ORLANDO, Fla. — Something has gone horribly wrong at Universal’s Great Movie Escape. Sure, they’re fictional mishaps, and they involve time travel or a genetically engineered dinosaur, but they happen again and again and again — just as its creators planned — inside the new attraction at Universal CityWalk.
The “Jurassic World” and “Back to the Future” film franchises are the inspirations for a series of escape rooms that recently opened to the public. The Universal Orlando preshow calls the experience a “walk-through puzzle adventure.” Participants solve brainteasers related to storylines to keep the space-time continuum from being wrecked or to wrangle a new breed of reptile.
Not to give away any secrets, but Great Movie Escape customers listen to instructions, break down clues, inspect the themed surroundings, use teamwork, then put two and two together to make it into the next room and the next challenge.
“We really wanted to make something kind of unique to the industry,” Nate Stevenson, show director, said during a preview.
“We wanted to make something that if you’ve never done an escape room before, you’d come through, be immersed in the story, have this really fun adventure and still enjoy it even though you’re not really into escape rooms,” he said.
“And then we had to go to the other end of the gamut — people like me who’ve been to hundreds of these things. We want something for them, too.”
Challenges in the rooms are adjusted according to the level of expertise displayed.
“We can randomize the story. So every time you come back, it’s a little different,” said T.J. Mannarino, vice president of the art and designer, entertainment division at Universal Orlando.
“It’s a very smart computer. And it knows what’s going on in each room,” Stevenson said.
“If you’re somebody who does these things a lot, you can just burn through these (early) stages. And every stage that you open up is a new part of the story,” he said. “In some areas … you can open up whole new challenges that other people don’t even get.”
In the “Back to the Future” option, participants hop between eras as they progress through the rooms. They start in 1993; but also appear in 1955. Another room is Old West, a la “Back to the Future: Part 3.” There’s an ‘80s Cafe along the way, but also misdeeds by the Biff character. A virtual guide updates the stories, doles out instructions, repeats those instructions and keeps things moving.
In the “Jurassic World” activity, customers portray geneticists who get handed a lot of responsibility and must work to keep years of research from being ruined and to help locate a dino on the loose by figuring out clues and cracking codes.
The rooms are not roomy, sometimes dimly lit and loud and frequently have a Halloween Horror Nights vibe minus lurking scare actors. It takes about an hour to work through the story. The scenes are familiar-looking, dotted with big-screen references. The characters are fresh to the Universal Orlando experience.
“We worked hand-in-hand with the filmmakers, so they let us create our own stories and kind of our own canon,” Stevenson said.
And there’s tension and intensity as tasks become challenging and dangers appear to be around the corner. Is that a dinosaur breathing?
“I think it’s probably more scary for the adults than the kids because the kids love dinosaurs,” Stevenson said. “The stories get intense in parts, but no more intense than a fun family movie would get.”
Universal’s Great Movie Escape operates in the old Groove nightclub space on the upper level of CityWalk. Part of that space was gutted to create the new attraction, Mannarino said, which kicks off with a lobby decorated with a 1920s movie hall theme, a nod to Universal theatrical history.
Great Movie Escape tickets start at $49.99 per person per room; Universal said pricing varies depending on time and date of visit. An experience includes up to six people per group and may combine multiple parties. There’s a private experience option for parties for up to eight people. Those start at $300 per group for the Jurassic or Future spaces.
Reservations can be made at universalorlando.com.
