A History Of Disney's Scariest Ride: Alien Encounter ExtrTERRORestial

TV & Film

May 2

In early 2023, the famed ride Splash Mountain closed down to be retooled into a Princess And The Frog ride and many were sad to see it go. Clips from the last day showed 4-5 hour wait times just to get a chance to get on it one last time. But rides typically come and go at Disneyland and Disneyworld thanks to things like out-of-date amusement, maybe practical sense, or just switching to another product from the House of Mouse. Some of these rides will live in infamy like Captain EO (the famous Michael Jackson starring ride) or Superstar Limo (where you rode around in a cartoon version of Hollywood) and other rides like Honey, I Shrunk The Audience! and Body Wars are reminders of a simpler time.

But unless you were a Disney attendee in the 90s, you may not have known about a ride that was considered TOO scary to be at the park, Alien Encounter ExtraTERRORestrial. The ride which started as an action-adventure ride based around the Alien movie and ended up being a 4D ride where kids and adults alike came out a little worse for wear thanks to the ominous back story leading to the main attraction where an alien could breathe and drool all over you while you were locked into a seat with other helpless guests. I remember going through this ride in my early teens and frankly, it was one of my favourite rides but then again horror is my favourite genre so what do I know?

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In the late 80s, Michael Eisner, then CEO of the Walt Disney Company, got a complaint from his son and others saying that the Disney parks were a little too young for people and that he needed to shift to teenagers and young adults to be more successful. So Eisner had other initiatives, such as bringing in the Star Wars franchise and the Indiana Jones Stunt Show, but the Alien grabbed his attention. Many of the Imagineers were on board for the project even calling it “Nostromo” which would have been guests strapped into a ship and riding around the ship from the movie, shooting up xenomorphs left and right. However this early design was scrapped and in the interest of cost, they decided to take over the old “Mission to Mars” ride and instead make the Alien-themed ride about how you are now strapped into a seat and a xenomorph is terrorizing you and the other guests in the dark, with audio cues and in theatre effects.

However, the old regime of Imagineers felt that a ride based on an R-Rated movie was still not that great of an idea. Some of them who were former Industrial, Light and Magic workers decided to approach their old boss, George Lucas, to get Eisner to change his mind which worked out well as they did change out the details eventually scrapping the Alien aspect altogether but don’t worry as Ripley and the Nostromo did make its way into the now defunct “Disney’s The Great Movie Ride”.

The ride after some more re-tooling eventually opened in 1994 and had a couple of changes but maintained its main shape and feel. In the first incarnation of the ride which ran for about a year, people arrived at Alien Encounter and were met with a video presentation featuring supermodel Tyra Banks dressed as an alien and telling us about the great company X-S Technology and how coming to Earth was a great thing. We were also introduced to the chairman of X-S, LC Clench played by Jeffrey Jones (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) who said we would receive demonstrations of their technology.

Guests then moved onto a second staging area where we were met by a robot name TOM who was voiced by Phil Hartman who showed us their teleportation technology in action but ultimately fried his alien test subject. The scene was reworked and the voice of Hartman was replaced and made a little darker as the scene was too “light-hearted” for a ride meant to scare people. Replacing Hartman was Tim Curry as the robot SIR and we see that in the teleportation, our test subject does turn out a little more than just burnt but we also learn you can permanently put a subject on hold during the process. In the final step of the ride, guests were seated in a chair and another video started where we meet scientist Dr. Femus played by Kathy Najimy (Hocus Pocus), and administrator Spinlock played by Kevin Pollak (The Usual Suspects). They are about to demonstrate the teleportation but then as management typically does, LC Clench shows up to meddle in the process and wishes to be transported instead to Earth. This causes some chaos and leads to a monster alien making it to Earth and it escapes from the transportation pod and runs amok.

If you have a couple of minutes enjoy this slice of 1996 and a walkthrough pre-digital age of some fans going through the ride.

The show was mostly in the dark with flashes of what was around and the use of 4D technology led to people being breathed on, having bits of water drip on them to represent drool and things brushing around their legs. The creature was eventually contained back in the transport where Dr. Femus can toss the beast into the in-between realm thus saving the crew. Clench’s fate was never really addressed but, in a couple of alternative endings that never made it to an official release, he does eventually make it into the transporter on Earth and sees everyone leave the theatre. Another darker, as if that could happen, ending implied that X-S was using earthlings as test subjects and the alien wasn’t attacking us but instead trying to help us escape which would have left the ride at the alien releasing the restraints on the seats and as you leave, you hear the alien killing the scientists.

The ride suffered from negative reviews throughout its entire run eventually ending in 2003 and is credited as being one of the shortest runs of a Disney ride. The cobbled-together story made for a confusing experience and the fact that the main actor in the ride, Jeffrey Jones, was convicted on child molestation charges and classified as a sex offender didn’t help. Ultimately it was just too scary for the audience attending Disney parks, which were mainly kids. Ironically, the ride didn’t altogether die but was reborn under the Lilo and Stich brand where the original ride was a shoot’em up challenge that was Eisner’s original dream for the attraction but instead, it was more kid-centric. But that light-hearted fair didn’t last long either as it is now just a holding space for character photo-ops in Tomorrowland.

As we move away from the early 2000s, we see that scary theme park rides and attractions have their place in the world with the success of Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights but perhaps Disney can look at going back to the drawing board with the ride considering the FOX purchase has brought the Alien franchise back as their property so maybe we are due for a new ride. Maybe we take the original’s vision and take guests on a trip down the Alien franchise, starting with a tour through the Nostromo and then maybe a visit to the planet like in Aliens, and then maybe we culminate in the prison planet in Aliens 3. Or maybe we go onto how the Alien xenomorph babies made it to LV-426 with a ride similar to Rise of the Resistance. Either way, Disney needs to go back to the well and maybe we can get some more stuff for adults at the park.

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