Museum of Antiquities?

Image: Universal

If there's one thing we can agree on, it's that Universal's sets just can't be beat. And that's fair given that the studio has a century of work in their porfolio crafting sightlines believable to the camera lens. Here at Universal Studios Florida, they've put that expertise to work. But while Magic Kingdom has themed "lands" of imagination and fantasy, Universal Studios Florida has built locales much more familiar: Hollywood, San Franscico, Martha's Vineyard, and New York have been recreated with such detail, a snapped photo could convince relatives back home that you've indeed taken a cross-continental road trip.

Our sightseeing today brings us to the streets of New York and to a particularly interesting destination: the Museum of Antiquities. 

Image: Joel Rogers, CoasterGallery.com, used with permission

Banners unfurled between sandstone-style columns advertise the Museum's current exhibition, Mummy: The Curses & Legends of the Pharaohs. Seems like an interesting topic for an exhibit, right?

Inside the Museum's doors, you might be surprised to find that there's no museum at all. Rather, you appear to be standing in a studio soundstage's props department. Behind wire mesh, you can see real production notes, costumes, molds, and equipment from the filming of The Mummy (1999) and The Mummy Returns (2001). Stage lights, wrapped cords, and industrial studio equipment signal that we're about to get a behind-the-scenes view of how exactly The Mummy was created... A nod to Universal Studios' opening day promise of seeing the making of Hollywood's best pictures.

Image: Jeremy Thompson, Flickr (license)

Overhead, monitors feature authentic interviews with the cast and crew of The Mummy, and introduce the idea that we've arrived at the set of an (imaginary) third entry in the series: The Revenge of the Mummy. It's being filmed right here, today, and the cast in on hand not only to share real production footage from the series, but to warn us about some strange occurances here on set. A few disappearances (including a crew member named Reggie) have spooked the team. However, Brendan Fraser is on set to remind us that the mummy's curse can't be real.

That's why he's refusing to wear the Symbol of the Medjai – the ancient order of Pharaoh's bodyguards forever sworn to protect the world from Imhotep's darkness.

Rounding the corner, any semblance of a studio's prop department melts away. The rest of the queue takes place in a winding Egyptian tomb filled with artifacts, heiroglyphics, and booby traps meant to startle, amaze, and set the scene.

But... wait... What is the scene? We've stumbled on a sometimes-recurring issue for Universal. Are we in the Museum of Antiquities at all? Or are we supposed to understand that that was merely a ride facade? After all, we're then on a "hot set..." So, is this tomb a man-made set? Or have we been transported to Egypt? 

Image: Universal

No matter... The queue continues into an active archaeological excavation with a towering statue of Anubis having been uncovered. We climb the makeshift excavation stairs and catwalks suspended around the idol and find our path forward: massive mine carts seating four across in four rows (so, it's a real tomb?). These aged, rusted, shoddy mine carts don't look very promising, but what fun would it be to turn around now?

The Ride

As the mine car slowly and steadily advances out of the station, a rotating track piece flips to align a path forward into the tomb. With a steady, electrical hum, the vehicle advances forward into the darkness. Meanwhile, the subtle, suspenseful tinge of a synchronized on-board audio track begins, amplifying the eerie emptiness of the winding stone corridor. As lanterns flicker, a shadow seems to pass by a set of stairs ahead as violin strings screech.

From around the corner, a voice cries out. It's Reggie, the lost crewmember from Revenge of the Mummy (so it's definitely a movie set?): "Are you insane?! Get out of here! The curse – it's real!" The cart rounds the corner where Reggie is half-wrapped in mummification dressings, trapped in an open sarcophagus. "This whole place is a trap! He's after your souls!" With an echoing stone thud, the sarcophagus of Imhotep next to him bangs open and, from the darkness inside, Imhotep jumps out. (This astounding Audio-Animatronics figure – the only one we know of that "jumps" – ranked high on our must-read Countdown of the Best Animatronics on Earth.)

Image: Universal

"Look for the Medjai symbol!" Reggie tries to scream as Imhotep roars over him. "It's your only hope!"

"Silence!" The deep, thundering voice of Imhotep cries out (played once more by Arnold Vosloo, though in this incarnation he was invited to use his natural South African accent). He extends his hand to Reggie, and a billowing cloud of blue energy is sucked from Reggie's mouth into Imhotep's hand. Empowered, he turns to us. "With your souls, I shall rule for all eternity!"

Turning the corner, the ghostly, gravely echoes of his promise reverberate down the stone corridor. Ahead, the wall begins to glow, creating the cover of the Book of the Living – the only thing that can kill Imhotep once and for all. A golden path exends from the Book's frame, painting itself down the hall, and leading us forward into the unknown.

Image: Universal

The next chamber is cool and calm with only a distant hiss of air. Ahead, two statues of jackel-headed warriors kneel, holding ancient urns. Between them, heiroglyphics are lit. But from between the stone blocks of the room, sand coalesces into the head of Imhotep. "Serve me, and savor riches beyond measure..." Beams of sunlight strike amplifying mirrors, casting a golden, warm glow across the room and illuminated piles and piles of golden statues, gems, and priceless carvings. "Or refuse," he snarls, "and savor a more bitter treasure!" With an ear-piercing snarl, horrifying, decaying mummy warriors leap from all sides, surrounding the cart and screeching as flames surround us.

Image: Universal

The cart now kicks forward, boosting a bit to escape the room just as an ancient stone wall begins to lower and seal. We sincerely duck beneath the descending, grinding wall (a convincing effect) and fall to the side down the ride's first surprise for first-timers: it's a roller coaster. The cart races through pitch black darkness and around a corner until a stone wall comes into view. Still, we race toward it... faster, and faster, and faster, until the mine car literally slams into the wall, kicking dust from it.

Unfortunately, dust isn't all we've disturbed. A squeak signals the arrival of flesh-eating scarabs. They burst from the cracks in the ancient walls around us via projection, while physical scarabs come rushing out of a slot in the wall, falling toward the car. As the hissing and pittering of the insects surrounds us with 3D audio, the lights extinguish and the car is propelled backwards from the wall, falling down a drop in darkness.

As the car settles, a welcome sight appears overhead: the glowing, undulating symbol of the Medjai! We did it! It's over!

...But wait... The symbol continues to flutter until disintegrating altogether – it was sand. The sand floats to the right... and we follow it. The vehicle physically pivots, following as the gleaming sand collects into the face of Imhotep. His voice now is dark and menacing, growing ever-more distorted as he speaks over himself: "Not even the Medjai can save you now" "There is no escape" "Your end shall be my beginning" "Behold your fate!"

The vehicle, now having pivoted 180-degrees, lines up with an endless hill, lit only by the flashing blue bursts of energy emanating from the flowing sand. It races to the apex of the hill overhead, where it again creates Imhotep's giant, decayed face. "Your souls are mine!" On the last word, his mouth opens wide and his eyes glow wildly. The mine cart races at full-speed up the incline toward him. As noxious green, glowing gas fills his mouth, we race through it, immediately banking and diving hard to the right as the driving musical score crescendos.

Image: Universal

Back and forth, the car dives and races through the darkness as flashing blacklights reveal Imhotep's warriors in the endless darkness, always mere inches away. On and on, we race ahead screaming and laughing.

Finally, the darkness subsides. The mine cart boosts up a hill and enters into an Egyptian chamber. But wait... there, on the left, is a ride operator's booth. Phew! Salvation at last! The silhouette of a ride operator is a welcome sight, and she leans into the microphone: "We hope you enjoyed your ride! Please remain seated with your arms and legs inside the–" to our surprise, the lights inside of the control booth flicker, a dark sand descends, and the woman's silhouette changes as her life force is stripped. She shrivels into a corpse. Just as the lights short-circuit and flash, the glass of the ride operator booth shatters.

As shrapnel hits the ground, Imhotep is standing in the booth. "Prepare to forfeit your souls!" He laughs. Ahead, two laterns erupt with stunning flames, momentarily blinding us against the darkness. Then, the ceiling above ignites. This tremendous and unexpected effect – called brain fire, and ranked among our list of the Best Theme Park Special Effects That Still Amaze Us – creates an undulating, roiling flame that sincerely overtakes the chamber's ceiling entirely. The heat is crippling as it reins down, baking this fake unload station and elliciting screams of surprise.

Image: Universal

"Death is only the beginning!" Imhotep cries.

Now, the ride has left the best for last. With another humming boost, it's tipped out of the loading station and down the ride's highest drop: 40 feet. It plunges into a steaming, billowing pit of red and orange fog, with a jetstream of smoke erupting right at riders. Twisting and turning now, the musical score reaches its height as ancient chanting grows. Then, ahead, the massive face of Imhotep appears. He screams as a massive cloud of fog erupts from his mouth, covering the train. We bank right just in time to see the glowing, golden symbol of the Medjai – the real one this time – looming overhead.

As the film's triumphant score signals Imhotep's end, flashing lights return us to the movie set where we started. Brendan Fraser appears on a screen overhead: "Hey, welcome back! Hope you enjoyed yourself. I know I would've enjoyed myself more If I would'a gotten my cup of coffee!" He screams. Just then, a shadowy silhouette passes before the camera and a rotting mummy arm holds out a cup of coffee. Fraser screams as the screen blacks out, and our adventure has come to an end.

As always, we like to end our in-depth features with a ride-through video to show exactly what a trip aboard is like. As luck would have it, we have two options for Revenge of the Mummy. You might choose to watch this night-vision video, or the low-light point-of-view video below:

3,000 Years in the Making

While Revenge of the Mummy may suffer from some of Universal's – eh hem – uneven storytelling and may leave us wondering what was real and what wasn't, it's an outrageously fun family adventure ride (just like the movies, really) that features some of the best special effects, animatronics, and thrills Universal's ever employed period, made all the better by working together.

However, did you know that Revenge of the Mummy exists in two other theme parks on Earth? On the last page, we'll take a look at where (and how) the idea was re-energized in Asia and do some speculating about what the future may have in store for a ride that's been at Universal longer than most are able to survive... We'll finish up on the last page.