The Cat in the Hat (ride)

''This article is about the ride at Seuss Landing. For the character that stars in this ride, see The Cat in the Hat (character).''

The Cat in the Hat is a dark ride located in the Seuss Landing section of Islands of Adventure. It is based on the book of the same name by Theodor Geisel under his more recognized pen name, Dr. Seuss. As a result, the ride goes through the events of the book, telling the story to guests with a series of animatronics, audio narration, and other special effects. The ride opened with the park on May 28, 1999 as the flagship attraction of Seuss Landing, and is among one of the most popular rides at the resort for young children.

History
Early in the planning phases of Islands of Adventure, Universal was hoping to focus on making a park themed entirely around cartoon characters, with the characters of Dr. Seuss headlining one of the areas. This idea eventually fell through when Universal was unable to acquire the rights to certain characters, primarily those of DC Comics. The Dr. Seuss characters on the other hand, were able to be licensed, and Seuss Landing eventually became one of the islands in the park, with The Cat in the Hat being the signature attraction for the land.

The Cat in the Hat opened with the rest of Islands of Adventure on May 28, 1999, and has been operating at the park for over fifteen years.

Queue
Guests enter the ride through a giant building that resembles the title character's signature hat, marked by the ride's name printed on the crate that contains Thing 1 and Thing 2, with The Fish and a cake sitting on top of it. Inside the queue, we see projectors shining opening text from the book where the unnamed boy protagonist and his sister Sally can be seen looking out the window. Guests then board a vehicle made of two couches, each couch forming a row of seats for the vehicle.

Ride Experience
The ride goes through the events of the book, with the unnamed boy narrating the ride. The Cat in the Hat and The Fish also speak at various points throughout the ride. The ride starts with the boy and Sally's mother leaving, before hearing a "Bump!" indicating The Cat's presence, as he enters through the door. The Fish, immediately angered by the cat's presence (possibly because cats eat fish), shouts "Make that cat go away! You do not want to play! He should not be about when your mother is out!" The Cat responds by using his umbrella to pick up The Fish in his bowl, suggesting that they play a game called "Up, Up, Up, With a Fish." He takes his balance act even further by balancing even more objects while standing on a ball saying "Look, look at me, I'm The Cat! With a cup and a cake on the top of my hat!" He suddenly begins to lose his balance, causing all of the objects to come crashing down with him, along with the Fish who lands in a pot, and shouts "Do I like this? Oh, no I do not!"

The Cat continues to cause problems when he releases Thing 1 and Thing 2 from his red crate, as the two begin to wreak havoc around the house, breaking dishes, and causing a spring to come out from an armchair. The riders then go into a closet, where several special effects and lights indicate Thing 1 and Thing 2 further wrecking the house. The unnamed boy, fed up with Thing 1 and Thing 2, grabs his net, and traps both of the Things, saddening The Cat, who prepares to leave. The house is now a mess, and with no way to clean it up before Mom gets home, The Fish is upset. The Cat then returns driving a large machine saying "Have no fear." as he begins to clean up the house with the help of his machine. He and The Things leave as Mom arrives, who asks the kids what they did today. As The Cat and The Things are seen bidding farewell from an outside window, the unnamed boy asks the riders "Well, what would you do if your mother asked you?"

Cast

 * Jon Rust - The Cat in the Hat
 * Corey Burton - The Fish
 * Corey Padnos - Conrad
 * Sandy Fox - Thing 1 and Thing 2

Trivia

 * The major difference from the book is that the ride goes into slightly more detail with Thing 1 and Thing 2's chaos around the house.
 * It's not known who provided the voice of The Cat and the unnamed boy narrator, but it has been discovered that Corey Burton, known for serving as a voice double for numerous classic Disney characters, provided the voice of The Fish.
 * Most of the dialogue is based directly on the book, as evidenced by the numerous rhymes between the characters.
 * In keeping with the style of Dr. Seuss' books, The Cat does not have any fur on his animatronics. He instead has scribbled lines where his black fur would normally be located.
 * Several scenes in the ride are based directly on the pictures that appeared in the book, the most notable being the boy and Sally's mother walking in the door at the end.
 * Unlike the river adventure ride the cat in the hat is not a scary ride just a silly ride because nothing scares me in it similar to the non scary movie, the non frightening book and the non scary tv show called the cat in the hat knows a lot about that.
 * Joan Walden in the ride and book was married to the Onceler because they were both unseen later seen characters.