What Stitch's Great Escape COULD have been?

[WondersOfLife]

I know that many people don't care for this attraction.. But I think that this attraction has/had potential. The pre-shows are great. Heck, the audio track is so catchy. Listen to it! I really like it!



The problem lies in the actual attraction itself.. Big shocker, right? I think the imaginative part of the main attraction was only half-butt done.. They made a very impressive AA for Stitch. Even the cannon AAs are pretty impressive. The concept isn't that bad either.. Basically a "rip off" of Alien Encounter.

However, this is where I think lies the problem. The "rip off" doesn't work.. They should have added something more to it. I think it should have formed some kind of interactive element into the attraction.

There should be these shadows, and more AAs that pop up and around the theatre. Instead of shoulder restraints, there are these stationary vehicles that you can rotate, which also have laser blaster guns.. So basically similar to Buzz Lightyear's vehicles. These vehicles could still be in that "theatre in the round setting." Honestly, this would have added SO much more to the attraction! Because I think the main problem with this attraction is basically just the uncomfortable seating and the annoying shoulder restraints.

Does anyone agree with me on this? Or do y'all just think there has never been any hope for this attraction? I think there could have been hope.. The pre-show was so well done. The Stitch AA is amazingly impressive. The main show was just kind of un-imaginative and lazy.

And I know there are many threads on SGE. But before you blow your "this already exists" horn.. I really haven't seen a thread talk about the potential that SGE actually could have had.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Even though I cannot truthfully say that Stitch is the best thing that ever was created, it isn't all that bad. It just became fashionable to not like it. Mob mentality at it's finest!

But to answer your question in another way. What Stitch's Great Escape could have been is a big empty building to join the others that Disney closed because they couldn't come up with anything better, especially considering, in this case, the configuration of the building.

 

[HauntedMansionFLA]

Darth Vader escaping like the old AI? It could be terrifying

 

[cococola44]

I thought it was cute, but yes I only could see it once. IT was a great improvement from what was there before... The ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter. Meh ... I would still smell that chilly dog smell for a while after. Ha! lol

 

[Bairstow]

Darth Vader escaping like the old AI? It could be terrifying

I had a sudden vision of an AA Darth Vader, stuck inside a "pod" for some arbitrary reason, and only able to pivot around his feet, like the Wicked Witch on the Great Movie Ride.
I didn't like this vision.

For the definitive essay on why Stitch's Great Escape doesn't work, read this blog post.
Short version: the attraction ignores how the character arc of the movie is what makes Stitch as a character appealing.
Also, restraints+fear=more fear.
Restraints+comedy=annoyance

Bizarrely, it seems the hybrid of the two most loathed attractions in WDW history, Great Escape and Under New Management, is actually kind of neat.

 

[FrankLapidus]

I really enjoy Stitch as a character but the attraction is horrible. And I don't think that because its fashionable or due to "mob mentality", I thought it the first time I experienced it and although I've only been able to bring myself to see it once more since then, there were no redeeming qualities.

As bad as it is, its part of a larger problem in that area of the park. Tomorrowland is a mish-mash of different things that don't add up to a cohesive theme. Stitch and the Laugh Floor would be the first things to go in my perfect world but its hard to think of something you'd like to replace them with when the land itself has no identity.

 

[FigmentPigments]

I think you have a good idea. I personally don't have much of a problem with this ride (don't care that much for the chili dog smell ), but I think it could be so much more. Also, I completely agree with the AAs being great. I always thought the cannons and Stitch reacted very smoothly. While I personally loved Alien Encounter, Stitch could have been more.

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

The only way this would have gone well is if Lilo & Stitch wasn't made...If this was just an attraction around this Alien it would have a different effect to guests as Stitch would have been a "Park Only" Character like Figment, Cranium Command and so on..

 

[FigmentForver96]

They took a good character and shoved him into a small space. Hmmm Stitch and Elsa have a lot in common.

 

[danyoung56]

My problem with the Stitch show is the script. It seems to completely run out of gas about 1/2 way through, and then just repeat itself till the end. I've seen the Stitch AA, I've seen the big guns, now show me something new.

 

[marni1971]

Even though I cannot truthfully say that Stitch is the best thing that ever was created, it isn't all that bad. It just became fashionable to not like it. .

Nah. It's disliked because of why it was installed.

Fashion doesn't come into it. Or it could come into everything.

 

[WondersOfLife]

So we have discussed reasons why people dislike the attraction. It's "fashionable" to do so, replacing an attraction that was beloved by others, and the thought of Disney shoehorning another Disney character.

But if Alien Encounter never existed.. And if there was something more, like I mentioned above.. I believe there could have been potential. Actually, I think even though it replaced AE, I think it could have performed a lot better if there was just no. Shoulder. Restraints. And more of an interactive environment.

 

[danyoung56]

So we have discussed reasons why people dislike the attraction. It's "fashionable" to do so....

I've never given even a second's time to the thought of what is fashionable. I only go by my own experience. And in my experience, Stitch is not a good attraction. It has all the elements to make a good attraction. But the story is lame, and that's why it's not popular.

 

[epcot2016]

Stitch is my favorite attraction at the Magic Kingdom. Let it be.

 

[Goofyernmost]

I've never given even a second's time to the thought of what is fashionable. I only go by my own experience. And in my experience, Stitch is not a good attraction. It has all the elements to make a good attraction. But the story is lame, and that's why it's not popular.

Of course, that's not everyone's feeling about it. Why is everyone so quick to decide that because someone states something it is absolutely a direct comment about themselves. It, in my opinion has become a fashionable way to think. A few influential people have stated that it is bad, so the fact that they maybe didn't have a high regard for it have now decided that it is awful and shouldn't be there and are hell bent on making sure that people that do like it never get to see it. All anyone ever has to do is walk on by it. It isn't difficult to do and it is more supportive of the idea that Disney should never "replace" an attraction when all they have to do is build a new, better one on all that land that they own.

And just another of my opinions... what story in Disney isn't lame if we want to see it that way. They are all fiction, they are all very loosely tied together and require a truckload of disbelief suspension to enjoy, but, yet we all seem to be able to do that when it is to our liking. Even if they removed it there is absolutely no reason to think that what they replace it with will be better. (Think Imagination) So, why not just let it be there for whatever life and draw it has and fight for more and better attractions, not just the same number, but better attractions.

 

[Chris82]

Adding an interactive element might be fun, although I'm not sure how you'd add shooting to a theater-in-the-round exactly.

Fixing Stitch's Great Escape feels like a huge challenge, just because there's not enough space for anything but a show. My druthers would be to rip it out and replace with an animatronic musical featuring aliens and robots, but even animatronic musicals seem to have a way of losing popularity over time. Pirates and Jungle Cruise last forever but the Tiki Room and Country Bears struggle to bring in guests.

Maybe the right answer is to move Cosmic Ray's to a second floor terrace, and use the entire space underneath to expand the Stitch area into a full dark ride of some kind.

 

[orlando678-]

I personally like the ride, but I agree that it needs something and especially because of the hate the ride receives. I personally would love either a randomized Jumba's lab attraction where you encounter his experiments or an interactive simulator ride where you board Stitch's spaceship and fly through space together with the little blue buddy himself( maybe rescuing Lilo from Hamsterviel or something)

 

[AngryEyebrows]

As someone who has never been to a Disney park before I certainly did miss two of the most interesting attractions imo. Has the ride been refurbished into something else? Everybody seems to be responding in the past tense.

 

[WondersOfLife]

As someone who has never been to a Disney park before I certainly did miss two of the most interesting attractions imo. Has the ride been refurbished into something else? Everybody seems to be responding in the past tense.

No. It is still SGE and it probably won't be going away for a long, long while. It's obvious that this is an attraction that Disney keeps the best quality it can deserve as much as possible.. Which I don't blame them for doing. An unpopular attraction needs to have all of its elements working otherwise it'll get even MORE bad reviews.

Unlike carousel of progress. They basically let that be, almost inoperable, and people still praise it for being a "classic."

 

[orlando678-]

No. It is still SGE and it probably won't be going away for a long, long while. It's obvious that this is an attraction that Disney keeps the best quality it can deserve as much as possible.. Which I don't blame them for doing. An unpopular attraction needs to have all of its elements working otherwise it'll get even MORE bad reviews.

Unlike carousel of progress. They basically let that be, almost inoperable, and people still praise it for being a "classic."

Plus when they designed it and opened it they saw this ride as their shining pride. You could especially see this in the advertising everywhere.