Ellen's Energy Adventure: Disney's Weird Pro-Oil Ride

I loved this ride as a kid! My mom always called it “Ellen’s energy nap” since it was a long dark ride that hardly anyone rode so she could take a nap.

It was super nice of the cast members to let the guests walk around the ride and see the animatronics on their last ride :]

As a person who experienced the original rides of EPCOT back in 1990, I gotta say Universe of Energy was categorically NOT the weakest ride. I really wish I could convey how magical it felt the first time those "theater" seats turned into ride vehicles. For the first several years, there were still people who had no idea this was a trackless ride. I still remember people gasping as the 2nd showroom theater turned into an actual ride. People stood up and clapped at the end when they realized they'd been taken back to the original theater room and hadn't even realized it. Also World of Motion suuuuuuucked so Universe of Energy always had at least one ride to dunk on

I was a 90's Orlando kid that visited this ride umpteen times as a kid. Even before Ellen, it wasn't to be missed. The dinosaurs were always worth sitting through the pre and post shows.

If she doesn't know anything about energy how can she dream about Judy Peterson saying the correct answers?

I think it's great that they got to get out and do a walk through on the last ever ride. Looks like they allowed photography. Good way to say goodbye.

Man I legit rode this ride once! I completely forgot about it until suddenly seeing Ellen on Jeopardy brought it all crashing back to me! I still remember how hokey the final question was with the answer being 'Brain Power', ha ha! Man you unlocked a deep memory for me today! ^^

as someone whos studied dinosaurs; man, those animatronics are ROUGH. they were outdated depictions when the original ride was built, let alone in the mid-90s when the Ellen version was made. cause by that time, Jurassic Park had been out for a few years and essentially updated the pop culture depictions of dinosaurs to something more modern that these animatronics that look straight out of the Rite of Spring segment from Fantasia, made about 50 years before the Ellen version, and 40 years before the original version of the ride. and comparing it to the 40s is being generous cause they honestly look like artwork from the late 1800s. (let alone comparing them to the present day 2020s understanding of any of the animals shown) paleontology is one of the sciences most easily susceptible to what tvtropes calls Science Marches On, so it could be excused if the ride itself was just that old, but those animatronics were made in the 80s yet look straight out of art from the 40s, and a little something called the Dinosaur Renaissance happened between those times so the difference is ESPECIALLY noticeable. Jurassic Parks release would make the issue easily noticeable to the general audience by the time the Ellen refresh happened, which kinda sucks cause that segment of the ride seems to be the most liked. i mean, its not like the animatronic scenes actually look bad in the ride, far from it, the scientist in me just makes it painful to look at.

the whole “ellen’s energy crisis” thing is an exercise in why books are better sources than the internet

Rode this without any knowledge as to what was going to happen in 2006, imagine my surprise when we got to travel INTO the primeval world. As a HUGE fan of the Disneyland Railroad I was blown away!

The best part of this ride was 50 minutes of air conditioning and darkness. Loved it.

It would be fitting if they rethemed this ride to WALL-E or UP. As they are themed to Adventure, Space, Exploration or Earth day... Up barely has any entertainment and WALL-E doesn't even HAVE any.

Yup, A/C was the big main reason to ride this ride. At the time Epcot didn't have a whole lot of anything other than "cruising the world" there was Soarin, the boat ride through the greenhouse, test track and the dark ride in the big geodesic dome (please don't crucify me for not knowing the proper ride names). 40 minutes no problem, that's a good sit down wait after lunch or something. But while I'm not sad to see it go man oh man I'm jealous AF for all those who got that last ride walk through due to it breaking down.

Quite a tragedy that the ride ended because Ellen had all the dinosaur animatronics laid off over their nails looking a little iffy 😢.

Can you do a video on Attractions Sponsorships, how it worked and why it was so crucial to keeping a Disney attraction open, and how this business model doesn’t generally seem to exist.

I thinks it’s too coincidental it broke down on the last ride ever and they let everyone get out and explore, I think they did it on purpose.

The ride did not break down on the last ride through. Letting the guests walk through the ride was planned. They do it for every ride that they shut down, if a walk through is possible. They also did it with the great movie ride.

I loved this ride as a kid (roughly ‘04-‘12). We would ride it every time we went when my parents got tired and needed to rest.

I used to LOVE this ride but when I was a kid my parents used to gaslight me into believing the seats were not moving and the dinosaur scene was just screens. I always questioned it especially because of the one that sprays water but my dad was SO insistent it was just screens that I honestly wonder if he actually believed it wasn’t animatronics somehow. I did also ride it during its final week in 2017 (sadly wasn’t on the final ride with the in-show exit which I will forever kick myself for)

Oh new ride's replacing it? Can't wait for Chris Pratt to sell me on oil and gas this time!! /j