Stitch's Great Escape - Update

Stitchfan712

Stitchfan712

New Member
Original Poster
From the Orlando Sentinel today: www.orlandosentinel.com


Is Stitch's Great Escape too scary for children? Word is circulating that Walt Disney World is already tweaking its new Magic Kingdom attraction, in part to make it less frightening for children. To bring Stitch to the Magic Kingdom, Disney imagineers retooled the old ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter. The replacement of the encounter's ultra-scary alien with Stitch, a popular character with Disney's younger fans, was supposed to make the Tomorrowland attraction more kid-friendly. But Disney did not remove the significant periods of total darkness, which has proved too much for some of Stitch's biggest fans. A Disney spokeswoman confirmed that imagineers are making "minor" adjustments, but would not offer details about the changes.

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"Minor" adjustments.


Hmmm. No word internally yet but "minor" adjustments isn't exactly the "rehab" we've been anticipating. Interesting nonetheless.
 
Pixie Duster

Pixie Duster

New Member
Well that's um.... interesting. When I was there I saw a fair amount of startled kids, I personally feel it might be needed. Good to see that we are listening to our guests.
 
CTXRover

CTXRover

Well-Known Member
Personally, "minor adjustments" is all I really think SGE needs. I've seen it a total of around 5 times now and I've never heard a child cry....though I have seen a video where someone starts crying. Some tweaking of story elements to solidify the attraction's now weak storyline and cut out some of the time where it feels we are just sitting in the dark listening to Stitch would go a long way. Oddly enough, with all the negative stuff I read online about Stitch, I saw it twice again on the last MVMCP and both times I overheard a child, probably somewhere in the 8-10 years of age range, say "that was really cool" and the other time "that was awesome", so apparently not everyone hates it so much.

Anyways, at this time, I very much doubt that a WDW spokesperson would say anything that would admit to a major mistake with Stitch upfront, especially to the media which would have a heyday with it....so "minor adjustments" could mean anything at this point from a few changes in effects to an overhaul of the main chamber storyline all together...its WAY to early to predict....though this does confirm that something is being planned to fix up SGE a little.
 
maxime29

maxime29

Premium Member
If it wasn't for the darkness and the loud noises, the rest of my family would feel comfortable with going on Stitch. And this is suppost to be a ride suitable for most children. :p
 
Scar

Scar

Active Member
I will be a contrarian here and say that my family (me, wife and 5 yo daughter) really enjoyed SGE and had no issues with it.

Our daughter wasn't scared and really enjoyed the ride and we went on it twice in a row.
 
Testtrack321

Testtrack321

Well-Known Member
Minor in Disney's terms is to change enouch of it without giving any fans or the press any substantiated proof they re-did the whole gosh darn thing.
 
SpenceMan01

SpenceMan01

Well-Known Member
I'll be there on Thursday and I will see if I can notice any changes from the video.

(T-Minus 10 hours til the plane takes off!)
 
T

Thelazer

Well-Known Member
UGH. How can people not get this concept?

Why AE was effective in the first place, sound and darkness. You were in darkness and heard things that scare you.

Why STITCH cannot be effective. You still need to hear things you cannot see, so you must be in darkness. This will scare kids. It's that damn simple.

Making a little adjustment, such as putting some form of "nightlight" into the ride will not fix it. It will no only enable us to see that there really is no stitch doing these spitting, bouncing, breathing things on us. It runs the fun of the whole "surprise principle" that the ride is based on. I'll refer to other rides, such as HISTA and IABL that utilize the same "startle" effects. They scare kids as well and in the case of IABL VERY well.

They could, possible use some form of "night vision" to create the image of a stitch running around (Video Projection, maybe a few TV's with infrared picking up stitches heat signature) to help reinforce the effect while providing light and assurance that nothing else is happening (However, I DOUBT that anyone is that creative these days)

But the overall problem remains. The ride (Note to self. SHOW THE SHOW) is based on the idea that we "hear and feel" stitch doing things to us. That is the flaw of the concept and no quick little makeover is going to fix that.
 
dxwwf3

dxwwf3

Well-Known Member
Thelazer said:
UGH. How can people not get this concept?

Why AE was effective in the first place, sound and darkness. You were in darkness and heard things that scare you.

Why STITCH cannot be effective. You still need to hear things you cannot see, so you must be in darkness. This will scare kids. It's that damn simple.
Click to expand...

Bingo! That was my argument WAY back when all this started. Good luck to WDI. I don't know how they can make it work for kids and adults. Maybe the best choice is just go kiddie all the way and never have complete darkness. Sure it would make the grown ups go :lookaroun , but this attraction is now for kids so make sure they are pleased first and foremost.
 
Indy95

Indy95

New Member
Though it is encouraging that Disney is finally listening to guest complaints, what I STILL don't understand is why management didn't see this one coming in the first place! Why didn't they know it would scare children like it (supposedly) is? Why didn't they know that the story was lacking? Isn't it Strategic Planning's JOB to snuff out these issues? Makes you wonder.
 
Epcot is my fav

Epcot is my fav

Active Member
Im sorry but i need to comment on this ride.....i went on it like hmmmmm 3 weeks ago before my school winter break......ITS TERRIBLE....omg i never thought anything could be more painful then Alien Encounter....well this is.... this is one of the worst attractions in all or Orlando! :hurl:
 
A

attisb

New Member
Anyone remember the commercial that aired on the Disney Channel about the ride. It's the one with this faceless kid sneaking into top secret areas. Right before they cut to the Imagneer they show this young kid in a yellow shirt on the ride. This kid looks terrified and then starts coughing cause a burst of air or something went off. This should have told them something.
 
PurpleDragon

PurpleDragon

Well-Known Member
Thelazer said:
UGH. How can people not get this concept?

Why AE was effective in the first place, sound and darkness. You were in darkness and heard things that scare you.

Why STITCH cannot be effective. You still need to hear things you cannot see, so you must be in darkness. This will scare kids. It's that damn simple.

Making a little adjustment, such as putting some form of "nightlight" into the ride will not fix it. It will no only enable us to see that there really is no stitch doing these spitting, bouncing, breathing things on us. It runs the fun of the whole "surprise principle" that the ride is based on. I'll refer to other rides, such as HISTA and IABL that utilize the same "startle" effects. They scare kids as well and in the case of IABL VERY well.

They could, possible use some form of "night vision" to create the image of a stitch running around (Video Projection, maybe a few TV's with infrared picking up stitches heat signature) to help reinforce the effect while providing light and assurance that nothing else is happening (However, I DOUBT that anyone is that creative these days)

But the overall problem remains. The ride (Note to self. SHOW THE SHOW) is based on the idea that we "hear and feel" stitch doing things to us. That is the flaw of the concept and no quick little makeover is going to fix that.
Click to expand...


Man!! I couldn't have said it better myself! thats the whole point I have been stressing from the get go, that if they recycle the ride concept, then it will retain the scare factor that was originally intended. Sensory overload type attractions are terrifying for kids, and no amount of light or anything will minimize the fact that the ride is based on sensory experience and is scary. Nobody ever thought about that and now they are paying the price, kids are developing a hatred/fear of stitch. Good going WDI!!:rolleyes:
 

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