The two-day extravaganza started the previous day with the grand opening of City Walk's latest eatery, VooDoo Doughnuts. Owners Trace and Cat Daddy cut the pink ribbon and invited special guests to a feast of some of their favorite creations. The VooDoo donut - a ghost-like shaped jelly filled - was not only delicious but offered a visual fun image to boot while the maple bacon blended the savory sweetness of a favorite pancake/waffle topping with the salty deliciousness of smoky pork. There were also flavors such as tangy orange that used real Tang as one of the ingredients and a sour grape doughnut called "Grape Ape". Their unique confections offer a variety of options to tempt almost any palette and range in price to meet any budget proving that doughnuts are not just for breakfast.
The next evening invited guests dined on Furious themed barbeque snacks and drinks while awaiting the main event. At the appointed time after dark, the audience was treated to a terrific dance performance featuring songs from some of the films in the franchise. Then the evening's host introduced Jordana Brewster (Chuck), Chris ‘Ludacris' Bridges (Crash), and Tyrese Gibson (Transformers) while keeping guest informed of a car chase that was apparently going through the streets of Universal Orlando.
As the audience could hear the vehicles approaching, they anxiously waited to watch a car crash through a wall with explosive results. At that moment Vin Diesel (xXx) was announced to lots of applause. Once on stage Diesel discussed the newest attraction and welcomed everyone to "the family". Then he hit an explosive device after the five-second countdown and the gates to the ride broke open and fireworks erupted from behind the building.
After the excitement died down everyone queued up to experience Fast and Furious - Supercharged. As one enters the building there are numerous vehicles from the movies on display, some of which were handcrafted by Dennis McCarthy who designed the cars for the films. Any car enthusiast will revel in the masterpieces set before their eyes. As the line wound its way through the building there were a few Easter Eggs to search for including a Beetle juice doll (an homage to one of the attractions previously housed in that space) and the keys and pink slips to all the cars Dom had won through the years. In the "family room" there was a touching tribute to Paul Walker.
After all the goodies seen, guests were ushered into the "War Room" where prerecorded messages from "Tej", Dom and Hobbs set the tone for the main event. Once finished guests are headed to the loading dock to wait their turn to board the "party bus". As for the main attraction, I'll let the ride speak for itself.
As per usual, Universal outdid themselves with a spectacular event celebrating the latest and greatest the park has to offer. What the future holds for both the theme park and the franchise remains to be seen but they have both created a memorable legacy in the realm of entertainment and fun.
