A Troubled History: Stitch's Great Escape at Magic Kingdom
By Martin Wittko
Located in Tomorrowland, Stitch, from Lilo and Stitch had a ride about him escaping a cosmic jail cell in an x-vision type circular arena. You smelled, heard, and saw what was happening on the attraction.
Let's go right back to the grand opening of this ride.
This space was originally Flight to the Moon, followed by Misson to Mars, and then Alien Encounter, which opened on June 20th, 1995.
The ride closed on January 12th, 1996 because Disney CEO Michael Eisner thought it wasn’t intense enough.
Disney spent $10 million dollars to “retool” the attraction.
Disney mega fans praised the ride saying it was dark and thrilling, but your average guest, normally with children, described it as “too scary.”
The popularity after all the negative reviews and people hating the attraction was just the start of the problems.
So, on September 21st, 2003 Disney said they were closing Alien Encounter.
A dismantled Stitch animatronic from Stitch's Great Escape at Disney World. (SubstituteHero)
Credit: The MickeyWiki
Many guests were very happy about this. They felt that the movie Lilo and Stitch was more kid-friendly.
Alien Encounter closed on October 12th, 2003, and was later reopened as Stitch’s Great Escape on November 16th, 2004.
With most of the same technology as Alien Encounter, only the story was different, Even the theater was the same!
The people were split. Some people said it was a wonderful replacement with good family-friendly action.
While others had complaints. The most complaints came from his burp which made guests feel sick to their stomachs.
On October 1st the attraction was put on seasonal operation for a year until 2017. The doors were always open for a Stitch meet and greet while the ride was still seasonal.
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But on January 6th, 2018 the attraction closed for a lengthy period of time. In October 2018 the animatronic was dismantled.
In 2019 the ride closed for good and the signage was taken down in August of 2020.
So, what does Stitch's great escape look like now? It’s a cast member break room.
It doesn’t look like anything really. Just a sad image. But that is the downfall of Stitch's Great Escape.
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Since 2010, Darren has been making Orlando vacations easy! As an Orlando resident, he is able to provide insider, expert advice on Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando, and Florida-based cruises.
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