Universal Theme Park Broke My Heart: No More E.T. or Back to the Future Rides
Universal Studios you broke my heart... You closed two rides based on two of your best known movies. Actually 4 movies, a cartoon series and one of the worst video games known to man were produced from these films. In case you missed the memo Universal Studios got rid of the ET and Back to the Future rides, both Universal films. These films have already and will continue to be rereleased in the next 50 years or so because every generation will fall in love with the Back to the Future trilogy and E.T.
The future from Back to the Future 2 just happened last year, October 21, 2015. In the Back to the Future ride the day was October 25, 2015. But Universal didn't even keep it open in time to see the iconic " future" we saw in Back to the Future 2. Instead they opened a fully imagined "Springfield" for 2015. Back to the Future fans would have come in droves to the ride for the 30th anniversary of the first film, it's something they've been waiting their entire lives to do. Instead we got Springfield USA and in 2015 they tore down the last remaining artifact from the Back to the Future ride: Doc Brown' Friend Chicken.
Don't get me wrong The Simpsons should be incorporated into a theme park. If Fox had their own theme park then they should've been the ones to open a Springfield USA where you can take pictures with Bart and Homer. And since Fox doesn't own any theme parks and Universal owns a couple it makes sense for them to borrow the Simpsons for their park. Afterall It is one of the most longest running shows out there and it does deserve the respect it gets.
Just have the decency to keep the few rides you have and still expand your park. A couple years ago California gave Universal the ability to build up the area surrounding the park in preparation for Harry Potter World, another film franchise not owned by them. Instead of gutting an old iconic ride and replacing it with some other studio's intellectual property, add to your park, Universal! If you are the "thrill capital of the world" offer more thrills for me to have then Jurassic Park the Ride, Mummy, Simpsons and the Studio Tour. Try not to have less than 10 rides and don't advertise your park as releasing a new ride (cough Fast and Furious cough) and just add it to your Studio Tour, that's cheating. Also, how dare you not only change your King Kong ride to a 3D overstimulus bore, and I don't believe that both the Universal Orlando and Universal Hollywood physical King Kongs happened to catch on fire and burn down. You have the space, you have the stages, your have the whole lot. So let me ride a bike with ET into space. And chase Biff into a T-Rex's mouth to fix the space time continuum.
Most of all- if you are going to get rid of your most iconic ride at least change the track from our fallen rides to the new crappy ones. Seriously if you go on the Simpsons Ride, you can tell the cart movements, aka roller coaster track, you are on has the exact same motions as the Back to the Future ride. They wrote the storyline to the Simpsons Ride to the track movements of the original ride. (You honestly think you were so clever with making the ride goers go into Maggie's mouth instead of the T-Rex. You can't fool me.) You may be redeeming yourself with the Harry Potter World. But we have to wait till April to see if you can make up for that lost flying DeLorean in the sky.
Here's the list of Universal's upcoming films:
Universal:
Ride Along 2 - January 15, 2016
Hail, Caesar! - February 5, 2016
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 - March 25, 2016
The Boss - April 8, 2016
The Huntsman Winter's War - April 22, 2016
Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising - May 20, 2016
Top Secret Untitled Lonely Island Movie - June 3, 2016
Warcraft - June 10, 2016
The Purge 3 - July 1, 2016
The Bourne Chapter 5 - July 29, 2016
Spectral - August 12, 2016
Bridget Jones's Baby - September 16, 2016
Kevin Hart: What Now? - October 14, 2016
Ouija 2 - October 21, 2016
A Meyers Christmas - November 11, 2016
The Great Wall - November 23, 2016
Let It Snow - December 9, 2016
The Veil - July 8, 1905
The Best Man Wedding - July 8, 1905
Mena - January 6, 2017
Split - January 20, 2017
Fifty Shades Darker - February 10, 2017
Fast 8 - April 14, 2017
Pitch Perfect 3 - August 4, 2017
The Snowman - October 13, 2017
Fifty Shades Freed - February 9, 2018
Jurassic Park: Episode V - Jurassic Wars? - June 22, 2018
Universal Movie Monster Universe:
The Mummy Reboot - March 24, 2017
The Wolf Man - March 30, 2018
Illumination Animation:
The Secret Life of Pets - July 8, 2016
Sing - December 21, 2016
Despicable Me 3 - June 30, 2017
Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas - November 17, 2017
Illumination Entertainment Franchise Film 10 - July 13, 2018
Illumination Entertainment Franchise Film 11 - July 3, 2019
Illumination Entertainment Franchise Film 12 - July 10, 2020
