The interplanetary passports for E.T. Adventure at Universal Studios Florida have a new design and the old cards have been retired.
New E.T. Adventure Interplanetary Passports
Guests traveling via bicycle to help E.T. find Magdol, Tikli, and Orbidon and save the Green Planet can’t go without an interplanetary passport. After the preshow featuring Steven Spielberg ends, the doors open and guests give their names to a Team Member who gives them the card.
The card is an essential part of the finale feature. The Team Member assigns the name to the card, and then guests carry it through the queue. Just before the load station, a Team Member will take the cards and scan them.
The new design is horizontal and features E.T.’s face. The silhouette of E.T. and Elliot now has a stream of red, yellow, and blue light in an arc behind it.
The back of the card now says, “Trying to phone home?” instead of “phoning home?” The barcode is much smaller. It also has logos for “E.T. Phone Home,” “Where are you from?” and Amblin Entertainment. You can compare this to the back of the old cards as pictured below.
The previous design featured the moon prominently with a small silhouette of E.T. and Elliot on the bike. It was also vertical, though the back was horizontal.
At the end of the ride, after (spoiler alert) the Green Planet has been saved, E.T. says thank you to each guest by name. This is accomplished by the programming and subsequent scanning of the passport card.
Watch our video below to see the effect in action.
Do you give your real name, or do you use a fake name for your E.T. Adventure Interplanetary Passport? Let us know in the comments.
Did you know E.T. Adventure is one of the last remaining attractions from opening day at Universal Studios Florida? When the park opened on June 7, 1990, the interplanetary passports were known as “passes,” as the original preshow set up the guests as extras on a new E.T. film. At the time, almost everything at Universal Studios Florida was themed as if guests were visiting real working soundstages and sets. While movies, shows, and music videos have all been filmed at the park, the attractions were just that.
E.T. Adventure features over 300 animatronics, including baby E.T.s, Botanicus, and more. Some inspiration was taken from the “E.T.: The Book of the Green Planet” novel, such as the inclusion of Botanicus, but the plot is quite different.
In 2002, the ride received a refurbishment in honor of the movie’s 20th anniversary. That marked the debut of the current preshow and new backstory.
Versions of E.T. Adventure used to exist at two other Universal Parks. The ride closed at Universal Studios Hollywood in 2003 to make way for Revenge of the Mummy, and in 2009 at Universal Studios Japan for Space Fantasy: The Ride.
For more Universal Studios news from around the world, follow Universal Parks News Today on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. For Disney Parks news, visit WDWNT.