E.T. Adventure is a
dark ride
A dark ride or ghost train is an indoor amusement ride on which passengers aboard guided vehicles travel through specially lit scenes that typically contain animation, sound, music and special effects. Appearing as early as the 19th century, su ...
located at
Universal Studios Florida
Universal Studios Florida (also known as Universal Studios or USF) is a theme park located in Orlando, Florida. Primarily themed to movies, television and other aspects of the entertainment industry, the park opened to the public on June 7, 1990 ...
in
Orlando, Florida, United States. Primarily designed in-house by
Universal Creative
Universal Creative designs and creates themed attractions, rides, and resorts, for Universal Parks & Resorts. Its divisions include master planning, creative development, design, engineering, project management, and research and development. The ...
in collaboration with
Steven Spielberg, the ride first opened to the public at Universal Studios Florida in 1990. Similar installations of the ride opened at
Universal Studios Hollywood
Universal Studios Hollywood is a film studio and theme park in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles County, California. About 70% of the studio lies within the unincorporated county island known as Universal City while the rest lies w ...
in 1991 and
Universal Studios Japan
is a theme park located in Osaka, Japan. Opened on March 31, 2001, it is one of six Universal Studios theme parks worldwide and was the first to open outside the United States. The park is owned and operated by a wholly owned subsidiary of NB ...
in 2001, both of which have since been removed.
E.T. Adventure recreates the flying-bicycle chase scene from the 1982 film ''
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'', while introducing E.T.'s homeworld, the Green Planet, featured in the sequel novel ''
E.T.: The Book of the Green Planet''. Many of the ride's
animatronics and exotic plants were designed and manufactured by
Sally Corporation
Sally Corporation is a dark ride and animatronic manufacturing company based in Jacksonville, Florida, United States. The company serves amusement parks, attractions, museums, and retail clients worldwide. It offers complete design/build service ...
.
History
In 1989, following the success of
Earthquake: The Big One at
Universal Studios Hollywood
Universal Studios Hollywood is a film studio and theme park in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles County, California. About 70% of the studio lies within the unincorporated county island known as Universal City while the rest lies w ...
, which left a positive impression on
Steven Spielberg, work began on a new attraction to be based on his 1982 film ''
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial''.
Universal Vice President and Executive Producer Peter Alexander worked closely with Spielberg and led
Universal Creative
Universal Creative designs and creates themed attractions, rides, and resorts, for Universal Parks & Resorts. Its divisions include master planning, creative development, design, engineering, project management, and research and development. The ...
in the creation of the
dark ride
A dark ride or ghost train is an indoor amusement ride on which passengers aboard guided vehicles travel through specially lit scenes that typically contain animation, sound, music and special effects. Appearing as early as the 19th century, su ...
attraction.
Alexander found the task challenging, saying that the "emotional impact" of a two-hour-long film is "not easily translated into six or eight minute theme park rides".
After suggesting that the chase scene from the film could transition into a voyage through E.T.'s homeworld, the Green Planet, Spielberg liked the idea but emphasized the importance of keeping the story "personal".
He said guests should have a "personal moment" with E.T., and that the Green Planet should be depicted as a "friendly place".
Following Spielberg's advice, the scenes depicting the Green Planet were designed to be both "alien" and "friendly".
Inspiration was drawn from ''
E.T.: The Book of the Green Planet'', a novel by
William Kotzwinkle
William Kotzwinkle (born November 22, 1943) is an American novelist, children's writer, and screenwriter. He was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. He has won the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel for ''Doctor Rat'' in 1977, and has also wo ...
in 1985 that serves as a written sequel to the 1982 film.
The character Botanicus and the shape of E.T.'s home featured in the attraction were directly influenced by the book, as were the many plant-like creatures.
Alexander also channeled his childhood experiences with coral reefs off the coast of California, which he recalled had the appearance of an "alien landscape".
Underwater plant research was conducted and used by art directors to also aid in plant design.
Sally Corporation
Sally Corporation is a dark ride and animatronic manufacturing company based in Jacksonville, Florida, United States. The company serves amusement parks, attractions, museums, and retail clients worldwide. It offers complete design/build service ...
was brought in to assist, designing and manufacturing over 300
animatronics and plants.
To create the personal encounter in the ride's finale, Universal worked with Birket Engineering to design an animatronic E.T. that could say goodbye to each guest by name as they passed by.
The system could recognize as many as 20,000 names,
which each guest would supply to a ride attendant earlier in the line queue.
The completed ride opened as E.T. Adventure during the grand opening of
Universal Studios Florida
Universal Studios Florida (also known as Universal Studios or USF) is a theme park located in Orlando, Florida. Primarily themed to movies, television and other aspects of the entertainment industry, the park opened to the public on June 7, 1990 ...
in 1990. Another instance of the ride opened at Universal Studios Hollywood in 1991, followed by a third at
Universal Studios Japan
is a theme park located in Osaka, Japan. Opened on March 31, 2001, it is one of six Universal Studios theme parks worldwide and was the first to open outside the United States. The park is owned and operated by a wholly owned subsidiary of NB ...
in 2001. The Hollywood version closed on March 14, 2003, and was replaced by
Revenge of the Mummy: The Ride. The Japanese installation closed on May 10, 2009, and was replaced by
Space Fantasy: The Ride. The E.T. Adventure in Orlando became the last remaining in operation and later received a refurbishment in 2017. An E.T. Adventure was expected to open at
Universal Studios South Korea
Universal Studios South Korea (USSK; 유니버설 스튜디오 코리아) was a proposed Universal Studios theme park in the vicinity of Hwaseong, South Korea. Originally scheduled to open in 2020, a bid for the project was won by a Universal St ...
in 2021, but plans for the theme park were scrapped.
In 2012, the ride at Universal Studios Florida received new track switches by
Dynamic Structures
Dynamic Structures of the World is an American company with a history of steel fabrication dating back to 1927. They create amusement rides, theme park rides, observatory telescopes and other complex steel structures.
History
Dynamic Structures ...
.
Ride description
Exterior queue
The building housing E.T. Adventure at Universal Studios Florida, along with portions of its exterior line queue, are themed to a
sound stage
A sound stage (also written soundstage) is a soundproof, large structure, building, or room with large doors and high ceilings, used for the production of theatrical film-making and television productions, usually located on a secured movie or ...
where E.T. is being filmed. TV monitors overhead display ''E.T.'' trivia as well as clips of various film crew members discussing their experiences during the production of the film. Posters of the film's 30th Anniversary re-release, in English and various other languages, are on display near the end of the exterior queue where the pre-show takes place.
Pre-show
Before entering the interior queue, Steven Spielberg appears on several overhead TV screens telling guests that E.T.'s teacher Botanicus has asked E.T. to return to his home world, the Green Planet, because life there is dying. Only E.T.'s magical healing touch can save the planet and its inhabitants, so it is up to the guests to bring him home. Spielberg describes that guests will make their journey on bikes, as a ride vehicle is shown on screen. He also explains the need for guests to give their name to one of his "assistants", and in return they will receive an "interplanetary passport". The passport is a card containing a barcode that corresponds to the name given, entered by a ride attendant into a computer; an E.T. animatronic will speak each name later in the ride's finale. Following the pre-show video, entrance doors automatically open revealing another room where guests will receive their passport cards before venturing into the interior queue.
Prior to the ride's refurbishment in 2002 celebrating the film's 20th anniversary, the pre-show displayed a different video with Spielberg telling guests they were being cast as actors in new scenes inspired by the original film. The passports were instead described as "passes" that allowed access on
set
Set, The Set, SET or SETS may refer to:
Science, technology, and mathematics Mathematics
*Set (mathematics), a collection of elements
*Category of sets, the category whose objects and morphisms are sets and total functions, respectively
Electro ...
, and ride attendants were referred to as "
stagehand
A stagehand is a person who works backstage or behind the scenes in theatres, film, television, or location performance. Their work include setting up the scenery, lights, sound, props, rigging, and special effects for a production.
General
S ...
s".
Interior queue
Inside is a dark forest setting filled with redwood trees, reminiscent of the scene in the film where E.T. is trying to evade police capture,
along with the smell of pine that fills the queue. An animatronic Botanicus periodically emerges from behind a thick plume of fog and lighting effects, pleading for E.T.'s return. Along the line queue, guests pass by the communication device E.T. constructed in the film to phone home, complete with a
Speak & Spell prop that displays the letters H-E-L-P E-T one a time. Somewhat more hidden within the queue is an animatronic rabbit, referencing the one that appears in the film's opening. Another rare sighting is a visual of E.T.'s glowing red heart moving through the trees, simulating a run through the forest.
The queue ends at the loading platform where guests board ride vehicles.
Ride
Each individual seat is a bicycle, whose handles come down as the lap bars. The bike in the middle of the front row contains E.T. However, in the attraction's early years, guests also had the option of riding in a spaceship modeled after the one that E.T. came to Earth on in the movie; these ride vehicles were removed as guests preferred to ride the bikes, given how iconic they were in the famous flying scene in the movie.
The vehicles travel past NASA and police officials who give chase and try to arrest the riders and capture E.T. As they are about to be caught, a police car appears out of nowhere and just as they are about to hit it, the bicycles begin to fly over the city and then into outer space. From their bikes, the guests can see a miniature city below, including real moving cars and even a football stadium and two baseball fields.
The bikes are then transported to a kind of portal area with flashing lights which, when finally turned around, arrive at the Green Planet. The guests then encounter Botanicus, who urges the visitors to save E.T.'s friends.
E.T.'s healing touch travels through the Green Planet, reviving his friends and beginning a celebration with numerous baby E.T.s frolicking and playing. This lasts for about 3 minutes and is a huge contrast to the beginning; the beginning is dark and scary while this part of the ride is light and colorful, with spurting water and singing. At the end, the guests pass an
animatronic
Animatronics refers to mechatronic puppets. They are a modern variant of the automaton and are often used for the portrayal of characters in films and in theme park attractions.
It is a multidisciplinary field integrating puppetry, anatomy a ...
E.T. (voiced by
Pat Welsh) who thanks them all by the names that they gave to the travel agents/Spielberg's Assistants. Then, in a flash of light, guests are sent back to Earth and into the unload area. As guests leave the ride, they can sometimes hear E.T.'s voice reminding them, "I'll be right here."
Incidents
On January 31, 2019, an 11-year-old boy was injured on the ride after his foot and a portion of his leg became stuck between the moving vehicle and the cement boarding platform. A lawsuit was filed by the boy's mother seeking $15,000 in damages, claiming that multiple bones were broken requiring surgery.
See also
*
*
List of amusement rides based on film franchises
This is a list of amusement park rides based on specific films or film franchises.
* - Has since closed in that particular location.
See also
*List of amusement rides based on television franchises
*List of IMAX-based rides
* List of a ...
References
External links
E.T. Adventure at Universal Orlando ResortE.T. Adventure at Orlando Rocks
{{Universal Studios Florida Attractions
Amusement rides introduced in 1990
Amusement rides introduced in 1992
Amusement rides introduced in 2001
Amusement rides that closed in 2003
Amusement rides that closed in 2009
Amusement rides manufactured by Sally Corporation
Adventure
An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme ...
Sally Corporation animatronics
Universal Studios Hollywood
Universal Studios Florida
Universal Studios Japan
Universal Parks & Resorts attractions by name
Amusement rides based on film franchises
Animatronic attractions
Former Universal Studios Hollywood attractions
Space in amusement parks
1990 establishments in Florida