Universal Studios Hollywood | Revenge of the Mummy-The Ride

THERE AND BACK AGAIN

etixland takes a spin on the latest Mummy spin-off

June 30, 2004

This past week, the new indoor thrill coaster REVENGE OF THE MUMMY - THE RIDE opened the doors of its forbidden Egyptian tomb to a public eagerly anticipating its debut. With the Orlando version of this attraction already premiered to great fanfare (and fan fare) last month, West Coast thrill seekers finally get their chance to battle hoards of scarab beetles and armies of the undead . . . and here's my review of the Hollywood venue ride.

REVENGE OF THE MUMMY turns E.T.'s pine forest into a cursed tomb of sand. Note the exterior ride queue under shade awnings at the right.

IMHOTEP, PHONE HOME

First off, if you come visit Universal Studios Hollywood in search of E.T. and his glowing finger, you'll only find him amid a rack of DVDs because he's dialed long distance and flown home. What was once THE E.T. ADVENTURE has been invaded by a band of bandaged mummies and a truly adventurous ride as REVENGE OF THE MUMMY unleashes its curse of the undead on Southern California.

Truly enough, E.T. had run its course in the USH pantheon of signature rides, especially as Universal focuses ever more intensely on creating one break-through advance in thrill attractions after another. E.T. was good in its time, but advancing technologies and increased audience appetite for mind-blowing special effects simply left our little alien lost in space . . . or at least lost in time.

The switch offered Universal some prime lower lot real estate in which to unearth Imhotep and his minions, but the building's footprint limited the Mummy ride's potential scope — as it is a constant battle to build anything anywhere in the landlocked Studio property, which is hemmed in on all sides even tighter than Disneyland in Anaheim.

With REVENGE OF THE MUMMY under simultaneous planning for both Universal parks, it quickly became clear to the ride's production and creative teams that each coast's attraction would differ substantially despite sharing nearly the exact same theme. In Orlando, King Kong was evicted from the Big Apple to make room for Imhotep's Egyptian lair, and thus occupying a substantially larger building than was available for its Hollywood counterpart.

Indeed, since Universal Studios Orlando wasn't built out of an actual working movie studio like the California original, the Florida attractions are stand-alone fixtures with a relative abundance of square footage and plenty of breathing space around them. In contrast, USH appears quite crowded and labyrinthine in design — one could say that Universal Hollywood, as a theme park entity, has evolved and mutated more than it has been planned. Having grown up just minutes from USH, I recall as a kid when the actual Studio Tram Tour was THE main attraction, and the other few venues available were all studio-related exhibits and shows . . . hardly the theme park presence it is today.

Rear view of the MUMMY entrance archway and locker building/photo op store, as guests exit the ride across an elevated walkway.

Still, the talented team designing USH's MUMMY just dialed up the cleverness and creativity, notched down the linear footage figures to pack as much excitement into the space as possible, and I think they succeeded quite well. In a way, the "race" to build east and west coast versions of the ride is perhaps the main reason why fans and followers even care about the difference — the fact that Universal itself put both editions into the same "news cycle" raises sharper comparisons between each that might otherwise result had their debuts been spread out over more time.

Well, enough with the battle of the parks, let's focus on the ride itself in its opening days and see what we've got, not what they've got!