In the first scene, riders hear whispers, see flickering lanterns, and pass a train of cars filled with mummified folks wearing Islands of Adventure shirts and sporting fanny packs. It's the load of passengers that preceded us. Things are not looking good.
A voice from around the corner beckons. One of the mummies is still alive. It's Reggie who warns us that the curse is very real and that we need to get out. When the train moves forward, he tells us to look for the symbol of the magi, which is the only thing that will save us. The Mummy himself materializes and sucks the life out of Reggie. He turns to the riders and says, "With your souls, I will rule for all eternity." The train hightails it out of there and into the next chamber.
Behind an altar, the Mummy busts through a wall and appears as a large sand face. He makes an offer: "Join me and savor the riches of a thousand dynasties." Miraculously, a treasure trove of gold and jewels appears on either side of the train. "Or refuse and suffer a more bitter treasure," the Mummy continues. The room darkens, animated warrior mummies pop out of troughs on either side of the train. One of the animatronic warriors leaps onto the vehicles. Braziers on the altar burst into 10-foot flames, while a 20-foot flame shoots out towards the train, engulfs the ceiling, and turns the room into an inferno. The vehicles move toward a huge stone door that's descending and threatens to crush the passengers. Just as they face certain doom, the train makes a little coaster-like dip.
Having survived that insanity, the train scoots around the corner and into a dead-end room. With no way out, the vehicles proceed backwards, reverse direction, and tear through the mouth of the Mummy for a 1.5-G, Hulk-style launch uphill and into the coaster part of the attraction.
Details get sketchier here. The coaster ride includes some 0-G weightlessness all the way up to positive 3.5-Gs moments. There are no inversions, but there are some highly banked 80-degree turns. There is a blood-curdling 50-degree drop that, because it is in complete darkness, feels like an eternity. Ghosts, which I believe are projected onto fog, pursue the passengers throughout the coaster ride. The finale is one of the elements Universal is keeping under wraps.
Revenge of the Mummy Photo Gallery
Revenge of the Mummy Preview Online Video
