Description
Officially titled the "ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter", this attraction was a breakthrough in sensory and physical effects. It opened in 1995 as part of the Tomorrowland Interplanetary Convention Center, featuring a demonstration by X-S Tech. Despite their promise of a better Tomorrow, X-S Tech had a sinister undertone. X-S Tech's demonstration featured interplanetary teleportation. As you might expect, during the demonstration, things go horribly wrong, and an alien creature is teleported into the lab.
The attraction closed on 11th October 2003 to be replaced by "Stitch's Great Escape".
Details
Opening date: 1995
Closing date: October 11, 2003
Capacity: 1,620 per hour, 162 per show
Show Time: 18 minutes
Ride System: Sit-down theater
Description: The most frightening ever of Magic Kingdom adventures, this show places guests in the middle of a "Tele-transporter" demonstration gone awry, leaving them captive and at the mercy of an alien creature.
Restriction: Minimum height requirement of 48 inches; minimum age of 7 years due to intensity of attraction.
A bone-chilling, spine-tingling encounter with an extraterrestrial monster as hideous as the mind can conjure is the centerpiece attraction of Tomorrowland in the Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom.
A massive transmission tower signals the location of The ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter, a sensory thriller from Disney and George Lucas. Inside the Tomorrowland Interplanetary Convention Center is the laboratory showcase of X-S Tech, a mysterious corporation from a distant planet on a mission to impress earthlings with its line of high-tech consumer products.
To showcase its technology, the alien corporation is demonstrating its interplanetary teleportation apparatus, an ominous-looking device capable of breaking down material objects -- including living beings -- and sending them across the galaxy to planets that are light years away, where they are reconstructed atom by atom. An introductory demonstration of this process between two small teleportation chambers in the exhibit area succeeds -- sort of. The test subject experiences only "slight difficulties."
This minor embarrassment does not prevent X-S Tech from continuing with an even grander demonstration: The teleportation of a living being through interplanetary space and into the midst of the gathered Magic Kingdom guests. That being will be none other than the sinister leader of X-S Tech, Chairman Clench. Guests are instructed to proceed to a demonstration chamber where they will witness this technological marvel.
Soon, however, the X-S technicians wish they had postponed their experiment, as once again the teleportation process is marred by technical difficulties. Clench does not arrive on earth. Instead, guests get a glimpse of a hideous creature arriving in the teleportation tube.
The strain on the equipment is too much, and within seconds of the creature's arrival the lab is plunged into darkness and filled with the sound of shattering glass. The creature has escaped!
The ensuing, heart-pounding climax of The ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter is something that must be experienced to be believed. To create this "sensory thriller," Disney Imagineers created some of the most elaborate special effects and show systems ever used in a theme park attraction. Guests are literally surrounded by the terrifying action, thereby ensuring that this is one chilling "encounter" they'll never forget.