Many theme park enthusiasts were extremely disappointed to see the removal of Magic Kingdom’s very intense Alien Encounter attraction. However, the legend still lives…kind of. DisneyQuest has created a pretty unique attraction loosely based on the now defunct attraction, but while it showed promising signs throughout the attraction, the flashes of greatness were hampered by some glaring flaws in my opinion.

Located on the top floor, Alien Encounter had about a 5-10 minute wait while I was there, which certainly was not bad at all, especially since the ride was being run at half capacity that day. Loading was done pretty efficiently from what I could tell since there was no confusion from what I saw and people seemed to be loaded into their pods pretty quickly. The whole attraction area definitely has a futuristic/sci-fi tone, which certainly is the look and feel Disney should have aimed for. So in that case they succeeded, but what about the ride itself?

The whole premise of the attraction is to travel to an alien culture’s home planet to rescue numerous explorers who have become trapped. While simple, it certainly is effective and serves as a good enough story. I love the whole concept of there being one pilot and three shooters (though I only rode with my dad so there was only one shooter), but there were just so many shortcomings that hampered the whole experience for me. First and foremost is how difficult it is to steer the pod in my opinion. I had so much difficulty piloting it and my dad fared better, but still certainly had a few issues. My other complaint is the graphics, which are certainly way out of date like with Aladdin. At some points the alien’s were so poorly designed that I couldn’t even tell they were aliens until they came very close to wrecking the mission. Despite only having 2 people, we succeeded, but I honestly found the game to lack any real degree of difficulty. Still there’s just something undeniably fun about mindlessly shooting aliens.

After the three great attractions (Pirates, Buzz, and Space Mountain), this is probably the best offering at DisneyQuest. It’s certainly worth giving a shot if you like shooting games, but just don’t go in with expectations that are too lofty since the ride has some glaring shortcomings, most notably steering and the graphics. Fans of the original Alien Encounter certainly should give this attraction a chance since it’s the only remaining representation Disney has of the former attraction.

Not what I expected, and it seemed to be an older ride. Its probably fun for younger kids, but it really didnt do a whole lot for me.

This rides pretty fun. Its easy to do and just--fun, I guess. Definately make time for this ride.

This is my 3rd favorite thing at Disney Quest. I like being the captain. If I cant I find it a little boring.

Although fairly short and easy, this game plays very well and is adequately entertaining. It can support plenty of players at once, which is always cool. Very similar to the "Pirates" attraction also at DQ.

7/10.

way too short and too easy to beat, its pretty old and needs to be replaced

it is a fun ride, especially the whole surrounding screen, it would be better if you actually felt what was going on though, like if the seats would move and some heat would be felt, Ect.

Personally I liked it better than the alien encounter at MK. This was alot more fun when you were with a group of freinds because its based on teamwork.

Okay, so it was my birthday, and I was already having a great day. I was with a good group of friends (about 6 of us or so, I think), and so it was just us in the pod. I piloted. Yes, it was hard. Yes, it was unusual. Yes, I did squish an explorer. Yes, I failed miserably the first time, but we tried one more time. I got the hang of the jumping thing -- critical if you want to survive and island hop.

It was down to the wire this second time around and all my friends are fragging alien monsters as fast as their flippin fingers could fire, and I see one last survivor. My friends are barking warnings. "We cant save him! Theyre on us! Our right rear legs about to go!" However, I am cool. I am calm. I am in control. My crew is panicking, but I yell back, "No one gets left behind!" and I pick up the last survivor. Just then as we stand back up, the pod is rocked and we lose a leg. Im ambling sideways, but I can see the wormhole that will take us back to our HQ. Ive all but lost control with five seconds left to reach the vortex, five seconds before the whole planet goes up with a bang, and I do the only thing I can do: "3...2...1..." I use the jump move to hurl myself, my crew, and the survivors into the slipstream.

All goes dark for a moment and its completely, eerily silent. In an instant, the dizzying lights of the wormhole engulf us as were hurtling back to HQ, and Mission Control comes on, sounding to my ears as amazed as I feel, "They made it! Weve got them! We got them back!"

My crew whoops and shouts (and I do as well), much amazed back-slapping ensues, and we bring all but one or two explorers back with us (may they rest in peace).

I cant begin to describe the exhilirating rush all of us had. It was better than some rides Id been on. It helped immensely that I knew each of "my crew" and we were all laughing and having a great time and totally into the spirit of it. But, hands down, a peak excitement experience at Disney Quest that day!

I had problems controlling this interactive shooter. I think that this is the hardest "adventure" at Disney Quest. Ive never actually won the game.