Universal Studio - Twister



 

April 13, 2000








 


  • You’ll experience a TWISTER over five stories tall and 12 feet wide --
    the largest indoor tornado ever created by man --
    that "dances" as much as 30 feet in any direction from its origin point.

  • The volume of air that rushes through TWISTER in one minute can fill more than
    four full-size airborne traveling blimps (although it would take a really, really long air hose).

  • TWISTER uses dozens of powerful, specially-designed fans to create its unique vortex,
    or funnel. Among them are 18 fans with seven-foot-long blades positioned on ground level,
    mid-level and high-level through the attraction. Guests are advised to bring a comb ... you’re going to need it.

  • The legendary "freight-train" noise of tornadoes in nature has been re-created
    by Universal using a variety of sounds, including camel groans and grunts, lion roars and backward
    human and animal screams. Technicians used those sounds to give Universal’s TWISTER
    an especially aggressive personality.

  • TWISTER’S piercing sound system runs at 110-decibels --
    as loud as a rock concert (depending on what band is performing).

  • TWISTER uses hundreds of piercing xenon strobe lights that flash as brightly
    as "real" lightning to help create its storm effects.

  • 150,000 gallons of recycled water are utilized daily resulting in a
    daily "rainfall" of 240 inches.

  • The main theater boasts 54 speakers with 42,000 watts,
    enough equivalent wattage to power five average homes.

  • A computerized weather tracking system which monitors outside wind velocity,
    humidity and barometric pressure automatically, has the capability to adjust multiple parameters,
    maximizing the size and shape of the TWISTER.

  • The scientists and wind-flow experts who helped Universal Studios Florida®
    create TWISTER include: Cermak Peterka Petersen, Inc., which has consulted on building projects
    around the world, including the World Trade Towers in New York City; Dr. Chris Church,
    of Miami University in Ohio, who operates one of the only vortex laboratories in the world;
    Reed Carver, a student of Dr. Church’s; and Ned Kahn, a San Francisco artist who specializes
    in drawing and sculpting tornadoes and vortexes, and who also has created vortexes for
    science centers around the world.


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