You can't visit Disney World and not stop by Tomorrowland. Disney World's version is in much better shape than Disneyland's, what with the fact that the majority of its attractions are not shut down for repairs or for good. The day my family hit Tomorrowland was pretty rainy, so we stocked up on matching Mickey ponchos (bright yellow plastic with Mickeys on the back) to keep us snug, dry, and easily lost in the sea of poncho'ed fellow tourists.

We had never been on the ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter ride, so we thought we would try that out. An extra plus was that the queue was under a pavilion roof and out of the rain. It's one of those "rides" where you wait outside, then you stand in a themed room just inside to watch an introductory movie that immerses you in the world of the "ride," then you sit in the theater and experience the "ride." The day we were there, they were having videotape problems in the first themed room, so they kept closing and then reopening for two minutes and then closing again.

We could have just given up, but we were stubborn, and it was nice to stand out of the rain. Then the rain cleared momentarily, and middle sis, little sis, and I decided to go ride the Astro Orbiter. It's basically the Dumbo ride, but on top of a building and with spaceships instead of elephants.

We had all been on it before, so we didn't expect it to be scary. We forgot, however, that the last time we'd been on it we were all children, not young women. Somehow it didn't register with little sis and me that in all the cars with two people, the two people were a parent and a small child. So we cheerily crammed together into one car--two adults--and had just enough time to notice that middle sis was the only one in her car before the ride started up.

Though little sis and I are not huge people, we both started freaking out, convinced that the force of our combined weight would rip our car free from its arm and send us hurtling over the Magic Kingdom. We hastily tried to estimate how much a parent plus child would weigh and see how close our combined weights were to that number. Then we assured each other that the teenager running the ride would have stopped us if it really had been a bad idea to double-up. Then we tried to put our fears aside and enjoy the ride to its fullest by pushing the button that makes the car rise and orbit higher and higher...really high up when you're on top of a building. Then we finished the ride screaming "Take us down! Take us down!" and fighting over who could push the button that decreases altitude first.

Back on the ground, we rejoined everyone else in line. They hadn't moved. So we began to pass the time speculating about what the ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter ride might be like. None of us had ridden it, and we doubted it would be too scary (this was Disney World, after all) but we had heard things. We knew that we'd be sitting in a darkened theater, and then the lights would go out and the "alien" would escape, and then our senses would be titillated by the magic of Disney's Imagineers.

But we didn't know exactly what senses...voices hissing in our ears? Tentacles lashing at our feet? Who knew? So my brother and little sis began planning how they would scare each other with suitably alien-esque behavior if the show proved to be lame.

little sis: I'm going to blow on your shoulder.

brother: I'm going to tap your neck.

little sis: I'm going to drool on your hand.

brother: (reaching under her poncho and poofing the front out) I'm going to burst out of your chest.

Truthfully, nothing in the ride topped that.