Universal Put Real Back to the Future Part III Schematics Cut From the Film Inside Its Orlando CityWalk Escape Room
Partway through Back to the Future: OUTATIME, one half of Universal's Great Movie Escape at Universal CityWalk in Orlando, an unexpected detour drops you into Doc Brown's blacksmith workshop on April 7, 1892. Invention schematics are strewn about the room. They are not set dressing invented for the escape room. They are real drawings made for Back to the Future Part III that never made it into the movie.
Universal detailed the drawings in a behind the scenes post published Thursday on its official Discover Universal blog, which quotes the show director who worked on the experience.
"These are ACTUAL SCHEMATICS originally created for 'Back to the Future Part III,'" the post says. Ramon Paradoa, show director for the Creative Development Group, explains how they got there: "While they didn't end up making it in the [final] cut of the film, we got permission from [Universal Pictures] to use them for our experience!"
The escape room returns to the ride's Institute
OUTATIME opens on November 15, 1993, with players attending a museum debut at the Institute of Future Technology. The draw is one of Doc Brown's latest builds, a device called the Portable Flux Emitter.
That location is not from the films. The Institute of Future Technology was created for Back to the Future: The Ride, the simulator that ran at Universal Studios Florida from 1991 until March 2007, and Universal's blog says the attraction's debut forever impacted the franchise's lore. The ride's own story took place at the Institute on May 2, 1991, when guests joined Doc Brown to test an eight passenger time machine and Biff turned up to cause trouble.
Setting the escape room at the same fictional institute two and a half years later ties OUTATIME directly to a ride that closed in Florida nearly two decades ago. Universal does not call the experience a sequel to the ride.
Doc's new assistant was built from the old queue videos
Doc's primary assistant in 1993 is Nicola Tesla Copernicus Clark, who goes by Nico. Universal calls her "a completely original character created for OUTATIME," and Paradoa says the team based her on figures from the ride's old queue videos.
"One of my favorite aspects of the creative process for the Back to the Future experience was getting to create the character of Nico to exist within the canon of the film franchise," Paradoa said. "Many people may not realize this, but we created her character using inspiration from the characters once seen in the former attraction's queue videos."
The blog's author points to Heather, the Institute receptionist, the Institute workers, and Doc Brown himself in the ride's pre-show as the visual sources for Nico's look. Universal also flags the saxophone standing behind her in that first scene, which echoes the instrument Doc keeps in his lab in the 1985 original.
The clocktower scene is matched to the film beat for beat
The experience also takes players to the night of November 12, 1955, when lightning struck the Hill Valley clocktower at 10:04 p.m. and Doc Brown struggled to connect the cable that carried the current to the time machine. Universal says the team took care to match Doc's actions in the silhouette sequence to his actions in the film beat for beat.
On Doc Brown himself, Universal writes only that "the creative team had the incredible opportunity to work with the original actor and bring the character back to Universal exclusively for this experience." The post does not name him.
Biff got his own museum
In Back to the Future Part II, Marty comes across a museum charting Biff's rise to fame at the casino Biff owns in the alternate 1985. Universal calls it the Biff Tannen Museum, and says the creative team used OUTATIME's version to expand on Biff's misdeeds. The Lou's Diner and Café 80s location becomes the Biff Buffet in the alternate 1985, and BiffLand, Biff's theme park, is advertised as opening a water park called Tannen Typhoon.
Other details from the post: a playable Crazy Cowboy arcade cabinet waiting in the year 2015, the trivia book that causes the franchise so much trouble turning up a few times, and time circuit displays throughout the rooms. At the end of the experience, the display flickers to the actual date you are playing on as the final door opens.
Universal published a companion post the same day on the other half of the venue, Jurassic World: Escape, where the velociraptor players feed is Bravo. Universal says Bravo also appears at Universal Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios Hollywood in Raptor Encounter, where she rotates with Blue.
Sources
- Discover Universal, "Behind-the-Scenes of Back to the Future: OUTATIME at Universal's Great Movie Escape," by Jonathan Edewaard, September 3, 2026
- Discover Universal, "Behind-the-Scenes of Jurassic World: Escape at Universal's Great Movie Escape," September 3, 2026
Image credits: all images courtesy of Universal Orlando Resort.
