Why Does Every Theme Park Ride Have the Exact Same Premise?

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Theme park rides can transport visitors to incredible places, like outer space or the Earth’s core. They showcase amazing visuals, from enormous snakes to Vin Diesel in a fitted shirt. The possibilities for what these rides can be about are endless, limited only by the creativity of their designers – and, of course, the properties that Disney and Universal own the rights to.

So why does it feel like every theme park ride has the exact same premise?

That’s a bit of an overstatement, naturally. Soarin’ Around the World at Disneyland offers a beautiful, scenic journey over well-known places around the globe, as if you’re gliding through the air. And Velocicoaster at Universal’s Islands of Adventure? It’s a roller coaster that Jurassic World supposedly created inside a raptor enclosure to attract more visitors? (Honestly, the ride is so thrilling that the backstory is unimportant.)

If you spend a lot of time at Walt Disney World or Universal Studios Florida, you’ll start to see a pattern with many of the rides: they all follow a similar idea in various ways. Basically, a calm trip to a beautiful (but usually dangerous) place quickly turns chaotic, and then guests are put in the position of having to rescue everyone.

I really enjoy many of these attractions, so this isn’t so much a complaint as a curious thought and a question – why does this pattern keep happening? The people who design these rides are incredibly talented, yet they often reuse the same basic idea. There has to be a reason for this. Do guests feel safer when things are familiar? Do surveys show people are less frightened by thrilling rides that follow this pattern? I’m not sure!

As a big theme park fan, I’ve noticed something really interesting: so many rides at both Disney and Universal seem to follow the same basic storyline. It’s gotten to the point where it feels like a cliché! I was just thinking about it, and I quickly came up with almost 20 examples…

Star Tours (Various Disney Parks)

Opening Date: 1987

What You’re Supposed To Be Doing: Taking a space tourist flight to Endor.

What Goes Horribly Wrong: The robot pilot performs terribly, almost immediately crashing your spaceship. It then misses Endor completely, gets caught in a comet storm, and is captured by a Star Destroyer – all before you even get a chance to help destroy the Death Star.

Jaws (Universal Studios Florida and Japan)

Opening Date: 1990

What You’re Supposed To Be Doing: Enjoying a guided boat tour of Amity Island.

Okay, so things really go south fast. Basically, a shark shows up – and not a little one! It starts by totally destroying another tour boat, which is a bad sign. Then, naturally, it sets its sights on our boat. We try to hide in a boathouse, and the guide – I still can’t believe this – decides the best course of action is to use a grenade launcher! Apparently, they just *have* those lying around on boat tours? Anyway, he misses the shark and blows up a gas dock instead. It’s… a lot. Total chaos, honestly.

Alfred Hitchcock: The Art of Making Movies (Universal Studios Florida)

Opening Date: 1990

Here’s what you’ll experience: You’ll watch a selection of films and footage from the work of Alfred Hitchcock, including unusual scenes from Dial M For Murder, shown in 3D, just as it was meant to be seen originally.

What Goes Horribly Wrong: Not long after the movie switches to 3D, a large group of birds flies through the screen and into the audience. They’re seeking revenge on the actor who played them as cruel creatures in The Birds.

Back to the Future: The Ride (Various Universal Parks)

Opening Date: 1991

Your Mission: You’re headed to Doc Brown’s “Institute of Future Technology” to witness-and participate in-a time-travel test using his newly upgraded 8-Passenger DeLorean.

What Goes Horribly Wrong: Even before the ride starts, Biff Tannen shows up at the Institute, locks Doc Brown in his office, and then steals the first DeLorean. Doc uses remote control to pilot the 8-Passenger DeLorean in pursuit of Biff through time. During the chase to get him back, they cause significant damage to Hill Valley in 2015, almost become stuck in the Ice Age, and are even swallowed by a dinosaur. Take that, butterfly effect! I really don’t understand why Doc couldn’t simply remote control the DeLorean without putting eight tourists inside and potentially sending them to their doom.

Honey, I Shrunk the Audience! (Various Disney Parks)

Opening Date: 1994

Your Mission: Be present at the Inventor of the Year Award ceremony held at the “Imagination Institute.”

What Goes Horribly Wrong: The award winner is Wayne Szalinski (Rick Moranis)-you know, the guy from the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids movies who keeps accidentally changing the size of his family. So, naturally, he shrinks everyone in the audience. (He even inflates his dog! This guy is dangerous.)

Indiana Jones Adventure (Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea)

Opening Date: 1995

Your Mission: Explore the newly discovered Temple of the Forbidden Eye.

What Goes Horribly Wrong: Looking back, the fact that the place had a forbidden eye should have warned us that visiting was a bad idea. There’s a specific statue of Mara you’re not supposed to gaze upon, but inevitably someone does, which opens the “Gates of Doom” and unleashes a series of deadly traps. These include a corridor swarming with countless beetles, a lava pit, and-of course-a massive snake. (Seriously, did it *have* to be a giant snake?!?)

ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter (Magic Kingdom)

Opening Date: 1995

Your Role: You will be watching a presentation showcasing a new, advanced teleportation system.

What Goes Horribly Wrong: During the demonstration, the people in charge mistakenly teleport a terrifying alien creature-similar to the xenomorph from Alien-into the testing lab. The creature escapes the teleporter, and then the power fails. Guests are held in their seats while the alien prods them, drools on them, and breathes on their necks, all while they’re in complete darkness. Sounds enjoyable, doesn’t it? Surprisingly, someone thought this was a suitable attraction for children.

T2-3D: Battle Across Time (Various Universal Parks)

Opening Date: 1996

What You’re Supposed To Be Doing: Watching a demonstration of Cyberdyne Systems’ new technology.

What Goes Horribly Wrong: Cyberdyne Systems has created the Terminator robot, and they’re preparing to unveil their other major advancement, Skynet-the artificial intelligence responsible for global devastation in the The Terminator films. Just then, John and Sarah Connor arrive, quickly followed by the T-1000 and the T-800. This leads to a huge fight within the auditorium, all while a 3D movie plays. Fortunately, the heroes succeed in preventing the end of the world-though only until the next showing began 20 minutes later.

Jurassic Park: The Ride (Various Universal Parks)

Opening Date: 1996

What You’re Supposed To Be Doing: Touring Jurassic Park on an oversized raft.

What Goes Horribly Wrong: As you might expect in Jurassic Park, things fall apart quickly – within about 45 seconds of the ride starting, the park is in complete chaos. A damaged raft gets in your boat’s way, forcing you into the raptor enclosure. Oh dear! From there, you’ll experience a series of dinosaur encounters, culminating in a face-off with a T-rex and a thrilling 84-foot drop.

The Incredible Hulk Coaster (Universal Islands of Adventure)

Opening Date: 1999

What You’re Supposed To Be Doing: The ride’s storyline has changed over time, but originally, guests were meant to witness Dr. Bruce Banner’s newest experiment. The goal of this experiment was to undo the effects of the gamma radiation that transformed him into the Hulk.

What Goes Horribly Wrong: You won’t believe it, but the experiment fails spectacularly. Instead of fixing the effects of gamma radiation, Banner transforms into the Hulk, and the train is launched from the station, ending up on the track. Luckily, the experiment happened while guests were safely enjoying a roller coaster ride.

The Simpsons Ride (Universal Studios Florida and Hollywood)

Opening Date: 2008

What You’re Supposed To Be Doing: Visiting Krustyland, the fictional theme park from The Simpsons.

What Goes Horribly Wrong: Sideshow Bob appears and attempts to murder the Simpsons family. While they’re being chased by him throughout Krustyland, they accidentally wreck the entire amusement park, including all the rides and attractions. And, somehow, your ride vehicle plunges into a hole that leads straight to Hell! (Luckily, Professor Frink manages to rescue everyone.)

Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey (Various Universal Parks)

Opening Date: 2010

What You’re Supposed To Be Doing: Joining Harry, Ron, and Hermoine on a flying tour of Hogwarts.

What Goes Horribly Wrong: Honestly, pretty much everything! While you’re enjoying a ride on a magical bench around the castle, you’ll face a dragon attack, a terrifying giant spider, and even be chased by Dementors.

Star Tours: The Adventure Continues (Various Disney Parks)

Opening Date: 2011

What You’re Supposed To Be Doing: Taking a space tourist flight (again).

What Goes Horribly Wrong: This time, C-3PO acts as your very unhelpful tour guide (though R2-D2 is actually flying the ship). Even before leaving the hangar, your ship is stopped by Imperial forces who are looking for a Rebel spy. A quick escape causes your ship to crash through a series of unexpected adventures on different Star Wars planets-and everything goes wrong, with C-3PO constantly terrified.

Despicable Me Minion Mayhem (Various Universal Parks)

Opening Date: 2012

Okay, so here’s the deal – I’m totally into this experiment where Gru is turning people into Minions! Basically, we’re all part of it, and it’s about seeing what happens when Gru does his thing to transform humans. It sounds crazy fun, right? I’m so excited to see how it all goes down and what the results will be!

What Goes Horribly Wrong: The experiment actually *works*, but the guests who’ve been turned into Minions accidentally wander into a part of Gru’s lab they shouldn’t be in. This causes a series of explosions and mishaps, and Gru’s daughters end up losing a special present they were planning to give him for their adoption anniversary. (Luckily, everything gets resolved in the end.)

Fast & Furious: Supercharged (Universal Studios Hollywood and Florida)

Opening Date: 2015

Your Mission: You’re invited to a party honoring Dominic Toretto after his win in a street race.

The Problem: The guests on a party bus are suddenly attacked by Owen Shaw, the villain from Fast & Furious 6, who is looking for a witness he believes is hiding on the bus. He’s really the bad guy here! Luckily, Dom and his team arrive to help, performing incredible stunts like clinging to a Harrier jet and launching their cars through the air. However, despite all the excitement, you don’t actually get to enjoy the party. Talk about a letdown.

Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance (Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Disneyland)

Opening Date: 2019

What You’re Supposed To Be Doing: Riding a Transport Shuttle to a Resistance base on another world.

What Goes Horribly Wrong: Your transport shuttle is seized by the First Order, and you and everyone else are thrown into a detention cell. Luckily, the Resistance manages to free you. However, before you can get back to Batuu, you face a series of problems – you’ll encounter probe droids, Stormtroopers, and even Kylo Ren! Your escape isn’t smooth either; it includes a terrifying fall in an escape pod from the Star Destroyer, leading to a bumpy crash landing on the planet.

Web Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure (Disney California Adventure and Walt Disney Studios Park)

Opening Date: 2021

Your Mission: You’re visiting an open house hosted by the Worldwide Engineering Brigade, an organization founded by Tony Stark to encourage and showcase new technologies.

The Problem: A Spider-Bot, one of Peter Parker’s creations, starts making copies of itself uncontrollably. This quickly leads to a huge group of the robots that could damage all of Avengers Campus. To fix this, guests ride in “WEB Slinger” vehicles and shoot webs to stop the Spider-Bot swarm and get the situation under control.

Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry (Universal Epic Universe)

Opening Date: 2025

What You’re Supposed To Be Doing: Attending the trial of evil wizard Dolores Umbridge.

What Goes Horribly Wrong: A huge brawl erupts within the Ministry of Magic. Attendees are jostled around by Death Eaters, various magical creatures, and computer-generated images of Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson as they appeared 15 years ago.

Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment (Universal Epic Universe)

Opening Date: 2025

Your Mission: You’ll be observing an experiment led by Dr. Victoria Frankenstein. Her goal is to restore her family’s reputation by collecting all of the classic Universal Monsters.

What Goes Horribly Wrong: Honestly, it’s pretty much what you’d anticipate from a ride named “Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment.” As a fan, I was prepared for some chaos, and it definitely delivered!

Lost Disney Animated Movies That Were Never Made

Who Discovered Roger Rabbit

After the huge hit of Who Frame Roger Rabbit in 1988, Steven Spielberg was asked to produce a follow-up called Roger Rabbit: The Toon Platoon. This sequel would have shown the funny cartoon rabbit’s beginnings, including when he joined the army during World War II. But, after directing Schindler’s List, Spielberg decided not to continue with the project. Years later, in 1997, the idea was brought back as Who Discovered Roger Rabbit, and the story was changed to focus on how Roger became famous on Broadway and in Hollywood. Sadly, preview footage shown in the late 1990s and early 2000s – which combined classic animation, live actors, and computer-generated imagery – didn’t satisfy Disney, and the movie was ultimately canceled.

Untitled Nightmare Before Christmas Sequel

During the early 2000s, Disney seriously thought about creating a CGI-animated sequel to the 1993 stop-motion classic The Nightmare Before Christmas. But Tim Burton, who created the original, persuaded Disney to cancel the idea so that the first film would remain special and untouched. Instead, a direct continuation of the story was released in 2004 as the Capcom video game The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie’s Revenge. More recently, director Henry Selick mentioned he’d like to make a prequel, but as of 2024, both Selick and Burton have said that another film isn’t going to happen.

Swan Lake

Walt Disney Animation Studios initially planned to create an animated movie based on Tchaikovsky’s famous ballet Swan Lake, fitting the classic Disney princess mold, in the early 1990s. However, they cancelled the project when they discovered that Richard Rich, a former Disney animator who had started his own studio after leaving in 1986, was already making his own film, The Swan Princess. This animated musical was released by New Line Cinema in 1994 but didn’t perform well in theaters, though it has since become popular with fans through home video releases.

Don Quixote

For many years, Disney has repeatedly tried to create an animated movie based on the famous Spanish story Don Quixote. Their first attempt was in the 1940s, but it was canceled because of money problems. The poor performance of Pinocchio and Fantasia, combined with the company’s focus on making short films and movies to support the war, led to the project being shelved. Disney tried again in the 1950s, hoping to animate Don Quixote in the style of UPA, but it didn’t succeed. They made another effort in the early 2000s, but Disney canceled this adaptation because they felt it was too mature for their audience.

A Princess of Mars

Back in the early 1990s, Disney began developing an animated science fiction movie called A Princess of Mars, which would have been based on Edgar Rice Burroughs’ famous novel of the same name. Jeffrey Katzenberg, who was Disney’s CEO at the time, was very enthusiastic about this project. He offered it to the well-known directing team of Rob Clements and John Musker, but they turned it down. Almost twenty years later, in 2012, Disney released John Carter, a live-action adaptation of the book. However, the film wasn’t successful and performed poorly in theaters.

Kingdom of the Sun

Before Disney released its 2000 buddy road-trip comedy The Emperor’s New Groove, a different version of the movie, called Kingdom of the Sun, was in development. This earlier, unfinished version was planned as a musical with a considerably more serious tone. The story revolved around a prince and a pauper, and featured Yzma, a witch determined to block out the sun. Owen Wilson was originally cast as the voice of Pacha, and the film’s music was being composed by Sting. It’s believed that production was about 25% complete when initial test screenings weren’t well-received, forcing the creators to start over. During the rework, the traditional musical elements were removed, but fortunately, Eartha Kitt’s cut song, “Snuff Out the Light,” still made it onto the official soundtrack, even though it wasn’t used in the final film.

Tinker Bell and the Ring of Belief

Before the 2008 Disney Fairies movie Tinker Bell came out, another film called Tinker Bell and the Ring of Belief was being made, and the late Brittany Murphy was going to be the voice of the famous Peter Pan pixie. It was originally planned for release in 2007 and would have told the story of how Tinker Bell came to be and how she met Peter Pan. Throughout the mid-2000s, Disney released some early looks and trailers for the movie in its promotions. However, disagreements about the film’s direction, money problems, and Disney’s shift from traditional 2D animation to 3D technology caused the movie to be completely reworked from its original concept.

Where the Wild Things Are

Over 25 years before Warner Bros. brought Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are to life with a live-action movie, Disney considered making an animated version of the popular children’s book. Back in 1983, animators Glen Keane and John Lasseter created a brief test film showing Max playfully causing trouble in his bedroom. This short combined classic hand-drawn animation with early 3D techniques, but the idea of making a full-length movie was abandoned because it would have been too expensive and challenging to develop the short into a feature film.

Gigantic

I remember when Disney first announced Gigantic back in 2015 at D23! It sounded amazing – a story about a boy in Spain who makes friends with a giant girl named Inma. They discovered a hidden world up in the clouds, and it was going to be a beautiful, CGI-animated take on the classic “Jack and the Beanstalk” tale. What really got me excited was that the music team from Frozen was involved! Sadly, the movie faced a lot of delays and was eventually canceled in 2017. Ed Catmull, who was head of the animation studio at the time, said they had creative disagreements. It’s been shelved ever since, which is a shame. But, if you look closely, you can actually find a little nod to the film – an Easter egg – in Disney’s Zootopia.

Babes in Toyland

Back in 1955, Walt Disney shared his intention to create an animated movie inspired by Victor Herbert’s beloved Christmas opera, Babes in Toyland. But the film’s development hit some snags, and the idea was later changed to a live-action movie instead. Featuring Annette Funicello, Disney’s Babes in Toyland premiered in 1961, marking the company’s first ever full-length live-action musical.

Dufus

During the late 1980s, Disney considered making an animated movie inspired by J. D. Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye, with a unique twist: talking (and likely singing) German shepherds. They even asked Howard Ashman, a lyricist who later became well-known, to compose music for the film, which was tentatively called Dufus. Unfortunately, Disney couldn’t secure the rights to the story from Salinger himself, so the project was ultimately abandoned.

Mistress Masham’s Repose

I’ve always been fascinated by Disney projects that never came to be, and the story of Mistress Mahasam’s Repose is one of the most intriguing. Back in the mid-1980s, the incredibly talented Joe Hale was working on this film, inspired by T. H. White’s 1946 novel of the same name. It sounded amazing – a young orphan girl making friends with a community of Lilliputians, you know, those tiny people from Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels. Apparently, Roy E. Disney really championed the idea, but then-CEO Michael Eisner didn’t feel the same way, and sadly, the project was canceled. It’s still incredible to see glimpses of what could have been; you can find early concept sketches and character designs online, created by the legendary Andreas Deja. It’s a real treat for any Disney enthusiast like me!

King of the Elves

Disney revealed plans for a 3D animated movie, King of the Elves, back in 2008. The film was inspired by Philip K. Dick’s 1953 short story, “The King of the Elves.” The story centers around a group of elves living in the Mississippi Delta who choose a human as their king after he rescues them from a troll. The movie was originally intended to be directed by the creators of Brother Bear. However, development was put on hold in 2009, though work briefly resumed in 2010. Ultimately, the project was cancelled a few years later because of problems with the storyline.

Newt

Back in 2008, Disney revealed Pixar was developing an animated movie called Newt. The story followed a male and female blue-footed newt-both facing extinction-who started to connect with each other during a shared adventure, even though they didn’t initially get along. The movie was initially planned for release around 2011 or 2012, and you can spot a small newt carving as an Easter egg in Pixar’s film Brave. Ultimately, however, the project was canceled because the story was too similar to the 2011 Blue Sky Studios film Rio.

My Peoples (AKA A Few Good Ghosts)

In the early 2000s, Disney was developing a film about two young lovers from rival families in the Appalachian Mountains. They planned to get help from a group of haunted folk art dolls. The movie would have starred the voices of Dolly Parton, Lily Tomlin, and Hal Holbrook, and been directed by Mulan co-director Barry Cook. It was intended to combine traditional animation with CGI, and feature a soundtrack inspired by bluegrass music. Sadly, in late 2003, the project-known at different times as My Peoples and A Few Good Ghosts-was canceled. Many believe Disney chose to focus on the more commercially viable Chicken Little instead. The folk doll characters did make a very brief, almost unnoticeable appearance in the 2007 film Meet the Robinsons.

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2025-10-02 22:37