Action Theater - History

History

The theater opened in 1994, in the Paramount Parks, operating as a twin-sided motion simulator called Days Of Thunder, based on the movie Days of Thunder. This film ran from 1994 to 1997. In 1998, the building itself was renamed The Paramount Action F/X Theater to represent its changing films, and Days Of Thunder was replaced with James Bond 007: License to Thrill. Dino Island 3D was shown from 1999–2000, Meteor Attack in 2000, and Superstition in 2000 and 2002. In 2001, the theme parks presented The 7th Portal (based on the web comic by Stan Lee) as a three dimensional ride in which the riders help the Data Raiders fight the Nullifiers.

In 2003, SpongeBob SquarePants 3-D made its debut at the theme parks. In 2006, The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera was presented. It had been closed after its last run in 2002 at Universal Studios Florida. In 2007 the Hanna-Barbera ride was taken down and was never shown at the theater again. In 2008, the theater was renamed Action Theater (to remove the ties to Paramount), replacing the action movie signage with a comic book theme.

SpongeBob SquarePants 3-D is still playing at California's Great America and Carowinds. The show is no longer playing at Canada's Wonderland, Kings Island, and Kings Dominion; a new dinosaur-related 3D movie, Dinosaurs: Giants of Patagonia, is currently shown requiring admission to the Dinosaurs Alive!, but at Kings Dominion and Kings Island the film is included with admission to the park and no Dinosaurs Alive admission is necessary. The theaters playing Dinosaurs Alive! have had the motion seats removed.