I love anything 3d, so the 3d "rides" at Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure were going to be some the highlights of my trip. I was rather disappointed that the Hitchcock theater had been replaced at Universal, but since it was now Shrek 4-d, that made up for the loss.
When I first experienced a 3d movie it was the Birds in the Hitchcock theater that I was exposed to and such a long time ago it left a great impression on me. My wife and I both enjoyed Shrek 4d and T2 3D, but it was The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman that had us both awestruck.
I knew that it was a ride based experience, but I was rather lost as to how this would be achieved. I could only imagine that each car would have a screen mounted on the front of it and what we would watch would somewhat be timed with the surrounding environment, but I had difficulty putting it together in my head. It just didn't make sense. Now I have seen the light.
This ride is pure genius. Having your car move through sets that look like New York and pausing every few feet to watch short 3d movies that run from one screen to the next is incredible. You watch the 3d action unfold on one screen, then your car moves on to the next screen. When you arrive at the next screen the car behind you is then watching the movie you just saw, but because of the distance between cars and the curvy layout of the track and the set design you never see the cars in front or behind you. This provides each car their own 3d experience. The addition of your car being equipped with hydraulics to allow for collision with the 3d characters and buildings, and heat and water effects furthers the immersion into the superhero/villain world.
Now that 3d has given way to the new 4d experiences where the audience becomes an pseudo-interactive element in the 3d movies I am very excited to see what the next phase of this type of entertainment will become.
