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Disaster

Disaster was another must-do ride at Universal. It’s in the part of the park that is made to look like San Francisco. Disaster is supposed to be a film company that specializes in disaster films. All through the experience and the ride the staff is playing various characters involved with making movies.

When you enter and are waiting to get in, a character playing the role of a director’s assistant/casting agent comes out and gets volunteers from the audience to play the roles of actors. The volunteers are taken away and when you go into the next room they are all on stage. The director gives them a small part to play which is filmed by a camera crew.

For example, one little boy was asked to jump off a box and look afraid. Another man was asked to act as though he was falling. Three others were dressed up like corporate executives in hard hats and they were filmed acting as though they were in an earthquake with falling foam rocks coming at them.

Poor Donna got picked from the audience to be “the screamer.” The problem is Donna had a treak (sp?) several years ago that damaged her vocal cords and thus her voice is very low and she actually can’t scream. I couldn’t read the expression on her face to tell if she wanted to be rescued or if she was up for the gag. I judged wrong, but leave it to Donna to go with the flow as usual. She screamed her very best!

The last part of the ride you’re in what’s supposed to be a subway. They are filming a scene with a subway caught in an earthquake. The car moves side to side as the director tells you to look various ways. Real fire and explosions go off around you and water gets splashed around.

In the end, they took the video clips of the “actors” and edited them together with the video clips of the train ride and made a fake trailer for a disaster movie that was a riot! It was a lot of fun!!!!!

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