More Changes to SGE?

[yodathefrog]

Went on SGE last Wednesday during Extra Magic Hours. Everyone in my show was laughing and having a great time. Maybe this is because of the Extra Magic Hours and having more Disney Purists in the audience. I was actually amazed at how good is was compared to what I had read on here prior to going down last week. The story line was clear to me, no annoiances, and my family and I were amazed by the Stitch AA and Cannons. Call me stupid, but I enjoyed the ride and was looking foward to going on it the second time. Don't chastize me too much for this post... :wave:

 

[casualrdt]

Went on SGE last Wednesday during Extra Magic Hours. Everyone in my show was laughing and having a great time. Maybe this is because of the Extra Magic Hours and having more Disney Purists in the audience. I was actually amazed at how good is was compared to what I had read on here prior to going down last week. The story line was clear to me, no annoiances, and my family and I were amazed by the Stitch AA and Cannons. Call me stupid, but I enjoyed the ride and was looking foward to going on it the second time. Don't chastize me too much for this post... :wave:

I was there last Wednesday night as well and had the same thought.... most people seemed to like it. I was on it again on Friday and Saturday and again... same response from most of the crowds. I think the updates have made a small impact. I have seen video of the original attraction and I can tell you the lights are on a bite more now and the projections should help bring the fear factor down a bit.

 

[ok_st_is#1]

Waste of Space

Stitch's whatever is a mockery of perfectly good movie. i hope the Nemo sub ride at DL doesn't turn out like this one, changing scripts and stuff all the time

 

[angelfaerie52]

Very cute

I went on the ride for the first time last Wednesday... I had a great time. I loved AE, but this ride was a decent replacement. I thought it was funny. The only problem I had was that the ending was a bit rushed. Otherwise, it was really cute... I wished that they had done more with the restraints... The Stitch AA was amazing, so were the gun blasters. Not my favorite ride, but an exciting show I did go on twice.

 

[Heatherbell]

I went on SGE the first week of may (pre 05/05/05). Now I had read the postings in these forums but nevertheless we waited in the 60 minute line (Fastpass was "broken" that day) So we waited the 60 minutes and it totally was not worth it. (You all are saying "DUH") However in its defense it was cute however it was cute until you actually got in the room and sat down. That room is still intimidating from AE and I don't feel it should be that intimidating for this ride. Then once it went dark I was like sitting there wondering what the heck was going on....then the lights came on and the ride was over. I almost thoght something malfunctioned but from what I hear that was the normal ride. Bottom line pre-show was cute, the actual show kind of stupid, and overall not worth a 60 minute wait. Live and learn.

 

[KingStefan]

How many times do I have to tell you guys?!?! Not too many people liked Alien Encounter when it was open! Check this out and you'll see what I mean:
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/showthread.php?t=11127&page=1&pp=40
Somewhere around post 30 AE comes up and plenty of people mention hating it.
Although, I gotta say, the idea of placing it in the Studios is very interesting....

You are absolutely right!

Just as an aside: it was interesting to see people say they that thier least favorite was Body Wars. Also someone's least favorite was Making of Me, and someone didn't like WoL in general. Now folks are whining because WoL is closed!

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm one of those who would love to see this pavilion open up again. It was one of my favorite places in WDW. It's just interesting to see how the mood and feeling of the crowd changes once something is not available anymore! Just like AE!

P.S., by the way, I kinda liked SGE. Not the greatest, but kinda funny. Although I must say, I had heard much ado about stitch being the only AA who can spit, and then was very disappointed. How fake was that! It was like a water pistol. And you could see the mechanism inside his mouth. The rest was OK though. I didn't see it before they added the audio commentary like some kid that was in the audience was talking, but I liked that part; I think it added something to the experience. My DDs (11 and 7) loved it, especially the part where he played with their hair.

I never saw AE, and I'm sure it was great. I've heard lots of descriptions, and it seems to have been very well done. I'm sorry I missed it. But I agree with those who have said that it doesn't seem appropriate for the MK.

P.P.S, Does anyone know whether they have spent enough money on the reduced budget for SGE plus all the changes to exceed what Imagineering originally estimated? I'm and engineer, and I've seen it happen time and time again: There's never enough money to do it right the first time, but there's always plenty of money to fix it later!

 

[LoisMustDie]

I loved AE, but this ride was a decent replacement.

Since when was it ok for Disney to start making "decent" rides? Whatever happened to "outstanding," "mind-blowing," and "fantastic?" Have our expectations sunk so low? Are we so used to mediocrity that we're starting to accept "decent" rides at WDW, and in TOMORROWLAND of all places?

I weep for the future...

 

[Figment1986]

I slightly enjoyed Stitch when i viewed it on Tuesday May 17.

The projections helped a lot and the smell made me hungry for chicken???

 

[MichelleBelle]

They claimed that the Shoulder Harnesses were "Scanning Units" for scanning your Genetic Code to protect you from the Cannons. They could have done better explaining them.

-DGJ

ohhh, that's right! Thanks DGJ!

 

[HMGhost13]

Great AA, horrible attraction.

 

[TiggersPooh]

I went on SGE the first week of may (pre 05/05/05). Now I had read the postings in these forums but nevertheless we waited in the 60 minute line (Fastpass was "broken" that day) So we waited the 60 minutes and it totally was not worth it. (You all are saying "DUH") However in its defense it was cute however it was cute until you actually got in the room and sat down. That room is still intimidating from AE and I don't feel it should be that intimidating for this ride. Then once it went dark I was like sitting there wondering what the heck was going on....then the lights came on and the ride was over. I almost thoght something malfunctioned but from what I hear that was the normal ride. Bottom line pre-show was cute, the actual show kind of stupid, and overall not worth a 60 minute wait. Live and learn.

You were there when one theatre was down for the mini rehab. So the lines were long and there was no fastpass all week. Many times we have a perm greeter so they really dont know why fastpass might be down so they can easily say its broke. It would have been horrible with fastpass that week though.

 

[yodathefrog]

I guess the question I have for the SGE Haters is...Was this show/ride ever supposed to be an E-ticket style attraction? We treat like it was, but was that the intention? Sure it's not Soarin or Splash Mountain, but I can think of alot of C, D type rides that it is better than. I think we complain so much about not getting these median type of rides, but we finally get one, and then we complain about it not being "mind-blowing" as one poster said. Disney World has a great balance, and for a middle of the road attraction, I was highly amused when on it. If that is what they were going for, then they succeeded.

 

[dizneeboy]

I haven't seen the attraction yet, but from what I've read, the chambers themselves are basically the same as far as color, correct?

If so, I'm wondering if changing the interior more to fit in more with the movie might give a different feeling to guest as they enter to watch (ie using those awesome water colors thoughout the chamber). Nowhere in the movie was there a dark and creepy feel like the AE chambers. Specifically, I'm remember in the holding room with the cannons in the movie. I'll have to pull the movie out again to be sure, but I think the whole room was a light blue/grey color.

Just speculating, but maybe a more light hearted feel may set the tone better??

 

[AEfx]

SGE doesn't suck anymore.

I went on it 10 times in the past two weeks, and I can't believe that I actually enjoy it now.

As I said when it launched, there were just so many minor problems; now they seem to have been largely addressed. In fact, I felt as if each and every point I made about the ride in those threads last year had been corrected.

First, there wasn't enough use of the harness effects. Now they are used several times throughout the show to much better effect.

Next was the lack of the Stitch AI - he comes back several times now instead of just once.

Then there was the incoherance of what was going on in the theater while Stitch is "escaping" - it's now spelled out a bit more clearly.

Finally, the ending - just the change of a few words made it a much more complete experience.

In the end, the new SGE does it's job - it makes you feel as if you are actually witnessing the event, not wondering just what in heck just happened.

The extra lighting effects/projections also help when the show does go totally dark (which it still does). Instead of kids screaming at that point, they now laugh and think it's great fun because of Stitch. I'm sure SOME kids may still have a problem with it, but then again there are parents that complain about the "violence" in Philharmagic because Donald gets "smashed" into a wall - some kids just get scared of anything.

Overall, I have to say, I really do enjoy the attraction now. It didn't take much to change it from non-sensical to having the semblance of a story. The reactions of the groups I saw it with were extremely different between the previews last fall and the current run. Instead of dazed looks of "huh? what was that?" I saw smiles and happy kids. In 10 runs (may have been 11, I lost count at 8...) I didn't see one crying kid.

Will it ever be as neat as Alien Encounter? Nope. But it at least it doesn't suck any more - it serves it's purpose of giving kids the Stitch experience, and having some semblance of coherent story for adults to enjoy.

AEfx

 

[KevinPage]

SGE doesn't suck anymore.

I went on it 10 times in the past two weeks, and I can't believe that I actually enjoy it now.

As I said when it launched, there were just so many minor problems; now they seem to have been largely addressed. In fact, I felt as if each and every point I made about the ride in those threads last year had been corrected.

First, there wasn't enough use of the harness effects. Now they are used several times throughout the show to much better effect.

Next was the lack of the Stitch AI - he comes back several times now instead of just once.

Then there was the incoherance of what was going on in the theater while Stitch is "escaping" - it's now spelled out a bit more clearly.

Finally, the ending - just the change of a few words made it a much more complete experience.

In the end, the new SGE does it's job - it makes you feel as if you are actually witnessing the event, not wondering just what in heck just happened.

The extra lighting effects/projections also help when the show does go totally dark (which it still does). Instead of kids screaming at that point, they now laugh and think it's great fun because of Stitch. I'm sure SOME kids may still have a problem with it, but then again there are parents that complain about the "violence" in Philharmagic because Donald gets "smashed" into a wall - some kids just get scared of anything.

Overall, I have to say, I really do enjoy the attraction now. It didn't take much to change it from non-sensical to having the semblance of a story. The reactions of the groups I saw it with were extremely different between the previews last fall and the current run. Instead of dazed looks of "huh? what was that?" I saw smiles and happy kids. In 10 runs (may have been 11, I lost count at 8...) I didn't see one crying kid.

Will it ever be as neat as Alien Encounter? Nope. But it at least it doesn't suck any more - it serves it's purpose of giving kids the Stitch experience, and having some semblance of coherent story for adults to enjoy.

AEfx

Exactly