After a month’s delay, Universal Studios Florida opened “Twister . . . Ride It Out” on May 4. The Orlando amusement park’s newest ride calls upon 18 giant fans, hundreds of strobe lights, 42,000 watts of speaker power and 150,000 gallons of water to create what is described as the fake tornado’s “especially aggressive personality.”
Twister, in essence, presents natural disaster as entertainment and was based on “Twister,” the special-effects-laden movie. Universal Studios Florida originally planned to open the attraction on April 2, but after seven real tornadoes struck central Florida Feb. 22 and 23, killing 42 people, the company decided to delay Twister’s unveiling.
The ride delivers visitors to the wreckage of a home seen in the movie. When a warning sounds that a twister is about to touch down, visitors are “evacuated” to a drive-in, also featured in the film, and then they see the twister. General admission to the park is $44.52 for adults and $36.04 for children ages 3-9 (tax included); there is no extra charge to ride Twister.
It took a team of scientist and wind-flow experts more than a year — spent mostly in research — to perfect the 50-foot-tall, 12-foot-wide tornado that is the ride’s centerpiece. Company officials say the attraction has a strong potential for educating the public about severe weather and that visitors who were allowed to experience Twister during technical rehearsals have had a positive response.
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It is unclear how many visitors have experienced the ride since its opening, because Universal Studios Florida does not discuss attendance figures. Neither will the company say how much it spent to create Twister, other than to say it is a “multimillion-dollar attraction.”