E.T. Adventure — Attraction in Orlando

I was never a fan of this movie as a child, personally, but my wife was. She decided that we should try it so she could convince me that I'm wrong about the movie.

I've gotta say, after doing the ride, I'm in no hurry to review the movie again. This is one of the strangest rides I've ever been on. The short version of this review would be to say it is as if ET, the Ride, was done by Willy Wonka and Captain Jack Sparrow.

The concept itself starts out okay, as you wander through a cave and then a dark forest to the area where the government agents are hunting for ET. You board a bike - a massive one that seats about 16 people - and fly away with ET in your basket. So far, so good.

You spend your time with the theme music, evading the police and eventually flying high enough to get a bird's eye view of the town.

For some odd reason, though, you end the ride cruising your Huffy through a weird alien village where a cosmic version of the ET theme plays as you watch different types of alien forms and their homes. Then it's done.

As I said, I wasn't a big fan of the movie and had to ask my wife if this was in it. It's only been 40 some years since I saw it. She was kind of weirded out, herself. Now she regrets having made me ride it. She's been ride shamed. She also has no intention of subjecting me to the movie. I'm not even sure she wants to see it again after this.

If you're up for some kind of weird acid trip that only partially resembles the ET movie, this is for you. If not, live in the nostalgia. It's...

Oh man, if you were at least a young kid in the 80's-90's who remembers what it was like when children rode bikes (and not just bums) in groups and you imagined what it would be like to take flight in that bike with ET...this ride nails it!

Once you get to the forest in the entrance you are there. The lighting, the nostalgia starts to set in. How does it smell like the movie when I've never been in the movie???? Surreal.

Then the ride itself is so well done. I strongly recommend you try to sit up front (either by chance via multiple rides, or by asking if you can wait and request it while others pass in line) because that's where you really get the full experience. The structure of the ride and seating alone is spot-on. You feel like you're sitting on a bike because of the handle bars with real bmx grips, the seat bottom shape, the option place to res your feet where the pedals would be... it's all perfect.

The "bike" flies but being a suspension ride, it's slow moving, and joyous. There are all real props, real lights, real everything! No CGI, no motion simulation screens to make you throw up on ET, it's all real stuff! You get so close to parts of the ride you're sure you could touch it with your hand or foot.

I can't spoil it if you've never been with more details, but just know if you like things when they were real; when everything had its own texture, its own essence and wasn't a numb experience on the same sheen of a screen...this is such a...

Nice, calm, chill ride great for the whole family. But be warned: this ride gets WEIRD. The first half is enjoyable, starting with boarding a set pf flying bikes with ET in a basket in front. The first part also best demonstrates just how much Spielberg was ahead of his time: the bikes are recumbent before recumbent bikes were invented. After dispatch, you soar through the California forest, dodging the bad guys and (hopefully) doing your best to ignore the grinding and creaking notices coming from the rail above you (the ride is about 40 years old). This segment of the ride ends with an honestly pretty cool section where you fly over a model city at night. Although ancient, this section I feel still works even today. You then make the jump to hyperspace and fly to ETs home planet. This is I feel the ride doesn't hold up well. The whole plot is flimsy at best but in this second section, as you soar over an 'alien' landscape (which by the way, looks more trippy than alien), I feel the plot simply shatters, with no real reason to visit the planet in the first place other than for universal to flex some couple dozen or so animatronics that aren't nearly as cool today as they were 40 years ago. This section of ride honestly makes me question whether Spielberg was drunk when he...