Dear Universal Studios Orlando's E.T. Adventure,
I love your many wonderful smells. The beautiful, if faded, neon colors. Steven Spielberg's definitely outdated video introduction even though it was redone a few years ago. I love how E.T. scrambles to say all twelve names of the people in the bikes in a matter of seconds. I love his wacky friends (except Magdol - she can nope on out of there).
Never change. Never go away.
Love,
Stephanie
The History
The E.T. Adventure is an original, opening-day attraction at what was then called Universal Studios Florida.
Steven Spielberg, the producer/director of the film, had been incredibly impressed by Earthquake: The Big One, an attraction at Universal Studios Hollywood. So, in 1989, he partnered with Universal Vice President and Executive Producer Peter Alexander and Universal Creative to come up with a dark ride that look place in the world of E.T. Alexander found it incredibly difficult to condense an emotional two-hour-long film into a six or seven-minute theme park ride effectively, so the team decided on a new story: the ride would follow E.T. and company through a police that culminated in a visit to E.T.'s home planet, the Green Planet. Spielberg agreed, but was adamant that the ride should still be personal for guests.
Inspiration for E.T.'s home planet came from William Kotzwinkle's 1985 book, E.T.: The Book of the Green Planet, a written sequel to the 1982 film. The character Botanicus, as well as some of the other plant-like creatures featured in the attraction, were directly inspired by the book. Further inspiration came from coral reefs. Underwater plant research was conducted and used by art directors to aid in plant design.
To keep the ride "personal", as per Spielberg's request, E.T. says goodbye to each guest by the name at the end of the attraction. This system was designed by Birket Engineering and can recognize 20,000 names.
The Ride
The queue for the attraction starts outside. Themed to a sound stage, there are monitors overhead that feature E.T. trivia and clips from interviews with the actors. Guests are escorted into a pre-show wherein Steven Spielberg appears on overhead T.V. screens to explain the story of the ride: E.T.'s teacher, Botanicus, has asked E.T. to come to his home planet and use his healing touch to save it from dying off. Spielberg explains that guests will take the journey on bicycles as the ride vehicle is shown on the screen. He then explains that guests will be given interplanetary passports for their journey.
The doors automatically open and guests are shuffled into a queue to get their "passport". A staff member asks the guests name, programs it, and hands the guest a card with a barcode. Then, guests move into what is inarguably the best queue at Universal - the indoor queue.
The indoor queue is themed to a forest, referencing a scene in the film wherein E.T. is trying to evade capture by the police. The queue features a pine scent to go along with its faux redwood trees. Hidden details in the queue include a Speak & Spell toy that spells out "H-E-L-P-E-T"; Botanicus pleading for E.T. to come home; the communication device E.T. built in the film to contact his home planet; an animatronic rabbit, referencing one that appears in the beginning of the film; and a glowing red heart that appears in the forest.
The ride vehicle is a series of bikes, with each seat serving as it's own bike. The handlebars pull down to serve as the lap bars. E.T. is in a basket in front of the front middle bikes.
Guests ride over police and N.A.S.A. officials who try to chase them and capture E.T.. When a police car appears in the guests' way and they are almost about to hit it, the bikes lift up and fly over the city. They continue into outer space wherein they encounter a portal to E.T.'s home planet, the Green Planet.
On the Green Planet, guests are greeted by Botanicus, who urges them to help save E.T.'s friends. With E.T.'s healing touch, the planet is revived and guests are treated to a colorful, water-filled party. In the end, an animatronic E.T. thanks each guest by name as the bikes pull into the unload station.
Guests exit into the E.T. gift shop, which features two photo opportunities and plenty of E.T. merchandise. On my most recent trip in March 2024, the shop also featured merchandise from Back to the Future.
The Location
The original location, in Orlando, remains open to this day, though the name of the area in which it sits has changed several times. When the park opened in 1990, the area was called Expo Center. In 1999, it was rethemed to Woody Woodpecker's KidZone, featuring family-friendly attractions and splash pads. In 2024, with the closure of the rest of the zone, the area was renamed to simply Hollywood. The name of the land may change again when Dreamworks Land opens in summer 2024.
Other E.T. Adventure locations have not been as longstanding.
The ride opened with some fanfare in Universal Studios Hollywood in June of 1991. At the opening ceremony, E.T. himself arrived via spaceship then interacted with children from the audience who were awaiting a preview of the ride. A celebrity gala was hosted by Spielberg. This location closed on March 14th, 2003 to make room for Revenge of the Mummy, a roller coaster themed to the Mummy franchise. For a short time, a golden E.T. statuette was placed in the treasure room of the Mummy attraction, though this didn't last long. Pieces of the attraction, such as Botanicus, are still in storage and have been pulled out over the years as Halloween Horror Nights set dressing.
In Japan, the attraction opened with the park on March 31st, 2001. It closed on May 10th, 2009. Universal removed the ride system and starting on July 18th, 2009, for five days, guests were able to walk through the attraction. A replacement attraction, Space Fantasy -- the Ride, officially opened to the public on March 18th, 2010.
The attraction was planned to be in the proposed Universal Studios South Korea theme park, which ultimately never came to fruition.
Our Experience - The Evac
On our March 2024 trip, my husband and I rode this attraction three times over two days. The park in general was getting pretty busy, so we used our Universal Express Unlimited pass for this attraction (find out how we got the Express pass for FREE here). We never waited more than 10 minutes. The express and standby lines are split in the outdoor queue, come together for the pre-show and to get your interplanetary passport, and then split again for the indoor queue.
Once, the ride broke down. We were hanging in our bike over the second-to-last scene, which takes place over pools of water. Fountains bubble. Little E.T.s swing on vines. The scene is colorful, filled with blues, purples, and pinks.
Like with any breakdown, guests are left to sit while the attraction and maintenance teams determine if the issue can be fixed quickly. The team members announced over the loudspeaker that ride motion had stopped and we were to remain seated. After a while, the water features were stopped in our section. Then, the lights came on. Shortly thereafter, the music was stopped. We sat for around a half-hour before we were evacuated. The decision to evacuate was also announced over the loudspeaker.
Team members appeared on foot shortly after the announcement and instructed us how we were going to leave the ride vehicle: from front to back, left to right, everyone off on the left side. Being in the second-to-last room, the team members made the decision to walk us through the attraction to the unload platform. More team members were present on the unload platform, and they handed us paper Express passes that were good at most attractions from that date through the end of May.
This attraction is the quintessential dark ride. It shares some similarities with Peter Pan's Flight over at the Magic Kingdom in Disney. Until Dreamworks Land opens this summer, it is kind of out of the way of the rest of the attractions, but I highly recommend making the trek there. Waits are usually minimal; the outdoor queue is covered and has fans; and the majority of the queue is indoors and air conditioned, making the attraction the perfect escape from the weather. The ride itself is quirky and a ton of fun. It's a good way to get a break from the motion simulators and screens across other Universal attractions.
Are you planning a trip to Universal but feeling overwhelmed? Do you want that dark ride vibe but can't quite tell which attractions to ride to find it? I've got you covered! Email me today at s.mattoon@keytotheworldtravel.com or by pressing the button below to get started!
The first two people who book their Universal trip through me will get our two FREE express passes (good on 1 attraction for 1 ride-through through the end of May, except for "E ticket" attractions).
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