 The shorter version released on home video as "A special home video version  of Explorers," actually contains a scene which does not appear in some  theatrical versions.  In this scene, Ben falls asleep in class and finds  himself in a dream where all his classmates have disappeared.  With his  glowing gift from his alien friends in hand, he rises out of his seat to find  the "Thunder Road" in the corner of the classroom looking brand new.  (It had  fallen into the lake while returning home after their visit with the aliens.)  Ben then finds himself flying with Wolfgang, Darren and Lori.