Studio Tour - Staged Events

Staged Events

The Studio Tour includes some special demonstrations, as well as some small segments. For example, a simulated flash flood, an 8.3 earthquake, a short encounter with Jaws, a look inside The Mummy's Tomb, and The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift car stunt show.

Jurassic Park
When the tram passes through the Isla Nublar set, guests are sprayed by animatronic Dilophosaurus. It is very similar to the end of the Jurassic Park ride.

Psycho: Bates Mansion (1964)
The Psycho house was one of the big draws of the Universal Tram Tour, back in 1964, and has continued to be instantly recognizable in recent years. In 1984, the Psycho house was used in the Knight Rider episode "Halloween Knight". The episode mentions of a man named Norman Baines who is supposed to be the murder suspect at a Halloween party. Also, when Michael Knight, Bonnie and KITT arrive at the house, Michael mentions that "Boy, this place looks really familiar" before he says "Nah!". The film Man on the Moon, a biopic about Andy Kaufman's life story, was filmed in 1999 at an area near the house. While in production, Jim Carrey, who portrayed Kaufman in the film, dressed up as "mother" and leapt out from behind the Psycho house with a rubber knife and jumped on the tram, scaring the passengers, including the guides. The tour guides and tram operators reported the incident to the film crew who told them that the person in the costume was none other than Carrey himself. It was break time during filming and he got bored and was trying to channel the creative energy of Kaufman. Carrey wanted to repeat the stunt one year later while filming How The Grinch Stole Christmas which was being filmed behind the house, but this time in full Grinch costume. However, he was stopped by the production that wanted to keep his costume and make-up under wraps until the film came out.

Flash Flood (1968)
The downhill flood effect has appeared in many films, including Big Fat Liar and Fletch Lives. There is a story that when a group of dignitaries and celebrities including John Wayne visited the Flash Flood in the early days, the water levels were still being perfected and the group got soaked.

The Collapsing Bridge (1974–2006, 2008–2010)
The tour guide tries to take the tram around a bridge rather than going over it, but suddenly the tram driver takes the tram towards the bridge. Just as the tram reaches the midpoint of the bridge, it creaks and massive timbers fall away, causing the bridge to "drop" the tram a short distance. The tram drives on and guests can see the bridge rebuild itself for the next tram.

The bridge was used less-frequently starting in 2005, and by March 2006 was no longer part of the regular tram tour due to mechanical problems. The Collapsing Bridge was repaired and returned as part of the Studio Tour in August 2008, after the June fire had closed much of the normal tram route. As of July 2010, King Kong: 360 3-D is located in front of the Collapsing Bridge. The bridge itself was still there, but King Kong: 360 3-D has temporarily replaced it. The current route is blocked by a crushed tram, used as set dressing for King Kong.

JAWS (1976)
The Jaws event opened a year after the release of Steven Spielberg's 1975 film. It is an animatronic attraction that features the moving shark and other sets. The actual hero prop boat 'Orca' was placed in the lagoon as a center piece, but has since been removed. The shark as seen in the attraction has had cameos in multiple television shows and films including the made for TV film The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island in 1981, the episode "Hooray for Hollywood" from Diff'rent Strokes in 1984, and the episode "Fright Knight" from Knight Rider in 1986. The Amity Harbor/Village area that is associated with the Jaws attraction (minus the moving shark) was the set used in two Airwolf episodes "The American Dream" (Season 2) and "Where Have All the Children Gone" (Season 3).

Earthquake (1988)
Earthquake: The Big One, is an attraction at Universal. It is an 8.3 earthquake inside a soundstage, designated to make it look like the san francisco subway station. They have a hot set, a hot set is something in which various props are and cannot be moved. The attraction features a gimbal which allows it to shake the tram, a burning gasoline truck that collapses through the roof, fire and spark effects, a derailing subway train, and a flood of water. The whole attraction resets itself within just 15 seconds, to prepare itself for the next tram of guests.

Curse of the Mummy's Tomb (2001)
The tram guide tells guests that they are going to take a look at some props from the film The Mummy, but instead the tram is led into Imhotep's cursed tomb, where he sucks them into a powerful revolving sandstorm. The guide eventually leads the tram out of the sandstorm, and Imhotep is defeated. In the middle of 2006, the tunnel was repainted to match the theme of the Revenge of the Mummy ride in the lower lot.

The Fast & The Furious: Extreme Close-Up (2006)
Extreme Close-up is a demonstration of some of the special effects used in The Fast & The Furious: Tokyo Drift. The attraction started construction in March 2006 and opened on 15 June 2006. The area was formerly occupied by a model used in Dante's Peak.

King Kong Sea (2006)
The guide leads the tram to a body of water around Skull Mountain Island. Suddenly, the waves part, and the tram travels between them, and guests get a view of the mini island.

Psycho: Bates Motel (2008)
As the tram passes the Bates motel, the guests witness Norman Bates carrying a corpse to a car. After placing the body in the trunk, he notices the tram and walks towards it with a kitchen knife as the tram leaves just in time to escape. Norman Bates may be portrayed by an Anthony Perkins lookalike or a Vince Vaughn lookalike. If the actors are not available, a cardboard cutout of Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates is used in the office window.

Whoville Comes To Life (2008)
During the holiday season, at the Whoville set all of the Whos, even Max the dog, perform a musical spectacular for the guests' enjoyment. The songs are remixes of songs from the movie. This is part of Universal's Grinchmas celebration.

King Kong: 360 3-D (2010)

Studio Tour guests don 3-D glasses as the tram enters a sound stage dressed as a recreation of Skull Island. Two Venatosaurus creatures attack and begin to chase the tram, which disturbs King Kong, who begins to fight them. The fight continues from one side of the tram to the other, as air and water effects are blown onto guests to further the illusion. Near the end of the experience, a V-Rex gets a hold of what is supposed to be the last tram car and pulls it from the train, throwing it down a pit. Kong defeats the V-Rex and roars in triumph. Previously, the tour showed a large pond area with a small scale boat to show how the filming of the boat arriving to Skull Island was done.