Disaster! A Major Motion Picture Ride… Starring You!
Universal Studios Florida · San Francisco
Overview
A reimagining of the earlier Earthquake attraction in the same San Francisco-themed show building, Disaster! cast park guests as movie extras filmed in front of green screens for a mock disaster-film trailer, then sent riders through a subway-station earthquake simulation finale with flooding, fire effects, and a runaway tanker truck.
ParksLog verdict
A solid, if less iconic, successor to Earthquake: The Big One — most fondly remembered for its interactive movie-extra gimmick rather than the finale itself. It's mainly a footnote today in the story of a show building that's now on its third completely different identity.
About this experience
Interactive attraction casting guests as extras in a disaster-movie spoof, leading into an earthquake-themed finale. Closed in 2015; later reimagined as Fast & Furious – Supercharged.
Best for
- Guests who remember either version of the earthquake ride
- Universal park historians tracking the San Francisco show building's history
- Fans curious about the building's three-attraction lineage
Tips
- The same show building has now housed three different attractions: Earthquake, Disaster!, and Fast & Furious – Supercharged.
- Its earthquake-simulation finale directly reused effects and show elements from the original Earthquake ride.
- The interactive movie-extra preshow was a distinctive feature not carried over to its replacement.
Details
History
Disaster! opened in 2008 on the site of the original Earthquake: The Big One, keeping the earthquake-simulation finale while adding an interactive film-production preshow. It closed in 2015 and the building was reimagined again as Fast & Furious – Supercharged.
- Earthquake: The Big One (1990–2007) — Earlier version of the earthquake ride experience in the same building.
Fun facts
- It was the second attraction built inside the same San Francisco show building, following Earthquake: The Big One.
- Guests were filmed as extras and could sometimes see themselves in a mock movie trailer shown near the ride's exit.
- The building was reimagined a third time in 2018 as Fast & Furious – Supercharged.