2. The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera

Opened with the park in 1990, The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera was Universal Orlando’s first motion simulator and the first ride film comprised entirely of CGI (computer generated imagery). The characters were hand-drawn using traditional cel animation and then composited optically, resulting in a faithful recreation of some of television’s most iconic cartoon characters. Hanna-Barbera founder William Hanna served as the creative consultant.

The family-friendly ride took guests on an epic chase through beloved cartoons as they helped Yogi and Boo-Boo save Elroy Jetson from Dick Dastardly. The Flintstones and the Rubbles, Scooby Doo and his pals, and the rest of the Jetsons also played important roles. In a novel move, people who did not want or were unable to experience the motion simulator could sit on a stationary bench at the front of the room and enjoy the film.

The year 2002 was a dark time for fans of the original Universal Studios Florida. That summer, closings were announced for both The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera and Alfred Hitchcock: The Art of Making Movies. Already in a precarious seasonal status, Kongfrontation closed for good in September of that year.

Jimmy Neutron’s Nicktoon Blast, a quick overlay featuring Nickelodeon cartoons, opened just 5 months after The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera closed. It ran until 2011, when it closed to make room for Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem.

3. Alfred Hitchcock: The Art of Making Movies

Together with the Phantom of the Opera Horror Makeup Show (now Universal’s Horror Makeup Show), Alfred Hitchcock: The Art of Making Movies provided a much-needed horror element at a park run by a company best known for its legacy of horror. The way the show played out was worthy of Hitchcock himself.

In the first theater, a montage of clips appeared to be hosted by Alfred Hitchcock. At a certain point, Hitchcock asked his visitors to put on their 3-D glasses for a special presentation of a sequence from Dial M for Murder. As Hitchcock explained, the 1954 thriller was filmed in 3-D, but due to falling interest in the technology, it was actually released in 2-D. However, the scene was interrupted by the arrival of hundreds of birds from the 1963 movie, The Birds.

The second theater featured a mockup of the Bates motel and house from 1960’s Psycho, along with a cameraman, director, and two actors. One, the actress portraying Marion Crane, was a Universal team member. The other was a man pulled from the audience to portray Norman Bates, wearing a dress and a black face covering.

The idea was that, after a brief welcome video from Anthony Perkins, the director and cameraman would recreate the infamous shower scene shot for shot, explaining to the audience what was happening as they went along. Yet they were soon interrupted by the disembodied voice of “Mother,” who instructed them to stop sharing her secrets. They then decided to simply show the actual shower scene in its entirety.

After the scene, the audience volunteer appeared to have gone insane. Mother brandished the knife at both the director and the audience, eventually sticking it into a piece of the set to prove it was real. The director ran to hide in the shower set, and Mother followed him, pulling back the shower curtain to reveal…the audience volunteer! A masterful twist ending that Hitchcock himself would have loved. For suspense buffs like myself, trying to figure out exactly how that was done was a reason to return again and again. Sadly, Shrek now holds court where Hitchcock once stood.