Alien Encounters

[Sam02]

I have a question for all the Alien Encounter fans.

Background: I am a high school teacher who is taking part in an initiative where urban high school students earn college credit by attending a local community college. My job is to be a facillitator for these students helping them to transition into the higher expectations that college requires. The English 101 class that I help with is reading a book titled "Legends, Lore's, and Lies" by Joseph Calabrese.

The chapter the students are currently reading is about the media and gullibility. One of the articles in the chapter talks about how even Disney has a part in spreading lies through the media about Aliens and UFO's. The point they make is the opening campaign of the Alien Encounter ride.

Quotes from the book:
"Young children, and their parents, will experience similar "brainwashing" when they visit Disney World's new "Tomorrowland" in Orlando. ....in mid-March 1995 Walt Disney Inc. broadcast a one-hour TV show on ABC titled "Alien Encounters from New Tomorrowland." The show began by showing several brief home-video segments of bogus "UFO's" while the narrator intoned: "This is not swamp gas. It is not a flock of birds. This is an actual spacecraft from another world, piloted by alien intelligence....Intelligent life from distant galaxies is not attempting to make open contact with the human race. Tonight we will show you the evidence." (The book goes on to say how the show incorporated Roswell, Jimmy Carter's UFO sighting, and so on).

"Near the end of the program the narrator said: "Statistics indicate a greater probability that you will experience extraterrestrial contact in the next five years than the chances you will win a state lottery. But how do you prepare for such an extraordinary event? At Tomorrowland in Disney World, scientists and Disney engineers have brought to life a possible scenario that helps acclimate the public to their inevitable alien encounters."

My question for you who love Alien Encounters, remember the opening campaign, watched that 1 hour TV show, what was your thoughts when this ride first opened. Did you think that Disney was putting this ride out as a "real" possible alien encounter or was it that they're way of generating interest in a new ride but it wasn't meant to be taken as "real."

To the moderators: If this isn't in the right section, I apologize, and please feel free to move it.

 

[Chape19714]

The entire point of that ride was to make it "real". Between the ad campaign, and the show itself, it really accomplised that. If it wasn't "real" then people would not have been scared. It called for a total suspension of reality that Disney provided through the media, preshow, and main show (and the entire park). Something of note is that Stitch uses some of the same special effects, but doesn't seem as scary due to the fact everyone knows about stitch. Alien encounter, had no movie base, and Disney made it feel as "real" as possible.

 

[dxwwf3]

Not the best special in the world, but boy did they know how to market attractions back then. I don't even know if they would have a TV special for a new park opening anymore. Unless they spent more time promoting movies and tv shows than the park itself

 

[jrobb]

As with most things Disney does, they attempt to create an atmosphere of belief, a mock reality, with the larger attractions. Tower of Terror is a perfect example. They don't expect you to truly believe you are in a Twilight Zone episode, but as you go through the queue and move your way onto the ride, and then throughout the first portion of the ride, they create such a unique alternate reality that you can't help second guessing yourself. The same goes (or went) for Alien Encounter. Whether or not the Imagineers believe in aliens of UFOs is irrelevant. They weren't trying to convince you that aliens were real or a possibility. They wanted to create an alternate reality, a suspension of belief of the real world. When you step into the queue for this ride, you are to feel with all of your senses, that the encounter is really happening to you. You believe for that moment that everything you see and feel is real. When you leave the ride, you forget those feelings and return to the real world. I don't believe that Alien Encounter was a way to spread 'lies' about aliens or UFOs (I put that in quotes because I am neither a supporter or a denier of such phenomena). It was purely a marketing campaign that was intended to add to the atmosphere that this ride created. It was a way to draw interest in the ride prior to opening in the same way that some marketing campaigns don't reveal what the product is (Are you 23?) in order to force consumers to ask questions or anticipate the release of something extraordinary.

 

[Sam02]

^^^That is what I thought. Disney creates a more immersive ride, that's what makes it 1000x better than my local theme park.

This book is all about creating a healthy skepticsm towards unscientific claims. I do not believe that Disney was trying to "brainwash" anybody to think that UFO's and Aliens were real. They just created a new and immersive ride.

I want to know how to address my studen't questions when they come up. Thanks for the answers.

 

[hemloc]

I'm still bitter they didn't go through with the original plan and base it on the A L I E N franchise, grrr... Now THAT would've been scurry!!