Trivia / The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man

Specific Trivia Tropes:

• Acting for Two: Peter Parker/Spider-Man and J. Jonah Jameson are both voiced by Chris Edgerly.
• Demand Overload: When the attraction opened at Universal Studios Japan, it was so popular that it caused the park attendance to shoot up by 1.1 million people in less than a year.
• Distanced from Current Events: When the ride first opened, the queue line had several news broadcast videos showing the Sinister Syndicate attacking the city by burning down buildings, attacking news reporters, and even making an attempt on the mayor's life. After 9/11, these clips were removed, which unfortunately caused the ride to lose a lot of its story development. It wasn't until sometime around 2009 that these clips were finally restored.
• Follow the Leader: For better or worse, pretty much every other major ride Universal has made since Spider-Man can be described as "Spider-Man with X" ex. "Spider-Man with a robot arm", "Spider-Man on a roller coaster", "Spider-Man with baysplosions", "Spider-Man with a giant ape." Not that this is necessarily a bad thing of course.
• Inspiration for the Work: Universal Creative members cited Back to the Future: The Ride and Terminator 2 3-D: Battle Across Time as being their inspiration for the ride, as they always wanted to imagine what it would be like if both attractions were combined together.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: The tie-in comic book for the ride, Marvel Super Hero Island Adventures, was only sold at Universal Orlando, and has since gone out-of-print, meaning that online sellers are your best bet if you want to read it.
• Market-Based Title: At Universal Studios Japan, the attraction is given the even-longer title of The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man: The Ride.
• No Export for You: The ride is only in the Flordia and Japanese parks.
• The Other Darrin: Despite the queue line footage using almost the exact same animation and character designs as the 90's animated series (with some minor differences), none of the voice actors reprised their roles for this ride. Both Spider-Man and J. Jonah Jameson are voiced by Chris Edgerly instead of Christopher Daniel Barnes and Edward Asner, Doctor Octopus is voiced by Rodger Bumpass instead of Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Pat Fraley voices Hobgoblin instead of Mark Hamill, Jim Wise voices Electro instead of Phil Proctor, and Bill Fagerbakke voices Hydro-Man instead of Rob Paulsen. Candi Milo doing the sound of Scream's snarls is an exception only because Scream never appeared in that show, with only her fellow symbiotes Venom and Carnage appearing.
• Recycled Set: Over at Universal Studios Japan, not only is the ride located in the exact spot of the New York area where Kongfrontation was at the Florida park, but it even duplicates the exact same Pennsylvania Station facade◊ that the latter had◊.
• Screwed by the Lawyers: The main reason for the ride's closure in Japan. Unlike in Florida where Universal could keep the ride open in perpetuity if they desire, in Japan the ride was subject to a 20-year lease, and by 2024 Marvel/Disney would have no reason to let their competitor continue to run it.
• Troubled Production: Plans for the sheer scope of the ride repeatedly changed dramatically, and programming the technology of the ride proved to be more troubling than Universal Creative was expecting. This resulted in the ride going incredibly over-budget, clocking in at well-over $100 million. While it ended up paying off in the end, it unfortunately caused many of the park's planned attractions to be either cut down or scrapped entirely.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Early designs for this ride showed it not even being a Spider-Man ride, but a Superman ride, with the queue line going through the Daily Planet instead of the Daily Bugle. This was because the initial plans for the park had it having DC heroes instead of Marvel heroes, but after negotiations between Universal and Warner Bros. fell through, Marvel was ultimately chosen instead and the planned 3D ride became focused on Spider-Man.
  • Concept art by Gary Goddard showed the ride being accompanied by several smaller attractions themed around Spider-Man's villains, such as a twirler ride themed around Doctor Octopus and a walk-through funhouse themed around the Green Goblin.
  • Earlier drafts of the ride showed different villains being used, such as Mysterio, The Lizard, Venom, and the Green Goblin, as well as the ride vehicles being themed as more generic-looking cars.
  • The ride was planned to be cloned to Universal Studios Hollywood as well as Universal Studios Singapore, but the plan fell through due to disagreements between Universal and Marvel. The failure to clone the ride resulted in Universal creating the similar Transformers: The Ride for the parks.

General Trivia:

• Steven Spielberg had actually helped out with the creation of the ride, as well as with Islands of Adventure as a whole.
• The ride won Amusement Today's "Golden Ticket Award for Best Dark Ride" for twelve years straight from 1999 to 2010, eventually being ousted by Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey the year after. It also won a Thea Award for "Best New Attraction" from the Themed Entertainment Association.