Stitch's Great Escape! moves to seasonal operation

Sep 21, 2016 in "Stitch's Great Escape!"

Posted: Wednesday September 21, 2016 10:50am EDT by WDWMAGIC Staff

Stitch's Great Escape! at the Magic Kingdom is moving to seasonal operation next month.

The attraction will have its final day of daily operations on October 1 2016, with its next scheduled opening on November 19 for the busy holiday week.

It will then close on November 27, reopening again on December 17 for the Christmas and New Year week. Even during those seasonal openings, the operating hours will be restricted to 10am to 8pm.

Stitch's Great Escape has been an unpopular attraction since its opening in 2004, where it replaced the highly rated Alien Encounter attraction.

The move to seasonal operation suggests that work may well begin on its replacement in the new year, with a Wreck It Ralph attraction rumored to move in. Read more about that on the WDWMAGIC Forums.

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fgmntFeb 12, 2024

I'd be amenable to moving an interactive theater show to the SGE plot if it meant there was a complete reimagining of what can go in the Timekeeper/Buzz Lightyear/Galaxy Palace Theater Plot. Not holding my breath regardless.

Magicart87Feb 12, 2024

The DJ would be AUTO the Autopilot of the luxury cruiser, the Axiom from Pixar's WALL-E. Only, he just has music set to Shuffle/Auto-Play.

Homemade ImagineeringFeb 12, 2024

Bring Plectu’s to the SGE space at MK and the Carousel Theater at Disneyland, everyone wins

BocabearFeb 12, 2024

Dance party for toddlers, another Meet and Greet or a Turtle Talk type experience would be a terrible waste of the building...though I guess, so is sitting vacant...Stitch is not really a good match for Tomorrowland... nor are Monsters...SURELY they could come up with something... This is the leader of creative entertainment and they cannot come up with any ideas that would fit Tomorrowland? What about going to the old discarded ideas like a space ship crash landed in Tomorrowland and play off the "Plectu's Galactic Revue" what was supposed to be part of a remodel from decades ago...There have been so many discarded ideas over the last 40 years, I am sure ANY of them would be better than a Monster comedy club and a shuttered empty building right at the entrance to Tomorrowland....and while they are at it, modernize the Speedway with super futuristic looking cars and added scenic elements... Make it all imaginative and futuristic again....

S.I.R. the RobotFeb 11, 2024

S.I.R. AS THE NEW EVIL COMPUTER VOICE

S.I.R. the RobotFeb 11, 2024

S.I.R. being a DJ... he just plays techno and trip-hop from the '90s.

Sectorkeeper71Feb 10, 2024

Been closed longer than it was open at this point Edit: referring to wonders of life here, not stitch to make it clearer

WondersOfLifeFeb 10, 2024

I think a lot of people are so fixed on the current design of the space with the seats in the positions they are in and the animatronic in the middle sort of thing... They don't have to do this old concept again. The creatives could level out the rounded theater and do just about anything with it. Interactive high def screens on the whole outer circle of the theater with some sort of shoot 'em up thing would be fine. Also, unpopular opinion, they could bring back the misplaced Stitch dance party and put it in the air conditioning and have the little tots and tiny kids dancing and having a good time. Dance parties are always a good attraction for the little kids, and it's Disney World. They need a new kiddie ride in Tomorrowland. Or even better... They could make a Enchanted Tales with Belle kind of experience with Stitch, Buzz Lightyear, or Big Hero 6. Completely gut and re-theme the first holding room into a themed experience (magic mirror room), then re-theme the next holding room into the "practicing for their roles" storytelling experience (wardrobe room), and then the final room where Stitch (whether in costume or Animatronic) comes out and does the storytelling show with the kids. I think this is a wonderful experience over in Fantasyland and you could not have too many of these for the kiddos. Core memory material right there. It doesn't even have to be Stitch. It can be Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Minnie dressed up as aliens/astronauts, ect. creating a space-themed story.

EricsBiscuitFeb 10, 2024

Budget cuts aren’t the issue when you’re talking hundreds of millions of dollars. Only WDI can blow through money like they do.

GravityFallsFeb 09, 2024

It's all about execution and relatable story telling. Wall-e is about falling in love, Lilo and Stitch is about owning a dog. Elio seems to be about imposter-syndrome, a universal experience... for people in their 20s and 30s. I'm not sure young kids will gravitate towards the film when the crux of the story is something many of us don't think about until adulthood. With that said, Pixar was given an additional year to make the story work. There's a lot ridding on the film. The various alien characters have great merchandising potential. The aesthetic is a great fit for Tomorrowland. It could be a hit, I'm hoping it is, we'll have to wait and see.

imagineer97Feb 09, 2024

Treasure Planet is amazing and I would financially contribute to the project if they created an attraction based on it.

Fox&HoundFeb 08, 2024

Sadly, I would not hold your breath. Their track record with sci-fi has been pretty poor. Consider Treasure Planet, Meet the Robinsons, Lightyear, Strange World, Chicken Little (aliens), etc. Wall-e and Lili and Stich are the definite outliers.

BocabearFeb 08, 2024

It's not even the mandate...they can make amazing attractions that fit into the established themes of the different parks, but the constant budget cuts, bad ideas, and most likely "Design by Committee" I suspect are more the culprits... Almost like the ones making the final decisions, don't have vision, are not creative, and don't understand the desires of the guests....

WDWTankFeb 08, 2024

Why don’t they just get rid of their mandate because it’s not working?