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Terminator 2 3D - a visit to Universal Studios Florida

Terminator 2 3D – An In-Depth Fan Review
Written by Maurice Huijs

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Aside from the text in this article, watch our exclusive coverage of Florida’s Terminator 2 3D on video!

 

Monday September 22nd 2008. Orlando Florida USA. Universal Studios Florida, Orlando Resort. The third day of our vacation in Floriday. MY day. After years of hearing and reading the stories, and seeing the various videos, I would finally see Terminator 2 3D: Battle Across Time in real life. A fan’s dream come true... but that’s not all!

Maurice in the hotel with Terminator posterTwo days earlier. I stepped out of our rental car and we walked into our hotel. After we checked in and walked through the hotel’s hallway, there was a big framed The Terminator poster hanging on the wall. After we turned on the TV in our hotel room, there was this Universal channel showing Universal Studios promotional videos all day long, including a Terminator 2 3D promo I had never seen before. Was this a sign for something big and amazing coming up..?

Maurice in fron of the Universal Studios globe Back to that particular Monday. As I walked on the CityWalk and saw the huge gates with the big Universal logo in the distance, I realized I was very near. My heart started to pound heavier than normal. The amazing Universal globe appeared in view. My heartbeat increased even more. I showed the guards at the park’s entrance my ticket and we walked directly into the Hollywood Boulevard. The T23D sign showed up in the close distance. The Cyberdyne security guards were already present. Maurice in front of the Terminator 2 3D logo My sister took pictures of me in front of the building and with the T23D logo. Then a funny idea struck my head; let’s ask the guards for a picture together! I stepped up to them and kindly asked them for a picture with me. The request surprised them and actually caught them off guard. They couldn’t understand why. So I explained them that I am an enormous Terminator fan, working on 2 Terminator sites, and that I came to Florida especially for this attraction. They were surprised by such a fanatic fanboy. Maurice becoming friends with Cyberdyne's security They agreed to do some pictures with me, and after shooting a few poses, I was surprised by a very lovely Cyberdyne guard called Amber. She asked me a question that completely caught me off guard. If I wanted to meet the Terminator after 10.30’s show..? Oh yeah. YES! Amber would try to arrange something for me. However, the time at the moment was about 9.30. So to kill the time, we went to the Cyber Image shop; a store filled with Terminator collectables. Me and my sister photographed and filmed almost everything in there for the next 50 minutes. Maurice in front of the Cyber Image Terminator store I spend about $150 on Terminator collectables. In the same time, while pressing my pennies into Terminator pennies at the penny press machine in the shop, Cyberdyne guard Amber showed up again with another big surprise for me. Instead of meeting the Terminator, I could meet the whole cast. If I was interested? Hell yeah. Freaking awesome! She smiled and walked away. Boy, was this day becoming more and more awesome! So we waited for the clock to tick down the last minutes. We walked to the T23D building and I talked to another Cyberdyne guard, Maurice in front of the Endoskeleton telling her the instructions Amber had given me. Instead of having to walk down the regular queue line and wait with the other visitors, I was send into the Express queue row, being able to immediately walk through the queue area into the pre-show room, skipping the whole waiting row. I waited in the pre-show room for the show to start, when suddenly one of the Cyberdyne guards walked up to me and told me to wait after the main show. Even other Cyberdyne guards apparently knew from Amber who I was and I almost felt like a VIP. Wow, impressive. Sharp eyes in the Cyberdyne security.

Maurice with 3D glasses in the pre-show I watched the pre-show with the enthusiastic Cyberdyne spokeswoman Kimberly Duncan. Too bad for her, Sarah and John Connor interrupted her little video presentation about Cyberdyne’s Skynet, telling the audience about Skynet being the destroyer of mankind. Cyberdyne’s security shut down Sarah and John’s video interruption and Kimberley led the audience into the presentation center for the main show. Kimberley introduced us to Cyberdyne’s latest invention for the military: the autonomous T-70 infantry units. However, Sarah and John quickly appeared again and stopped the presentation. Their interruption didn’t last for long, as a T-1000 appeared from out of the large Cyberdyne logo. The T-1000 activated the T-70 units to fire at Sarah & John. This plan was thwarted by the T-800 Terminator who appeared from the future to save John. Together John and the Terminator travelled into the future chased by the shape-shifting T-1000. Their mission: to stop Skynet in that future, while battling the T-1000, an Aerial Hunter-Killer, deadly Mini-Hunters, and T-800 Endoskeleton and the enormous T-1000000. How this battle ends, I will leave that open for you. You have to see for yourself if John and the Terminator succeed in their mission.

Maurice in front of the Miles Dyson sign in the queue area The show contains several 3D moments, yet there were a few that caught my attention. This moments were not even part of the bigger 3D moments. The first one is the moment where the Terminator grabs the plasma riffle from the Endoskeleton’s arm. The Endo’s arm looks like it’s really in front of you. Then there the scene where the Aerial Hunter-Killer flies out of the Skynet building, and the shot is really great. When John and the Terminator go through the large Skynet door, you can see the battleground in the background. The 3D effects give this background really some depth. And then offcourse, there’s the T-1000000. The T-1000000 is a great 3D character, its metal tentacles really reach out to you. I think it’s the best 3D effect of the whole show.

Maurice in front of the Terminator 2 3D wardrobe Ofcourse the show doesn’t only feature 3D effects. The show contains smoke effects (going into the future and during the end battle), wind effects (hovering of the Mini-Hunters), drops of water fall down on you (liquid nitrogen versus liquid metal) and last but not least, there’s a seat drop. Cast members run through the audience on some catwalk, so don’t be surprised when suddenly Sarah and John run by in front of you.

Maurice with a penny press machine Also, there’s a lot of eye for detail in the show. Outside on the battlefield, it looks like a real post-apocalyptic world. There’s debris everywhere. This is obvious a world where no man is safe and where machines can pop up from any corner.
Inside Skynet, you descend into the core. On your way down, you spot Aerial Hunter-Killers on an assembly line in the background, ready to be assembled. Two complete Aerial Hunter-Killers are stored on the left side (left screen of the show).

When the main characters appear, they are clearly visible on the left screen. So when the Terminator actor talks, you will see Arnold Schwarzenegger’s head on that screen. Same goes for Sarah and John Connor.

All mentioned little things add up with the complete experience, making it something unforgettable.

Terminator 2 3D cast meetingAfter the show, I sat down and waited for every visitor to leave the room. Then the cast appeared, and I shook hands with them. It was really fun, and I was too blown back by all of it, that I didn’t know what to say to the cast. But in that short time, we took a lot of pictures and had some good laughs. Turned out the T-1000 wasn’t as deadly as I had expected he would be, he was actually really funny. The Terminator was also a great guy, and damn, he was really big… euh, make that huge. John Connor was funny too, expect him to be a joking leader in the future war. Sarah posed like a real model, and Kimberley was a lovely woman. After we took more then 55 pictures of me with the cast, it was time to say goodbye because they had to prepare for the next show. It was fantastic, a fan’s dream come true and I thanked them all. Click here for all pictures.

Shrek 4D Terminator 2 poster Now, if you think this is all the Terminator stuff Universal Studios Florida has to offer, you are wrong. The park contains two more Terminator references in two shows. These references are not big, but they are funny nonetheless.
First of all there’s a Terminator reference in the new Simpsons: The Ride attraction. When Sideshow Bob attacks Bart and Lisa, he controls a large mechanic teddybear. With its face ripped open at one side, revealing the mechanic skeleton underneath, and red eyes. Later on, the Termi-teddybear appears for another two times.
The second reference is in the Shrek 4D queue area. The queue area has all kinds of poster, parodying various movies including Liar Liar, Jaws and… Terminator 2. The tagline "Consider yourself warned" has been taken from Terminator 2 3D Battle Across Time poster, while the rest of the poster (red eyes, title, etc.) is taken from Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

I, Maurice Huijs, would like to thank to cast of Terminator 2 3D for the fantastic castmeeting and the Cyberdyne security guards for posing with me in front of the T23D building. I would specially like to thank my favourite Cyberdyne security guard Amber, who arranged everything and gave the chance of a lifetime. Thank you all, you’re the best and you made my visit into an experience I will never forget.!!

Watch video
Be sure to watch the accompanying video (22 minutes), which shows you Orlando’s Terminator 2 3D in detail!




Fandocumentary covers :
- Universal Studios gates(/entrance)
- Terminator 2 3D building(/entrance)
- Terminator 2 3D storyline (I included a small snippet of T23D's dr. Silberman for you guys)
- complete Terminator 2 3D cast meeting (note: the beginning of that segment is dark, but it will get visible after 1 or 2 minutes)
- Cyber Image Terminator store
- Penny press machine #1
- Terminator 2 3D wardrobe
- Cyber Image store's goodies
- Penny press machine #2
- Terminator references in Universal Studios Florida
- Credits with 2 funny scenes
- And ofcourse some Terminator 2 3D footage in and during various scenes...
Runtime: 22:05

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