New Jurassic World Attraction Opens At Universal Beijing — Watch The Ride Footage

Universal Beijing Resort has its invitation-only grand opening on September 1, and as it gears up to begin test operations, we're getting a look at some of the rides the new theme park has in store. One of those is "Jurassic World Adventure," a state-of-the-art dark ride that looks to be a significant upgrade over "Dinosaur" at Disney's Animal Kingdom.

Sure, you've seen dinos in the dark at theme parks before. Maybe you were even there for Universe of Energy's closing day at Epcot back in 2017. But how many times has your ride vehicle been chased backward through the dark by a real-live Indominus Rex animatronic?

On Jurassic World Adventure, things start out well enough, with a Brachiosaurus rearing its long neck and John Williams' familiar "Jurassic Park" theme music swelling. However, there's soon a flash of lightning, and as is often the case with theme park rides, something goes terribly wrong. A voice informs guests that their tour through Jurassic World has been canceled due to bad weather, but by then, it's too late, and dinosaurs have already started escaping their paddocks. Ruh-roh...

You can see a video of the ride below. There's also a version with English subtitles here. Though Indominus Rex is the star, the Ankylosaurus also makes an appearance, as do Velociraptors and the one and only Tyrannosaurus Rex.

According to Theme Park Stop, "Jurassic World Adventure" uses the same type of motion-based ride system as "The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man" and "Transformers: The Ride 3D," or "Indiana Jones Adventure" at Disney. Omnimover-esque vehicles let you face the action and see a blend of animatronic figures and screen effects à la Shanghai Disneyland's "Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure." There are scenes where a dinosaur falls onscreen, then lands in animatronic form.

One of the cooler innovations of "Jurassic World Adventure" is its Indominus Rex chase scene. Your ride vehicle is traveling along a semicircular track when it runs smack dab into the rampaging dinosaur. A merry-go-round-like setup enables the Indominus Rex to then chase the ride vehicle around the bend for about ten seconds before resetting.

Apparently, there's a world in which Jurassic World Adventure could have had guests riding around in gyrospheres like the kids in the "Jurassic World" movie. Universal even filed a patent for a ride system that would have suspended guests in gyrosphere vehicles, which would have given the illusion of rolling along the ground. This sounds similar to the mini-submarines in Tokyo DisneySea's "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" attraction, and how they give you the illusion of being submerged underwater. Cables would have allowed the gyrospheres to tilt and rock, but the visibility and capacity would have been more limited, reducing the number of potential show scenes.

Universal Beijing Resort opens by invitation only on September 1, 2021.