What is it?

The Revenge of the Mummy at Universal Studios Florida is a dark, indoor coaster based off the early 2000’s Brendan Fraser-lead Mummy movies. The Mummy ride is unique in multiple ways, starting with the fact that it teeters on breaking the fourth wall quite a bit.

The Mummy ride in Orlando features some of the most unique elements of any theme park ride in the city, including the most unique element we’ve ever seen at a theme park (Orlando or otherwise).

As far as roller coasters go, this isn’t the most intense ride in the world. It falls many levels below hypercoasters such as Hulk or SeaWorld Orlando’s three coasters. However, there are some aspects that make the Mummy ride a more thrilling experience than, say, the coasters at Walt Disney World Resort.

If you are even the slightest fan of coasters, you need to go on this ride. It holds our vote for the most fun attraction in all of Orlando and is on the short list of most fun rides we’ve ever seen.

What Can I Expect?

Not counting a steep drop and going upside down, you can expect just about every other gimmick a coaster can have. The Mummy ride features sudden stops, going backwards, a train launch and good, old-fashioned roller coaster riding.

You can also expect lots of fire, animatronics, a unique ride story, Easter eggs to previous Universal Studios Florida rides and the most unique thing in all of the theme parks (we’ll get to that in The Ride section).

The ride and queue are both entirely indoors to get you out of the sun, but the building is entirely enclosed and there isn’t much moving the air around, so it can still be hot and stinky. There is an outdoor extended queue, but it has to be really busy for it to be used.

Last but not least, you are not allowed to bring any sort of purse or bag on the Mummy ride. You’ll have to rent a locker before riding. This can be done literally right next to the ride for only a small deposit (which you get back).

The Queue

The story behind the Mummy ride in Orlando is that you’re getting a behind-the-scenes tour of the making of the original Mummy movie; but not everything is right with the film’s shoot. Even though the plot of the movie is fiction, it seems as if the curse of the mummy is all too real.

These details are given via a video played at the beginning of the queue. Unfortunately, the line for the ride usually begins well past where this story-driving video is being played.

If the line is short enough, or you don’t feel like watching the video, then pay close attention to the production notes pinned to the info boards around the “set”. It seems as if a crew member is missing and that might just come into play later.

Once you get past the informational video part of the queue, you enter a chamber with a large gold sarcophagus. Amongst all the hieroglyphics are two handprints, one on either side of the gilded coffin. Place a hand on one of these symbols and the lights will flicker and you’ll hear an ominous rumble. However, place a hand on one of these handprints, and have a friend (or fellow line-member) place a hand on the other handprint at the same time, the lights will shine bright and a golden chime will wail.

The obvious connotation of this game is to have a hand placed on each symbol to win, but where’s the fun in that? Be sure see both effects as you’re walking through this area.

Shortly after the sarcophagus, you’ll come to a small black and white TV and a button. On the TV are the riders who are currently waiting ahead of you. How dare they make your wait longer! You should punish them.

Ah, the button!

The button activates hidden air jets under the feet of the people in front of you. When the queue is long enough, and the riders are unsuspecting enough, you can entertain yourself quite well by shooting jets of air up their legs and watching their confused expressions.

After pranking the riders in front of you, it’s time to prank your friends.

The next thing to see in line is a beautiful red ruby resting in a hole in the wall. Reaching in to grab this ruby unleashes the mummy’s curse in the form of another jet of air. This is a great way to prank your friends who may not know about this little gag by encouraging them to be the first one to grab the ruby, and watching their reaction.

(You need to go about 3 or 4 inches into the hole before the jet comes out, so bonus points if you volunteer to go first and only go in far enough to be convincing.)

Last but not least, you’ll come to what looks like a bridge on your journey. Remember the TV screen and the button? This is where they were standing. There isn’t anything to do here, just be mindful of air jets.

Now it’s smooth sailing until the ride.

You’ll swing around to climb a staircase until you get to a fork in the road. The Mummy Ride loads in two locations, so pick which side to go on. Neither side is faster or slower than the other, just pick a side and hope you chose correctly.

There is a single rider option which bypasses all of the queue’s gimmicks and sends you straight to a staircase where you ascend to the Mummy ride’s entrance.

The Ride

Even though there are two loading areas, the mummy ride is the same. You begin by weaving through an old tomb until a wrapped-up character pleads for you to escape.

Who is this mystery person? It’s none other than our poor missing crew member who was last seen trying to fetch Brendan Fraser’s latte. But what is he doing here? You’re about to find out…

Just as our lost crew member is explaining how to escape, Imhotep himself leaps from a nearby sarcophagus and sucks out his soul, threatening you in the process.

You then enter a treasure room where Imhotep extolls the virtues of following him or the peril that’ll happen if you don’t. This is where you’ll see the first easter egg in the mummy ride.

The location of the Mummy ride within Universal Studios is where Kongfrontation was until that ride closed in September of 2002. Kongfrontation was a Universal staple, so to honor their great ape predecessor, the makers of The Mummy placed a little golden monkey statue in this room. From your seat, look to the left side of the cart, but towards the front of the room (depending on your seat it’s anywhere between your 9:00 and 11:00). On a back pedestal is the monkey statue.

The cart picks up speed to exit this room until it gets to a dead end and you feel an abrupt stop. Now when we say “abrupt stop” we mean ABRUPT. You can get a bit of a sore back/neck/head if you aren’t ready for this stop, so we’re warning you up front.

It helps to place your hand on the headrest in front of you to brace yourself.

Following the whiplash-inducing stop, Imhotep’s infamous scarabs begin to attack you. At this point the cart will exit from the room backward and go down a super-small hill, eventually finishing on a giant turntable.

As The Mummy threatens you some more you’ll slowly turn around to see a hill. The cart will slowly climb the hill until suddenly being slingshotted to the very top.

This launch is the fastest the ride goes and is the most G’s you’ll feel. The G-forces aren’t very severe, but they aren’t nothing either; they’re about a five on a ten-point scale.

The launch also begins the roller coaster portion of the ride. You never go upside down, and never experience another drop, but the ride does move at a pretty good clip

At the tail end of the coaster portion is the coolest part of the Mummy ride, the coolest room of any ride in Orlando and the single most unique ride element we’ve ever seen in a theme park ride.

The ride actually provides a false finish.

In this room is a silhouetted figure behind a pane of glass wearing a headset. This “Universal worker” says she hopes you enjoyed the ride…before being killed by Imhotep. The false-finish aspect of this room isn’t a long sequence, but it’s something we’ve never experienced at any other theme park ride and a fun gimmick to include.

Another awesome portion of this ride is after our poor worker is devoured by the Mummy the ceiling lights on fire. This rolling flame effect is a wonder to behold and it’s a shame the sequence is so short. Considering this room harbors the false finish and the ceiling fire, it’s the coolest room in Orlando.

Following this room is the second drop of the ride into a cloud of smoke (smile big! This is where the photo takes place). The ride continues a little bit longer until the exit.

But we aren’t done yet, there’s one more easter egg to talk about.

Just before the end of the ride, there is a cardboard cutout of Imhotep spitting smoke. It’s not entirely out of character for the ride, but it is a bit weird. The reason for this bit of the ride is to hide a piece of the original Kongfrontation track. This piece of track is so integrated with the building that the construction team couldn’t remove it without bringing the building down. So instead of making a bigger problem, they just covered it up.

What’s The Verdict?

The Mummy ride in Orlando is about the closest thing to a perfect ride you’re going to get.

The coaster elements don’t blow you away, but they have just enough of everything (speed, turns etc.) to make it fun. The theming may be a bit dated, but the way the theme is expressed is fantastic. The animatronics don’t move as smoothly as some of the more updated figures, but they’re consistent and add to the ride’s charm.

It is unfortunate that if you aren’t a roller coaster person you’ll miss this ride. While it doesn’t feature hyper-coaster craziness, the ride is still a roller coaster. But if you have the ability to withstand a light roller coaster in the slightest, you should try doing this ride.

The ultimate verdict is this: We’ve never, not even once, visited Universal Studios and NOT ridden this ride. The Mummy ride is truly the best ride in Orlando.