My SGE review 10/31***** AE fans should read

Yeah, yeah, yet another review of this ride. Seemed to be open most of the day yesterday and during the beginning of the MNSSHP as well.

If you didn't already know, I wasn't a fanatic or lover of AE. I enjoyed the attraction, but like most shows, over time failed to give me the impetuous to return every visit. The AE pre show was one of, if not ,THE best pre show around though.

But I'm the eternal optimist & pickiest devil at the same time. I combated AE fans over the replacement of the attraction as I was a big fan of making a BETTER attraction that more people would visit. And since AE doesn't hold any special near and dear place in my heart, I had no problem with a change.

So yesterday is my first visit. The initial pre show is short, gives people the idea of why they are here and what is going on. The animation of Gantu & the Grand Council woman isn't movie quality, but not the end of the world.

Next pre show, SARGE was done well, there's Skippy in the left tube and another experiment who gets beamed in. Again, the pre show serves it's purpose and is "okay". Nothing great, nothing horrible on either end.

Onto the main show. Room looks identical except for the inclusion of the 2 plasma cannons. Stitch gets beamed into the room, the chamber opens, he walks around a little bit, showing off the nice animatronics, then he escapes, a few of the AE gags happen, plasma cannons start shooting all over the place trying to find him (really nice effect), he gets back in the tube and teleports himself outside to the Astro Orbiter, end of ride.

**NOTE** I rode the attraction at night, and the clip of the Astro Orbiter was bright day time, so it looked odd, as well as the animation of Stitch with live people on the ride. It didn't fit at all IMNSHO.

Overall I must say the attraction was "boring". I USUALLY need repeat visits on things to enjoy them to their fullest (I disliked WISHES the first time & took 3-4 Philharmagic's for me to say I REALLY enjoyed it and was not just OK).

The problem I had with the attraction was:

1 - the humor was too obvious & pandering to the audience. Stitch making jokes as opposed to AE's subtle and sly humor. AE was far more clever.

2 - not enough happens. Stitch is standing there looking around, and it's nice to see the animatronic move, but I was thinking, okay enough already, SOMETHING HAPPEN.

3 - even when the lights go out and there is total darkness on & off (AE had far longer periods of sustained darkness) not enough is going on. On AE it felt like the creature was all around you at all times. Half the time Stitch feels like he could be in another park & they do not use the video monitors when he is out and about (like AE did, where you saw someone trying to get the power turned on and then eaten).

Do I think the attraction is BAD? No, just that it would seem they could do a FAR better job with it. The plasma cannons and Stitch AA are great, but they need a much, much, much better storyline/script writer.

I know alot of AE fans out there have said it will be hard for them to see this attraction or they won't go at all. I wasn't an AE fanatic & came out thinking that PROBABLY they should have just kept AE. Granted this ride will generate more visitors due to Stitch, but will it have the legs to be popular over the long haul, who knows. Sometimes an attraction just needs a popular character to get the attendance.

Is it possible that I will enjoy the attraction much, much more after repeat visits? Probably, since knowing I'm such a finicky sort and nothing EVER meets my initial expectations.

FYI - I'm a Stitch fan too, if that helps add to my perspective

Thanks for the update!

My guess is that the average park visitor will see SGE as a minor attraction, a not-unpleasant little diversion during their touring day. Those of us who have followed this project since first hearing about AE's closure will probably be disappointed that the first new MK ride in a while is not a "wow."

Since1976 said:

Thanks for the update!

My guess is that the average park visitor will see SGE as a minor attraction, a not-unpleasant little diversion during their touring day. Those of us who have followed this project since first hearing about AE's closure will probably be disappointed that the first new MK ride in a while is not a "wow."

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Potentially yes (for some people). But I think that Stitch is such a popular character that people are going to be "underwhelmed". This isn't just a 2 bit atraction they are adding like Dino Rama over in Animal Kingdom. This is something they will run TV commericials for, so people are going to have big expectations.

Are you trying to put me off? I was looking forward to seeing this in December!

I went on AE and thought it was excellent, all the little sly digs in the humour, the effects in the dark, all brilliant. I'm not expecting the same from Stitch, even though it's built in the same building and follows the same (ish) plot - this is a Stitch show and bound not to be as frightning or immersive as AE.

If this ride had been built somewhere else and not had so many direct comparisons to AE I think a lot more people would have been positive about it.

Remember the old saying 'leave your brain at the door'? Everybody tries to analyse the new rides/shows to death instead of picking on the good bits and enjoying them!

M

Just off the aircraft this very morning and now trying to stay awake! I was lucky enough to experience SGE on 30th October. I knew that it was a rehash of AE, dumbed down to stop the parents who were stupid enough to take their 2 year old in with them moaning that 'My little Bubba was frightened and burst into tears...." (The warning was marked on the box, morons) and cynically trying to sell more Stitch merchandise (Apparently Stitch outsells Mickey by 3 to 1). All this bitter and twistedness aside (Bring back AE!), the attraction fails on both counts. Looking objectively, it falls between two stools, still too scary for the the little angels who screamed like girls, even the boys, and far too pedestrian to attract any adult following. The whole thing smacks of cheapness (spend $10 and make it look like 11). If AE had to go from MK, then send it to MGM or Paris then build a new Stitch ride from scratch and do it right. I can't see any AE fan visiting SGE more than once. I know I'll take a bashing from the parents of the 'sensitive' children, but such is life.

matrtj said:

If this ride had been built somewhere else and not had so many direct comparisons to AE I think a lot more people would have been positive about it.Remember the old saying 'leave your brain at the door'? Everybody tries to analyse the new rides/shows to death instead of picking on the good bits and enjoying them!M

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Even if this was a brand new ride, it still wouldn't be "up to snuff" by any means.

KevinPage said:

I know alot of AE fans out there have said it will be hard for them to see this attraction or they won't go at all. I wasn't an AE fanatic & came out thinking that PROBABLY they should have just kept AE. Granted this ride will generate more visitors due to Stitch, but will it have the legs to be popular over the long haul, who knows. Sometimes an attraction just needs a popular character to get the attendance.

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I don't look so dumb now do I? :lol:

See what I'm saying now. There are two reasons that I don't want to see this attraction IN PERSON. First off they didnt' change the look all that much. I will be thinking about AE the whole time and I will start missing it. Everything looks so similar in there. I got a little sad when I looked at some of the pics of the attraction. Everytime I see Sarge, I think "Hey that's S.I.R.'s spot" :lol: And I know that if it was hard for me to look at the pics and watch some video of the attraction, imagine how hard it would be for me to actually be in there. I just couldn't handle it. I know it sounds dumb because it's just a theme park attraction, but AE was special to me. I think about it everyday and I wish it was still there constantly. I know I should be able to "get over it", but while I am trying, it is still tough.

The 2nd reason I don't want to see this is simply....I don't like Stitch. I didn't like "Lilo & Stitch" the film and I don't like the character.

So now hopefully you can see my point of view. I wasn't trying to be snotty or rude to Stitch fans or anything, but I just don't think I can see this and be happy about it. And it wasn't just sour grapes either. If they had put a Treasure Planet attraction in there instead of Stitch (A movie that I really liked, for example, as opposed to Lilo and Stitch), it would still be the same thing for me.

Thanks for the review Kevin :wave:

Speedbird said:

Looking objectively, it falls between two stools, still too scary for the the little angels who screamed like girls, even the boys, and far too pedestrian to attract any adult following. The whole thing smacks of cheapness (spend $10 and make it look like 11). If AE had to go from MK, then send it to MGM or Paris then build a new Stitch ride from scratch and do it right.

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That is EXACTLY what I didn't want to happen here. And of course it still might not when it offically opens though. But I didn't want SGE to "fall between two stools". AE was one extreme, and I think that SGE should be the other extreme. But that's just my opinion there.

Speedbird said:

I can't see any AE fan visiting SGE more than once.

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I sort of saw that coming from the start. I'm just avoiding the rush

All joking aside, I think more and more people are starting to see why this changeover is tough for AE fans. This isn't like Horizons vs. Mission Space. It is a totally different building and a totally different attraction. It's tough for us (AE fans) to see this any other way except it being a "dumbed down, kiddie version of the same attraction".

Hopefully everything will work out for the best and SGE will become a big hit, because like I've said many times before I do not want to have lost AE for nothing. If they HAD to change AE, then I hope that it is at least something kids like.

Yeah, it's more like Journey into Imagination fans...

dxwwf3 said:

All joking aside, I think more and more people are starting to see why this changeover is tough for AE fans. This isn't like Horizons vs. Mission Space. It is a totally different building and a totally different attraction. It's tough for us (AE fans) to see this any other way except it being a "dumbed down, kiddie version of the same attraction".

Hopefully everything will work out for the best and SGE will become a big hit, because like I've said many times before I do not want to have lost AE for nothing. If they HAD to change AE, then I hope that it is at least something kids like.

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:sohappy:

Originally Posted by Speedbird
I can't see any AE fan visiting SGE more than once.

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:wave:


I'd have to say that it was very tough for me to see this thing (I like to consider myself AE's second biggest fan, behind dxwwf3 of course :lol: ), and unless something absurd happens and I am forced into that building, I do not plan on experiencing the attraction again. Just my thoughts....

Wt S Sge Ae N Mnsshp?

pumba100 said:

Wt S Sge Ae N Mnsshp?

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um.... :veryconfu

This actually made me laugh, until I got too ticked off trying to figure out what they're saying. :brick:

Whiel I havn't experenced Stitch yet, from the sound of it, it seems that more special effects are needed.

I think that some old AE effects shoudl come back, like the infra-red scope, the person on top of the catwalk (couldn't that be Pleakley?) and other things.

Testtrack321 said:

Whiel I havn't experenced Stitch yet, from the sound of it, it seems that more special effects are needed.

I think that some old AE effects shoudl come back, like the infra-red scope, the person on top of the catwalk (couldn't that be Pleakley?) and other things.

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Maybe more special effects would help. But I don't know if they can increase the length of the show or not. We all know how attention spans of kids are getting now.

It seems that the adults want a better storyline and better effects, but will this change how kids view it negatively? I knew this was going to be a tough attraction to balance out.

dxwwf3 said:

Maybe more special effects would help. But I don't know if they can increase the length of the show or not. We all know how attention spans of kids are getting now.

It seems that the adults want a better storyline and better effects, but will this change how kids view it negatively? I knew this was going to be a tough attraction to balance out.

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A KEY IDEA.

Balance is one of the main Disney attraction unwritten rules. Disney is designed to appleal to everyone. With Tomorrowland being an area not especially kid or adult theme, it needs balance.

I disliked the idea of a Stitch attraction from the start, not so much because of AE being replaced, but more because it's a cartoon. In other words, not bellonging in Tomorrowland. Buzz is also fun but seems out of place to me.

Tomorrowland is disjointed now. How do Space MOuntain and Stitch, for instance, relate to one another besides the fact that they are generally futuristic? And no, Stitch being "space related" doesn't count.

KevinPage said:

2 - not enough happens. Stitch is standing there looking around, and it's nice to see the animatronic move, but I was thinking, okay enough already, SOMETHING HAPPEN.

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Interesting, and I agree on virtually all points. However, I would prefer MORE of Stitch just standing there (or walking around the pod as he does so well). Why? Because sitting there in the dark just hearing him is even worse.

I honestly didn't notice most of the audio effects - I never really thought they were especially directionally clear. I just sort of heard him behind me, not in any specific direction.

I think they could really make the attraction more interesting by doing a few small things before it opens :

1) Fix the ending - even just changing the dialouge of the final video clip would be enough. "Guess it's time to let them go," or whatever it was, is just plain dumb.

2) Turn up the water in the guns. It was a week ago today when I saw it, so maybe it's gotten better, but the water cannons looked like they were leaking, not squirting.

That would be enough to make me see it again, but not love it. For me to love it, it would need much more of the Stitch AA, more excitement in general during the dark. I was more startled the first time by the champagne and water in Philharmagic than I was during Stitch.

AEfx

AEfx said:

Interesting, and I agree on virtually all points. However, I would prefer MORE of Stitch just standing there (or walking around the pod as he does so well). Why? Because sitting there in the dark just hearing him is even worse.

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I agree as well, not enough of the Stitch AA. But what we do have of him, he does very little except walk around and look cute. It's a rather dull moment to be honest.

Granted, he moves around more than the alien in AE did (which was also my biggest complaint of AE).

KevinPage said:

Granted, he moves around more than the alien in AE did (which was also my biggest complaint of AE).

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I always thought that the Alien in AE sort of served two purposes. It was scary looking enough to keep the story straight and it also looked pretty impressive, IMO. But I also thought that it was campy enough to sort of be funny. The whole attraction sort of had a "wink wink" quality to it as well. That's one of the things I liked best about it. If you wanted to take it seriously, it was extremely effective. But if you wanted to take it as a dark comedy, it also was great at that.

But enough rambling about the old AE animatronic :lol:

What did you think of my earlier comments Kevin? Are you starting to see why I have the point of view I have about not seeing it in person or not? I know you still might not fully understand because AE didn't hold a special place in your heart, but you did admit that the building did look very similar.

dxwwf3 said:

What did you think of my earlier comments Kevin? Are you starting to see why I have the point of view I have about not seeing it in person or not? I know you still might not fully understand because AE didn't hold a special place in your heart, but you did admit that the building did look very similar.

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I understand your point of view, just don't neccesarily agree with it. I myself would still experience a ride, even if they didn't change enough. I may not like it but I still want to experience everything good, bad or indifferent.

KevinPage said:

I understand your point of view, just don't neccesarily agree with it. I myself would still experience a ride, even if they didn't change enough. I may not like it but I still want to experience everything good, bad or indifferent.

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Well I don't think you really understood until you saw SGE, but either way I'm glad you at least understand now :wave:

And I sort of differ from you in that I don't really care if I experience "everything". I never did see Goofy's Jamboree show in the Old Diamond Horseshoe, the Jungle Book show in the AK, or the Discoveryland River Boats in the AK, for example. Even though we usually stay about 10 days in the summer, we still don't see everything. We sleep late and take our time. So I guess I'm saying that I am not one of those that has to see something just because it's there, when it comes to WDW attractions.