Walt Disney World
The Magic Kingdom
Lake Buena Vista, Florida
January 25 & 30 2013
Page Twenty-Three






I do like the quasi-futuristic palm trees in Tomorrowland.



Inside this building in Tomorrowland once was one of the most terrifying experiences in the state of Florida.

I'm talking about the Exterrorestrial Alien Encounter.  It took the place of the old Mission to Mars Ride.  What happened on it was you entered a round room (that used to be the Mars rocket) and sat down and put a shoulder harness around you.  At the center of the room was a teleport tube and what happened was that during the demonstration of the teleport a dangerous alien was beamed into the tube and broke out. 

What happened was that at that point all of the lights went out the alien had its way around the pitch black room getting close and personal with all of you while in search of a tasty person for lunch.  Speaking of lunch a few minutes after the lights went out a repair man enters the scaffold above you.  You hear him and see his lights for a minute then the alien rips him in two spraying you all with his blood. 

The thing about Alien Encounter is the terror was in your mind.  Your harness had a speaker and blower on it so you felt the aliens breath on the back of your neck like it was right behind you.  You could hear it's roars and if you screamed well the microphone in the harness picked it up and ramped up the effects.  The blood was just warm water but with nothing but darkness it was blood.

It was the most extreme horror movie made nice and personal and it scared the crap out of many unsuspecting guests.  So after a few years and after Disney made a movie with a cute (but deadly) alien Exterrorestrial Alien Encounter became...




...Stitch's Great Escape.

So instead of a bloodthirsty alien looking for food you have Stitch breaking out and running all around the room slobbering on everyone.  It's fun but I'd rather have the terror.



After Space Mountain, the Carousel of Progress, the Peoplemover and Stitch's Great Escape we big farewell to Tomorrowland.



Actually we're going to start our trip out of The Magic Kingdom on the next page but here's a rare photo of yours truly that was taken by Bond as we rode the Walt Disney Railroad.



Next


Copyright 1999 - 2024

Paul B. Drabek