(continued)

Back to the Future (Universal Studios Florida/Hollywood): 1991–2007
Kongfrontation may have been the heart of Universal Studios Florida, but the park's real triumph was Back to the Future: The Ride. A near-perfect marriage of movie and live experience, the ride plopped guests into the middle of a simulated time-traveling adventure starring Christopher Lloyd and Tom Wilson. Rocketing in the DeLorean from the prehistoric era to the year 2015 was every movie fan's dream. Universal had the ingenuity to bring that dream to life; unfortunately, they didn't have the chutzpah to tell Steven Spielberg who was in charge.

The director was reluctant to let anyone else manage one of his most enduring properties, so he worked out a deal that retained ownership of Back to the Future: The Ride for his own Amblin Entertainment and named him a specific creative consultant. This allegedly made it very hard to improve the popular attraction as technology changed over the years; Spielberg had final say over anything Universal proposed, and as you can imagine, he's always been a pretty busy guy.

With 2015 rapidly approaching, both parties got together a couple of years ago and decided it just wasn't worth the hassle anymore. Back to the Future: The Ride was given a loving send-off at both Universal locations before making way for the more contemporary Simpsons ride.