Those of a certain age may not remember this, but there once was a genuinely terrifying ride inspired by theAlienfranchise at the Disney parks and none other thanStar Warsfather George Lucashelped create. Disney is known for its elaborately themed and exquisitely designed rides, which are less like rides and more like fully immersive attractions. Unlike other theme parks, there is no merely stepping on and stepping off a ride; guests are treated to staging areas and preshows before the main attraction.
One of those incredibly immersive and detailed rides was the Extraterrorestrial Alien Encounter ride at Walt Disney World, originally a ride that was meant to be based on a movie rather than aDisney movie based on a ride. It ran for eight years and in that time generated a controversial response from parkgoers and guests thanks to its wildly different tone and feel from any other park ride to that point. Still, the creative pedigree behind the ride was impeccable, including George Lucas as the story creator.
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Extraterrorestrial Alien Encounter: The Disney Ride Explained
It Was Darker & Scarier Than Other Disney Rides
The Extraterrorestrial Alien Encounter opened on July 27, 2025,and immediately became a controversial point with park guests. Located in the Tomorrowland section of the Magic Kingdom at Disney World, the Extraterrorestrial Alien Encounter was a theater in the round style attraction, with guests arranged around a stage where the action unfolded. While it was a more horror-tinged sci-fi attraction than Disney had ever had, it also had some sly, dark humor that lightened some of the scarier bits.
The attraction was a tripartite ride consisting of two preshow areas before the main attraction. In the first preshow area, guests were herded into the “Tomorrowland Interplanetary Convention Center,“where they were given a demonstration by a corporation named X-S Tech,showing off advanced alien technology. X-S Tech company chairman L.C. Clench (Jeffrey Jones) welcomed guests with a prerecorded message while hyping up his company’s technology. While guests were listening to Clench’s spiel, they were also treated to monitors showing reports and promotional videos of other events taking place at the fictional Tomorrowland Interplanetary Convention Center.
Guests then moved into the second preshow area, where they were introduced to an X-S Tech robot named S.I.R. (Simulated Intelligence Robotics), voiced by Tim Curry. Using a small alien volunteer named Skippy, S.I.R. demonstrated the company’s latest technological breakthrough, teleportation. However, Skippy reemerged after his short teleportation mangled and charred,alerting guests that not all was as it appeared with X-S Tech and the attraction the tech they were about to experience may not be that safe after all.When teleporting Skippy back, S.I.R. made a point to pause the teleportation, demonstrating that subjects could be indefinitely suspended.
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The main attraction then began, with guests being ushered into the circular theater and strapped into harnesses surrounding the stage, which held a large cylindrical teleportation chamber. Clench communicated “live” from across the galaxy,along with two other X-S Tech employees, Dr. Femus (Kathy Najimy) and Spinlok (Kevin Pollak). Clench was supposed to have himself teleported into the theater to talk to guests. However, his impatience with the tech malfunctioning, and the recalibrated coordinates, caused the teleportation signal to be redirected to an unknown, unvetted planet.
Of course, chaos ensued. Instead of Clench appearing, a giant, bloodthirsty alien instead appears in the teleportation tube. As the machine malfunctioned, the lights started flashing and equipment started breaking;the lights came back on to reveal the teleportation chamber had shattered and the alien had escaped.The theater then went completely black, and audiences hear a maintenance worker get mauled by the alien while guests are sprayed by fluid. The seats then rumbled and shook as the alien made its way around the theater, breathing on the back of guests' necks and drooling on them. The alien was eventually forced back into the teleportation tube before exploding thanks to the power from the malfunctioning teleportation.
Why Wasn’t Disney’s Alien Ride Actually Based On The Alien Movies?
It Originally Was, But Was Considered Too R-Rated
If the above seems really similar to theAlienfranchise, that’s because it originally was supposed to be based on theAlienmovies. In its earliest development stages, the ride was named “Nostromo,” a nod to the ship from 1979’sAlien. Unsurprisingly, then, the winged alien of the final ride was originally meant to beanAlienXenomorph Queen just like from the movies, and the Weyland-Yutani Corporation eventually became the generic X-S Tech.
The reason for the change was pretty simple:the R-ratedAlienfranchise didn’t fit the family-friendly Disney brand.Originally, Disney’s rule was that they only developed rides from movie franchises rated either G or PG. Since then, Disney has incorporated rides from franchises that have PG-13 movies, but an R-rated horror movie was a step too far for the House of Mouse. Once the original idea to base it onAlienwas killed, George Lucas was then brought on board to help craft an original story.
Since then, Disney has incorporated rides from franchises that have PG-13 movies, but an R-rated horror movie was a step too far for the House of Mouse.
His version, while not the R-rated leaning ofAlien, was still quite dark. In George Lucas' version, the guests at the experience would learn they had been tricked and were meant to be human guinea pigs (and potential food) for an alien creature that the corporation had captured. During the course of the ride,the guests would learn that the alien desired to free itself and the human guests from their captors.The alien does just that, turning on its captors and holding them off while allowing the guests to escape before escaping itself. After Lucas' initial script, the story was revised to lean into the darker aspect.
What Happened To The Alien Ride & When It Was Replaced
Its Dark Tone Meant Visitors Dropped Off
Unfortunately, while the concept was great and it was a daring swing for Disney,the Extraterrorestrial Alien Encounter always faced an uphill battle thanks to its darker tone.While some guests loved the ride, the majority criticized its horror aspects, upset that the attraction was far too scary for younger children. While it opened to much fanfare, the family-centric Disney World was perhaps not the best Disney Park for an adult-leaning attraction, and visitors to the ride started to decrease.
Thus,on August 22, 2025, the park announced that the Extraterrorestrial Alien Encounter ride would be closing, which it did on July 12, 2025, and replaced with a newLilo & Stitch-based ride named Stitch’s Great Escape. As with many Disney rides that shut down and are replaces by another, the same space and much of the equipment and props from the Extraterrorestrial Alien Encounter were repurposed for theLilo & Stitchride, so while the sci-fi aspect remained the same, the overall vibe was much more family-friendly than the alien ride.
Disney Also Closed The Other Theme Park Ride That Featured Alien
The Great Movie Ride Lasted Much Longer
Weirdly, the Extraterrorestrial Alien Encounter was not the only ride at Disney World featuring concepts fromAlienthat closed.The Great Movie Ride, which gave Disney the idea to launch the Disney Hollywood Studios (then the Disney-MGM Studios) park, was exactly what its title implied: a ride celebrating beloved franchises and classic movies. The ride incorporated animatronics of famous characters, including Hollywood legends from Clint Eastwood toSingin' in the Rain, from Jimmy Stewart to Indiana Jones.
At one point in the ride, the ride vehicle moved into a dark and abandoned spaceship,which was revealed to be the Nostromo fromAlien.An animatronic of Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley then appeared with a flamethrower in her iconic battle stance pose while the Nostromo’s cat, Jonesy, meowed in the background. As the vehicle sped past, theAlienXenomorph burst from the ceiling, attacking the ride cart. Unfortunately, like the Extraterrorestrial Alien Encounter, the Great Movie Ride also eventually closed, offering its last ride on June 21, 2025.
One of the several reasons The Great Movie Ride closed was that by the 2010s, the animatronics were incredibly outdated, and the movies referenced too old to be a big attraction for younger generations.
Alien
The Alien franchise, which began with Ridley Scott’s 1979 film, is a Sci-Fi series comprised of several horror films, games, and comic books centered on humanity’s encounters with a hostile extraterrestrial species known as Xenomorphs. Characterized by their lethal prowess and capability to reproduce at an alarming rate, these creatures pose a profound threat to human existence. The primary series protagonist, Ellen Ripley, acts as the voice of reason as she seeks to keep the creatures out of the hands of greed-driven corporate scientists.
