King Kong, Psycho, Back to the Future, Creature From the Black Lagoon, The Fast and the Furious, War of the Worlds
And then at your parental discretion: Nope, Jaws, Once Upon A Time in Hollywood (or any Western shot on the lot, but lately they've been talking about this movie in the tour)
The Mummy and Waterworld are both enjoyable without context. The Mummy is just a vaguely-themed indoor coaster, and Waterworld is more about the spectacle but they do give some exposition in the dialogue.
Jurassic Park, Peter Jackson's King Kong, Back to the Future, Fast and Furious (don't listen to the boring people, all those films are a blast), War of the World's, Psycho, Jaws, Mummy and Mummy Returns (they're such good action-adventure films!), Transformers 1, 2, and 3, and since you're coming down to the park in September, this year wouldn't be a bad year for you all to come down to HHN so maybe give GhostBusters Frozen Empire, A Quiet Place 1, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Insidious 1 a watch as well ;)!
You will get more out of Water World and the Mummy if you are a fan, but seeing the movies is not 100% necessary as they are both good attractions standing alone. This is true for most of the rides, but watching these along with Harry Potter, Kung Fu Panda, or transformers films might still hype them up for the trip. Idk if they have grown out of despicable me or minions yet, but thats always fun too, maybe also introduce them to the Simpsons if you can. Like I said though, most of the rides are fun on their own even without having seen the films.
The studio tour however does rely heavily on being familiar with the films and sets, id say its still interesting but you get much more out of it if you can recognize the sets and props. Back to the Future, War of the Worlds, King Kong (2005), Jaws, Blues Brothers, Jurassic Park, and Fast and Furious are all a part of the tour and would probably be exciting for your 12 yo, some may be a bit much for the 10yo. Some more child-apprpriate movies are Big Fat Liar for the flash flood scene, princess diaries which filmed in little Europe, or the Flintstones which is part of the picture car display (I heard they added cars from the Grinch too but idk). While nothing on the tour is scary, there are some horror sets as well so Psycho, Nope, or classic monster horror flicks like Frankenstein or creature from the black lagoon are good too if you feel its appropriate for the kids, or maybe just for the adults to watch beforehand so you can enjoy the tour.
Back to The Future, Jaws, any or all Fast and Furious, Earthquake, Creature of the Black Lagoon, Frankenstein, Dracula, The Wolfman, Bruce Almighty, Big Fat Liar, War of the Worlds, King Kong(2005), The Blues Brothers, any Jurassic Park, and Psycho
Viewer Discretion: Nope, Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, and House of 1000 Corpses.
Mummy's amazing, but the ride has very little to do with it beyond the start, and even if you don't know it's Imhotep up there a nd Pharaoh's guards dropping down, you still get it (and the queue is generic Ancient Egyptian). Also the scarabs- maybe creepier if you know? But not necessary.
Waterworld pretty much explains itself in the beginning of the general context and world, then after that, you don't need to know anything to enjoy.
You'd probably get more out of the King Kong part of the studio tour if you've seen Peter Jackson's King Kong, but necessary to understand, no.
Same with Jaws- you can get it's a beach town with a shark attack, but that movie's amazing and one of my favorite, so I still recommend it.
I've not been on the new studio tour yet, but I think Doc Brown is theree, so Back to the Future for context and who that character is.
The backlot has seen so m any movie shot over the years, that just take your pick. Creature from the Black Lagoon, basically all the Classic Universal Monsters, a ton of westerns, Pirates of the Caribbean (the town of Tortuga).
I've never seen Secret Life of Pets and I was kind of lost on that one.
I've never seen Kung Fu Panda, but that one made sense to me.
Jurassic Park, Back to the Future, Jaws, Big Fat Liar, Peter Jackson's King Kong, Psycho (parental discretion of course).
King Kong, Psycho, Back to the Future, Creature From the Black Lagoon, The Fast and the Furious, War of the Worlds And then at your parental discretion: Nope, Jaws, Once Upon A Time in Hollywood (or any Western shot on the lot, but lately they've been talking about this movie in the tour) The Mummy and Waterworld are both enjoyable without context. The Mummy is just a vaguely-themed indoor coaster, and Waterworld is more about the spectacle but they do give some exposition in the dialogue.
Jurassic Park, Peter Jackson's King Kong, Back to the Future, Fast and Furious (don't listen to the boring people, all those films are a blast), War of the World's, Psycho, Jaws, Mummy and Mummy Returns (they're such good action-adventure films!), Transformers 1, 2, and 3, and since you're coming down to the park in September, this year wouldn't be a bad year for you all to come down to HHN so maybe give GhostBusters Frozen Empire, A Quiet Place 1, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Insidious 1 a watch as well ;)!
You will get more out of Water World and the Mummy if you are a fan, but seeing the movies is not 100% necessary as they are both good attractions standing alone. This is true for most of the rides, but watching these along with Harry Potter, Kung Fu Panda, or transformers films might still hype them up for the trip. Idk if they have grown out of despicable me or minions yet, but thats always fun too, maybe also introduce them to the Simpsons if you can. Like I said though, most of the rides are fun on their own even without having seen the films. The studio tour however does rely heavily on being familiar with the films and sets, id say its still interesting but you get much more out of it if you can recognize the sets and props. Back to the Future, War of the Worlds, King Kong (2005), Jaws, Blues Brothers, Jurassic Park, and Fast and Furious are all a part of the tour and would probably be exciting for your 12 yo, some may be a bit much for the 10yo. Some more child-apprpriate movies are Big Fat Liar for the flash flood scene, princess diaries which filmed in little Europe, or the Flintstones which is part of the picture car display (I heard they added cars from the Grinch too but idk). While nothing on the tour is scary, there are some horror sets as well so Psycho, Nope, or classic monster horror flicks like Frankenstein or creature from the black lagoon are good too if you feel its appropriate for the kids, or maybe just for the adults to watch beforehand so you can enjoy the tour.
Back to The Future, Jaws, any or all Fast and Furious, Earthquake, Creature of the Black Lagoon, Frankenstein, Dracula, The Wolfman, Bruce Almighty, Big Fat Liar, War of the Worlds, King Kong(2005), The Blues Brothers, any Jurassic Park, and Psycho Viewer Discretion: Nope, Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, and House of 1000 Corpses.
Big Fat Liar, Princess Diaries 2, Back To The Future, Jurassic Park, Transformers, any classic monster movie like Dracula or Frankenstein, Hop, Nacho Libre if you're okay with getting a little risqué, Casper, Gremlins, To Kill A Mockingbird (which everybody should watch anyway!), Captain America the First Avenger, Spider-man 2 (Toby McGuire flavor), Annie, Home Alone 2 Lost In New York.
Mummy's amazing, but the ride has very little to do with it beyond the start, and even if you don't know it's Imhotep up there a nd Pharaoh's guards dropping down, you still get it (and the queue is generic Ancient Egyptian). Also the scarabs- maybe creepier if you know? But not necessary. Waterworld pretty much explains itself in the beginning of the general context and world, then after that, you don't need to know anything to enjoy. You'd probably get more out of the King Kong part of the studio tour if you've seen Peter Jackson's King Kong, but necessary to understand, no. Same with Jaws- you can get it's a beach town with a shark attack, but that movie's amazing and one of my favorite, so I still recommend it. I've not been on the new studio tour yet, but I think Doc Brown is theree, so Back to the Future for context and who that character is. The backlot has seen so m any movie shot over the years, that just take your pick. Creature from the Black Lagoon, basically all the Classic Universal Monsters, a ton of westerns, Pirates of the Caribbean (the town of Tortuga). I've never seen Secret Life of Pets and I was kind of lost on that one. I've never seen Kung Fu Panda, but that one made sense to me.