3. Back To The Future: The Ride
Back to the Future: The Ride is arguably the best no-frills simulator I have ever been on. Regardless of the fact that it didn't have the technology of today's simulators (such as Universal's own Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man and Transformers: The Ride, which employ simulator technology with 3D technology and real motion), it was still an extremely fun experience. The queue showed a "live" feed of Dr. Emmet L. Brown broadcasting from 2015 where he had founded the Institute of Future Technology; a scientific institute specializing in his "futuristic" inventions. Doc invited tourists into the Institute as "volunteers" in order to test out his newest invention - the eight-seater DeLorean time machine - by travelling one day into the future. Meanwhile, Doc travelled to 2015 to make sure the space time continuum was back to normal after the events of his previous time travelling adventures, while his other Institute scientists travelled to 1885 and 1955. However, in 1955, Biff Tannen stowed away on the IFT scientists time machine, hitching a ride back to the present day Institute, which set up the ride's main storyline. The ride story centred on a first-person adventure through time, in pursuit of Biff Tannen, the trilogy's villain, where the DeLorean in which the riders were situated had to "bump" Biff to send both him and them back to the point of departure. You chase him through the ice age and to the time of the dinosaurs - even ending up in a dinosaur's mouth - before finally catching up to him. Steven Spielberg, executive producer of the movie series, served as creative consultant for the ride. It is the only project in the Back to the Future franchise to star Christopher Lloyd's character, Dr. Emmett L. Brown, as the main protagonist, given that Michael J. Fox's Marty McFly was not part of it. It's an enormous shame that it was replaced in 2007, despite the fact that The Simpsons ride which replaced it is actually very good.