In stark contrast to Disneyland's family-friendly fall festival approach, the Chinese theme park's Alien Invasion attraction looks downright scary: teenagers trapped in liquid-filled isolation chambers, oozing green pods with whipping tentacle tendrils, visitors drawn like zombies to a waiting spacecraft.

The storyline for the new walk-through attraction in Tomorrowland includes a tour through a spaceship and encounters with alien abductees, Alien Intelligence Agency investigators and extraterrestrials with sinister intensions.

It looks and sounds like tremendous fun. The yawn-inducing orange explosion of pumpkin and candy corn theming that layers Disneyland every Halloween has never done much for me. Just another color scheme between red, white and blue "patriotic" and "holiday" red and green. Here's hoping the aliens invade California next Fall.

Also returning for Haunted Halloween 2009 at Hong Kong Disneyland:

• The Main Street Haunted Hotel and Demon Jungle walk-through attractions with scare actors.
• The daily Glow in the Park Halloween parade with Disney villains, bat puppets and dancing devils.
• The Ghost Galaxy thematic overlay for Space Mountain (also debuting at Disneyland this year).

The Hong Kong Disneyland Haunted Halloween event runs Fridays and Saturdays from Sept. 18 to Oct. 31 plus Thursdays on Oct. 15, 22 and 29. All-day and evening-only tickets are available.