The Making of Men in Black: Alien Attack at Universal Studios Florida

More Capacity, More Challenges

The ride system was not able to reach the hourly capacity goals expected for Men in Black: Alien Attack.

One solution to improve throughput would have been to dispatch two ride vehicles at a time, moving in tandem like a train. Another solution was to add a second track and run the vehicles side by side. This option increased capacity to just over 2,000 riders per hour.

A second track could open up gameplay opportunities in which riders could zap at the other vehicle. However, a second track would cause issues by doubling the ride area, specifically the reach envelope.

A reach envelope is the safety gap between the ride vehicle and its surroundings so riders can’t touch parts of the attraction, which could cause injury. A second track for the Men in Black ride would double the reach envelope, taking up more space.

The ride’s doubled reach envelope limited the track layout to mostly straightaways with only a few turns. The clear and navigable ride area pushed the design team to adapt their approach. Classic dark ride tricks, which usually thrive in small settings, were now more difficult to pull off.

“The whole building operates as one big machine, so the challenge is to keep it from feeling like one.”
Dave Cobb, Starlog, 2000

The widened space restricted where the design team could hide certain visuals. Riders could essentially look in any direction they pleased, so the designers had to make sure the set looked good from all angles.

That being said, the large areas were also a positive for the designers. For example, the targets could be spread around the spacious scenes, which could improve the gameplay. Also, the large spaces were a sandbox for the designers to create even more expansive environments.

Designing the Sets

Most show scenes of Men in Black: Alien Attack would take place on the streets of New York City, stylized with what the designers called “Technicolor film noir.” The team crafted the sets in a way that captured how city streets would appear on a Broadway stage—based in realism but with more expression.

When creative director Dave Cobb started the project, he had a personal goal of making this attraction like a Haunted Mansion for Universal Studios. The ride concept had the potential to be a “cocktail party” type of attraction—saturated with decorations and gags, making guests want to ride again and again.

The classic rides at Universal Studios Florida had massive cinematic scenes that usually focused on one animatronic or special effect; Men in Black, however, would be overstuffed with characters and details for riders to notice.

“It has been a long time since anyone created any type of large-scale, cool, classic dark ride with lots of characters and stuff going on and just plain sensory overload which makes you want to ride it over and over again.”
Dave Cobb, Starlog, 2000

An Extraterrestrial Cast

The ride’s city streets would be overrun by 127 aliens from 80 different species. Each alien teetered a fine line between funny and scary, having humanlike features to be instantly identifiable by guests. The characters, many of which were designed by Neville Page, were developed specifically for the ride with inspirations from the movie.

The ride’s cast of aliens would be split between some animatronics and some static figures. The characters were fabricated by a few companies, including Advanced Animations, AVG, and The Attractions Services Company.

The figures were especially important on this ride as they would be the targets for the interactive gameplay. The Creative team debated whether the targets should be visible on the characters or blend in. They considered obvious targets such as blast wounds on their bodies or prisoner collars, which went along with the story.

However, during gameplay testing, visible targets made no significant difference. If anything, the obvious targets made the ride feel too much like a video game—acknowledging the game would break the fantasy. On top of that, the character figures were already in production with built-in targets. So, the decision was made to abandon the idea of visible targets.