Back to the Future: The Ride put you in a DeLorean under a 70-foot dome, and it saved Universal Orlando

Opened May 2, 1991, it cost $40 million, flew 24 eight-seat DeLoreans through a four-minute film directed by Douglas Trumbull, and was the first big Universal Studios Florida ride that actually worked. It closed in 2007. Japan kept it until 2016.

Back to the Future: The Ride opened at Universal Studios Florida on May 2, 1991, eleven months after the park’s disastrous debut, and it worked. On the first day. Every day after.

That mattered more than anything in the ride itself. Universal Studios Florida had opened in June 1990 with three headline attractions that broke, and by spring 1991 the park’s reputation was a punchline. Then it put people in a DeLorean, blew them through a time tunnel and gave them the best four minutes in Orlando.

By that summer, per Parade, Universal was outdrawing Disney-MGM Studios.

How did Back to the Future: The Ride work?

You sat in an eight-passenger DeLorean on a hydraulic motion base, and the car rose into a 70-foot Omnimax dome where a film wrapped around your whole field of view. There were two domes, 12 cars each, 24 in all. The car pitched and rolled in sync with the movie, and your brain did the rest.

The film ran roughly four minutes. Doc Brown sends you after Biff Tannen, who has stolen a DeLorean from the Institute of Future Technology, and you chase him through Hill Valley in 2015, into the Ice Age, past a T. rex, over lava and home. Doc’s send-off: “Go forth, time travelers, and remember: the future is what you make it!“

Who made the Back to the Future ride film?

Douglas Trumbull, the effects legend behind 2001: A Space Odyssey and Blade Runner, directed it at his studio in the Berkshires in Massachusetts. It was shot on 70mm film using huge physical miniatures, some more than 20 by 40 feet, and no computer graphics. The whole town of Hill Valley was a model.

Steven Spielberg had pitched the ride to Universal Creative’s Peter Alexander with a simple brief, per an oral history in Cracked: “I want something better than Star Tours.“ The original plan was a roller coaster. Trumbull’s simulator won.

Christopher Lloyd came back as Doc and Thomas F. Wilson as Biff. Michael J. Fox declined or wasn’t available, depending on who’s telling it, so Marty never appears.

How much did Back to the Future: The Ride cost?

$40 million in Florida, per Parade, which was nearly what the first Back to the Future movie cost. The Hollywood version, which opened June 12, 1993, ran about $60 million because of foundation problems on the hillside site. Universal Studios Japan got its own on opening day, March 31, 2001.

When did Back to the Future: The Ride close?

Orlando’s last day was March 30, 2007. Hollywood followed on Sept. 3, 2007, Labor Day. Japan held on the longest, closing May 31, 2016, a little over 15 years after it opened.

The Simpsons Ride replaced it in both U.S. parks in May 2008, using the same domes and motion bases. Watch the Simpsons queue video closely and you’ll catch an animated Doc Brown, voiced by Lloyd, handing over the keys.

What’s left of Back to the Future at Universal?

Bits. In Orlando, the DeLorean and the time train sat outside the ride for years and were later moved; the DeLorean is still displayed near the lagoon.

In Hollywood, Doc Brown’s Chicken, a restaurant themed to the ride, closed in January 2014 as “the last remaining artifact of Back to the Future: The Ride,” per Inside Universal. Mel’s Diner sells a Doc Brown’s Chicken Pot Pie now.

On Oct. 21, 2015, the date Marty arrives in the future in Part II, Universal Orlando celebrated with Doc Brown driving a DeLorean through the park and a live band playing Huey Lewis. Universal marked the film’s 40th anniversary in 2025 with more of the same.

Why do people still miss Back to the Future: The Ride?

Because it was the ride that told Universal what Universal was. Screenwriter Bob Gale, who co-created the franchise, put it to Cracked: “It’s a crime that Back to the Future: The Ride isn’t there anymore.“

The Simpsons Ride is funnier. It’s also riding on the bones of something Universal built when it had one chance to get a ride right.

It got it right. Then it sold the domes to Springfield.

Article compiled with the help of the Pirates & Princesses newsroom.

Pirates and Princesses is your destination for Disney news, theme park updates, and the pop culture you love. From Disney cruises and travel tips to Disney fashion, food, collectibles, and movie news, PNP covers it all. Visit us at piratesandprincesses.net for daily coverage. Follow PNP on Facebook and Instagram, and listen to the Pirates & Princesses podcast on Apple Podcasts and YouTube.

Hat Tips:

• Parade (2026, 35th anniversary feature), the May 2, 1991 opening, the $40 million cost, the 1991 attendance note, the DeLorean display and Doc’s closing line

• Orlando Memory, the March 30, 2007 closing and the time train

• TheStudioTour.com, the Hollywood dates, the $60 million cost and the ride system

• Inside Universal (March 2016 and Jan. 2014), the Japan closing and Doc Brown’s Chicken

• Cracked (oral history), the Spielberg quote, the roller coaster plan, the Trumbull hire and the Bob Gale quote

• The Berkshire Eagle, Trumbull’s Massachusetts studio

• AllEars (Oct. 2020), the ride’s role in rehabilitating the park

• Universal Orlando (Discover Universal blog), the 40th anniversary events and the pot pie

• Inside the Magic (Oct. 2015), the Back to the Future Day celebration

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