THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF SPIDER-MAN HAILED BY RIDE'S DESIGNERS AS INDUSTRY "THRESHOLD ATTRACTION"

Crown Jewel Of Universal Studios Islands of Adventure Is History's First Ride To Combine High Speed Moving Simulators And 3-D Adventures

Attraction Features 400-Foot "Sensory Descent"

ORLANDO, FL -- It is the greatest ride ever built. The Amazing Adventures Of Spider-Man at Universal Studios Islands of Adventure is the first attraction in theme park history to combine rapidly moving, highly mobile ride vehicles hurtling through acres of vivid scene sets and extraordinary, specially filmed 3-D action with pyrotechnic special effects.

Guests are swept into a raging New York City street fight between one of America's most beloved super heroes and a cast of ominous super-villains. The conflict rages 360-degrees around, above and under guests, and bursts through movie screens straight at them.

A breakthrough attraction, literally -- The Amazing Adventures Of Spider-Man represents an extraordinary marriage of technology from two of Universal Studios Escape's previous revolutionary rides -- the blockbuster motion-based Back To The Future...The Ride and the highly acclaimed state-of-the-art 3-D, Terminator2:3-D.

"This really is the state of the future attraction," said Mark Woodbury, senior vice president/chief creative officer for Universal Creative. "Spider-Man is the 'next threshold attraction' which represents the evolution of immersive entertainment."

It affects in both amazing sensory and visceral ways. Guests speed through New York City while helping Spider-Man in his epic fight against villains. Flaming pumpkins and spewing water pipes hurled by the forces of evil seem to fly towards startled riders before smashing into their vehicles, ultimately careening off into the night.

The adventure begins with a visit to the Daily Bugle, where Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man toils in the Fourth Estate. He learns that the forces of darkness have used their Anti-Gravity gun to steal the ultimate symbol of freedom, The Statue Of Liberty. Parker enlists Universal Studios Islands of Adventure guests to help him return this beacon of freedom from dastardly hands. The comic book-style battle begins.

A foreboding Doc Ock (Doctor Octopus) ultimately takes aim at riders with his Doomsday Anti-Gravity gun, which zaps guests 400 hundred feet into the air before plunging them the same 400 feet down towards the dark street below.

It's an experience unlike any other ever created. Traditional 3-D films require viewers to remain in one location. The challenge of Spider-Man was to get guests directly involved in the action as they view three-dimensional films and move at high speeds past various movie screens and props - at unusual and varying distances.

Called a "moving point of convergence," the new technology was developed along with pioneering motion-picture based techniques by a hand-picked team to achieve astounding results. The effect relies on 25 large-format movie projectors and dozens of smaller projectors. Guests see 3-D wherever they look.

According to Woodbury, what makes the images remarkable is the pioneering effort to project heretofore flat, two-dimensional comic book characters who have no dimensional form into three-dimensional characters via CGI (computer graphic imaging). "The results are staggering," he said. "People are unable to discern the boundaries between fantasy and reality."

Universal Studios Escape is a joint venture between Universal Studios (www.universalstudios.com), a unit of the Seagram Company Ltd., a global entertainment and beverage company, and The Rank Group Plc.

Universal Studios Escape (www.uescape.com) includes the Universal Studios Florida theme park, the new Universal Studios Islands of Adventure theme park, Universal Studios CityWalk, a 30-acre themed entertainment complex, and world-class on-site hotel accommodations.

Rank Group is a leader in leisure and entertainment and operates two business streams. It provides services to the film industry and entertains consumers directly through its portfolio of strong leisure and entertainment brands. Its famous brands include Hard Rock, Odeon, Butlin's and Mecca. In 1998, the group turnover rate was more than 2.1B pounds and operating profit was 280M pounds. Worldwide, Rank employs more than 45,000 people.

Article courtesy Universal Studios Publicity.