Author: (panther@gate.net).

Here's a description of the ride, as best I can remember:

First, the pre-show is now really an important part of the show, to help
know what's going on, though if you arrive late, the end of the pre-show
wraps up what was explained throughout it.

Pre Show:
Ellen walks out, introduces herself, and explains why she was chosen to
host this show, especially as she says she knows very little about energy. 
She does a flashback of herself in her living room, watching her "favorite
show", Jeopardy.  On jeopardy, is an old schoolmate of hers, played by
Jamie Lee Curtis, who is a know-it-all and manages to be getting all of the
questions correct in the show.

Bill Nye the science guy drops by while her show comes on, and asks for
some various items for a science experiment, to which ellen lets him
borrow.  He sits down and notices she's watching jeopardy, and she tells
Bill about her schoolmate who was a professor of energy (or something) and
that she always called her schoolmate stupid.  Bill tells Ellen that energy
is very important to everything we do, but Ellen disclaims his statement as
Bill heads for the door.

Ellen then begins to fall asleep, and the dream sequence begins.  The
flashback ends for the pre-show, and the present Ellen introduces us to her
dream sequence.

The guests now move on into the main theatre.

Once seated, we see Ellen as a guest on Jeopardy with her schoolmate and
Dr. Einstein (as a third guest).  Ellen experiences her worst nightmare as
she realizes that all of the Jeopardy categories are related directly to
sources of energy, which she knows nothing about.  Alex Trebek (sp) begins
the game, and Ellen's schoolmate begins to take over the show as she
answers all the questions immediately.  Dr. Einstein sort of just stands
aside and smokes his pipe and watches.  Ellen is totally lost, and
eventually gets frustrated and stops the show, where everything around her
freezes in motion.

Bill Nye comes in from a stage door, as Ellen walks off the motionless
stage and greets him.  Bill offers to give her a "fun" demonstration of
energy and it's sources, so they are shown walking off stage out a door.

The next scene has Bill and Ellen travel back in time to right before the
big bang.  They are shown on a big black screen with a small point of light
in the middle of the middle screen.  This point of light represents the
singularity that existed before the big bang.  Bill describes this to Ellen
and then leaves the "universe" out a door, to which Ellen makes several
humorous remarks, then realizes she's alone as the big bang is about to
occur.  She then calls for Bill who grabs her at the last moment and pulls
her outside the "door" saving her from the explosion from the big bang.

The next scene is the most beautiful, spectacular presentation of computer
animation I've seen.  It shows the progression from the big bang, onward
towards earth, and stops at the dinosaur era.

The next scene shows Bill and Ellen in a thick forest/jungle, surrounded by
sounds of dinosaurs.  Bill enthusiastically moves on to explore further,
and Ellen elects to stay just where she is, until she finds herself alone.

At this point, we move on to the dinosaur section, as Ellen begins to look
for Bill Nye when she hears a large dinosaur apporaching.

The dinosaur caves are now much darker and look much more realistic in the
dimmed light.  Many of you who have seen this attraction while in
transition with the newly painted dinosaurs will see why they are much more
brightly painted now, as in the darker setting, they now fit in with the
lighting.

We move through the first scene which is where all the cars move into a
single line, as we still hear Ellen's voice from the bushes calling for
Bill Nye, who we hear from the opposite side.  The remainder of the
dinosaur cave is the same, except that a very well-made audio-animitronic
of Ellen is shown fighting off the snake-like dinosaur who moves in a
circular motion towards her.

Afterwards, we are moved into a darkened theatre where we hear radio
reports of the ages, while all of the cars move in together for the final
show.

In the final show, we move back to the present era, with Bill Nye flying
with Ellen in a helicopter over various methods of energy, over
hyroelectric dams, offshore oil wells, and even underwater!  Finally, Ellen
and Bill arrive back at the Jeopardy set, where Ellen takes her place, and
answers successfully many questions in Double Jeopardy to tie with her
schoolmate.  Alex then asks the Final Jeopardy question, which was which
source of energy never runs out, and while the traditional Jeopardy tune
plays, we move back into the original theatre.  Ellen's schoolmate answers
the question incorrectly, betting all of her money and winding up with
nothing, and Ellen succeeds and wins the show.

Even with this description, I've left out a *whole lot* of the show.  You
absolutely must see it to experience the whole thing.  The humor and much
of the events which took place were not described here, and without it, it
is mostly incomplete.  If you have any questions, feel free to mail me
(panther@gate.net).

This show is a 1000% improvement over the original Universe of Energy,
which was mostly just a half-hour repetitive lecture on energy.  Even
though, I do miss the original UoE theme song.