Universal’s Beetlejuice Theme Park Show Was Replaced With One Of The Most Hated Rides Ever

You may not have noticed, but Beetlejuice is having a moment. With the upcoming sequel “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” all but guaranteed to make a ton of money this weekend at the box office, and Halloween on the way, the ghost with the most is going to be on everyone’s minds for the next few months (even if we shouldn’t say his name three times). You can see Beetlejuice everywhere: Movies, faux-episodes of “Hot Ones,” through merchandise, and … well, only somewhat at theme parks. You see, while Beetlejuice as a character is owned by the larger Warner Bros. Discovery entity, he does make appearances at the Universal Studios theme parks in California and Orlando. But these days, Universal execs might just be smacking their foreheads, because there was once a time not long ago when Universal Studios Orlando featured Beetlejuice as the ghost host with the most in a stage show that it eventually closed, only to be replaced by an absolutely terrible excuse for an attraction.

Although it had a number of titles throughout 25 years of existence, the show in question was most well-known as “Beetlejuice’s Graveyard Mash-up,” a stage performance in which Beetlejuice introduced the audience to a slew of Universal monster characters such as The Mummy, Frankenstein’s Monster, and the Wolfman, who would sing some pop songs with a spooky tinge to them. While no one will tell you that this goofy and campy stage show was the top priority of visiting the Universal theme parks, it offered guests a fun respite from walking around the heat and humidity in either Los Angeles or Orlando. More to the point, Universal, far more than its main competition, Disney, is well-known for leaning into scary stuff with its yearly Halloween Horror Nights events as well as the aforementioned monsters. So you can understand why audiences were heartbroken when Universal closed the show for good in Orlando in 2016. (It didn’t even last a full decade in California.)

Why would Universal do so, when the final performance got such a massive bout of attention? For some vehicular corporate synergy.

On the face of it, Universal’s decision to close the Beetlejuice stage show and replace it with an attraction themed to “The Fast and the Furious” makes sense. As noted above, Universal didn’t own Beetlejuice directly. And whatever you may think of the franchise, there’s little denying that the adventures of Dominic Toretto and his ever-expanding family are big box-office hits. Plus, the very nature of the series — cars going real fast — would lend itself naturally to a theme-park attraction. Unfortunately, the end result is Fast & Furious: Supercharged, a would-be motion simulator in which you join Dom and his pals in fending off Owen Shaw (Luke Evans) as the British villain attempts to get up to more mayhem. You don’t have to go to the Orlando theme park to experience this cartoonish monstrosity, either; anyone who visits the Studio Tour at Universal Studios California will recognize the majority of the attraction from the section in which your tram goes into a big party led by Dom and friends. That section is essentially the same as Supercharged, and is equally nonsensical.

You don’t have to take this writer’s word for it. The reviews for “Supercharged” were never terribly kind — as obnoxious and unimpressive as the section of the California Studio Tour is, it’s just one piece of a bigger and much more compelling hour-long ride. But the Orlando reviews were much harsher both because the attraction was standalone and because it had replaced something no one was looking to see go away. And if the reviews from fans weren’t negative enough, consider that the Chief Creative Officer of Universal Studios said in 2021 that not stopping the development of “Supercharged” was “the biggest mistake” of his career. And he said that in public. Think about how bad something has to be for a theme-park executive to be that blunt. 

In an ideal world, Beetlejuice would still be a part of Universal Studios, but we’re not there. Although Universal has been touting its Halloween Horror Nights event on both coasts, and although some films not distributed by Universal get represented, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” is not among those titles, such as “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” and “A Quiet Place: Day One.” And it’s not as if Universal Studios is backing away from taking “The Fast and the Furious” out of the theme parks. In fact, they may not have even learned that CCO’s lesson. In California, they closed a special-effects stage show last year to make way for … a roller-coaster themed to the Dominic Toretto saga. 

To be fair, it’s never easy to guarantee what will or won’t hit big with audiences. A few years ago, it may have been difficult to envision a scenario in which a sequel to “Beetlejuice” was even going to be made, let alone be a surefire smash hit. And it might have been hard to see a world in which a ninth “Fast and the Furious” film would be only a moderate success. But the audiences of 2024 are a lot more inclined to enjoy the exploits of a nasty bio-exorcist than they are in watching yet another series of inexplicable car chases. Universal Studios may still be sticking with Dom and his crew, but Beetlejuice is probably going to have the last laugh.