go forward yes i am not joking go look it up i'm being serious he somehow won an academy award for best actor for his role in leaving las vegas in 1995. i know right the man known for the bees won an academy award go figure the role was offered to comedian chris farley best known for his work on saturday night live who recorded 85 of his lines but passed away from an accidental drug overdose in 1997. the role was then recast to actor and wayne campbell look-alike mike myers who demanded a complete rewrite of the script to not reflect the version of shrek that was written specifically for farley besides the revision the production of the film was delayed as myers asked to re-record all of his lines with a scottish accent similar to fat bastard a character he played in austin powers the spy who shagged me after hearing meyer's scottish take the studio agreed to the changes which allegedly cost 4 million dollars in an additional six months to reanimate the scenes along with myers the rest of the cast featured eddie murphy as donkey cameron diaz as princess fiona and john lithgow as lord farquaad released on may 18 2001 the parody of fairy tale classics was a massive critical and financial hit as critics praised the film's animation voice performances writing and humor which catered to both adults and children going on to win the first ever academy award for best animated feature the song told the high praise it was receiving the film earned 484 million dollars worldwide against a production budget of 60 million making it the fourth highest grossing film that year shrek's success would help establish streamworks animation as a prime competitor to pixar and feature film computer animation and go on to kickstart the franchise which includes three sequels two holiday tv specials one spin-off film a stage musical that still gives me nightmares to this day 37 video games and of course a theme park attraction just a few months after hitting the big screen universal approach dreamworks in regards to creating an attraction based on the film dreamworks was at the time still in negotiations with the main cast to have them return for a sequel who are now looking for an upfront payment of 10 million dollars instead of the 350 000 they were paid for the first film as part of their new deal the cast would get the money they were asking for but instead of just providing the voice work for the sequel they would now also provide their talents for the attraction planning and development of the attraction began in late 2001 with dreamworks and universal working closely together to not only ensure that it would keep canon within the shrek cinematic universe dreamworks was building but also to stay true to what fans of the film came to know and love many of the staff who worked on the original film including pacific data images 60 artists and engineers returned to work and thought attraction said to be a mini sequel that would fill in the gap between shrek and shrek 2. unlike other screen based attractions such as the fantastic world of hannah barbera and back to the future of the ride which used motion car vehicles that boasted 4 degrees of freedom synced to the ride film the shrek attraction instead would take place in a large theater to create an immersive 3d experience combining lighting effects water air and wind effects as well as synchronized motion to bring these physical effects to life the theater seats were created to be capable of vertical and horizontal motion fully equipped with tactical transducers pneumatic air propulsion and water spray nodules to create the perfectly timed water spritzes burst of air and other enhancements to draw guests into the remarkable 3d animation in regards to each attraction's location and its respective theme park in hollywood shrek 4d replaced the rugrats magical adventure a live stage show inspired by the nickelodeon animated series rugrats which was only open for a little over a year opening on june 9 2000 before closing in september 2001 the construction of shrek marked the first time since the late 1980s that the 1200 seat theater saw a major transformation the theater seating was taken out in favor of the individualized moving seats and what was once the dressing room for the 1988 live show the star trek adventure became the new pre-show area in florida shrek 4d replaced opening day attraction alfred hitchcock the art of making movies which closed on january 3rd 2003 just like in hollywood the building would undergo a major transformation converting into two separate theaters instead of just one as for japan the attraction is shown in the same theater as sesame street 4d movie magic with shrek shown during the first half of the day while sesame street is shown during the second half touted as the first attraction to open at once as part of a new strategy to share investments across each park shrek4d officially opened at universal studios hollywood on may 23 2003 universal studios florida on june 12th 2003 and universal studios japan on june 20th 2003 while universal and dreamworks have refused to reveal exactly how much it cost to build the attraction reports suggested it was anywhere between 25 to 30 million dollars with most of the budget going towards the creation of the ride film as well as the salary of the voice actors involved he's still on the toilet how long have i been speaking for should someone go knock on the door and make sure he didn't fall asleep or you know is still alive you know what i'll check on him in a bit i have to keep going i knew shrek wasn't the easiest to work with but this is kind of getting ridiculous located in the upper lot at universal studios hollywood the production central area at universal studios florida and hollywood at universal studios japan guests find themselves in the far away kingdom of duloc the happiest totalitarian dictatorship on earth well maybe second depending on what the house of mouse has been doing as of late as guests make their way through the queue monitors play several clips from the first movie as well as passing by multiple posters for fake advertisements for attractions within the kingdom guests eventually reach the end of the queue and enter a dimly lit dungeon where an underpaid and overworked employee of duloc informs them to grab a pair of ogre vision glasses designed by lord farquaad himself just before his untimely demise to be both practical and stylish once everyone has made their way into the dungeon and have grabbed a pair of glasses another underpaid and overworked employee of duloc only doing this as a summer job informs guests it's their solemn duty an enormous pleasure to oversee their torture and escort them to their dank dark squalid prison the employee tells guests that any eating drinking flash photography videotaping failure to turn off all cell phones and annoying screaming children will lead to a flogging which for those of you who don't know is a heavy beating with a large wooden stick or what i pay someone to do to me every saturday night as well as an hour on thorac 12 days in the break a fortnight in the iron maiden 30 days of non-stop reality television and another flogging the employee brag suggests that farquaad's top men already caught some of shrek's fairy tale friends the three little pigs in pinocchio who are taking a much deserved nap after a flogging and asks guests to wake up the wannabe boy by screaming wake up pinocchio which officially starts the pre-show pinocchio and the three pieces of smoked bacon wake up from their power nap screaming for help and berating guests for getting themselves trapped in the dungeon suddenly jinji appears on the unregistered dungeon camp begging for the guests to get out of the dungeon but because they're in amazement of a talking gingerbread man don't go anywhere genji decides to bail on the guests pinocchio and the three little pigs declaring it's every man for himself as lord farquaad is back from the dead assuming guests never saw the movie which should be a flogging in itself pinocchio wakes up the magic mirror which is also in the dungeon to inform the boorish and unsophisticated the story of shrek so far breaking the ice with one of the greatest lines for a theme park attraction of all time oh we have guests hi there folks welcome to lord farquaad's castle run for your lives though rather lackluster bunch as the magic mirror attempts to finish retelling the story the ghost of lord farquaad makes his presence known demanding to know where princess fiona is but the mirror claims not to know where her whereabouts are due to his batteries being low farquaad attempts to cross-examine pinocchio who tries to lie about her whereabouts only to get caught in a lie as his nose grows longer farquaad then turns his attention to the guests asking them if they had seen shrek or fiona but since all of them can't give a precise answer the lord tells his personal executioner thelonius to prepare the auditorium in order to torture an answer out of someone to find out where the happy couple is the doors in the dungeon open to an actual theater which can accommodate up to 300 prisoners per show once everyone has made their way to their seat put on their ogre vision goggles and attempt to put on their seat belt only for the duloc employees to reveal there are none the curtains are drawn and the actual show begins a fairy appears dousing guests with her pixie dust only to be swallowed by a toad before the toad can finish its meal the fairy makes a last-ditch effort to escape taking the amphibian on a wild chase through the forest eventually breaking free before colliding into donkey who sneezes her onto a map shrek is holding which causes both the jackass and the map to start floating in the air it's revealed shrek fiona and donkey are lost in the woods trying to find their way to the honeymoon hotel so the newlyweds can celebrate their honeymoon shrek eventually finds a shortcut through the forest full of scary-looking trees and massive spiders which eventually make their way onto the guest's legs with the help of light ticklers attached to the seat thelonious appears on horseback kidnapping fiona and taking her through the scary part of the forest with a carriage made out of an onion and horses wearing sunglasses shrek and donkey give chase coming across genji's brand new house which is destroyed when they crash right through it the carriage eventually catches up to felonious whose horse jumps over a broken bridge and when shrek and donkey attempts to do the same their carriage comes up short sending the two across the ravine before the carriage and two horses crush the duo they transform back into an onion and two blind mice most likely due to the transformation spell ending at midnight with thelonius and fiona nowhere to be found shrek and donkey end up making their way through a graveyard in hope of picking up the trail as they make their way through the graveyard shrek and donkey stumble upon lore farquaad's massive grave to which shrek makes a comment that even in the afterlife farquaad is still trying to compensate for something and wonders if he's behind fiona's kidnapping looking for a medieval uber out of the graveyard donkey whistles for his wife dragon to come get him but the ghost of farquaad appears somehow using his spooky ghost powers to bring the stone dragon from his grave to life demanding it to eat shrek and donkey as revenge for dragon eating him at the end of the first movie now in the run donkey keeps whistling for his wife to show up but two claws sweep him and shrek off the ground and while it all but seems they're about to become the main course it's revealed that it's actually dragon saving them the stone dragon gives chase in the sky shooting fireballs made out of magma at dragon who when trying to evade those fireballs accidentally knocks shrek off her back who falls onto the stone dragon farting in his face before bailing back onto dragon in a homage to star wars a new hope dragon flies into a canyon with her doppelganger on her tail reaching a dead end dragon creates a narrow tunnel using a fireball retracting her wings to make it through safely however since the doppelganger's wings are made out of stone it's unable to retract them breaking them off when trying to follow through falling to a watery grave below now at the edge of a river thelonius has tied fiona up to a makeshift raft the ghosts of farquaad reappears revealing his true motive for kidnapping fiona to kill her and make her his spirit queen in order to become the one true king of the underworld farquaad orders thelonius to unanchor theraph so it and fiona can fall down fairy false but since he's a dumbass he forgets to get off before doing so fiona is able to break free and open a can of whoop ass on the executioner who gets knocked off the raft and falls down the waterfall in an act of desperation fiona is able to hoist the raft's anchor to a branch lodged in the river delaying her inevitable plunge shrek and donkey finally arrive jumping onto the raft which is just a terrible idea as all that additional weight causes the rope to the anchor to break off sending all three over the falls but an unexpected change of heart are saved by thelonius who's been holding onto a branch this whole time the quartet's luck seems to run out when that branch breaks sending all four down the falls towards their final resting place but just in the nick of time dragon reappears emerging from the waterfall to save everyone unaware of what has happened at the bottom of the falls far quite a ways for his ghostly queen to appear fiona appears to her new ghostly king but doesn't show up alone as dragon uses flamethrower on the former ruler of duloc which ends up being super effective dragon gives shrek and fiona a ride to the honeymoon hotel while she and donkey ride off to their home to go make some waffles assuming they're finally alone shrek and fiona are ready to celebrate their honeymoon but are interrupted by the fairy tale creatures who somehow have crashed at the hotel with a bottle of champagne in hand shrek says let the honeymoon begin popping the cork which hits the ferry from the beginning of the story sending it crashing into the wall of the theater which marks the end of the show the 15-minute attraction was met with moderately positive reception from guests with the film's animation and writing praise for the same action and humor the original movie was known for as well as the addition of the physical effects to create an immersive and entertaining time that anyone whether they were a broker or not could enjoy while the opening of shrek 4d in florida hollywood and japan help increase attendance numbers at the parks anywhere from three to eight percent between 2003 and 2004 universal didn't have any other major plans to expand the ogre's presence that was until september 24th 2009 when it was announced that an entire area inspired by the franchise was coming to universal studios singapore the second universal studios theme park to open in asia in the first in southeast asia inspired after the kingdom of far far away from shrek 2 the ogre themed land that opened with the rest of the park in may 2011 features not only the marquee attraction but two roller coasters as well enchanted airways a junior vecoma roller coaster where guests climb aboard donkey's beloved dragon for a flight above far far away and beyond and puss in boots giant journey a zampurla suspended roller coaster that has guest joint puss and kitty on an anti-gravity swashbuckling adventure atop a giant beanstalk in search of the precious golden eggs before making his debut in singapore the glorious golden lord shrek was already on a journey to fill the rest of his world with his love debuting his attraction at warner brothers movie world in australia in september 2005 and movie park germany in may 2008 making it only one of two universal attractions to be featured outside of their own theme park the other being the fantastic world of hannah barbera the shrek fever wouldn't last long at either location as the attraction closed at both parks in august 2010 and july 2011 respectively the closures of both attractions revealed that even though he was still popular shrek was starting to get like an onion they stink they make you cry you leave them out in the sun they get all brown start sprouting little white heads and maybe just maybe not everybody likes onions which was made evident by shrek iii and shrek forever after scores on rotten tomatoes the fall of the ogre in its urgent girth continued in may 2017 when universal studios hollywood announced that after 14 years of entertaining guests shrek 4d would shut its doors for good just two months later on august 13th set to be replaced by an all brand new multi-sensory attraction designed to play host to a variety of action-packed dreamworks animation characters beginning with the global blockbuster franchise kung fu panda so why have to change from the green ogre to the black and white panda who loves kung fu you ask why capitalism of course on april 28 2016 the two-time award-winning worst company of the year comcast who owns both universal pictures and universal theme parks announced they had acquired dreamworks animation for the small small price of 3.8 billion dollars giving them complete ownership of such franchises as shrek kung fu panda how to train your dragon and eventually trolls and the boss baby wanting to flex some of its newly owned ips the change was a no-brainer for universal dreamworks theater would officially open on june 15th 2018 showing kung fu panda the emperor's quest which takes place within the kung fu panda franchise occurring on the morning of the emperor's great feast of heroes where dragon warrior poe the panda along with master shifu and mr ping embark on a quest to deliver the liquid of limitless power to the emperor not gonna lie to you i have no idea what any of that means i've never seen the show the attraction opened to mostly positive reviews from guests as it was seen as a much needed upgrade from the aging shrek 4d while it seemed to be nothing but champagne wishes and caviar dreams from 2018 on it was only three years later when on october 6 2021 it was announced that it was all ogre for the attraction at universal studios florida officially closing on january 10 2022 set to be replaced by an attraction that hasn't been revealed yet are looking different you still look like an ass to me it's still unclear whether or not the japan where singapore versions will suffer the same faith as hollywood and florida but knowing universal i'm sure that's a sacrifice they're willing to make sometime in the near future so why is the attraction closing with the franchise sitting dormant since shrek forever after's release in 2010 and any plans for another sequel stuck in developmental hell simply put the ogre fell off as part of universal's approach to draw people to its parks by creating experiences based on recent hits at the box office older attractions are always in danger of being on the chopping block and in the case of shrek 4d lasted longer than many might have expected even though this chapter and the attraction story might be coming to a close this doesn't mark the end of seeing shrek and donkey at universal parks as at least in florida the meat shrek and donkey character experience will continue to operate daily brokers can also continue to experience the ride film on netflix now under the title the ghost of lord farquaad as part of dreamworks spooky stories which was released in october 2011 fun fact to make everyone feel old in may 2004 the ride film was originally released on dvd with the original shrek film titled as shrek 3d including both the 3d and 2d version complete with the two pairs of two color 3d glasses just goes to show that whether it's playing in your dvd player or streaming on your phone shrek's popularity after all these years will not be denied to be honest there isn't much more to say about the attraction that hasn't already been set at a time where universal studios was looking for a much needed shot in the arm to attract guests shrek 4d was the perfect attraction for its theme parks capitalizing on the immensely popular character and turning it into a one-of-a-kind multi-sensory state-of-the-art attraction one that captured the same charm and width the award-winning film was known for while the sun's getting real low for the big guy these days there's no doubt that after all this time one constant remains about the ogre say it with me kids shrek is love shrek is life so that is the theme park history of shrek 4d a special shout out to all the theme park fanatics on my patreon in the description below as always thank you for watching the video and supporting the channel don't forget to like this video subscribe to the channel and leave a comment down below if there's any attraction you would like us to cover in a future video once again thank you for watching and until next time man i just realized he never came out to john huh i really hope he's not dead you know what hold on i want to try something before we call it a wrap let's see if this works me me me me somebody once told me the world is gonna roll me i ain't the sharpest tool in the shed huh i thought that would have worked oh well somebody once told me the world oh my gosh [Laughter]

Channel: Theme Park History

Views: 177,633

Keywords: Theme Park History, Shrek 4D, Universal Studios Hollywood, Universal Studios Florida, Universal Studios Japan, Universal Studios Singapore, Shrek 4D Universal, Shrek 4D Full Ride, Shrek 4D Universal Studios Orlando, Shrek 4D Ride, Shrek 4D Final Show, Shrek 4D Closed, Shrek 4D History, Shrek Ride, The Ghost of Lord Farquaad, Theme Park History Shrek 4D, Shrek 4D Movie

Id: Y2pimX_iewE

Length: 26min 18sec (1578 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 30 2022