E.T. Question

[HugTheMouse]

Visited US/IOA last Thursday for the first time and LOVED it!

One thing that has nagged me since we left is why do you have to give your first name to a greeter, get a card, then hand this card in before you ride E.T.? Spielberg even makes specific reference to it in his video prior to entering the attraction.

Why this extra step to take a ride? Only thing I could think of is that it is royalty related.

Any answer to this would greatly be appreciated.

 

[JessicaR]

E.T will say good bye and says your name at the end of the ride. sometimes this feature isnt working. You really have to listen for it, its easy to miss.

 

[Prince Eric1]

If your not paying attention you will miss this, as Jessica said. It says goodbye in that slow ET voice that is hard to understand, and with the other noise around if you aren't listening you will miss it.

 

[Motherfletcher]

The last time we rode E.T. was early October and I was amazed because you could hear the names as clear as a bell. Prior to that it has been a couple of years of mumbles at best. I think this could be done away with and not be missed. However my family gets a kick out of giving them made up names. I usually go with Al since it is easy/quick to type. Once when it was slow I told them "Osama" and the attendant looked at me and said do you really want to say that?

 

[Flyfly_Eclipse]

LOL Motherfletcher!!!

I remember the first time I took a friend on that. By the time we got to ET saying the good-byes the names were off. REALLY badly. i mean, he'd be saying good-bye to people who weren't in our car and we'd never hear our names. But this was well over a year ago, so maybe they've fixed the whole timing problem...

but I *do* think it's pointless. Maybe it's more for the kids who'd think it's "cool." Who knows...

 

[damo]

We tried all giving the same name so we would actually know when he was talking to us. I think we tried "bob". It can be pretty funny.

 

[Motherfletcher]

My boy's name is Bob, but he tells them Bartholamew or something that is hard to pronouce and he has to spell it. Wonder where he gets all that biligerence?

 

[the Dark Marauder]

What's great is that ET knows over 6000 names. When people say "Elvis" it gets typed in and said at the end. However, things like "Spongebob" usually end up as "Speedy" or "Bob".

And ET doesn't care about spelling. "Kathryn", "Catherine", "Katherine" ,"Cathryn" all sound the same, for example.

 

[Motherfletcher]

How does Dark Marauder come out? I have a hard time saying that!

 

[the Dark Marauder]

"friend"

Or maybe they'll just type the first few letters and pick a name.

 

[Selina]

I remember ET clearly saying "Goodbye Seliiiiiiina" in his husky voice. Does he say goodbye to everyone in the car or does he choose one person from the car to say goodbye to?

 

[gschmerl]

If everything is working correctly, he says everyone's name.

 

[SpideyHulk24]

We do the same thing. We give names like Bubba or Mickey, just to see what happens. It used to be great when it was new!

 

[HugTheMouse]

Ahhh...I can sleep again now knowing what this name business was all about. Thanks.

I couldn't clearly make out what ET was saying at the end of the ride but now knowing it is my name I'll listen closely next time.

Funny that everyone makes up names as dw and I were making up names after the 2nd ride...Bonnie & Clyde lol

 

[Motherfletcher]

Anyone notice that the cop trying to stop the bikes looks like O.J.?
Then after the Peter Pan flight when you get to the caves my son says, " Are they tripping on mushrooms?"