The Men In Black Ride Mystery: Is It Really In Danger? 

Seeing the Cat in the Hat ride in black and white somehow makes it 10x more horrifying

"I'll steal all your parts!" Said the Cat with a grin. "I'll see you rot with age While I live on and don't spin!"

Something to note: Cat in the Hat didn't have a height restriction in its original iteration. It has a height restriction now. The combination of less intense spinning + a new height requirement being introduced around the same time points to safety related reasons imo, with the added bonus of being more accessible to people who can't ride much else at IOA.

13:03 My university has access to both those articles digitally archived. The "No expense spared" article makes no mention to Cat nor MIB. But "$70 million interactive" does say, "The ride chassis [of MIB] was created by MTS of St. Louis, and the themed upper body of the vehicles was built by Rod Millen Special Vehicles, Newport Beach, Calif." The use of the word "created" leaves it up in the air as to if MTS designed or manufactured the chassis, and is especially confused by the word "built" in the next part of the sentence. From this, we see that the Wikipedia contributer is stretching it when they say MTS manufactured the ride system. Important to this case, the article also says "The ride [MIB] combines several innovative technologies for the first time, including the newest generation of Universal's roving motion platform, first developed for Cat in the Hat..." From this article, we know MTS was involved in the chassis specifically, and Universal developed the motion platform. Hopefully it takes us down additional rabbit holes. The articles are behind digital walls, so I can't post the link. If you're curious for more, please feel free to email me at gzc1@txstate.edu, I'd love to share.

please don’t let it go!! I just figured out how to max the score

10K Subscribers? This guy's channel is very underrated. His content is very interesting, and it's just fun!

....MTS literally just wrapped up Koopa's Challenge. It's literally the same ride. The system is a collaboration, but still manufactured by them and Universal....

Even if Cat in the Hat is slowed down, that would mean that they wouldn't burn through those parts as quickly, which works to MiB's benefit anyway

MTS sounds more like an Engineering, Design and Testing firm. Not a hardware manufacturer or provider. Which means if the rides were built in house (which is a safe assumption. There are single rail dark rides. Not high g coasters.) they most likely use some off the shelf parts for their core systems. As for why the Cat in the Hat was slowed? The story of the kid getting under the restraints and being tossed out sounds believable. There might not have been any injury, thus no lawsuit. Just a scare to all parties involved.

It’s one of the few actual rides in the park. They should get rid of Jimmy Fallon and/or F&F first.

It's probably slated for *eventual* removal. However, it's removal will lead to the lack of an Interactive Dark Ride for both parks at Universal Orlando as a result (even considering Epic Universe, that's very out of the way compared to Islands and Studios being connected, which allow them to cover each other). They will want at least one between the Islands/Studios combo. My theory is that, once Nintendo World *would* have opened at Studios, they would have had a ride that filled that same role, being Mario Kart, so they could close the ride for whatever they wanted to put there. Then, they decided to move the land to help anchor Epic Universe, so that plan was canceled. With that cancellation, they'll keep MIB running until further notice, until they build another interactive ride in either Studios or Islands. Should they give the go-ahead for the two Nintendo-themed lands (Zelda in Islands, Pokémon in Studios), both franchises are superb candidates for interactive rides. They could also replace MIB with an interactive ride of greater quality, potentially themed to Harry Potter. When they do elect to close MIB, I'm going to predict that its replacement is going to be something that's very interesting. There's likely enough room between MIB and Fear Factor to put something of very notable size, whether it be an expansion for Harry Potter or something new entirely. Heck, there's probably enough land there for a coaster or ride of notable length. Whatever it is, though, I'm excited to see.

Before hearing about the company “going out of business” theory, it was my thought too that the spinning was taken out for little kids. I’ve been going since I was 3 & one time riding with my mom it whipped me so good I hit my head on the side & ended up getting a huge goose egg LOL We still always rode it tho, no complaints here. Just held on tight😆

I went to Universal in 2013. I remember it really well since it was the first time we took my nephew to Orlando (he was 2 at the time), those kind of trips you never forget. Anyway, while we were already going out, we saw that The Cat in the Hat was still operating, and we assumed that it was a slow ride. We were tired and it was a hot day, so we were like "let's get in and rest a bit and get some AC". Oh boy, we were wrong; it was a blast! We got out of there with a big smile, we all had fun! And yes, in that moment it was spinning. Between the fact that it was my nephew's first time in the park and that we originally thought that it was a slow ride I definitely remember that as far as October of 2013 (we went near Halloween) it was still spinning.

This is a cat in the hat video in disguise

I find it very hard to believe that B&M had to contract a random company for the launch, as you said it was probably just them testing a launch

If it’s not going to spin, they should at least fix the timing on all of the effects. It shouldn’t be so obvious that something was supposed to happen between one point and another.especially that crash sound that plays.with no spin it’s delayed like 5-10 whole seconds

I don't want Men In Black gone from Universal. I hope Universal upgrades the attraction with its animatronics and special effects.

This is kind of late, but I just came across this channel (love the content by the way), and I wanted to point out something about the Cat in the Hat not spinning. I know someone who worked in the park and they said that they had to tone down the spinning, at least initially, because lots of people were getting motion sick and vomiting. So I can confirm that that was a valid concern.

Cat in the Hat was slowed down due to children puking and parents getting upset. I had friends that worked there and I used to work there from time to time.

One of my favorite rides/attractions at the park

I think the reason why people started noticing that the ride got less intense in 2014 was because the ride was still spinning after 2010 but not as intense as it was prior because I remember going on this in 2012 and I thought the ride was some what intense with the spinning.

The crazy thing is that this was universals only shooting style ride up to recently when the Mario kart ride opened

The Men In Black attraction HAS to stay for real! It combines two of my favorite things: Dark rides and gaming. While Space Ranger Spin is good, Men In Black is even better with free gun range and more animatronics.

I have a feeling it's a combination of the two main theories - no longer work on theme park attractions and "the incident". Considering Universal changed the Minions ride due to allegedly children not wanting to wear 3D glasses and/or not liking the feeling and therefore the 3D was removed, I can see them changing a huge element to a ride, especially if the original target is children. Also, we do not have any evidence of "the incident" other than the OG source, but I believe it happened and could be the reason. Not all incidents, or reports are going to have online sources from what I've seen. Especially older ones (ironically Universal/Marvel's contract is online, but Universal/Fox's contract hasn't been found online). You can always try to check for "incident" pages on Wikipedia for theme parks, or see if any news source released an article in relation to theme park incidents. Anywho, that combined with them no longer working on theme park attractions has definitely made Universal focus what little resources, or effort they have in fixing up MIB rather than the Cat in the Hat. Even though technically they still have their "testing" facilities I think a lot of their relationship was relied on parts being provided as well since Universal has a lot of people involved in creating their theme parks, not just themselves. Also, technically, it could have been something simple as they could have also simply decided to move on (theory due to the timing/age of all the attractions they made), but unknowing at the time that moving on it severed any way to go back and get more parts? It could even be combined with the "puking" theory. Incidents of sickness aren't usually big reports in the paper, but if something repeats itself enough Universal might do something about it. Honestly, it's a mystery we'll probably never know unless we hear it straight from the horse's mouth, but either way, I feel it's a combination of reasons which I feel is usually the most case in a lot of decisions in general.

That was amazing, oh my god! Unfortunately, I am very uneducated when it comes to researching topics such as this. I wish you all a super lucky search! I hope y’all can finally find a solution to this long-lasting mystery!

theory: the two rides don’t even exist and they are in our imaginations

I remember coming off That cat and the hat crying because of that one part where the room turns dark and neon and that straight path you will take will spin soooo much. I then remember in 2014 when they took the spinning dramatically decreased but, I refused to ride it. Now I'm 11 about to turn 12 in 9 months and regret that they took the spin off the ride. Without the spins the ride is nothing.

They are able to still get parts. The Mario Kart ride uses the same ride vehicle as MIB. They tried rebooting MIB, to also update the ride, but the movie flopped. Once Epic opens, Studios and Islands will need new rides to attract attendance. That is my best guess for when we will see this ride updated.

Well if you're going to continue the investigation, I got an idea but it might be a bit of a stretch. Why not investigate to see the blueprints (who currently holds the blueprints for copyright/patten reasons). It seems like that there was an end at MTS with testing provides and so. If you're able to find the blueprints, there could be people in any form of engineering or engineering management that must have created and signed off on the design. I'm not sure if this idea might go completely through in order to find an engineer who might have worked on the project and could provide better insight in regards to maintenance, but could see if either maintenance or one of their legal teams that manage the blueprints could give you leads on people that might have been responsible for planning and see if there was anybody that was left in maintenance who would know very specifically how the fix issues when something happens on the MIB ride. I'm not sure what you want to do with the information there no do I have like a definitive answer, but if they (the park) hold the blueprints, then they got to be people that signed off of it for saying that they're safe for the public and satisfy the client's needs.

bro your manifesto about cat in the hat is a daily topic of conversation with me and my partner, keep up the good work!

I.. personally... think they should refurb it. We all know it's getting ripped down. Now, to get there before that happens. That's the trick. Even in your video, the lights on the guns aren't functioning properly. How hard could it be to replace, what I imagine, is some kind of LED?

Yess my man keeps doing the videos on the best universal rides

Come on man; how could you make me laugh at a child being flung off The Cat in the Hat ride?

Honestly I think you’re over thinking this. I have worked at theme parks including WDW and I think that the Cat in the Hat ride was advertised as a kid ride but was a bit stronger than most little kids liked. I took my young child on the ride once back around 2008 and didn’t realize how jerky and rough the ride could be on smaller kids. I mean we were fine but I remembered thinking that I had never considered it before going on with a small child. If they received any complaints or even minor injuries, that would have prompted them to slow it down and make it more kid friendly, as advertised.

7:59 When you forget your pop tarts:

You should make a video on if you think suess land is closing and if so what would replace it

Spoke to a ride technician during a vacation in 2015 that said exit polls on the ride had families stating the ride was to intense for small children. The ride was reprogrammed 3 seperate times, the first time was something like 2004. I was a ride technician for a different park at the time when I noticed it and it peaked my interest, so I asked a tech!

Actually I was riding the Cat in The Hat and my vehicle didn't spin to center with the revolving tunnel room (we were facing sideways) and it did a violent 360 which was way faster than MIB spins usually are. Honestly I think they just tamed it and it's not because of parts or any out of business or anything like that. I think the MIB parts are still being put into the cat in the hat vehicles but they just aren't being used to their full potential

If they replace it I hope they just remove the Fear Factor and MiB building and expand the Wizarding World. They can remove MiB and replace it with some Newt Fantastic Beast ride where you have to stun magical animals to stop them from escaping Newts suitcase. Have it be like a reskinned MiB ride or something similar thats not a stupid screen. Anamatronics mixed with some screens, but keep the same ride experience and instead of a huge alien at the end of the ride have it be Credence as an Obscurial and keep all the smoke and spinning.

18:24 Therapist: The Cat in the Hat from Hell isn't real, he can't hurt you. The Cat in the Hat From Hell:

Can we eventually get a jaws episode pls? And great video!

From what I'm aware, MTS had an Entertainment division in the company for attractions and ride installments in the 90s, which got somewhat lost under restructuring in the early 2000s with Chip Emery as CEO. MTS was even the collaborator on the Indiana Jones ride system before working with Uni on Cat and the Hat, Jurassic Park, and such. They have definitely still been around though, mainly doing various flight and motion simulator installations. The Hulk launch system is their patent, so they would've had a hand in the clone for Beijing as well as the Mario Kart ride system.

Dude, you deserve so much more attention and Subs.

Great research job, fantastic video. You deserve more views.

The mystery continues....great work!

I lost it at 5:00 😂😂😂

This is the most underrated ride at the park always a hard shooting game!! That's why ehh installed the nets on the hat and the cat cars!! That would've fix the problems or done down the spinning! I remember that issue from 2010.

Lol the part with the kid being ejected from Seuss's ride car hahaha

If the issue was part availability Universal would have a machinist manufacture them.

i love the L.A. Noire music at the beginning

I went to Universal Orlando for the first time last week and Men in Black and E.T Adventure were my favorites rides in the whole park!!! I hope they don’t get rid of those!!! I’m from California and go to Universal Studios Hollywood often, we don’t have those, I wish we had them here!!! Sucks we lost our E.T. years ago :( I never experienced it

Phenomenally researched video!👍🏼 A+🤓

MIB was one of three rides I got on my last day at Universal for my Spring Break trip and I honestly had a blast. It’d be sad to see it go but maybe they could do some refurbishment and could possibly have Will Smith film new footage for the ride or something. I would say they could update to MIB International but I know not everyone liked the spin-off film, I personally enjoyed it. If they do replace it, I honestly have no idea what could go in that space

Both attractions are *DESPERATELY* in need of a refurbishment to keep them operational for years to come.

Wow this video just turned into a cat in the hat video randomly then changed back

So I have no sources to prove what I’m about to say. But I will tell the story anyway because it may help you uncover the mystery. During my time in Universal Attractions my lead worked for Cat in The Hat durning that time in 2010. He was working during the “incident.” And claimed it was not a small child that was ejected, but an adult who was attempting to exit the ride vehicle to retrieve a dropped item during the final spinning sequence. Because they were not following park policy, this would be why you haven’t heard much from a lawsuit. I have no way to prove this as it was just a story told directly from him to me, but I always believed him to be an honest guy, and I personally choose to believe him.

these videos genuinely make my day🕺🏻

1) yes, it was toned down due to guest dissatisfaction 2) it's not as popular compared to MiB, why run it full bore 3) the ride system is by MTS Systems which is very much still in business...

With time and people using their phones more, people started to lose their phone on the spin cycle and they wanted to stop the frequent ride park to enter the track to retrieve it. I personally loved when it spun but it makes sense if people kept losing their phones

I'm supprised you couldnt reach out to a person from MTS, whether that be an archivist or head of engineering or manufacturing. Though likely they couldn't be reached by the time you wanted to release this video. But I recommend you sending a couple of questions to a Rep. at MTS, maybe they can help out

The further down the rabbit hole you go, the more the Cat notices. Watch your back, you never know when he might try and silence you...

Bruh last month the ray gun I got was broken. I promise you I was hitting everything even the red thing that makes people spin and two things happened, first the spin didn’t happen and second I only got 200 points somehow.

If you want to see the articles from the Amusement Business magazine that were quoted by Wikipedia you should be able to find them either through a library’s periodicals or archives. If none of your local libraries have it try an inter library loan and have a different library scan those and send them to you. I use to work in the inter library loan department at UNLV back in college so I know it can be done.

i could understand replacing it if the maintenance theory is true, but its still one of the few actual rides in the park. F&F should be top billing for replacement, its arguably embarrassing how laughably bad of an attraction it turned out to be.

It would be good to get a hold of people's videos of them on the ride from each of the years. I know it is probably less likely to find any the further back you go but a possible avenue to consider?

Nice vid! I'd know that LA Noire music anywhere, its my favorite video game

You should make a vid about merlinwood

Can't you look up older youtube videos of the ride and see if the ride vehicles spin faster or not

I wrote Cat in the Hat one time that year you were talking about yes they have slowed down the spin that's actually true and Men In Black alien attack it's actually pretty intense for its spin I remember trying to get the aliens and it was pretty hard to aim to aim and it was lots of fun riding the ride good job on your video

Has one of the best wait lines with the details and AC when you get inside. Keep the theme just change the ride up

I asked the ride operator at cat in the hat and he said that the parts never switched

Lol I was there in marcg and the Cat in the Hat broke down twice when I was on it. I think it's just time for it to go. The entire Suess Landing too, the paint is fading on the buildings and it all together just looks like a mess.

I mean I can believe that fact about them all being manufactured by the same company I mean jaws and Jurassic river venture are both track-based water rides so it makes sense

Ask Dave Cobb he was involved a ton in the making of MIB

Bruh I love this ride, I agree it could go though because it’s in a huge building and could be replaced, but I would be so sad to see it go!

Idk I feel like Universal would be able to get the parts and do repairs if nessessary

Flashbacks to la noir bc of the song playing

Will the Wayback Machine not work for Amusement Business's website?

Since fear factor is being replaced by a harry potter ride I'm thinking that diagon alley could expand into world expo and also replace men in black.

This should be titled the cat in the hat ride mystery 😱

Hopefully the company that created the ride system and track for the Mario Kart Ride can be used to replace the track and ride vechiles and give men and black alien attack new life

(This might not be true but I found some random guy talk about it but then got banned) I think that MTS actually had some parts but instead of giving it to the cat in the hat. They gave it to MIB, Also MIB has 2 rails in the ride unlike Cat in the Hat which only has 1. So MTS could of gave there last part to universal for MIB and Universal took out the part from Cat in the Hat for MIB second track. (Spinning Part)

I remember the original spinning and thinking it was more intense than expected, so a mellowing is totally believable but... One clue that supports an accidental ejection is the netting the ride vehicles have. This was not original equipment and it's a pretty obvious retrofit...bare mettal bolts and grommets? Bad show. I have no estimation on when this was added. Given the low profile of the vehicle front, I can definitly see a small child getting tossed out.

Have u tried getting in contact with any of the sources?

In 2013 when I last went to universal the cat in the hat did spin

If they get rid of it they should replace it with Luigi's Mansion. Make it an interactive ghost shooting type of attraction with Haunted Mansion like effects and keep score. It would make sense since they got Nintendo attractions coming.

Love the LA Noire music LOL

I hope we can somehow keep MiB

Ok I saw two cat in the hat POVs one from 2012 and one from 2010 and I saw that in 2010 it wasnt spinning as much and in 2012 it was spinning a bit more than it was in the 2010 POV and when I went earlier this year November 7th it was spinning, but not as much as it was in 2010 and it was more like it was from the 2012 pov I found. Oh and also, it could just be that it wasn't working but the circle things on the ceiling in one of the rooms where you spin last time I went on the ride which was the 7th those things weren't moving (now that I think about it they probably weren't moving because we rode a bit after it reopened because it was delayed, when we went. 14:00 it said the Dinosaurs for jurrasic park river adventure not the ride only the dinosaurs

make a video about the hul ride

Part of me thinks the accident could be the accident with the kid, if we think about it logically, all of the rides we know this ride manufacturer worked on all opened up at around the same time. So.. What if the accident with kid cause of the spinning system happened, and because of it Universal chose to distance themselves from the company. If they make unsafe rides, they would not want to buy from them. It could just be a lack of many people selling the parts in addition to their high cost keeping the rides from being kept up to date. *But that’s just a theory, a theme park theory*

Love both rides, was on both very recently (Passholder) MIB feels just like it did when it opened. CITH, wow...needs TLC, no comparison. Serious neglect...same with ET.

\*sees title* IT BETTER NOT BE...

MAKE A VID ABOUT THE HULK RID3

Ok so let’s say your theory about parts no longer being available is correct, how could cat’s spare parts still be used today? Think about it, if Universal ran out of aliens spare parts about 9 years into the ride’s life yet somehow Cat has been supplying those parts for now 11 years? How did cat get so many spares? Plus it still spins to face the different show scenes so cat still needs some spares. At this point They have to be able to get new parts, maybe universal pays a parts manufacturing company to replicate those parts? I just find it highly unlikely that somehow Cat had a larger inventory of spare parts and those parts haven’t all failed now 11 years after universal theoretically needed them.

Maybe they just do not care about the ride anymore and are cheaping out. It is over 20 years old itself, maybe with the recent Dr. Suess controversy, the may just dump the land and come up with a new concept

Hear me out.... a revamp of MIB themed to Pokémon ? Something themed to capturing/saving Pokémon ?? Like a MIB / Midway Mayhem hybrid ??

wikipedia is probaly wrong or mts used to make but dont now

I don't what to see one of three Amblin entertainment rides be gone cause all we have is ET,Jurassic Park rides what I like to see happen with sally corporations whose located in Jacksonville Florida creates a second generation version of the rides

Isn't this the same ride system as Mario Kart?