SUSPENDED ANIMATION #238
The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera was a simulator ride at Universal Studios Florida where guests were part of an animated adventure in a H-B cartoon. The attraction had a soft opening on May 1st, 1990 and officially opened on June 7th, 1990. It closed on October 20th, 2002.
Fortunately, I moved to Orlando in 1995 to take care of my parents who had health problems and so I was able to experience this attraction several times and enjoyed it. While I am often known as the “Disney guy”, I grew up watching Hanna-Barbera shows and have a deep fondness for their first decade of so of productions.
The attraction was really family friendly, including plastic, non-moving benches at the front of the auditorium for people who did not want to be jostled by the rocket simulators but wanted to just see the film or accompany their children. So, children under forty inches who could not ride or expectant mothers and others were given an opportunity to enjoy it. Regretably in my opinion, that is not the case on other simulator attractions at theme parks.
In the waiting queue there were multiple television screens showing excerpts on a loop from H-B cartoon shows. In the pre-show, there were three screens with Joe Barbera and William Hanna on the big center square one explaining the process of animation. They hand-drew Elroy Jetson from The Jetsons who springs to life.
They also show how a computer can design a rocket vehicle for Dick Dastardly but the villain and Muttley pops up from the inside of the rocket demanding to be in H-B’s next feature film.
Informed that the next film will be The Jetsons, the villains grab Elroy using a suction cup toilet plunger and take off. It is up to Yogi Bear and his sidekick Boo Boo to give chase in their own rocket taking you along for the ride to save Elroy. In the beginning, guests even got a small pinback button declaring “I saved Elroy!” with a head shot of the young boy.
A production Cel from “The Funtastic World of Hanna Barbera”
Powered by a large rubber band, Yogi’s rocket ship is fired off into the cartoon universe. The first stop is the town of Bedrock from The Flintstones with the rocket racing through the streets, narrowing avoiding people and things, and at one point zooming right behind Fred and Barney in Fred’s car.
Flying upwards into the sky to try to catch Dastardly, the rocket ends up in a spooky cemetery in the middle of the night where Scooby Doo and Shaggy are driving the Mystery Machine van. Dastardly goes into a haunted house followed by Yogi and the guests in their rocket and apparently also Scooby and Shaggy and some real ghosts.
Zooming out an upper floor window, the riders end up in Orbit City of The Jetsons. They are joined in the chase by George and Jane Jetson and Rosie the robot in their iconic bubble-topped saucer and they all end up in a futuristic amusement park.
Rosie extends her mechancial arms to lift Dastardly and Muttley out of their rocket. George grabs Elroy but thanks Yogi. Dastardly and Muttley are surrounding by flying police cars and are dropped in a flying jail cell.
Yogi’s rocket returns home but crashes on the launching pad where he thanks the guests for helping as they exit into a gift shop selling H-B merchandise and an interactive play area.
Signage outside the building housing the ride at Universal Studios Florida
The characters were created using traditional hand drawing and then optically composited. The character animation was done by the Sullivan Bluth Animation studio. Originally Kurtz & Friends and director Bob Kurtz were originally assigned to do the work and had supplied sequences for Jetsons: The Movie.
However, during production, Kurtz left the project citing creative differences. Universal who had released An American Tail (1986) and Land Before Time (1988) by producer-director Don Bluth gave the job to his studio instead.
Fievel’s Playland is a playground section for young children at Universal Studios Florida that opened in 1992 based on the American Tail films. There used to be another version at Universal Studios Hollywood but that one closed in 1997.
The play area features over-sized movie props, such as a giant cowboy boot and 1,000 gallon cowboy hat, tin can tunnels for kids to crawl through, a 30-foot spider web that kids can climb and it is all designed to make kids feel like they’re the size of a mouse.
In 1990 (to promote the opening of the attraction), Universal released various series of Hanna-Barbera cartoons on VHS tapes which included the theatrical trailer for Jetsons: The Movie, a commercial for the attraction which had a child tourist (played by R.J. Williams) sitting in the Hanna-Barbera office from the pre-show, explaining the attraction and a commercial for Universal Studios Florida.
Rhythm & Hues Studios created the 3D Jetsons sequence for the ride film. deGraf/Wahrman created the 3D Flintstones and Scooby-Doo portion of the film.
CREDITS:
Character and Effects Animation produced by Sullivan Bluth Animation Studios
Producer: Thad Weinlein
Director: David Steinberg
Assistant Director: Ron Allen
Directing Animators: Linda Miller, Larry Leker, John Pomeroy, Mark Koetsier, Ken Duncan and Jean Morel
Character Animators: Mark Pudleiner, Nasos Vakilos, Shane Zalvin, Matt Bates, Joe McDonough, Dave Kupcyk, Bill Waldman and Todd Waterman
Opticals Produced by Pacific Title & Art Studio
CGI Effects Supervision by Brad deGraf and Michael Wahrman
Bedrock Modeling: Liza Keith and Adrian Iler
Scooby Modeling: John Adamezyk and Ardrian Iler
Jetsons Sequence produced by Rhythm & Hues Inc. (Animators: Jean Cunningham, Kevin Barnhill, Neil Richmond, Charlie Gibson, Darren Kiner, Michael Tigar, Daniele Colajacomo, Peter Farson and Lorne Lanning)
In 2006, Paramount Parks acquired a license to use this simulator in their amusement parks like Canada’s Wonderland and Paramount’s King’s Dominion. The film was also shown at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom with its original name and The Park at MOA under the name of Yogi’s Big Rescue. It also popped up at Dollywood in 2007 for KidsFest under the name Yogi’s Wild Ride.
Yogi’s rocket made an appearance in the TV series Yogi’s Treasure Hunt (1985) which probably inspired the ride vehicle and the computer in the pre-show showed up in Wake, Rattle and Roll (1990).
In the opening scene of Jimmy Neutron’s Nicktoon Blast (the replacement attraction for The Funstastic World) ride film, The Jetsons and Yogi Bear can be seen flying in a Hanna-Barbera rocket through one of the Nicktoon sound stages.
Jim Korkis is an internationally respected animation historian who in recent years has devoted his attention to the many worlds of Disney. He was a columnist for a variety of animation magazines. With his former writing partner, John Cawley, he authored several animation related books including The Encyclopedia of Cartoon Superstars, How to Create Animation, Cartoon Confidential and Get Animated’s Animation Art Buyer’s Guide. He taught animation classes at the Disney Institute in Florida as well as instructing classes on acting and animation history for Disney Feature Animation: Florida.
i musta rode it about 3 times. Couldn’t get enuff!!! I adore having bought my Huck cap (which, of course, got “flung” off in the Jurrassic ride.) I was SO miffted!!! This ride was zooooo-perb!!!!!
Wow! I animated one shot on this and never ever saw the finished product. What a treat! I had been doing clean-up for a few years, but this was my first professional job as an animator!
I storyboarded the pre show with bill and joe while I was working at hanna Barbara….
Do you have any information on who did the assistant animation, in between, ink and paint, Xerox, and animation camera on this attraction. Mr korkis.
Most of the pre-show (from Elroy being drawn & coming to life, to Dastardly & Muttley zooming off and the computer imploding) was done by Optomystic, which later became US Animation, and then ToonBoom. I was the Director of Animation for that segment, and I animated Elroy being drawn and coming to life, and was on the set to make sure Joe Barbera drew the exact lines we wanted… but getting him to do it was frustrating for both of us, so we decided I’d be his “stunt double” for those shots… I put on his sweater, and that’s my hand drawing Elroy. We inked & painted the segment using software I had just written…
Actually, I believer R.J. Williams was playing his character from “Wake, Rattle, and Roll” (which was airing on the Disney Channel at the time) in the ad for the ride.
Had no idea Don Bluth’s studio worked on this. Anyone know what over films they worked on (other than Bluth’s, of course)?
Well, Xanadu, of course.
I was talking more along the lines of outsourced work from other studios. I believe they also did a few ads.
My girlfriend at the time used to wonder why the Jetsons thanked Yogi when he really didn’t *do* anything, and it was George and Rosie who saved Elroy!!
Also, I *swear* to you, in a short animated bit, maybe just a couple of seconds, on the monitors of the queue line, and in artwork and signage around the ride, I distinctly saw Top Cat in the rocket with Fred, George, and Scooby-Doo. I thought a rollicking ride through the alleys of Broadway would be part of this attraction, but was somehow cut ,somewhere along the way. However, Scott Shaw!, who did storyboards for the ride, told me he doesn’t recall a Top cat segment! Does *anybody else* remember seeing Top Cat in the early days of the ride, or even better, have photos?? Or am I losing what’s left of my mind??
Perhaps you were thinking of this?
https://youtube.com/watch?v=-_u1tsOnd5w
That’s the first time I’ve ever seen that intro, now I wonder what that was for?
And yeah John, Yogi did absolutely nothing here! I suppose that’s just the conceit for being put into a ride meant to sound interactive when it’s still a passive experience.
I was a caricature artist at Universal Studios Orlando from 10/90 to 5/91. On days off I’d come in to ride this (my favorite). Whenever some guest I was drawing asked what was essential, I’d recommend it immediately. Many would return to thank me. When the Universal Hollywood Studios suffered a major fire, they moved production on the Sly Stallone comedy “Oscar” to its southeastern locale. Allegedly, director John Landis spent all of his downtimes on this ride (if he was needed, they look for him there). This great article brought back some wonderful memories!
Very good documentaries featuring additional information about the ride may be found here:
Defunctland: The History of the Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peiKsXWmiUg
The Theme Park History of The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera (Universal Studios Florida)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ9aJud1ShM
The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera Universal Studios Orlando Full Attraction Ride
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhxKTytI_q8
I lived in Orlando for a few years in the 1990s. I was more of a Disney guy than a Universal guy, but I LOVED this ride. It was so much fun, and it was great seeing my TV favourites come to life again. The gift shop outside the ride was pretty nice, too!
How I wish I could have ridden that ride back when it was still open! Up until several years ago, I had no idea Don Bluth and his studio did the animation for this.
Riding this ride on an opening preview day (my long time Nickelodeon clients were opening next door) was –believe it or not– the very first step that led me to the presidency of Hanna-Barbera during the Ted Turner years. My partner Alan Goodman and I were so thrilled to have our H&B love reawakened because of the ride’s genuine thrills, and I couldn’t let that love go. We tumbled into the store afterwards, buying up as much merch as we could, and I was actually wearing my revered collectible watch (Scooby, Huck, Yogi & Fred: https://frdr.us/2pCXS8r) the morning Scott Sassa offered me the gig.
I would be remiss in not recognizing a key member of the ride film team, director/producer Mario Kamberg. Mario was an animation effects designer and director who’d morphed himself from being one of the first CG directors to ride design at Universal. He was an awesome thinker and smart problem solver who made these kind of simulator rides the exciting experiences they’ve become. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mario-kamberg-75b6923/