Revenge of the Mummy

Dates: 2004 – present

The theme park’s first-ever roller coaster, “Revenge of the Mummy—The Ride” is based on the phenomenally popular “Mummy” films. A state-of-the-art roller coaster, the attraction taps into rider’s primal fears through immersion in a total multi-sensor y environment. Utilizing animatronics, sophisticated motion picture technology, state-of-the-art ride, audio and robotics engineering, the ride preys upon common human phobias: fear of the dark, fear of insects, fear of speed, fear of heights and fear of death to deliver the world’s first psychological thrill ride.

This $80million dark ride opened on 24th June 2004 to huge acclaim in the huge former E.T.Adventure show building on the Lower Lot.
Its sister ride in Universal Studios Orlando is larger as it has a bigger floor area to work with (and a larger budget), but the rollercoaster portion of the ride is more intense at Hollywood.

The engineering for the ride was by Premier Rides of Baltimore.

Promotional Video featuring Stephen Sommers

Publicity Gallery

News Coverage

Featuring the largest hourglass in the world!

Before riding
As the rollercoaster has such a fast launch, and due to the unique backwards motion, it’s not possible to take bags of any kind onto the ride. High-tech free lockers (for an hour) are provided at the ride’s entrance.

There’s also a test seat which enables you to try out the restraints and to see if you’ll fit into the ride vehicle seats comfortably (and safely).

Trivia

The Warrior Mummies
The mummies that drop towards the ride vehicle as it accelerates weigh 450lb each.

The Book of the Dead (2006)

The Book of the Dead (2006)

Artefacts
A considerable amount of research into Egyptology was carried out at the British Museum to ensure that the theming of the Mummy’s tomb is as accurate as possible. The Book of the Dead that can be seen as you first enter the indoors queue area is a prop from the movie, but all of the heiroglyphics around the ride building are authentic and often quite terrifying once translated!

Scenes

  • Queue area
  • Preshow (Mirror screen)
  • Loading
  • Scene 1
    Scarab beetles swarm over the walls as the ride vehicle pauses briefly to be weighed. A mummified skeleton comes to life and roars as we pass.
  • Scene 2
    Moaning mummified figures reach through the ceiling of the tomb to try to grab the passing explorers. All around the walls of the tomb, mummies come to life and reach out at us.
  • Revenge of the Mummy - Gold Room

    Revenge of the Mummy – Gold Room

    Scene 3
    The golden treasure room.

  • Scene 4
    Imhotep chants “Ahm kum Ra! Ahm kum Dei! Now your souls belong to me, forever ” as a pair of mummified warriors drop towards the vehicle. It suddenly accelerates to 45 mph through a dizzying number of curves and drops. Strobe-lit warrior figures “attack” the vehicle as it passes.
  • Scene 5
    Suddenly the vehicle races towards a solid wall. All seems calm for a fraction of a second until scarab beetles crawl over the wall and into the vehicle.
  • Scene 6
    Without warning the vehicle plunges backwards into the darkness. Again, the warriors are all around the vehicle until it arrives in a beautifully lit cavern.
  •  Scene 7

    Steam

    Steam

    The vehicle is spun horizontally as an eclipse can be seen in the sky overhead. The room becomes filled with flames and smoke and we are momentarily blinded by clouds of steam.

  • Scene 8
    As the steam clears we see we are back in the real world and approaching the unload station. Spontaneous applause breaks out.

The Ride Vehicle

  • The launch
    The ride vehicle is launched by an electro-magnetic propulsion system, and linear induction motors drive the vehicle around the ride track.
  • The ride tracks
    The Revenge of the Mummy is the only indoor rollercoaster which uses both forward and backward motion. The tracks are filled with sand to reduce the noise created by the vehicles travelling around the cavernous show building.
  • The ride vehicle
    The ride vehicle is themed as a mine car, which was used for removing artifacts from the Mummy’s Tomb.
    As the ride vehicle is in the loading position, it’s taking a few moments to recharge it’s on-board power supply. The “ultracapacitors” which store the electrical charge have a greater current capacity than comparably sized batteries, but don’t hold the charge as long, so need regularly recharging every time the vehicle returns to the loading position. Forklift truck chargers are used to keep the capacitors topped up. The on-board power are used to supply the MP3 players which provide sound throughout the ride, along with other system electronics and amplifiers.
    Once dispatched, the vehicle pauses for a moment to allow the guests to notice the video “beetles” crawling on the wall, and to get in sync with the rest of the ride system. In order to gauge the weight of the vehicle, and therefore how much launch force is required, the vehicle is actually timed during launch. There are a number of sensors that calculate the rate of increase of speed at the moment of launch. The computer system which controls all aspects of the ride runs all of the first sets of linear induction motors (LIMs) at full power, but the control system uses the timing data to determine if the last set of LIMs will be used or not. All this happens literally in fractions of a second during the start of the launch. If too much force is used when the vehicle is full of young (and lightweight) guests, it will move too fast through the attraction. If the vehicle is full of strapping (heavy) football players, a much larger force is required to launch it.

Behind the Scenes

Excellent backstage tour video from Theme Park Review:

Audio

Arnold Vosloo recording session

Arnold Vosloo recording session

There are 200 strategically-placed speakers within the ride to blast you with 18,000 Watts of sound. Each individual ride vehicle is equipped with 22 surround sound speakers to ensure that the soundtrack is clearly heard by all riders. The Imhotep figure that appears in the ride was voiced by Arnold Vosloo who played the character in The Mummy and The Mummy Returns.
The music score was composed by Oscar-nominated musical composer Alan Silvestri, who created the score for “The Mummy Returns”.

The Curse

During the manufacture and testing of this attraction, a number of mysterious accidents and incidents confirmed the fear of the crew – that the curse was indeed a real thing.
Have you suffered following your adventure into the Mummy’s tomb? Contact us with them!

Curse stories:
Christian Beana 		Thursday I was riding the Mummy and when it launches you in the beginning, it sucked my wallet right out of my pocket! I asked guest relations to look for it and at 9:30 that evening I got a call that they had found it (thank god) however, missing the $25 that was in it. Apparently the curse of the Mummy is that he takes your cash and leaves the plastic behind lol. 22 July 2006
Curse stories:
John Murdy
Attraction designer		 We consulted some of the world’s foremost Egyptologists on the project, had them translate parts of the Book of the Dead into English…that’s what the characters in the pre-show presentation are quoting from. When we were filming those scenes…some pretty weird stuff happened. Every time the actress who plays the Seer character said the word “Imhotep” there was a clap of thunder, and it was a cloudless day! We were in a sound stage and we could hear it through the walls. At one point a big 10k light just exploded out of nowhere. It was always when we said the word, “Imhotep” (and Imhotep was a real person in ancient Egypt…he was the pharaoh’s architect). I looked up at one point and there was a single light fixture swaying back and forth, right over my head…all of the other lights in the grid were perfectly still. I suppose there are dangers with trying to be too accurate. I started thinking…hmm, maybe I messed with something I should never have messed with!
Curse Stories:
Equipment problems		 Some people have experienced apparent equipment failure of the ride technology during their visit to the tomb. Digital projectors showing blue “No Signal” screens, warrior mummies not dropping, other parts of the attraction failing to operate correctly. This seems to happen despite a round-the-clock maintenance schedule. It’s either faulty equipment, or something far more sinister and scary… what do YOU think??

Timeline

  • around 3000 BC – In Egypt, Imhotep is born and becomes the Pharaoh’s chief architect, credited with a range of achievements including the construction of the Step Pyramid at Sakkara, one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
  • 1842 – German Egyptologist Karl Richard Lepsius coins the term “Book of the Dead” when he translates and publishes the ancient texts.
  • 1932 – The Mummy (directed by Karl Freund) released
  • 1999 – The Mummy (directed by Stephen Sommers) released
  • 2001 – The Mummy Returns (directed by Stephen Sommers) released
  • ?date – Pre-production work starts on the attraction
  • 2003, March 14 – The ET Adventure attraction closes and is removed from the show building to make way for The Revenge of the Mummy
  • 2004, May 21 – Official opening of Revenge of the Mummy at Universal Studios Florida
  • 2004, June 20 – Annual passholder preview of the ride (7am – 12 noon)
  • 2004, June 21 – Annual passholder previews (8am – 12 noon)
  • 2004, June 22 – Annual passholder previews (12pm – 6pm)
  • 2004, June 25 – Official opening ceremony of the ride at Universal Studios Hollywood, attended by Brendan Fraser and Arnold Vosloo from The Mummy movies.
  • 2006? – Video projection systems replaced resulting in brighter, clearer images.
  • 2007, June – New cooling system installed for the preshow area.
  • 2008 – The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (directed by Rob Cohen) released
  • 2016, June 25 – The attraction celebrated it’s birthday. Our friends at Theme Park Connect celebrated with a video:

 

Credits

  • Imhotep: Arnold Vosloo
  • Technical Manager: Paul Cuoco
  • Creative Director: John Murdy
  • Faux Fire effects & some skeleton figures: Technifex Products Inc in Valencia.
  • Ride system designed & built by Premier Rides of Baltimore

Sponsorship Partners

Volkswagen (2006/2007)

 

Premier Rides – Press Release

PREMIER RIDES UNWRAPS A PLAN TO DESIGN AND BUILD TWO “REVENGE OF THE MUMMY” RIDES FOR UNIVERSAL STUDIOS

BALTIMORE – Premier Rides, the industry leader in the design and manufacture of innovative theme park rides and attractions, has announced that it is currently designing and building the ride equipment and technology for two high-tech, high-speed thrill attractions for Universal Parks and Resorts. Based on the popular “Mummy” films, the two rides, one each at Universal Orlando and Universal Studios Hollywood, are scheduled to open in the spring and summer of 2004, respectively.
The design and construction marks unique collaboration between the film’s director and producer, theme park designers and Premier Rides.
“We are thrilled to be developing the ride equipment and technology for this incredibly advanced, next-generation scream-inducing attraction,” said Jim Seay, President of Premier Rides. “The ride employs nearly every concept, and includes never-before seen innovations and advancements we have developed in the last decade and presents them as a package. The rides will be the culmination of the hard work of an amazing team of people from Premier and Universal.”
The indoor rides will utilize Premier’s pioneering Linear Induction Motor (LIM) to provide high-speed launches. Also being employed is a new, modified version of the LIM called Variable Speed Linear Induction Motor (VSLIM) Slow Premier’s VSLIM technology helped enable the Universal design team to create a unique “High Velocity Show Immersion System” that completely engulfs the riders’ senses during the ride.
In addition, the attractions move riders in all directions, including reverse, as the vehicle traverses its path.
According to Scott Trowbridge, vice president of design and creative development for Universal Parks and Resorts, “This ‘psychological thrill-ride’ is the latest evolution in ride experiences for the entire industry. ‘Revenge of the Mummy’ is the next threshold attraction – there is no other ride like it anywhere.”

About Premier Rides
Established in 1994, Premier Rides has evolved into the theme park and attraction industry’s leading design and manufacturing firm. Best known for its high-tech roller coasters, Premier is also a global supplier of family attractions, such as water rides, traditional (steel and wood) roller coasters, observation towers, Ferris wheels and custom designed attractions. The company is headquartered in Baltimore , Maryland and has additional U.S. , European and Asian offices.

FROM http://www.premier-rides.com/newsdex.html

Links