"Disaster: A Major Motion Picture Ride Starring You" Tribute

It's hard to believe that yet another original Universal Studios attraction is gone forever. While the original version of this attraction was slightly different when it first opened back in 1990 (it was known as Earthquake: The Big One), Disaster! maintained many of its special effects, props, and features, including the climatic ride portion that simulated the destruction of a subway terminal in the middle of San Francisco. The reimagined attraction opened in 2008 and closed in 2015.

This trailer is sure to bring back to mind the thrilling (and entertaining) nature of this attraction:



Here is a photo-gallery showing the attraction's facade and queue:




The first pre-show involved the selection of "actors" taken from the audience to help fill in all the parts:

The second pre-show (which could not be filmed) included a great pepper's ghost effect. There, Frank Kincaid told the audience about the issues that its filming company was facing and shared some movie secrets taken directly from "The Black Book" (which the show host kept on trying to read).

The third and final pre-show consisted of a series of short scenes that were filmed using the "actors" selected during the first pre-show, as well as a couple of additional scenes involving other audience members:

"Look at the rock!":



"Move in slow motion!":



A (very young) grandma in the garden:



The villains of the movie:



After all these pre-shows, Guests where ushered to a set that recreated a San Francisco subway station:



The train would travel a short distance and end up in another station where Guests would experience a simulated earthquake, complete with fire effects, water effect, a truck falling from above, and the collision with another train. Sounds like a quite thrilling experience, doesn't it? It was definitely exciting:



Here is a video of the complete experience, including two of the three pre-shows and the ride:

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PHOTOS BY: Alex, Official Orlando Theme Park News Team Member and Photographer.