Rumor Stitch's Great Escape Replacement— Don’t Hold Your Breath

[brb1006]

I would love to see a version of Mr Toad and Peter Pan redone with 21st century tech... The Shanghai Peter Pan is worlds better than WDWs version... Heck, the Disneyland version is worlds better than ours...

I remember between 2008 and 2013, Eric Sale (character designer and illustrator) created a proposal for a modern version of Mr Toad's Wild Ride titled "Mr Toad's Motor Mania" complete with concept art for Walt Disney World. The concept artwork looked decent and had some decent potential.

Will make a follow up comment soon.

 

[brb1006]

More of Eric Scales concept art for "Mr Toad's Motor Mania"

While Scales' idea on a reimagined version of Mr Toad's Wild Ride at Walt Disney World hasn't been updated since 2013. He was very open if somebody at Disney would have been open on his proposal in the future. He envisioned it to be located at the former "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" prior to the construction of Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.

You can read more about his idea on a modern version of a Wind in the Willows attraction in his portfolio.

Eric Scales- Portfolio

This blog is specifically dedicated to my Theme Park Design Artwork. For more general illustrations and random sketches check out my other blog at ericscalessketchbook.blogspot.com

ericscalesportfolio.blogspot.com

 

[Fox&Hound]

Sorry if someone else already posted this, but I read online that Stitch won’t get redone because it is filled with asbestos and if they redo it they would need to redo Cosmic Rays too to clear it and with the money it brings in they dont want to have to close it. Any truth to that rumor?

 

[Brer Panther]

Not the worst idea for the space. Do you have a link to the post?

 

[James Alucobond]

That literally just sounds like someone who reads uninformed wishful speculation on this and other forums.

 

[Bryan_the_Imagineer]

Sorry if someone else already posted this, but I read online that Stitch won’t get redone because it is filled with asbestos and if they redo it they would need to redo Cosmic Rays too to clear it and with the money it brings in they dont want to have to close it. Any truth to that rumor?

This rumor is too far-fetched to be true, like why would there be asbestos in the stitch building, as there's no water damage nor plant life (As far as we know) in the building.

 

[ᗩLᘿᑕ ✨ ᗩζᗩᗰ]

Somebody on Reddit claimed that they might be putting an Edna Mode show in the Stitch building. Anyone know if there's any truth to that?

If true... I'd be a retrofit of a mothballed Play Pavilion concept...

 

[Haymarket2008]

Not the worst idea for the space. Do you have a link to the post?

Honestly makes a lot of sense. This was one of the ideas that was supposed to be featured within the Play Pavilion at EPCOT. Maybe they are grafting that on into Tomorrowland?

That being said: it is a terrible idea and doesn't fit Tomorrowland whatsoever.

 

[Haymarket2008]

I remember between 2008 and 2013, Eric Sale (character designer and illustrator) created a proposal for a modern version of Mr Toad's Wild Ride titled "Mr Toad's Motor Mania complete with concept art for Walt Disney World. The concept artwork looked decent and had some decent potential.
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Will make a follow up comment soon.

I have always thought that a revival of Mr. Toad would be a great fit in the UK pavilion at EPCOT (at least the new IP mandated version of the park).

 

[Bocabear]

Mr Toad was a lot of fun... a silly, fun attraction and staple of Fantasyland...I still mourn the loss and replacement by the lackluster Winnie The Pooh ride...but I am from a different era in Disney history and they have really done nothing with Mr. Toad since redoing the version in Disneyland back in the 80s... It would be a lot of fun to do something like that concept art, but as it is not tied to a currently running Disney Plus streaming kids show, it would never get built... Which is such a pity. They have an immense catalog of IP that is still classic Disney to work with, but we seem to only get the most recent ones.

 

[Bill Cipher]

Sorry if someone else already posted this, but I read online that Stitch won’t get redone because it is filled with asbestos and if they redo it they would need to redo Cosmic Rays too to clear it and with the money it brings in they dont want to have to close it. Any truth to that rumor?

I feel like there's a degree of truth to this. Not necessarily true that they don't want to close Cosmic Rays because it makes too much money, but rather because there aren't enough large QSR locations in the park to offset its capacity. Rays serves so many guests its not even funny, often filling its dining room and overflow seating for hours on end.

Since the Stitch/AE footprint is so small, it would make sense if designers want to eat into the Cosmic Rays footprint for attraction space, and if building codes require them to update the entire structure anyway then they might as well go all in. The big issue though, as mentioned, is where do you send the rest of those hungry guests? Pecos, Harbor House, and Pinocchio are all on the opposite side of the park. Opening Tomorrowland Terrace fulltime sounds like an option, but it would still need more to supplement it because it needs to close at dinner time for firework parties.

Suffice to say, if the plan is for a Stitch replacement to overlay the existing theatre, it could come in the near-mid term; if the plan is for a Stitch replacement to alter the space significantly, it'll come much further down the line.

 

[Disney Maddux]

I feel like there's a degree of truth to this. Not necessarily true that they don't want to close Cosmic Rays because it makes too much money, but rather because there aren't enough large QSR locations in the park to offset its capacity. Rays serves so many guests its not even funny, often filling its dining room and overflow seating for hours on end.

Since the Stitch/AE footprint is so small, it would make sense if designers want to eat into the Cosmic Rays footprint for attraction space, and if building codes require them to update the entire structure anyway then they might as well go all in. The big issue though, as mentioned, is where do you send the rest of those hungry guests? Pecos, Harbor House, and Pinocchio are all on the opposite side of the park. Opening Tomorrowland Terrace fulltime sounds like an option, but it would still need more to supplement it because it needs to close at dinner time for firework parties.

Suffice to say, if the plan is for a Stitch replacement to overlay the existing theatre, it could come in the near-mid term; if the plan is for a Stitch replacement to alter the space significantly, it'll come much further down the line.

FWIW, the recent somewhat revival of something possibly happening here was supposedly a retrofit of the current format.

 

[J4546]

I have always thought that a revival of Mr. Toad would be a great fit in the UK pavilion at EPCOT (at least the new IP mandated version of the park).

that would be pretty chill. A nice slow paced inside/outside darkride...I dont hate it. But I still want mary poppin carousel variant

 

[Ayla]

That literally just sounds like someone who reads uninformed wishful speculation on this and other forums.

Isn't that basically the definition of reddit? That place is a cesspool.

 

[Splash4eva]

Isn't that basically the definition of reddit? That place is a cesspool.

We can say that about all social media lol

 

[peterwendy]

Sorry if someone else already posted this, but I read online that Stitch won’t get redone because it is filled with asbestos and if they redo it they would need to redo Cosmic Rays too to clear it and with the money it brings in they dont want to have to close it. Any truth to that rumor?

Stitch is a breakroom now with tables in the queue area for CMs to sit at during break. Some water coolers in there too etc. Just a regular breakroom now. Theatre is still intact, and signs are still on queue walls and floors too. Pretty cool to see, but it doesn't seem like they're worried about asbestos, haha. At least this was the case as of a little over a year ago.
Besides, there are multiple signs throughout the tunnels warning that you may be exposed to asbestos. The buildings are so old I think they legally have to put up warnings. I would assume most of the park is the same, maybe that's how the rumor started.

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

I’ve said it before and will say it again. They need to double down on retro futurism. They’ll never be able to keep up with what the current iteration of the “future” is.

Rockets/robots/weird technology is the way to go for sure.

In fairness, when have they ever really tried? Disneyland 1955 was really the only time a Tomorrowland attempted to genuinely predict anything, and even then it was still mostly reliant on demonstrations of cutting-edge technologies more than attractions based in an ever-expiring future. Since that version the Tomorrowlands have always been at good bit “out there”.

People like to talk about how “the Future always catches up to you” but forget that it’s never really caught up to Space Mountain. The trick is to do roughly what you said - create a vision of a Tomorrow that always was and never will be - only they need to really renew their commitment and double down on that with an attraction lineup that is fun, exciting, and unified around the actual theme. When they’ve done that it has actually worked. And more than once! But over time they dilute it and screw it up, and THAT is the issue.

The problem isn’t that Tomorrowland can’t work, it’s that they aren’t even trying to let it work.

 

[doctornick]

Tomorrowland is basically Sci-Fi fantasyland (as opposed to a theoretical real future) at this point. They should just lean into that which feels more appropriate for a castle park anyway - they work as an idealized/comforting version of their themes as opposed to realistic ones.

 

[Drdcm]

In fairness, when have they ever really tried? Disneyland 1955 was really the only time a Tomorrowland attempted to genuinely predict anything, and even then it was still mostly reliant on demonstrations of cutting-edge technologies more than attractions based in an ever-expiring future. Since that version the Tomorrowlands have always been at good bit “out there”.

People like to talk about how “the Future always catches up to you” but forget that it’s never really caught up to Space Mountain. The trick is to do roughly what you said - create a vision of a Tomorrow that always was and never will be - only they need to really renew their commitment and double down on that with an attraction lineup that is fun, exciting, and unified around the actual theme. When they’ve done that it has actually worked. And more than once! But over time they dilute it and screw it up, and THAT is the issue.

The problem isn’t that Tomorrowland can’t work, it’s that they aren’t even trying to let it work.

Well said.

There are little bits of where I think they were on to something, but they’re so isolated. Some examples are the robot palm tree things that open up during the day and close up at night. And the little futuristic vacation spot scenes in the space mountain exit.

 

[Bocabear]

I feel like there's a degree of truth to this. Not necessarily true that they don't want to close Cosmic Rays because it makes too much money, but rather because there aren't enough large QSR locations in the park to offset its capacity. Rays serves so many guests its not even funny, often filling its dining room and overflow seating for hours on end.

Since the Stitch/AE footprint is so small, it would make sense if designers want to eat into the Cosmic Rays footprint for attraction space, and if building codes require them to update the entire structure anyway then they might as well go all in. The big issue though, as mentioned, is where do you send the rest of those hungry guests? Pecos, Harbor House, and Pinocchio are all on the opposite side of the park. Opening Tomorrowland Terrace fulltime sounds like an option, but it would still need more to supplement it because it needs to close at dinner time for firework parties.

Suffice to say, if the plan is for a Stitch replacement to overlay the existing theatre, it could come in the near-mid term; if the plan is for a Stitch replacement to alter the space significantly, it'll come much further down the line.

Why not close down the Speedway now for a big new update and retrofit and redesign the entrance building to include a huge Quick serve overlooking the Speedway...boarding and operations for the Speedway would all be below the level for dining and kitchen etc..,It could be super sleek and futuristic...allowing a fresh new dining experience, and allowing the Stitch space to be expanded into Cosmic Ray's as needed. Use a smaller part of Cosmic Ray's restaurant footprint as a smaller drink and snack location maintaining a portion of the the original dining room and stage (Sonny Eclipse) to be part of that smaller quick serve...