The Great Movie Ride was an attraction at Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park in Orlando, Florida. It is a dark ride which takes guests through scenes from famous films throughout motion picture history. The ride is located inside a recreation of the famous Hollywood landmark Grauman's Chinese Theatre. The Great Movie Ride brings some of Hollywood's most well-known movies to life and puts those riding the attraction in the middle of the action. About half-way through the ride, guests of the Walt Disney World Resort are transported aboard the Nostromo, where they not only see a terrified Ellen Ripley, but also the Alien from the 1979 film Alien, itself. The queue also features a large movie screen, where guests waiting to board the ride can view a brief trailer for the film, along with those for many others. On August 12th 2017, Disney made the tough decision of closing down The Great Movie Ride forever and was replaced with Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway which first opened in March 2020.
Story[]
- "Hey look, pal, I ain't no victim!"
- —Mugsy to the narrator after hearing him state that a terrifying creature waits somewhere in the ship to claim its next victim.[src]
The Alien in The Great Movie Ride
The ride vehicle has been hijacked by a gangster by the name of Mugsy (If you were lucky, another version of the ride had your vehicle hijacked by a bandit). Along with the riders, Mugsy/Kid Carson drives the vehicle aboard the Nostromo over the course of the ride. Questioning what this is, a narrator then speaks to the guests and states they are aboard the Nostromo with Sigourney Weaver. He goes on to explain that something has gone wrong, and that one by one the crew members have been vanishing. He then states a deadly creature waited within to claim its next victim, Mugsy retorting that he "ain't no victim." The narrator's last words warn the riders that the area they are approaching is extremely dangerous, to proceeded with caution, and to remain in the ride vehicle. Riders will then pass a terrified Ellen Ripley as an alarm sounds and a computerized female voice states that the ship's emergency destruct system has now been activated. The voice begins to count down, just as Mugsy and the riders in the front of the vehicle are attacked from the ceiling by the Alien. Mugsy then points out the creature's second attack, the Alien emerging from the wall and attacking the riders in the back. The ride vehicle then exits the Alien segment, with Mugsy stating that "that was enough creepy-crawlies for one day."
Trivia[]
- Two animatronic versions of the Alien are used in this segment of the ride, one activated right after the other to create the illusion of two different attacks from the same creature from two different locations. If one looks carefully, one of the animatronics can be seen waiting for activation in the shadows to the side of the vehicle.
- In the Walt Disney Archives exhibit held at the Santa Ana Bowers Museum from March 2020 to September 2020, the Xenomorph animatronic that attacked from the ceiling was put on display along with other animatronics from other retired Disney rides including a Mayan priest from Epcot's El Rio del Tempio (rethemed with The Three Caballeros), Captain RX-24 from the original Star Tours, and the "non-CGI" Hitchhiking Ghosts that appeared in your doom buggy near the finale of The Haunted Mansion in Magic Kingdom's version.
- If one listens carefully, Ripley's cat can be heard meowing in the distance.
- If one is in the far back of the ride vehicle, they have a strong chance of seeing the animatronic Ellen Ripley become doused in fluid from the Nostromo after the ship's self-destruct system is activated.
- While there is no photographic evidence of this occurence, one of the spacesuits from Alien was displayed in the ride’s queue of movie props & costumes that were shifted around over the years and an Alien Warrior suit from Aliens was displayed in the AFI Villains exhibit hosted near the end of the Studio Backlot Tour once located in the same park.
- In this rare promotional video made for Disney’s MGM Studios (and The Great Movie Ride by further extent) in 1988, the child stars stumble aboard the Nostromo’s corridors [probably the same set built for the ride] where interestingly enough, they encounter Parker (played by a substitute for Yaphet Kotto) instead of Ripley. Parker ends up getting plucked through the ceiling by the alien and is ultimately killed (much to the two children’s amusement), but we never get to see the Alien itself in this promo.
Video[]
