When in Hollywood...

The first attraction my family and I tried was the Shrek "4D" show. After entering the darkened theater lobby, you endure up to 15 minutes of annoying video, shrieking character voices, and a hyperventilating live comedian.

When the doors finally open, you flop into the padded theater seats and slip on some cheap polarized 3D glasses. I've read that movie mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg is bonkers about 3D, but I hope the experience he's envisioning is more comfortable to watch than Shrek's. I think I would have enjoyed the movie more as a 2D visual, especially given the other sensory effects in the theater.

Those effects are really clever: The seats twitch and vibrate in sync with the movie, the sounds and music are grandiose (albeit overly loud and harsh), hidden air jets in the seatbacks puff subtle breezes on your neck during windy scenes, and — my favorite — nozzles in the seat in front of you spritz water during moments like when the donkey sneezes at the camera.

That water effect must have happened four times in the movie, and every time it was perfectly synchronized and nastily effective. We live in a multimedia age, but how many of us have really explored tickling additional senses with our artwork? (I shudder to think how the face-squirting effect might be used in other movie genres....)

The highlight of the Universal Studios visit was the new Simpsons ride (Google photos), which takes immersion to a fantastic new level. You enter through the mouth of a giant plastic Krusty the Clown and are suddenly queued up in Krustyland, a theme park within a theme park. High-def TV screens hang over the lines, playing Simpsons clips; waiting was never so much fun. At one point, Bart and Lisa even go into the "Are we there yet? Are we there yet?!" routine, until Homer finally bellows something like, "YES! This is it! Waiting in line is the ride!"

My third trip through Krustyland, an awesome creative experience. (Click to enlarge.)

The experience is filled with little digs like that at the theme-park scene. Signs announce "teen-operated rides" and $10 glow-in-the-dark necklaces "that die as soon as you get home." I halfway expected the final door to open onto the parking lot rather than the ride. But instead, we saw two more custom videos, telling the backstory of the ride we were about to enter. Afterwards, my son commented, "They should have used that story for the movie!"

In a final ode to anticipation, once you board the car, you're forced to watch an animated character read an algebra textbook silently for two minutes. When the ride finally begins, you're ready.

The effect is a combination of motion simulator — like Disneyland's crusty Star Tours attraction, but much smoother mechanically — and an Omnimax theater presentation. You start at the top of a hill on a roller coaster and then plunge downward as the track shatters and dangerous objects whizz by.

Again, the sync is astonishing. Thanks to the sound, wraparound screen, and motion, you really get the stomach-punching sensation of plunging through space, but the landings aren't as brutal as on rides that actually move on tracks. Thanks to the story, you're immersed in the cartoon, and there's lots of hilarious detail and surprise. The three people sitting behind me — on their first trip to Krustyland — were roaring with laughter. There's even a water spritz or two, and in one extreme closeup of baby Maggie Simpson, I swear I smelled baby powder.

Bravo!