It was the summer of 1999, and my family was visiting Orlando for the first time. I remember the long car ride from West Virginia spent excitedly looking at theme park brochures. The Universal Orlando Resort (then called Universal Studios Escape) one caught my eye with larger-than-life experiences that felt dangerous, but exciting. I was seven, so I was only familiar with two properties at the park. One was Nickelodeon Studios, which I was thrilled to see. The other attraction had made me nervous ever since my parents rented the movie it was based on from the video store. That attraction was Twister…Ride it Out, and I didn’t know my life was about to change.
Join me and some fellow Universal Team Members — and Twister…Ride it Out superfans — on a retrospective trip through the legacy of this ground-breaking attraction.
Taking Guests by Storm
Twister…Ride it Out opened at Universal Studios Florida on May 4, 1998, and was based on the 1996 film “Twister.” My family rushed to the attraction as soon as the park opened that day and my first impression of it walking up was hesitant curiosity. My family was excited, but I felt a growing sense of uncertainty as we got closer.
Twister…Ride it Out was about to be my first Universal Orlando theme park experience, a badge of honor I share with Patrick Braillard, senior show writer for Universal Creative. Patrick recalls his first experience walking through the queue as “another level of immersive storytelling…it gave me the opportunity to step into the realm of the movie.”
My (somewhat fearful) anticipation for the attraction at the time didn’t come close to matching that of “Twister” movie super-fan Andy DiGenova, show producer for Universal Creative. “It’s one of my favorite summer movies,” Andy says. “My first introduction to the attraction was seeing the big ‘coming soon’ billboard in 1997, and I dreamed of what it could be.”
Entering a Devouring Colossus
When my family walked into the queue we saw dozens of movie props, including the Wakita, Oklahoma sign, the “Barn Burner” bus and Dorothy (the weather tracking device from the film). There was even a giant cow that would moo when you pressed a button (my personal favorite). Tornado trivia played on monitors as we waited, which didn’t help the butterflies growing in my stomach.
The doors opened and my heart raced as we were ushered into a dark room. Scenes from the movie played on monitors as some of the beloved actors from the movie gave us a brief glimpse into the intense process of making it. “The queue did what some of the best Universal attractions do,” remembers Andy. “It started with the behind-the-scenes story and then suddenly put guests in the middle of it.” This first preshow confirmed my earlier suspicions, and I knew something intense was about to happen. I didn’t know at the time, but a line in the preshow video had also given my family an iconic theme park quote I still use today: “They call F5 tornados the finger of God.”
Then we walked into a replica of Aunt Meg’s wrecked house from the movie. I remember stopping right under a car that looked like it had crashed through the ceiling, wheels and windshield wipers still moving. It felt so real, like it could fall at any moment. This seemingly floating car was also a standout to Kaylee Montalvo, technical coordinator for Universal Creative: “It felt very personal and interactive. It felt like a Halloween Horror Nights house.”
When I entered Aunt Meg’s House, it felt like I had walked into the story. Patrick echoes this sentiment, saying this section of the queue has influenced his work for Universal Creative. “I draw inspiration from Twister in how personal an environment needs to be to feel real,” he explains. “Every detail matters, down to how closely the wallpaper can be matched to the film. Guests may not know it on an intellectual level, but they will feel it if you cut that corner.”
Once I made myself take my eyes off the car, I saw TVs propped amongst the wreckage showing more behind-the-scenes footage of how they filmed iconic scenes from the movie. Actors from the film warned us that a twister can take on a life of its own. They didn’t have to tell this seven-year-old twice as I rocked back and forth in anticipation. Suddenly thunder crashed, and the room went black.
Capturing Lightning in a Soundstage
As we entered the final scene, I heard a deafening tornado siren and my heart pounded. My family rushed to the front row, which overlooked a re-creation of the Galaxy Drive-In from the movie. 1,500 gallons of rain pelted down on the scene as we watched a tree get split in half by lightning. I saw a twister in the distance, ripping the drive-in screen to pieces. Before I could react, a five-story tall tornado appeared in the center of the room. I was frozen in place, but I couldn’t look away.
I later learned the twister effect was achieved with multiple levels of seven-foot fans placed throughout the soundstage, which was just one of over 50 special effects that could terrify up to 2,400 guests per hour.
There were so many iconic moments, like Dorothy and the drive-in sign flying across the room, that I couldn’t take them all in at age seven. Kaylee locked in on something I didn’t even see that first time. “There was a sign with a rocket on it that I couldn’t look away from,” Kaylee remembers. “Everything was going on around it and it would move along with the wind effects. That was unforgettable.”
This final scene truly was a technological marvel, as explained by Brandon Kleyla, creative director for Universal Creative. “I’m still in awe of the technological achievement,” he remarks. “To have a five-story twister, fans, fire, gas, falling signs and moving cars all be reset after each show was something I wish I could have studied when I was working on my own projects.”
The tension was at a boiling point as the twister whirled in my face. Just when I thought it was too much, a cow flew across and I started laughing. A switch had flipped in my brain and even though I was scared, I realized I was enjoying the thrill. Then a truck was blown into a gas pump, causing a fire effect to merge with the twister. I jumped as a big fireball erupted, now with an even bigger smile on my face. But the smile faded a little as the roof raised like it was coming loose. The lights went out and the floor dropped for one last scare before my family and I were laughing in the gift shop.
“I hope one day I can pull off the same kind of tension that was built in the experience,” Patrick says excitedly. “You would see a tornado in the background that, along with other effects, sells the idea that the movie screen is being ripped apart. Then the tornado jumps to the foreground without skipping a beat. That was one of the only times a theme park attraction had a truly cinematic moment where guests were living in it.”
Twister…Ride it Out blurred the line of implied peril in a way few theme park attractions can. As Andy recalls, “There was a sense of safety because guests were in an enclosure, so the final floor drop at the end was an amazing way to accentuate the experience and make them feel that sense of danger in a way they didn’t expect.”
Surviving the Finger of God
Twister…Ride it Out was a staple of Universal Studios Florida, terrifying guests for almost two decades. It became my family’s go-to attraction every time we visited. Sadly, it closed on November 2, 2015, but the story doesn’t end there. Twister…Ride it Out lives on, having influenced many lives and experiences.
The aftermath of Twister can still be felt in current and upcoming Universal attractions. As Kaylee explains, “Twister…Ride it Out had a lot of influence on attractions like Revenge of the Mummy, which also has a lot of fire and practical effects.” That influence will also be felt at Universal Epic Universe next year, Kaylee shares: “Universal keeps expanding those ideas to make new attractions bigger and better, like in the upcoming Dark Universe.”
The attraction also delivered on the difficult task of accurately recreating the sensations of an immensely popular film. “Twister was the perfect example of understanding what guests expect from a film or property and delivering on that, while finding ways to surprise them,” says Andy. “For a Twister attraction, it must have the cow, the drive-in, and a real twister for guests to walk away happy and feeling like you checked all the boxes. That’s such an important lesson as we continue to develop new things.”
Beyond the technical and story aspects of the attraction, Twister…Ride It Out helped establish Universal as the ideal destination for thrill seekers. Brandon says what sets Universal apart from other theme parks is “we’re not afraid to push the boundary of thrills for guests.” He goes on to say “Twister…Ride it Out was uniquely Universal and an experience you couldn’t get anywhere else.”
One final, unexpected place where guests can still feel this attraction’s influence is at Halloween Horror Nights. Patrick remembers citing Twister…Ride It Out as an influence during his time as a show director for HHN, particularly the Aunt Meg’s House preshow. He describes that scene as “cause-and-effect storytelling.” Even though it looked like a tornado had haphazardly destroyed the room, there was intention in what fell where. The car in the ceiling was stuck at a specific angle, which meant the roof pieces needed to appear broken in the same way. A similar (but more macabre) storytelling is used for Halloween Horror Nights, as Patrick explains, “we don’t just take blood and throw it on the wall, because that won’t feel authentic…we analyze how the victim would have been hit in the scene and put the blood up in a direction and amount that matches the wound.”
It’s not hyperbolic to say I was a different person after exiting Twister…Ride it Out for the first time. I had done something that scared me and had a great time in the process. This taught me that even if I’m scared, that shouldn’t stop me from pushing myself. It was the gateway that led me to being both an HHN and theme park fan. The more I went back to the experience, the more I became fascinated with how it worked. This led to me working for Universal Destinations and Experiences, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
And I was not the only one who pursued a career at Universal thanks to this attraction. In talking with other Team Members, I learned how much we all loved Twister and miss it every day. As Kaylee says when recounting her career journey, “it’s shocking how one little attraction can create your path.” Although it’s gone, we are all thankful Twister…Ride it Out existed, because we wouldn’t be where we are without it.
“Twisters” on the Horizon
Although Twister…Ride it Out is just a memory, I’m excited to get that same exhilaration in the upcoming sequel “Twisters,” in theaters July 19. The film follows a new generation of storm chasers, and I’m excited to see it on the biggest screen possible.
From the producers of the Jurassic and Bourne series, and the director of Minari, comes the return of the epic studio disaster movie. Kate, a former storm chaser haunted by her past, her friend Javi, and Tyler, a reckless social-media superstar storm chaser, come together to try to predict, and possibly tame, the immense power of tornadoes. As storm season intensifies, terrifying phenomena never seen before are unleashed, and Kate, Javi, Tyler and their crews find themselves squarely in the paths of multiple storm systems converging over central Oklahoma in the fight of their lives.
“I’m really hoping to see it at a drive-in theater,” says Brandon. I’m not going to tempt fate like Brandon, but just remember if storm clouds roll in at the drive-in this summer, there’s only one thing you can do: hold on for your life!