Following the massive success of the seventh installment of the Fast and the Furious franchise, which is currently the fourth highest grossing film of all time on the international box office charts (and the number one film of all time in China!?), Universal Studios Hollywood have revealed more details about their forthcoming “Fast & The Furious: Supercharged” attraction, set to be unveiled on June 25th.
The attraction, which will serve as the climax, so to speak, of the famous backlot Studio Tour at the park, is the third of three major additions to the park being opened just in time for their fiftieth anniversary. The first, a night Studio Tour, will happen for the first time over weekends this Summer. The second, an interactive Springfield area, complete with a Moe’s Tavern, Kwik-E-Mart and more, joined The Simpsons Ride and opened a little over a month ago. It is modeled after the attraction that launched at Univeraal Studios Orlando (Florida, USA) back in 2013.
The Supercharged attraction, meanwhile, will be without a doubt the most technologically advanced addition ever to the attraction, promised to be bigger and better than the much lauded Kong 360 3D experience that is already in place as part of the tour. It will also be the first ride added to the park since Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem debuted in April 2014, which replaced the long standing Terminator 2 3D experience at the park. It should be noted that due to the limited size of the park, a new ride always means that an older ride has to be replaced to make room. Some of us still aren’t quite over the loss to the ET Ride… But I digress.
This week, the park revealed this video to give us a taste of what to expect when Supercharged opens on June 25th:
We at the AU are exited that this experience will replace the rather ridiculous Tokyo Drift dancing cars feature that had plagued the tour for too long. OK, maybe I’m being a bit harsh – like the films themselves, it was a bit of fun. But it was still a bit out of place, and reportedly producers of the film demanded it be shut down in 2013 (as it was) following the success of Fast and Furious 6 bringing life back into the franchise. A downside to the addition, however, is that one of the rides longest running attractions – The Mummy tunnel, which was originally The Avalanche Tunnel, has been removed to make way for the massive, multiple room attraction, which will simulate a car chase through the streets of Los Angeles and use many of the same technologies employed by the King Kong attraction and Transformers ride.
More additions to the park are planned for the year ahead, including a much anticipated Wizarding World of Harry Potter area, inspired by their Orlando location and a version which opened in Japan last year. The attraction will launch sometime in 2016 and continue to add new life to the park that dubs itself as the Entertainment Capital of L.A. (Formerly “The World”, if we remember correctly), now celebrating its 50th anniversary.
Springfield is open now, while Supercharged will get moving on June 25th, US time. The Nighttime Studio Tour will run every weekend from July 4 through Labor Day. For more details head to http://www.universalstudioshollywood.com/
