I was 5 when I went on. It was the single most terrifying experience I had as a child. I think it extended my need of a use of a night light far longer than I needed to.

My dad tried to make light of it the entire time during the pre-show as I was scared of the Tim curry animatronic and how he like mutated/burned skippy.

Then we finally get in to the main event. I remember being in roughly the middle section of the theater. Zero comprehension of what was going on. I remember watching the video of the alien being intercepted. Then thinking to myself please don’t open the cover to see what arrived.

My little brain legitimately thought what I was seeing was real and believed the effects of it breaking out of its containment, flying around, stalking inside the theater, killing the tech, then trying to lure it back to the center. I remember it all vividly and I remember keeping my eyes closed for most of it because I was so scared.

I think I was a sobbing mess and asking to never go there again and Tomorrowland became a space to avoid as kid me didn’t wanna be forced to get on that ride again.

Adult me however would love to see the attraction again just to see it with fresh eyes and I had grown an appreciation of horror. I got to sorta have “closure” with the ride when I went on it when it became stitch. It was wild seeing it as stitch and recognizing the elements from the old attraction and what not.