Disaster!

My aunt and I went on this ride because we didn’t know what it was about and when we entered we have the best vibe ever! This young gentleman ride worker named Loni was so enthusiastic and he really made us laugh more than a few times. He really seemed to live his job and honestly it made our day! His attitude really rubbed off on us and he deserves praise for how well he did! The ride was not the greatest in the world but the entertainment was there.

It is an okay experience, but unfortunately you go into 3 pre-​shows which are boring and lame. As they try to integrate you in the video. If you have watch earthquake from Hollywood USA, that is how it is pretty much. Always the 1^st pre show is a video that gets the audience involved and cramped like sardines. The other preview show is Christopher Walken doing the show and then the last one is pretty much getting the audience involved which means they integrate the video. The ride itself was cool as it was exactly what the bart station looks like :) But it is worth a walk-​in and a do it once, but other than that I would not ride it again in my life :)

Terribly outdated attraction. Not even loosely related to the monster and tank shown on the way in. The format is a very corny audience participation show, lasting about 30 minutes. I’m very glad (and not at all surprised) that we didn’t have to queue for this. Young children might find this entertaining.

This ride is a tad bit corny but it’s a classic and a part of what makes universal so special! I hate to give spoilers so I’ll just say… Everyone should at least try this every time they visit! I was so disappointed when Jaws was torn down to expand Harry Potter :(

This show and ride were both great fun. Sure okay it might be a little outdated, but it’s something that the whole family can do together.
I can see how not having a great host could easily kill this attraction, but the actor, «Lonnie,» that led us through was engaging, high energy and super funny.
In the first room you get a intro, and the host picks out «actors» to star in the production. In the second room, a projection of Christopher Walken talks to «Lonnie» about the film. This part could definitely be a bit shorter because there was a lot of unnecessary dialogue. In the third room, we «shoot» parts of the film. Depending on who volunteered from the audience, this can be SUPER hilarious.
Finally after all of that, you get to go on the actual ride, which is a subway car in the midst of an earthquake/​disaster. They film everyone on the ride and ask you to react in certain ways to what is going on around you.
The best part is watching the «final cut» of the film at the end, featuring The Rock and all of the audience volunteers. My family screaming in the subway car ended up making the cut!
If the line is short, don’t skip this! Just go along with the cornyness and have fun!

While the effects of Disaster! are outdated, it is still a fun experience, especially if you have kids. The show is broken up into 3 parts with the last part being an actual ride. The wait time can be extensive depending on the crowds at the park. If you have an express pass definitely use it on this ride.
The worker leading the show will pick 7 people to «act» in an action movie. In the 1^st room after the actors are chosen has the worker interacting with a fake Christopher Walken. In the next room, the 7 actors are put into different positions and their reactions are filmed. The more the person is willing to act silly, the funnier the whole experience actually is.
The last part of the ride, the whole audience gets to be in the «movie». You are taken on a subway car to the scene of a natural disaster that the rider gets to experience. I personally think this is the coolest part of the ride. It can also be more fun if you get into the action for the sake of being on camera… or you can think it is corny and just sit there and not have fun.
It is fun to experience if you have people in your party that haven’t seen the show yet. However, if you’ve done it before, I can’t recommend standing in a long line as it doesn’t change that much.

The first 10 – 15 minutes of the attraction is spent recording clips for a «movie» that the audience is helping make. There are a couple laughs and it keeps you entertained. The last bit (and most exciting) is a subway ride with fire and water effects. It’s pretty cool, but not quite worth the wait. If you’re bored and looking for things to do it’s worth it, otherwise spend your time waiting in line at a better attraction.

SO CORNY. My mom has the worst taste but I love her so I’ve visited this attraction like ten times in the past ten years. It takes up 30 minutes of your time that could have been significantly better spent waiting in line for the Minions, Shrek, Spiderman, ad infinitum.
The cheesy-​a** host shows you how they used to do special effects circa 1967. There’s some lame humour involved. Then everyone is taken to a train where they have to pretend to be special effects extras. The «grand finale» is a film showing the special effects created during the attraction.
Good for old people. But everything’s CGI now so I don’t really see the point of this anymore.

Meh! Not a fan. If you’re picked from the crowd as an actor/​actress you can either make the show or break the show with your acting skills or lack thereof, this is the best part. There’s also a moment during this «ride» you «think» you’re part of the show and you try to get into it, but truth is you’re not and then you realize it and feel crunchy.
I would not wait long lines to see nor would I care to see again unless they’re giving away free food which will NEVER happen so #byedisaster.
Nothing I hate more than moving like a herd from room to room with super slowski families or with the ones trying to pull a fast one and skip me even though we’re going into the same room with minimal advantages over each other. I use these opportunities to let out my aggressions and secretly kick people in the shins! Go me!

Fun distraction, especially how hot it can get down here. Just let yourself go to the campy nature of what it is, prepare for a longer than normal «ride», and loosen up a little to get the most out of this attraction.
It’s definitely one of those things that will be as good or bad as your «adult sensibilities» allow it to be. For me and my wife, it was fun but forgettable. Not everything has to blow you away to be worth your time!

This is a huge upgrade from Earthquake, which I remember being kind of a snorefest when I was a kid. The queue is full of hilarious stuff to look at and the ride itself is very clever. A lot more entertaining and funny than we expected.

I’m not totally a fan of this ride. Not only is it the SAME EXACT ride as Earthquake, but its insanely long. The one true benefit of the ride is that you can easily get in without a wait, and takes you out of hot/​rainy weather.

This was a complete waste of time. I hadn’t been to Universal Studios in years. While walking around I immediately noticed that the Earthquake ride had been rebranded. I wouldn’t have waited in line to ride Earthquake again but the idea of the ride being changed intrigued me. For the beginning of the experience you’re ushered into a large room where the pre-​show will take place. If you think that you’re just going to wait in line and get on the ride you are sadly mistaken. The pre-​show takes f-​o-​r-​e-​v-​e-​r. There eventually is some video trickery that sort of makes it look like Christopher Walken is in the same room with the host in charge. The host and CW «talk» for far too long about nothing of importance. Then way too much time is spent filming scenes of the disaster movie a select few audience members are taking part in. After all of that is done you FINALLY get to ride the ride, which is the exact same ride that I wasn’t impressed with twenty plus years ago. The one difference is that at the end of the ride you get to see the two second film clips of audience members inserted into a mildly amusing disaster «movie». You could not pay me to sit through this again.

This is not a thrill ride but a glimpse at how movies are made with a special effects finally. Disaster is a big improvement from its predecessor Earthquake and is enjoyable but does not have much reride potential. Good to see once in awhile but nothing to get excited about.

AWESOME! My Niece & I were selected to be IN the «Movie». It was FUN! & definitely one of the longest attractions we went through! Great place to be if it’s raining outside!

Disaster! Is one of the weaker rides at Universal. It is clever in terms of enlisting some guests as «actors» in a movie, but that is the highlight. Sometimes the guest actors (drawn from the crowd) make things funny, other times they don’t.
The attraction goes into a series of rooms. It gets tiresome after a while. Once everything comes together at the end, it is a bit underwhelming. The final scene (I’m not going to give it away) in the «movie» you watch on the «subway» gets the best laugh and probably saves what would be a ride best skipped.

This was probably my favorite, if not one of my favorite attractions at universal. It was really interactive, where they pulled 7 people from the audience to participate in the show.
The overall thing about it was the 7 picked, as well as the whole crowd is part of the cheesy, yet funny movie they make.
You first start off in the first room where the lead girl worker picks the 7 cast members to play different parts. Christopher Walkin is the director, but he used a different name. Next, we headed to the next room, where the lead girl worker was interacting with an animated Christopher Walkin.
The rest of the time, you go through with the rest of ‘riders’, where in the end, they make a short movie with all the clips they recorded.
Pretty clever.

After surviving the first room, where you pray you don’t get picked to perform (some people volunteer thankfully), you move on to another room and watch Christopher Walken (on screen) seemingly act along with the Universal employee.
Then you move into a room where they film those chosen from the audience.
THEN…you MOVE AGAIN to a subway car. Lame things happen, such as fire, flooding, and a truck crashing through the ceiling. Once this is all over, you can watch the short film with the audience actors and yourself as the stars.
It’s a quirky ride. I guess it’s more fun if you actually see yourself in the short film.
Worth experiencing once, but that’s it.
This ride is now CLOSED. I think Fast and Furious is taking its place.

Christopher Walken! The Rock! Mutha Nature!
It’s been a few years since I was at Hollywood Studios and had not been to this attraction since. I remember the intro was voiced by Charlton Heston and then you saw a set piece of a miniature version of San Francisco after it was destroyed by an Earthquake. In fact, this attraction was called Earthquake. When I went in to go on this ride last week I saw they renamed it Disaster.
Then I was in shock — Christopher «I need more cowbell» Walken! Totally awesome!
It was too funny. He plays a director/​producer making a movie called «Mutha Nature» that he swears will be a huge natural disaster hit. His 3-​D person is projected onto the stage and actually walks around and interacts with the cast member leading our group. It looks pretty real and is cool how they do it. They ask for volunteers to help film a few scenes on another stage that they splice into the movie later on.
The actual ride itself has not changed, as it’s still the Earthquake ride. Only difference in now they have video screens in each car that has Walken directing us at certain points to yell, act scared, panic face, etc, during the subway earthquake action. Then another surprise — the lead actor is Dwayne «The Rock» Johnson who appears on the screen in his scenes. It’s too funny and done all tongue in cheek as the end result is a funny cheesy movie with all our scenes put in.
I always enjoy this ride, and now it is much better with Walken and The Rock added in!

Definitely a ride/​attraction with a different flavor. But it’s a ride that’s only interesting and fun the first time.
The Disaster attraction gives an inside view of how a movie is shot by using actors and actresses from the participants to the ride. They shoot a few scenes with the selected volunteers and in the end, everything comes together as a mini movie that you get to watch. There are also some audience scenes!