★ TABLE OF CONTENTS ★
- 00:34 Introduction
- 00:54 News
- 05:55 Deep dive into E.T. Adventure
- 29:54 Closing
🔥 TOPICS IN THIS PODCAST🔥
- Universal Orlando news
- E.T. Adventure
Show Length: 31:18
🔴 *** Follow Along ***
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News
Blog Mickey had posted a rumor that the Kong animatronic was damaged by a fire weeks ago which is why the attraction had been down. They posted an update on twitter.
UPDATE: Universal Orlando has confirmed to Blog Mickey that the King Kong animatronic sustained damage during routine maintenance. A reopening time frame has not been identified.
The attraction did reopen soon thereafter but the final animatronic is covered. No timeline has been provided for the animatronic to return. Kind of ironic really since the announcement that Disney would be fixing the Yeti not so long before this event happened.
The official Halloween Horror Nights Orlando twitter account posted a video with the caption “very gross very disturbing. sink ur teeth into this closer look at MADLANDS: Caged Cannibals if u dare.”
The video features Matthew Flood, senior show director with the entertainment creative development group. He sets up the story, a post apocalypse where the apex predators are factions of cannibals because all other animals are extinct. Definitely worth a quick watch at only 1 minute 54 seconds long.
Rock The Universe 2027
Florida’s biggest Christian music festival returns! Raise your hands. Raise your voice. Raise your spirit. Get ready to Rock the Universe on January 22nd and 23rd, 2027. This
Activities include Live concert performances by top Christian music artists across multiple open-air stages, dedicated worship experiences, autograph sessions, and a Sunday morning worship service. This is an after hours event for the most part. A ticket allows entry to Universal Studios Florida starting at 4:00 PM and lets guests stay in the park until 1:00 AM to enjoy both the music and select theme park attractions such as Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts and Revenge of the Mummy.
CityWalk venues now open
A quick update on a couple of fast food options that have now opened at CityWalk. Both Fat One’s hotdogs and Italian ice and 5 guys have both opened. They are replacing the hot dog hall of fame and the burger king bar locations.
The Story of Downtown Clowntown at Halloween Horror Nights | Echoes From the Fog
Discover universal podcast has released another podcast this time with some background information on the Story of Downtown Clowntown.
In downtown, actress Julie leaves a triumphant performance only to find the streets eerily decked out in circus decor with no one around. Screams and manic laughter erupt as an army of clowns emerges from the shadows, led by a hijacked ice cream truck driven by a grinning female clown (with the real driver’s corpse hanging from the window). A procession of clown vehicles heads toward the town square, and when Julie tries calling 911, she’s confronted by a clown who tells her, “Welcome to Downtown Clown Town.”
The story then follows Samantha, who wakes up bound in a delivery truck after she and her new husband Evan were attacked by clowns during their honeymoon visit to a museum. She’s dragged before ringleader Chance in a transformed “Clown Square,” where Chance mockingly corrects Samantha on her own name before locking her into a bladed contraption called “Chanceatic 2.0” and activating it in front of a cheering crowd, with Evan forced to watch.
Finally, Mayor Morales races through a city completely overtaken — a corrupted theater district, a twisted “Midway of the Bizarre,” and a defiled Christmas village — trying to find help. He reaches the square just as chainsaw-wielding brute Eddie closes in on the bound Evan, and a desperate phone call for help is answered only by clown laughter. Morales then comes face to face with Jack, the orange-haired clown leader honored by a new statue in the square, who declares “This is my town” as his laughter closes out the story. The piece is a three-chapter horror tale tied to Halloween Horror Nights’ “Downtown Clown Town” concept, depicting a cult of killer clowns led by Jack and Chance overrunning an entire city.
From the official Univesal Orlando twitter account we learned, Universal Mardi Gras: International Flavors of Carnaval is back! Enjoy a spectacular parade, beads by the handful, live music, and food for purchase from around the world as well as New Orleans favorites. February 6 – March 27, 2027.
ET Adventure
Steven Spielberg’s 1987 Consultant Agreement
Universal officially brought Spielberg on board on January 20, 1987 to anchor this new theme park endeavor in Orlando. Under a formal Consultant Agreement, assigned to his entity, Diamond Lane Productions, Spielberg agreed to serve as a creative consultant for Universal’s theme parks in exchange for exclusivity and a percentage of gross revenues from themed attractions. With the agreement in place, Spielberg became deeply involved in designing signature attractions for Universal Studios Florida based on his cinematic hits, serving as a hands-on advisor for E.T. Adventure, Back to the Future: The Ride, and Jaws.
Universal Studios Florida (opening day attraction 1990)
Universal Studios Florida officially opened to the public on June 7, 1990. Conceived as both a working film/television production studio and a movie-based theme park, its guiding ethos was to allow guests to physically “ride the movies”. The initial park was organized into five themed sections: The Front Lot, Production Central, New York, San Francisco/Amity, Expo Center, and Hollywood. Opening day was infamous for severe technical breakdowns. Headline attractions such as Kongfrontation, Earthquake: The Big One, and Jaws suffered massive system failures. The malfunction on Jaws was so severe that the ride was shut down in September 1990 and completely redesigned. To compensate disappointed guests, Universal issued free return vouchers. Amid the operational chaos, E.T. Adventure stood out as one of the very few major opening-day rides that operated reliably and smoothly from day one.
ET Adventure did exist in other Universal parks, such as Universal Studios Hollywood from 1991 – 2003 and also in Universal Studios Japan from 2001 – 2009. Universal Orlando has the only remaining E.T. Adventure attraction. This attraction is also the only remaining opening day attraction at Universal Studios Florida.
Key creative figures
Obviously, Stephen Spielberg was the main driver and creator of this attraction, but there were several other people and entities important to the success of this beloved attraction.
Peter Alexander (Universal Creative Lead) was a former Disney Imagineer and Spielberg’s former college roommate, Alexander produced the 1986 King Kong Encounter in Hollywood, which impressed Spielberg and reignited Universal’s plans for an Orlando theme park. Alexander led Universal Creative in tackling the challenge of compressing a two-hour film’s emotional arc into a four-and-a-half-minute ride. Alexander conceptualized the “Goodbye System,” proposing that E.T. personally address each guest by name at the end of the ride, more about that later. He also drew visual inspiration from his childhood experiences with California coral reefs to give the Green Planet its alien yet organic aesthetics.
John Williams, who won an Academy Award for scoring the 1982 film, arranged and recorded an original score specifically for E.T. Adventure. This marked the first time a theme park attraction received its own dedicated musical score. Williams tailored the score’s timing, tempo, and swelling brass to match the exact movement and flight path of the suspended ride vehicles.
Rather than repeating the film’s plot, designers adapted characters and world-building from William Kotzwinkle’s 1985 sequel novel, E.T.: The Book of the Green Planet. Kotzwinkle’s literature introduced the elder alien leader Botanicus, plant-like alien species, such as mushroom and flower people, and the gourd-shaped organic structures seen in the ride’s final scenes.
Sally Corporation / Sally Dark Rides was contracted to design and manufacture nearly 300 audio-animatronic figures and alien plants for the attraction’s show scenes.
6. Birket Engineering & Dynamic Structures designed and implemented the “Interplanetary Passport” text-to-speech computer system and RFID vehicle tracking, enabling E.T. to bid goodbye to riders by name—an audio system overhauled in 2014 to expand E.T.’s vocabulary to over 20,000 names.
Dynamic Structures engineered and installed the overhead suspended steel track system (operating at 5 mph at an elevation of 12 feet) and upgraded the track switches in 2012 for long-term operational reliability.
Pat Welsh: The original voice actress for E.T. returned to perform E.T.’s dialogue and provide voices for alien inhabitants Tickli Moot Moot and Magdol.
Ron Knight: Voiced the elder Botanicus, Orbidon, NASA scientists, radiation officers, and police sheriffs.
Lexington Scenery and Props: Fabricated the physical queue environment, including the artificial redwood forest, rock work, and atmospheric set dressings.
Jane Jackson: Served as the attraction’s show producer working alongside Spielberg and Universal Creative.
It definitely took a village.
Ride vehicles
When the attraction opened in 1990, guests could choose between riding on bicycles or in spaceship-themed vehicles modeled after E.T.’s craft. The spaceships were originally built to serve as the ride’s primary ADA-accessible option for guests using wheelchairs. Universal eventually retrofitted the bicycle gondolas with adapted bench seating and wheelchair access, leading to the complete retirement of the spaceship vehicles around 2004 or 2005.
Several factors led to their removal: An overwhelming majority of riders preferred the bicycles to experience the famous flying sequence from the movie. Guests frequently held up the loading line while waiting for bicycle vehicles to open up when spaceships were available. Riders complained that the enclosed spaceship shells obscured views of the detailed dark ride scenes.
Despite the physical removal of the spaceships, dialogue in the queue line remains unchanged: E.T.’s teacher, Botanicus, still asks guests to bring E.T. home “on a spaceship or carry him on your bikes”.
The primary ride vehicle consists of open-air gondolas styled as a cluster of bicycles. Each vehicle carries up to 12 passengers across three rows of four seats. The handlebars fold down to serve as individual lap bars.
Mounted to the center-front bicycle is an animatronic E.T. figure sitting inside the handlebar basket. Families can request this front-center seat for young children so they can ride right behind E.T.. Notably, once guests reach the Green Planet celebration at the end of the ride, E.T. is no longer in the vehicle’s basket, signaling that he has successfully been returned to his home planet.
Dynamic Attractions track system
As mentioned, the attraction’s structural track and mechanical suspension systems were engineered and installed by Dynamic Structures (formerly Dynamic Attractions). The vehicles travel along an overhead steel tubular track mounted 12 feet above the show floor at a cruising speed of 5 mph. Similar in foundational concept to classic suspended dark rides like Disney’s Peter Pan’s Flight, the overhead system allows open-air gondolas to hang beneath the track. The mechanism permits gentle swaying and sharp banked turns, giving riders a genuine sensation of soaring over Los Angeles while maintaining low physical forces safe for young children. In 2012, Dynamic Structures installed upgraded track switches at Universal Studios Florida to improve long-term operational reliability and maintenance efficiency.
300+ Animatronics
The Sally Corporation, now Sally Dark Rides, was contracted by Universal Creative to design and manufacture nearly 300 audio-animatronic figures and alien flora elements for E.T. Adventure. These practical animatronics form the physical, visual, and emotional core of the ride, serving as a striking counterpoint to modern screen-based theme park attractions.
Within the larger context of the ride’s mechanics, these figures operate as part of a tightly synchronized, automated system.
Rather than running on continuous loops disconnected from vehicle positions, the animatronic movements, audio tracks, water effects, and lighting sequences are controlled by a central computer system. As the suspended 12-rider bicycle gondolas travel along Dynamic Structures’ overhead steel track at 5 mph, their progress triggers infrared sensors installed along the pathway.
Sally Corporation collaborated closely with Birket Engineering and Mannetron, who engineered the power distribution, signal routing, and control integration necessary to drive hundreds of individual pneumatic and electrical animatronic movements simultaneously throughout the show building.
Since the attraction was based on the William Kotzwinkle’s 1985 sequel novel, E.T.: The Book of the Green Planet. The manufactured figures include: Botanicus: The authoritative elder alien leader who appears in the queue and welcomes riders to the Green Planet. Distinct characters such as Tickli Moot Moot, Magdol, and Orbidon.
Whimsical plant-like beings, including mushroom people, flower people, and hatching baby E.T.s emerging from organic, gourd-shaped pods.
RFID name recognition technology
Additionally, the attraction had something new by using Overhead RFID readers to identify the incoming vehicle ID, linking each seat position to the passenger names. I’ll dig into some of the details more as we walk through the attraction, but before riding the attraction everyone is given an RFID card after telling the Team Member what their name is. These cards will be turned in at loading in order for all of this to work.
Attraction details and specs
The attraction does have a minimum height of 34 inches and guests under 48 inches require a supervising companion. Show Duration / Ride Time: 4 minutes, 30 seconds. Industry analysts and ride specs estimate E.T. Adventure’s real-world operational throughput at roughly 1,000 to 1,200 riders per hour, with a theoretical maximum around 1,440 to 1,728 riders per hour. According to Thrill Data, it has a historic average wait time of 24 minutes. If you want to nerd out a little more Wednesdays on average are the absolute best days to ride the attraction and Saturdays historically are the worst with an average wait time of 32 minutes on Saturdays. Something of note, E.T. Adventure often doesn’t open until 10:00am, that information will be available in the app, but don’t rush there first thing in the morning, you have been warned.
Queue Experience
Exterior Queue
The physical location of the attraction is in an awkward spot, with the Kidzone portion of the park being re-themed to DreamWorks land, it left E.T. Adventure along on an island so to speak. The building housing E.T. Adventure and its exterior queue lines are themed as a working movie sound stage where E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is supposedly being filmed. As you approach the queue you will find a standby entrance and an express pass entrance. There are basically two pens where people will be held in line until going into the preshow. One pen will be the standby guests and the second, should waits warrant it, will be the express pass guests. However this isn’t where the real split between standby guests and express pass guests split in line. Overhead TV monitors display film trivia alongside interviews with crew members discussing their production experiences. Near the entrance to the pre-show room, foreign-language promotional posters from the film’s 30th-anniversary re-release line the walls. This exterior setup reflects Universal Studios Florida’s original 1990 opening-day concept of letting guests tour an active film lot before stepping into the action.
Pre show & Passport Station Transition
Leaving the exterior sound stage queue, guests enter the pre-show room, which bridges the gap between the studio setting and the rescue mission. Director Steven Spielberg appears on overhead screens to inform riders that E.T.’s home, the Green Planet, is dying three million light-years away, and that only E.T.’s magic healing touch can save his species. In the original 1990 pre-show, Spielberg cast guests as background actors on a closed movie set. In 2002, for the film’s 20th anniversary, the video was updated to turn the story into an active intergalactic rescue mission and preview E.T.’s alien friends so young children would not feel frightened on the ride.
After the video briefing, guests enter a registration room where Team Members collect each guest’s first name and issue a barcode-encoded Interplanetary Passport. This is the RFID card we had been talking about previously.
Interior Queue
Stepping through the passport registration doors, guests enter an atmospheric interior queue. The queue replicates a dimly lit California redwood forest filled with massive artificial trees, rock work, and a custom “pine fresh” fragrance supplied by scent marketing vendor ScentAir. This queue was and is still one of the best attraction queues there is. Such a welcome especially in the hot Orlando summer.
Within this queue there are several easter eggs about like:
Guests pass E.T.’s makeshift communication device from the film, featuring a Speak & Spell toy that clacks and lights up letter-by-letter to spell H-E-L-P E-T.
Animatronic figures and projections of the elder alien Botanicus emerge from the cracking earth to plead for E.T.’s swift return.
E.T.’s glowing red heart can occasionally be seen illuminated through the trees as he flees NASA scientists and police officers.
An animatronic rabbit sits hidden in the bushes, referencing the opening scene of the 1982 film.
Loading process
As you approach the loading area, your cards will be collected as they assign you an attraction row for boarding. This is how they know which vehicle you are aboard for the end of our story.
Story and scenes
Escaping NASA and police
Immediately upon dispatch from the load station into the dark California woods, riders encounter a maze of flashing searchlights, police cars, and barricades. Government officials, police sheriffs, and NASA scientists in radiation suits give chase in an attempt to arrest the riders and capture E.T.
The scene consists of static and animated figures of police officers and NASA agents pop up from behind barricades and vehicles. Audio tracks shout lines like “They’ve got E.T.!” and “They’re getting away!” while jeeps and police cars physically appear to block the track.
As a police car suddenly appears out of nowhere and a collision seems imminent, E.T. activates his glowing heart and fingers inside the front handlebar basket. His magic lifts the suspended bicycle gondolas off the ground, causing them to soar over the police barricades and evade capture.
Flying over the city
To simulate rising thousands of feet into the air within a physical sound stage, designers constructed a scaled-down, miniature city grid below the suspended bicycle track. As the vehicles travel along the overhead track, the buildings and streets scale smaller and smaller, creating an illusion of increasing altitude and depth.
Looking down from the flying bicycles, particularly on the left-hand side of the gondola, riders can see detailed miniature neighborhood houses, street grids featuring tiny moving vehicle headlights, a football stadium, and two baseball fields. If you have little ones, you should consider having them at the left most seat of your row, other wise they will not be able to see very much of this scene.
The flight sequence climaxes as the suspended vehicles pass a massive, illuminated full moon. Sculpted bicycle silhouettes are set against the face of the moon, directly recreating the famous cinematic silhouette of Elliott and E.T. soaring across the night sky. The flight is synchronized with an original arrangement of John Williams’s Oscar-winning score, tailored specifically to match the timing and gentle motion of the airborne vehicles.
Journey through space portal
Immediately following the flight over the miniature Los Angeles skyline and the iconic silhouette pass across the full moon, the suspended bicycle gondolas enter a dark chamber filled with flashing lights, fog, and cosmic effects. As the vehicles turn around within this tunnel, a flash of light signals that the riders have traversed the cosmos. Narratively, this portal creates an intergalactic warp in space-time that instantly transports riders across the 3 million light-year expanse separating Earth from E.T.’s planet. This portal takes the narrative where the original 1982 film never went. Rather than ending with E.T. waving goodbye from his spaceship as he flies away from Elliott, the space portal allows riders to accompany E.T. all the way to his home world to witness his origins firsthand.
Arrival at green planet
Emerging from the flashing portal, the bikes arrive in the alien landscape of the Green Planet. Riders are greeted by Botanicus, the elder alien leader and E.T.’s teacher, who announces that E.T. has returned just in time and urges him to save his dying world. As the gondolas navigate the terrain, E.T. uses his magic healing touch to revive the planet’s failing life force.
In order to construct a physical environment capable of portraying an alien world that felt both strange and welcoming, Universal Creative drew from distinct literary and natural sources. The design of the Green Planet as previously noted, was heavily inspired by William Kotzwinkle’s 1985 sequel novel, E.T.: The Book of the Green Planet. The book provided the character of Botanicus, the plant-like nature of the planet’s citizens, and the gourd-shaped organic architecture seen throughout the scenes.
Universal Creative lead Peter Alexander channeled his childhood memories of exploring California coral reefs alongside underwater plant research, giving the alien flora a fluid, bioluminescent quality.
Healing celebration finale
After riders pass through the cosmic warp portal and arrive on the ailing Green Planet, E.T. applies his magic healing touch to the landscape. His healing power instantly restores the planet’s life force, reviving his dying friends and triggering a massive, jubilant planetary party.
The scene erupts into a bright, colorful spectacle featuring spurting and jumping water jets, bioluminescent lighting, and glowing alien flora.
Dozens of baby E.T.s frolic, play drums, swing from ropes, and cry out in happiness alongside bioluminescent alien performers like Tickli Moot Moot, Magdol, and Orbidon.
Personalized goodbye
As the celebratory music swells, the suspended bicycle gondolas approach the edge of the Green Planet. Standing alongside his home is an audio-animatronic E.T. figure, voiced by original film actress Pat Welsh.
Universal Creative lead Peter Alexander conceptualized the “Goodbye System” so that each rider would experience a direct, individual connection with E.T. at the end of their journey. Rather than remaining passive observers of a film set, this personal moment confirms that guests have successfully fulfilled their mission as heroic co-stars by bringing E.T. home to save his dying planet.
As each vehicle passes, the E.T. figure physically turns toward the riders and speaks directly to them, thanking and bidding farewell to each guest by their individual first name.
Immediately following the personalized farewell, a sudden flash of light transports the bicycles back through the space portal to the Earth load station, while E.T.’s voice can sometimes be heard reassuring riders, “I’ll be right here”
Current status and future
36 year legacy – Spielberg protection rumors
There have been constant rumors that this attraction is protected by Stephen Spielberg and that he won’t allow them to close this attraction but looking through the contracts and filings etc, there has never been any real evidence to support that.
As the sole surviving opening-day attraction in Florida, E.T. Adventure serves as a crucial emotional link to the park’s origins, a reliable family-oriented dark ride anchor, and a practical animatronic showcase amidst modern screen-based simulators. I personally am of the opinion this is why its still there. While most Universal fans aren’t opposed to change as much as say Disney fans, its gotten to the point where it would seem almost heartless to shutter the only remaining original attraction in the park currently with a 36 year legacy.
Universal internal project filings
Construction permits and a notice of commencement extending into late 2028 have fueled industry reports that E.T. Adventure could undergo a major temporary closure in 2027 or 2028. Speculation suggests this project would focus on updating infrastructure, visual effects, and animatronics to ensure the ride’s long-term reliability.
Gift shop and photo connect experience
Rarely do you hear anyone talking about it, but you can get official photos taken with E.T. at E.T.’s Toy Closet & Photo Spot located inside the gift shop at the exit of the E.T. Adventure ride at Universal Studios Florida. You can pose in a recreation of Elliott’s toy closet and also you can sit on the flying bicycle with E.T. in the basket in front of the moon. These are a lot of fun, but these photos are from official photographers and are part of the My Universal Photos offerings.
Closing thoughts
ET Adventure. This is a classic, must do, something to share with people who have never been. I do hope they never close it. It’s the last nostalgic piece of this wonderful theme park.