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alien encounter gone?
- Thread starter yensid91
- Start date
Captain Hank
Well-Known Member
yensid91 said:
There were several reasons: one was decreased attendence over the past couple of years, and the other, and major one, was guest complaints over the intensity of the attraction. Even though warnings about darkness and content were all over the queue and on the guidemaps, many parents still took their kids on the attraction, and proceeded to complain to management about the scariness. Many forum members are angry and very vocal about this. To see some of the discussions, just do a search (see thin blue bar near top of page). Welcome to the boards! :wave:
I must admit that I was a bit surprised myself by the news. I thought it was an OK attraction, worth doing once or twice. I'm actually happy to see something else come in, since I don't see Alien Encounter as the sort of thing that you want to do over and over again through the years.
Stitch probably has a lot more marketing potential. I expect that the Stitch attraction will be somewhat similar. Stitch gets loose, plays tricks on us when we can't see him, etc.
I know what it's like to lose a favorite attraction, though (I miss World of Motion and Mr. Toad!!!), so I feel bad for anyone who really like Alien Encounter.
Stitch probably has a lot more marketing potential. I expect that the Stitch attraction will be somewhat similar. Stitch gets loose, plays tricks on us when we can't see him, etc.
I know what it's like to lose a favorite attraction, though (I miss World of Motion and Mr. Toad!!!), so I feel bad for anyone who really like Alien Encounter.
dxwwf3
Well-Known Member
Lots of reasons:
1. Wanting to move toward a more family friendly, character driven Tomorrowland (which I now refer to as "Fantasyland East").
2. Wanting to put Stitch in somewhere. And therefore sell a ton of merchandise and capatalize off of the popularlity of that character.
3. Disney recieved alot of complaints from parents that obviously didn't read the many warning signs. Or didn't listen to the CM warn them again before entering the building. Just laziness of some people led to unnecessary complaints.
Those are the three biggest reasons. Some say declining attendance or lack of popularity had alot to do with it, but I just don't buy that personally. There are alot of "shows" at the parks that do not pack the huge crowds in and they are still there (Tiki Room anyone?). And having a queue of 15-25 minutes about 90% of the time is not bad at all for a "Show". SGE will have huge crowds for the first 5 years or so and then once the newness wears off, the queues should resemble those of AE during the past few years. That is to be expected though. That show building holds alot of people and it takes quite a few folks for a queue to even materialize.
1. Wanting to move toward a more family friendly, character driven Tomorrowland (which I now refer to as "Fantasyland East").
2. Wanting to put Stitch in somewhere. And therefore sell a ton of merchandise and capatalize off of the popularlity of that character.
3. Disney recieved alot of complaints from parents that obviously didn't read the many warning signs. Or didn't listen to the CM warn them again before entering the building. Just laziness of some people led to unnecessary complaints.
Those are the three biggest reasons. Some say declining attendance or lack of popularity had alot to do with it, but I just don't buy that personally. There are alot of "shows" at the parks that do not pack the huge crowds in and they are still there (Tiki Room anyone?). And having a queue of 15-25 minutes about 90% of the time is not bad at all for a "Show". SGE will have huge crowds for the first 5 years or so and then once the newness wears off, the queues should resemble those of AE during the past few years. That is to be expected though. That show building holds alot of people and it takes quite a few folks for a queue to even materialize.
CaptainMichael
Well-Known Member
dxwwf3 said:
I haven't been in the Tiki Room in forever. I'd have to say it has been more than 6 years! I totally forgot about it on our last trip, as well as Honey I Shrunk the Audience, Journey Into Your Imagination, and The Living Seas.
yensidtlaw1969
Well-Known Member
Alien Encounter, so young, yet, so old. Lol, Just kidding Dxwwf3!
GoofBall06
New Member
How long was Alien Encounter there?
Trainee031589
New Member
Can anyone explain to me what exactly happned on this ride I never got the chance to ride . I would like as much detial as possible Thanks!
CaptainMichael
Well-Known Member
dxwwf3 said:
Not even 10 years, that is a complete shame.
To spend that kind of money on an attraction only to replace it in 8 years is a travesty. :fork:
dxwwf3
Well-Known Member
Trainee031589 said:
Goodness, that's a tall order. This is a very brief description that I wrote in a article I wrote for DisneyInformer.com
“XS-Tech, a company that has recently discovered Earth and is wanting to “cash in on all of the eager customers” here on this foreign planet. They have found a home at the Tomorrowland Interplanetary Convention Center to try to impress us with their new “X-S Series 1000” which is “the first in a complete line of personal and commercial teleportation systems”. Here is where you meet S.I.R., which stands for Simulated Intelligence Robotics, and Skippy. S.I.R. is the robot programmed to teleport Skippy across the room “in total comfort”. But here is where we find out that the Series 1000 isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. But alas we go on to the final chamber to see what they can really do. Here is where the fun really starts and the teleportation goes awry. But I do not want to go very in depth about that part of the attraction here. Simply because I do not believe I can accurately describe how great this portion of the show was”
Like I said there I do not, personally, think I could describe the main theater show good enough for you to understand how good it was. You might read my description and say "That was it?". It was truely an attraction you had to be there to experience.
I guess I could say that it was Disney storytelling at it's best, great original Disney characters, and the type of special effects that you can only find in THEME parks.
GoofBall06
New Member
wow..i thought it was there for at LEAST 10 years. i only rode it once. i just remember being on the end..and i thought the alien was going to come near me or something...i was so nervous about going on that thing ...i am glad i did get to experience it though.
PhilosophyMagic
New Member
Even though AE was not the type of attraction to do over and over, I loved it the first time I did it and thought it was a great addition to MK, being that it was the parks only "scary" attraction. In fact, perhaps it was the only theme park attraction that was actually psycologically very frightening, without any thrill ride element. I really miss it for the sake of all the first-time visitors who got a thrill out of it!
I think a lot of us don't appriciate the fun of attractions based on surprises like that one because we often find out about it all online first. I wasn't aware of all the online info the first time I went on AE, and I was amazed at the scaryness of the experiance... I still can't believe an attraction that included a gory death and blood dripping on the guests was in a Disney park!
Anyway, Stitch is probably going to be a lot of fun, and a better repeat experiance. However, I'm wondering of it'll end up being too much like the other special-effects 3-D shows, not that it's not designed to be scary. I'm sure Disney took that into account and will debut something unique, though.
Anyone know the overall cost of the Stitch project?
See you at Six Flags!! :sohappy:
(just kidding, don't get offended)
I think a lot of us don't appriciate the fun of attractions based on surprises like that one because we often find out about it all online first. I wasn't aware of all the online info the first time I went on AE, and I was amazed at the scaryness of the experiance... I still can't believe an attraction that included a gory death and blood dripping on the guests was in a Disney park!
Anyway, Stitch is probably going to be a lot of fun, and a better repeat experiance. However, I'm wondering of it'll end up being too much like the other special-effects 3-D shows, not that it's not designed to be scary. I'm sure Disney took that into account and will debut something unique, though.
Anyone know the overall cost of the Stitch project?
See you at Six Flags!! :sohappy:
(just kidding, don't get offended)
dxwwf3
Well-Known Member
tigsmom said:
Oh I know it doesn't bother you, but you should just see some old threads.
BTW, I honestly believed you would have been fine in AE. It really wasn't that scary. It was more of a scream with a laugh right behind it. You know what I mean? I enjoyed it mostly because of the great Disney storytelling.