IAAPA 2025: Intamin's MDM System Sparks Universal 'Back to the Future' Ride Rumors
One of IAAPA 2025's biggest reveals aligns perfectly with the rumored replacement for the Fast & Furious – Supercharged building, signaling a technological and IP course correction.
The ground beneath our feet shaked at the IAAPA Expo 2025 when Intamin, in collaboration with ETF Ride Systems, formally unveiled their groundbreaking Multi Dimension Mover (MDM). This new system is not an evolutionary update to the standard trackless dark ride; it’s a hybrid dark ride platform specifically engineered to deliver high-thrill, coaster-level performance while maintaining the navigational freedom of an autonomous vehicle (which sounds absolutely fantastic).
This reveal has immediately fueled the most exciting technical rumor circulating in Orlando: that this cutting-edge technology is the perfect vessel for the rumored modern, high-capacity revival of Back to the Future: The Ride, a future plan that would occupy the vast real estate currently held by the infamous Fast & Furious – Supercharged.
The technical specifications of the MDM are what make the potential application so compelling, offering a clear path for Universal Creative to challenge the narrative control Disney has held over the trackless genre. While competitors’ trackless vehicles excel at carefully choreographed, immersive motion, the MDM differentiates itself through sheer kinetic energy. Its omnidirectional chassis, which allows for fully programmable rotation and ‘drifting’ maneuvers, is augmented by the capability to engage in a controlled launch section—accelerating up to 22 miles per hour, a speed multiple times greater than standard dark ride systems.
Furthermore, the system incorporates Intamin’s renowned Multi Dimension Elements, including optional 5 meter Bungee Drops and vertical lifts (much like Disney Hollywood Studio’s Tower of Terror), fusing the experiential freedom of a trackless dark ride with the physical payoff/vertical involvement sometimes missing on these rides.
For Universal, this technology represents a poetic return to form. The original, beloved Back to the Future: The Ride (1991), which helped define Universal Studios Florida, was already built around a custom Intamin motion simulator system. The prospect of using the new MDM—a next-generation Intamin creation capable of high-speed launches and multi-axis movement—to replace the disappointing Fast & Furious – Supercharged is a strategic, generational upgrade (and finally a good use of space). The massive show building currently housing the Fast & Furious attraction, a remnant of the Disaster! ride, offers ample space for the multiple show scenes and the long, high-velocity propulsion segments an MDM system would require.
This two-phase operational pivot—where the existing, poorly-rated Fast & Furious Supercharged attraction is traded for a technologically superior asset, following the rumored replacement of the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit with a high-speed Fast & Furious themed drifting coaster—is the clearest signal yet of Universal’s commitment to fundamentally elevating the quality and capacity of its original Florida park post-Epic Universe (which Studios most certainly needs).
The Multi Dimension Mover offers Universal the tool to do more than just right a past wrong; it provides a unique technological profile to establish a new, thrill-focused benchmark in the global dark ride marketplace (one where Disney has a stake on the trackless genre).
Intamin could not confirm a client list at IAAPA 2025 for this new system when asked.