I like the concept of having a Stranger Things temporary overlay of E.T. a la Haunted Mansion/Nightmare Before Christmas, but probably too late for us to see that happen.
I had never thought of it that way... that's a cool way for E.T. to stay in operation AND become a big draw for HHN guests if it can seasonally overlay as an offering every fall.
*redo the queue to play subtle stranger things music, put missing posters on the trees, have a boombox playing "should i stay or should i go" and christmas lights leading off a ways into the forest to set up as easter eggs
*once on the ride, remove the music of the forest - obscure all the animatronics with brush OR change the dialogue of how they're presented with lines from the show where the cops are trying to stop the kids from going into the woods - play creepy music and keep us in the dark.
*change the signage on Elliott's fort to Fort Byers, and right before we take off for the jump, hit us with a projection of a demogorgon jumping out at us (just because i assume they won't build a fully detailed animatronic or have anywhere good to put it within the forest segment at least).
*turn off the lights on the flying over the city segment - play the intro music - fill the room with fog
*instead of the wormhole in space to take us to the Green Planet have a projector show a rift to the upside down opening up
*cover all the animatronics in the planet sequence with foliage/tentacle walls/fog-style obscurities and instead show flashing lights of static demodogs and projector demobats
*in the largest room before the finale, have a large static mindflayer coming out of the wall/forced perspective
*finale room have a wall screen covering E.T. and instead project a rift opening back up with Eleven on the other side getting us out of there.
I don't think it would be too hard and i don't think it's asking for too much outside of strobe lights, fog machines, static figures, and projectors??