What's up with the changes in Stitch's Great Escape?

[marni1971]

I agree with you, Kevin, But what I mean is that management would have to pass or reject anything WDI come up with. Of course, they could both be to blame. It kind of makes you wonder how much pressure was exerted to remove AE - at any cost.

Marty Sklar on "The Rack"... there`s an interesting vision!

PS Its nice to be able to have an informative debate again without it turning into a slanging match as seemed so apparent here a few weeks ago.

 

[Hakunamatata]

Is anyone else disturbed by the fact that the WDC has WDI competing with outside companies, for a job that should be theirs considering that THEY'RE PART OF THE COMPANY! What the heck? Did I miss something?

*sigh*

I was thinking the same thing. Why would you force the creative portion of your company to compete against outside forces that do not have a track recored of inspired creativity. The only answer is that is a way to force cost control upon a portion of your operation that does not factor cost in as a driving factor of operation.

 

[WiggleLights]

That whole story sounds pretty crazy to me. I just cant see how you can have outside companies bidding to do work on systems developed by others, and also I cant see how you can have one company bidding against another bid that they dont even know the creative and technical content of. If that is how things are being run right now, no wonder we have problems.

For what it's worth, this is not uncommon practice by Disney, and increasingly in the entire entertainment industry. When Disney Theatrical sent Lion King's scenic design out for bid, companies had to agree to give Disney the rights to any patents and all technical drawing generated from working on the project-- unique in the theater industry (most Broadway shows don't patent anything, even ones as complex as Lion King). Disney loves to outsource but retain all intellectual property associated with the project that they can, I think there were issues with Mission Space relating to this as well.

 

[KevinPage]

I agree with you, Kevin, But what I mean is that management would have to pass or reject anything WDI come up with. Of course, they could both be to blame. It kind of makes you wonder how much pressure was exerted to remove AE - at any cost.

I'm more in favor of blaming the creator of a bad idea more so than the 'approver' when one party is not the subordinate of the other. WDI are the creative types and should know better than management suits what is GOOD quality and what isn't.

This isn't the situatin of a Jr. animator doing lousy work and then the Lead animator approving it. The Lead animator has MORE of a responsibility in that situation and should know when something is crapola or not.

WDI & Management are not of the same mindset, as in the animator example above (I hope that explains my point thoroughly enough)

PS Its nice to be able to have an informative debate again without it turning into a slanging match as seemed so apparent here a few weeks ago.

I wasn't involved in it, was I

 

[Lee]

Do you know what attractions that WDI has actually LOST the bid on

Not sure of any specifics, this story is the only one of it's type that has found it's way to me.
However, I do know that quite a bit of DisneySea was designed in conjunction with outside firms, and I believe Paradise Pier was as well.

 

[KevinPage]

Not sure of any specifics, this story is the only one of it's type that has found it's way to me.
However, I do know that quite a bit of DisneySea was designed in conjunction with outside firms, and I believe Paradise Pier was as well.

And both have been given high praise. Interesting :drevil: :drevil: :drevil:

 

[Captain Hank]

And both have been given high praise. Interesting :drevil: :drevil: :drevil:

DisneySea, yes (and I'm a bit surprised to hear that it was outsourced), but since when has Paradise Pier garnered high praise?

 

[KevinPage]

DisneySea, yes (and I'm a bit surprised to hear that it was outsourced), but since when has Paradise Pier garnered high praise?

The look of Paradise Pier, not the attractions themselves.

 

[AndyMagic]

WDI is completely responsible for the script. No amount of budget slashing could make an attraction as utterly horrible as Stitch is. The kid's voice that was recently added makes the attraction even worse (which I never thought possible). Why not just have someone from the Galactic Federation explain what is going on like in AE? Why does this kid know what is going on? It is already strange enough that the recruits that are supposed to "guard" the facility from stitch are locked into their seats with creepy restraints thus making it impossible to be of ANY help!! The problem with the show is that it doesn't make a lick of sense. In AE, we were simply observing a demonstration so it made sense to be locked into our seats. Ok I'm done. I just think we should stop coming up with excuses for why the attraction is so utterly horrible. The budget was NOT the problem because the technology behind the attraction including the animatronics are astounding! It is the horrible script and the fact that no one knows what is going on.

 

[Lee]

DisneySea, yes (and I'm a bit surprised to hear that it was outsourced), but since when has Paradise Pier garnered high praise?

From me...I like the place.

 

[AEfx]

On the positive side, I like the idea of more "spitting". It was one of the suggestions I made in one of the threads during the sneak previews. Before, it was kind of like a leak and not a spray - glad to hear they pumped it up, so it speak.

Now I just may have to check it out on my next visit in a few weeks.

AEfx

 

[KevinPage]

WDI is completely responsible for the script. No amount of budget slashing could make an attraction as utterly horrible as Stitch is. The kid's voice that was recently added makes the attraction even worse (which I never thought possible). Why not just have someone from the Galactic Federation explain what is going on like in AE? Why does this kid know what is going on? It is already strange enough that the recruits that are supposed to "guard" the facility from stitch are locked into their seats with creepy restraints thus making it impossible to be of ANY help!!

Couldn't have said it any better myself.

 

[Captain Hank]

Okay, I can see how one would appreciate the aesthetics of Paradise Pier--I'm just not thrilled with the content.

One thing I'm interested in--what sorts of restrictions (if any) were placed on the creators (WDI or otherwise) of the attraction. Were there any elements they were required to keep, like the restraint system in leiu of another way of immersing the guest in the experience? I guess I'm trying to say: how much of the story line had to be written to accomodate any of these elements?

 

[Empress Room]

DisneySea, yes (and I'm a bit surprised to hear that it was outsourced), but since when has Paradise Pier garnered high praise?

Although it may be akin to calling a trailer park a "modular home community," the Paradise Pier portion of much-maligned (and sometimes unfairly) DCA (with California Screamin' and Maliboomer) have generally received very good reviews - and the theming of that section of DCA, with the Paradise Pier Hotel in the background, has also received kudos.

 

[Empress Room]

I can see with a technological hurdle, like with Rocket Rods, that money would be an issue. I believe in that scenerio there were issues with the track infrastructure and more, which is obviously espensive. It just seems to me with Stitch that they difficult part, the technology of those AAs is done. It is so frustrating that the lowest cost part, the story, is such a major short-comming and let down.

Steve (and others):

Although I completely agree that Stitch is an underperformer and mediocre at best, how can anyone really criticize the story when, for all intents and purposes, it's the same story as AE? Let's face it, we had a theatre (Mission to Mars) with limited viability - there is only so much "story" that can be put into it. It was tried with AE (with apparent limited success due to the fright factor and boredom associated with return visits). Stitch has simply followed the same alien-in-the-dark story line but lightened it up.

Maybe the true fault or blame should be on the imagineering team that came up with AE's story...or possibly the imagineers who decided to rework the Mission to Mars theatre in the first place instead of tearing it down in favor of a bright, new, clever imagineering concept.

 

[AndyMagic]

Steve (and others):

how can anyone really criticize the story when, for all intents and purposes, it's the same story as AE?

Read my post above to see why the small differences between AE and Stitch make all the difference in the world.

 

[Empress Room]

Read my post above to see why the small differences between AE and Stitch make all the difference in the world.

You are preaching to the choir, Andy; unfortunately, no matter what you (or I) think about AE's superior script in comparison to Stitch's, AE's attendance numbers (and/or continued complaints concerning the intensity of its script) no longer justified its existence. Which leads us back to my premise...

 

[dox]

I'm a bit confused. I was under the impression the recent re-hab was ordered to improve the attraction, not just add a bit of a voice over from some child and his mom? I'm sure I read, not only on this board, that due to a less than stellar reception by the public the attraction was to receive an upgrade and that the budget was increased.

I have yet to go on Stitch, but I was initially in favor of this change. I haven't had the problems with some of the recent changes the rest of you have had. I'm one of those freaks that actually likes Tiki Birds - Under New Management. I always liked AE, and it was one of my must rides, but I did feel it was growing a bit stale. I also found that some harnesses worked better than others, making the whole ride a hit or miss feel (I guess that is more a maintenance issue). But boy am I regretting it from the comments on this board.

 

[Thelazer]

Well, I went on it yesterday. With a few kids as well.

The only new voice I heard was "Mommy, THIS IS FUN!" and belive me, it sounded almost as if the kid was being stuck with a cattle prod to say it "Come on now kid, say FUN FUN FUN!!! Haha, look don't make us to this take again, I want it "FUN"

It's still a mess. I found the ending at least better than before, as now there is somewhat of a joke to the end.

You know what gets the best resposne though from the kids. The spitting and burp jokes. Yep, low brow stuff.

I still would not wait more than 15 min to ride it.

 

[Snapper Bean]

How much more money would it have taken for WDI to be funny? Can we have a message board bake sale with the proceeds paid to upgrade S:GE. Seems to me that the child's voice is false advertising. If he is telling what is happening it gives the impression that he's been on the ride before. I don't know anyone who will re-ride S:GE. What a shame. I never thought AE was that great but this was a definite step back.

Snapper Bean