Back to the Future: The Ride was a simulator ride located at several Universal Destinations & Experiences locations. The first installation opened on May 2, 1991, at the World Expo area of Universal Studios Florida in Orlando, Florida. A second installation opened on June 12, 1993, in the Lower Lot area of Universal Studios Hollywood in Universal City, California. A third installation opened on March 31, 2001, in the San Francisco area of Universal Studios Japan in Osaka, Japan. Based on the Back to the Future franchise, the ride is a first person adventure that takes place after the events depicted in Back to the Future Part III. Riders engage in a race through time in pursuit of Biff Tannen, who has stolen the DeLorean time machine.
Steven Spielberg, looking to match the success of the Star Tours ride at Disneyland, served as the ride's creative consultant. Declining popularity in the early 2000s led to the ride's eventual closure in 2007, although the version at Universal Studios Japan continued to operate until 2016. The Simpsons Ride opened in its place at Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Studios Florida, while Despicable Me Minion Mayhem opened in its place at Universal Studios Japan.
History
Development and opening
The idea of a Back to the Future–based ride was first discussed in a 1986 meeting between Steven Spielberg and MCA Planning and Development's Peter N. Alexander on the Universal Studios Hollywood backlot on the eve of the debut of the King Kong Encounter scene for the park's Studio Tour. Spielberg recalled how his friend George Lucas had just taken him for a ride on Lucas' Star Tours ride at Disneyland, telling Spielberg that Universal "could never do a Star Tours". Spielberg requested that Alexander see what he could do with Back to the Future. At the time, the proposed concept of the Universal Studios Florida project was put on hold and considered to be dead, and, according to Alexander, Spielberg's suggestion helped to bring the project back to life.
Initial planning for the ride began in 1988. A roller coaster was the original concept for a Back to the Future ride, but designers realized it would be too hard to effectively tell a story due to the fast motion. The second concept of a simulator ride ultimately came to fruition. Riders would board motion-based vehicles modeled after the DeLorean featured in the films, and watch a film projected onto a large, dome-shaped IMAX screen. During the development of the ride, the designers traveled with foam models of the DeLorean to the Expo Centre in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, where an OMNIMAX theatre was the setting for trial runs of the ride's film. Intamin was eventually contracted to develop the ride system for the attraction.
The ride was first publicly announced in February 1989 as one of the many ones being added as part of the new Universal Studios Florida theme park, scheduled for opening in mid-1990; it was also later confirmed in July that it will be a 1991 addition to Universal Studios Hollywood. Construction problems caused the attractions at both parks to have delayed openings. The one at Universal Studios Florida officially opened on May 2, 1991, costing $40 million. Foundation issues for the Universal Studios Hollywood attraction delayed its opening to June 12, 1993, resulting in the total cost of it being put at $60 million.
On March 31, 2001, a third installation of the ride opened at the new Universal Studios Japan theme park in Osaka, Japan. In 2015, The Back to the Future gift shop in Universal Studios Japan was replaced by Minion Mart, a Despicable Me 2-themed store.
Closure
By the early 2000s, the popularity of Back to the Future: The Ride was in decline. Universal was also in the process of replacing other older attractions with modern intellectual properties. In mid-2006, industry insiders speculated that the Florida installation would be closing. Several reports indicated it would be replaced by an attraction based on either The Simpsons TV series or The Fast and the Furious film franchise. On September 7, 2006, Universal Studios Florida officially confirmed the ride's closure. According to a Universal spokesman, the park had not formalized any plans for a replacement but decided to close one half of it immediately to "explore possibilities for future rides". The full ride's closure was initially suggested by media to be as early as October, but the closure was delayed to 2007. Two of the simulators were closed in early 2007 and on March 30, the attraction would give its final rides.