The Bourne Stuntacular — Attraction in Orlando

We are big, big fans of the Bourne series of movies, with only the exception of the one starring Jeremy Renner. The others, that Matt Damon has done, are some of our top 10.

Having said that, we wanted to experience the Stuntacular several months ago, but it was closed down because of Coronavirus. Now, however, it's opened, so we decided to give it a shot.

The Stuntacular is tucked down a side street that we had not seen before. It was a bit difficult to find, until you opened your eyes and saw the sign. The show appears to go on about once an hour or so and we just so happened to wander in at the last minute for the next showing.

I'm so glad we did. The crowd was fairly sizable - probably around 200 people. Of course, social distancing and face masks are the order of the day. This is one of the few negatives, honestly. The lines on the ground demarking where you can stand seem to have little thought given to them. At times, you are 20' or more away from the people in front of you and at others, seem to be within 3' of a group. Yet, if you do not stand on those marks, you are subject to some correction from the workers. I get it. Those are their orders, but I think introducing a bit of common sense might help them do their jobs.

Regardless, once you are seated, the show begins. No cameras or video equipment are allowed in, so this description will have to suffice. The most apt description is that it is a combination of live stunt acting combined with immersive video, sound and other effects. A large screen is used to project action that the actors and props play along with. It was actually a lot of fun and quite a bit of action. The entire thing lasts about 20 minutes, most of which is consumed with very engaging sets, fun action and entertaining material. You even find yourself looking up as Jason Bourne swings above you from a helicopter.

The sounds in this event are very loud. I received a few loud warnings on my Apple Watch as the decibel limit pushed the mid-90's. The only other potential negative is minor and a result of COVID. The actors spend the entire event with masks on. This seems a tad odd, since they are up on stage and many, many feet removed from the audience, near only to each other, where they are going hands-on together. It seems even more odd because the filmed sets and people on them are not masked. I'm sure as this crisis passes, this will flow back into a normal appearance, but for now, be prepared for a bit of...

The show itself was definitely a 10 out of 10! The reason I gave this only 4 stars was because of poorly designed logistics and crowd control. If you are someone who craves order and crowd control, or if you are hyper concerned about social distancing, this is not the attraction for you.

The show is a spectacular display of on stage stunts by real actors, seamlessly intertwined into a virtual backdrop and floating set pieces. There are lots of pops, bangs, pyrotechnics, etc., that are truly impressive. The theatrical technical components are just brilliant.

There is a snake line to welcome the crowd to the show...no different than any other ride or show experience in the park...but here's where the 4 stars come into play. The show seats (I'm just guessing here) about 250 people. Rather than continuing the snake line directly into the theatre seating, the entire crowd dumps into a large room, where the staff are constantly yelling to the crowd to scoot up and fill all of the available space in the room. There is no possible "social distancing" at this point. It is a jumbled nightmare. My family was latched on to each other's shirts to keep from getting lost or separated in the crowd. Then you STAND for about (again I'm guess here) 8 minutes to watch a video on an overhead screen. If you are short, you will not see all of this. Finally, the doors to the theater seating open up, and the crowd scrambles in a very disorderly fashion to find seats. The staff will tell you to fill every seat, and do not expect to sit with your party. They will separate you in order to fill seats. My family lucked out, and we were not only able to sit together, but we ended up somewhere in the middle with a fantastic view of the stage, but I did feel sorry for those groups who were separated.

The 10 out of 10 show begins, and the crowd is mesmerized. About 20 minutes later, the theater is emptied in much the same chaotic fashion that it was filled. Again, the show is wonderful, but they really should have come up with a better way to usher people in, and either cut the beginning video altogether, or show it inside the theater after everyone has been seated rather than pinning us up like a cattle auction...

The Bourne Stuntacular is truly a spectacular show! Being that Universal is obviously a theme park and consists primarily of actual rides, I had no idea what to expect when they call the Bourne “ride” a “show”. Plus, when covid was it its worst they were really limiting seating because this show takes place in a big indoor theater, so if you didn’t show up at least 30-45 minutes early to wait in line you wouldn’t get in. It happened to us several times and we eventually gave up.

But now, they are allowing more viewers in at a time, and you still sit a few seats apart. So we easily made it in, and I genuinely had no idea how much I would enjoy this show. It was so cool!!! I haven’t seen the Bourne movies all the way through- just bits and pieces but I want to now so I can understand this ride even more.

But in all seriousness, it was legit! You follow Jason Bourne on an intense adventure, where he fights mobsters and jumps and climbs and does a bunch of crazy things- a lot of STUNTS- all on this one big stage. I was super impressed with how smooth the show was. Like, it was crazy to think about how they even started to create the show and made it into the reality it is, it really took some brilliant brain power.

I’m just beyond impressed and would say this is definitely worth going to! Just make sure you check the show times because they have specific times throughout the day that...