Here you go!
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Back in the day, our primary input on new attractions came from checking the newest Unofficial Guide or Birmbaum’s out of the library; we weren’t a big TV watching family (either when I was a teen or when I was an adult w/ a kiddo at home.) We didn’t family stuff on Christmas Day, and we didn’t see the parades or the later Red Skelton special, etc. I went to DL once when I was 12, and started going to WDW when I was in my late 20s; everything was pretty much a surprise. That’s very different from now, when my YouTube feed is highly tuned to Disney and Physical Therapy/Healthy Bones exercises!
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I have PPPD and randomly get dizzy or feel like I am standing/sitting on a boat floating in the water. I was in PT for 3 or 4 months in 2025, leading up to my first WDW trip in 3 years, and after I was doing better in PT they ok’d me starting to watch POV videos (eventually with VR goggles) — effectively exposure therapy—to see if I could get to the place where I could comfortably ride a few roller coasters without being toast for the rest of the day. This meant spoilers for many things (except ROTR which I didn’t want to experience in advance) but was totally worth it. I rode more roller coasters than ever before on that trip (at least the tame ones - Slinky, Snow White, etc) and only GOTG made me nauseated and dizzy.
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Pretty cool! I’ve never liked roller coasters or anything with drops, even before I developed vertigo. My first bout with it was during my very first trip to WDW in 2004. Too many spinny rides. I’ve never been the same since.
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This is a good point! Flip side of what I was talking about.
For some reason this made me think of Alien Encounter at MK. OMG I kinda wish someone had spoiled that for me in advance cause I almost soiled myself the first time experiencing that! 
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So many people came off that experience crying, and my wife was somewhat traumatized. I was kind of laughing and in awe. Unfortunately my engineering mind had me more analyzing how amazing it was they pulled off such a realistic experience…so I ruined it for myself as a result.
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I looked it up - it doesn’t seem too bad 
Am I missing anything?
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It was at the time cutting edge immersive. And so convincingly done that you could almost believe it was true. It went through some minor tweaks to tone it down, and I am not sure if the version you linked to had it…but for example there was a moment where the alien ate the cast member who was trying to help us out, and we were spattered with “blood”, etc. If I hadn’t been so enthralled with how they pulled off the illusion, I would have been terrified as well!
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I remember the scariest part being pitch black and you couldn’t see anything. You just felt something breathing down your neck and jostling the seat restraints, etc. Pure terror for me as a 14-year-old!
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It was terrifying!!!
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I often have the MK entry music loop on in the background when I am working late at night.
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It was so much fun! I wish DD11 could have experienced this attraction. She would have loved it! DS8 on the other hand … I wouldn’t have him anywhere near this one.
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I submitted feedback to UG on that one (which ran in the book for a couple years) saying that I was lucky I was the first parent to ride, because had I been second, I NEVER would have gotten on Alien Encounter. I watched so many traumatized people come off the ride into the child swap area holding shrieking 8 and 9 yrs olds!! It scared me silly too, but I loved it— @ryan1 it was a great send up of the kind of corporate BS I had just escaped IRL (I had a boss just like the one Jeffrey Jones played perfectly) and thought it was hysterically funny too! Immersive theater of the mind stuff, a great cast—a thrill ride that didn’t make me nauseated. I keep hoping something like that comes into HS.
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Wish I could go back in time to experience this. 
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After they toned it down it wasn’t as much fun to ride. The breathing down one’s neck in the dark was quite effective.
After the toning down we pretty much quit riding (I was 45 when @Jeff_AZ was terrified and like @ryan1 I was more likely into how did they do that?)
We did have a lot of fun one trip - probably about 2006 - when the two youngest grandkids talked son in law into doing the attraction right before our late morning Crystal Palace ADR.
Effectively ruined SiL’s breakfast with the chili burp 
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I mean except my hubby, cuz that’s just good spouse fun!
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I actively avoid spoilers because I really love the feeling of experiencing something completely new. It just activates a special part of my brain.
Last year I took DD15 to Halloween Horror nights for the first time and I wanted to make sure the houses were all okay for her to go to. But I didn’t want to spoil all of them, so I asked which ones were potentially problematic (thank you everyone who helped) and only watched those. Necessity trumped desire for newness (there was one we didn’t do).
For the first 4-6 months EPIC was open I really appreciated people blurring photos or giving spoiler warnings. I’d say for something like Starlight Parade, that was 2-3 months.
Recently I was reading a trip report and their photos were absolutely gorgeous. When I got to the EPIC section I stopped reading. I’ve seen pictures of EPIC but the quality and perspective of the photos was way more immersive than most. But I would never expect them to blur those at this point!
I think ultimately this is where I land.
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Ah, I’d forgotten about that - but that was part of the next version, Stitch’s Grest Escape! The other had closed Oct. 12, 2003.
I liked the ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter version so much more. DH and I had done Mission to Mars on our first trip, Dec 1982. It was interesting to see how Disney had made a whole different type of story out of the same theater. We experienced it (I hate to say “rode” since it’s more of a theater with effects) once, with our elementary age sons. Now THAT was the creepiest attraction I ever did!! But fun.
I know I did the Stitch version with our younger son. Definitely not as much fun for me. He was 14, and let me drag him along.
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As I was reading the beginning of your post I was thinking to myself, “I wish the Verbolten drop track hadn’t been spoiled for me.” That roller coaster still made me laugh.
Now I want to ride Verbolten and Pantheon.
I never experienced it, but my understanding was that Disney used 3D sound and 4D water effects to makenit feel like the alien was over your shoulder. Disney does 3D sound very well! My strongest memory of MGM studios was the 3D sound attraction.
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The creepiest moment was when the over-the-shoulder harnesses pressed down, maybe one side before the other, and warm air (alien breath) was on the back of your neck. You could hear, but not see in the pitch black, the screams and yelps from people progress around the room as if the alien was walking around, and you were wondering what the people were screaming about. Best effect ever! 
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