MIB First Ride Through 12.14.99
I recently found an old DV tape of the Universal Creative team's very first ride aboard MEN IN BLACK: ALIEN ATTACK at Universal Orlando, on December 14th 1999, while the ride was still under construction and programming, exactly four months before the April 14th 2000 opening.
Please forgive the digital garbage on the right side of frame; it's unfortunately baked into the original source material and can't be fixed, as 20yr-old tapes often degrade after time.
It's interesting to note not only the unfinished scenery and targets under full worklights, but also note that the vehicle's rotational positioning and spinning had yet to be programmed.
The on-board audio track you hear is also the temp track, as we had not yet completed the full mix with Rip Torn or Will Smith (fun fact: the temp track was done by done by local Orlando VO Chris Edgerly, who was also the voices of Spider-Man, Peter Parker, and J.J. Jameson for The Adventures of Spider-Man attraction next door). You'll also notice that the timing of that temp track still needed a lot of adjustment, as this was the first time we were testing out the audio triggers on the actual linear speed of the ride vehicles.
Also note the ops tower in the load station -- it was originally just the single-post center structure you see in this video, but was eventually extended with another set of stairs that lead to the inside track, for ease of operational access. Next time you're in the attraction, you'll see the supports for those stairs visible underneath them, rather than included into the engineering of the right-hand wall, as it was a last-minute operational addition long after the building engineering had been completed.