iPHONE TOUR OF THE SIMPSONS RIDE

Last week, I celebrated my birthday by going on the brand-new The Simpsons-themed ride at Universal Studios, Hollywood. I had my iPhone with me, so I took a few pictures. I'm a bit distracted by this thing my boss likes to call "work," so this is just going to be a quick-and-dirty review—don't expect Shakespeare.



Here's the entrance to the ride. Being a huge The Simpsons nerd, I found the whole environment a bit too good to be true.



While you wait in line, they play clips from the show (most notably, from the episode "Itchy & Scratchy Land") mixed in with new cartoons designed for the ride. One of the new bits features Cletus the slack-jawed yokel and his posse of children explaining how they cut costs at amusement parks by sneaking in food molded to look like "extra youngin's." (It's funnier in person.)





Once you get through the maze and actually get inside the building, the waiting areas are designed to be a "midway" featuring Patty, Selma, Apu, Willy, and (my personal favorite) Hans Moleman.



They have advertisements for Krustyland rides and attractions rotating on screens throughout the midway. My favorite was for "The Hall of Secretaries of the Interior" (clearly a spoof on the "Hall of Presidents" at Disney World), which advertised a waiting time of "0 minutes!"

After the midway, you get ushered eight at a time to a holding room where Itchy & Scratchy explain the safety rules of the ride (wherein Scratchy gets multiple limbs severed) and you learn the premise of the ride... no spoilers here, but it involves Sideshow Bob.

Park rules mandated that I couldn't take any pictures during the ride itself (not that I'd want to risk dropping my precious iPhone during the ride), but I will say that it's pretty awesome. It's one of those "simulated motion" rides where you're in a car that moves, while the action is projected onto an 80-foot screen in front of you. The ride was only mildly nauseating, and if you do start feeling ill you can always close your eyes. It's also a multisensory experience: depending on what's going on in the ride, you get sprinkled with water and get exposed to different scents. The writers for the ride did a good job making it funny (and full of Simpsons in-jokes), which should make it worth riding more than once.



At the end of the ride, you can even get autographs with the Simpson family!