![]() It had a soft opening that was plagued with difficulties, as guests felt the cheery pre-show clashed violently with the actual attraction and with complaints from Michael Eisner that it wasn’t scary enough. Alien Encounter, as it’s known to fans, had a rough go. ![]() Taking over the space that had been utilized for Mission to Mars, Imagineering teamed with Star Wars creator George Lucas (who had worked on Star Tours and Captain EO) to create the story of what happens when a deadly alien beast is accidentally transported to the middle of the “Tomorrowland Interplanetary Convention Center,” where all hell breaks loose. (The Alien license would be used as part of the Great Movie Ride, as seen below.) But the idea of a scary ride in the dark persisted, and when Imagineers were conceiving their ambitious redo of Tomorrowland, dubbed Tomorrowland 2055, they knew one of the centerpiece attractions would be this scary experience. In the '80s, Disney acquired the theme park rights to the Alien franchise, ostensibly for an attraction dubbed Nostromo that would utilize the shooting mechanics that would eventually be used for Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin. ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter (1994 – 2003) ![]() And, yes, that robot butler still shows up on merchandise every once in a while.Ġ2. Still, Horizons continues to fill those who experienced it with wonder and awe and has become something of a fan favorite defunct attraction in the Disney community, inspiring countless videos (like this very sweet documentary about friends who loved the attraction so much they would get off their ride vehicles and hang out in the sets). Whatever the reason, Horizons quietly closed in 1999 and was later replaced with the considerably lousier Mission: Space in 2003. ![]() The reasons for its closure remained obscure some blamed it on the lack of corporate sponsorship (GE stopped sponsoring in 1993) for its decline while others have suggested a massive sinkhole underneath the pyramidal show building was the culprit. Not only did it boldly encompass the hopeful vision of the future that EPCOT Center promoted but it was also one of the most gorgeous, complex attractions Walt Disney Imagineering ever dreamed up - philosophically rich and full of astounding show scenes. Conceived as a kind of follow-up/sequel to the Carousel of Progress, the 1964 World’s Fair attraction that would become a Disney staple (it still operates daily at the Magic Kingdom) it was designed in conjunction with its corporate sponsor GE as an ode to utopian futurism.Īt the heart of the attraction was an Omnimover ride system like that in The Haunted Mansion, only this time it was combined with a number of state-of-the-art technological flourishes, including two 70mm “OMNIMAX” screens and, during the final portion of the nearly 15-minute-long (!) attraction, the ability to choose which future you’d like to see - either the desert community of Mesa Verde, the cosmic outpost of space station Bravo Centauri or the undersea habitat of the Sea Castle research base. Although it opened a full year after the rest of what was then known as EPCOT Center, Horizons for many is emblematic of classic EPCOT and stood as a keystone attraction of what was then a park dedicated to science and discovery.
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