They’re closing Back to the Future: The Ride.

Orlando’s version of the ride has already gone, and the one in Universal Studios Hollywood is closing this September. Wikipedia has a passable entry describing the plot, but boy is it a case of you had to be there. It’s an awesome ride, even for non-fans. The first time I went to America, I was 10, and it was a few weeks after they had opened the ride, so the queues were gigantic. I returned six years later, and then another six years after that, riding it half a dozen times or so each :)

If you have not had the chance to go on the ride, you can experience it in YouTube-vision!:

I hope someone’s digitized the actual film reels; it Would Not Do for this rip to be the only lasting remnant of the IMAX-style original. At least the patents are online.

Wait time: 20 minutes. I guess it’s still popular after all! That was two years ago, mind.

The Ride is just one part of the Institute of Future Technology, whose main activities are queueing.

“… but we’re currently experiencing an unprecedented debilitation”

Biff Tannen has been spotted lurking around the Institute!

By 2005, the queues had died down a little, and it was possible to run through the system that had been packed so solid in 1993 and 1999. This cabinet shows some of the Institute’s inventions designed to keep you amused while you wait.

The Institute is kitted out in great detail. I expect you see 90% of the building’s substance while in the queue, but the theming gives the illusion of great depth hiding around the corners of what I presume are fake offices.

Biff breaks into the Institute!

“Believe me, I know”

I believe you, Doc!

Caution: Hoverboard energizing!

Snack to the Future. Oh dear.

To the left is the grand Starway staircase to the lower lot, and to the right was once located another DeLorean.

The Ride building, from below. It’s big, and there’s a DeLorean parked in the car park behind it.

As far as I know, they’re not closing this down. I never ate any of Doc Brown’s chicken, or his condiments, because even at age 10 I could smell an off-brand cash-in.

Bye bye Ride. I fully expect your Simpsons-themed replacement to suck. At least there’s still a copy of you in Japan.