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Stitch's Great Escape! was a Tomorrowland attraction at the Magic Kingdom theme park within the Walt Disney World Resort. It is a "theater-in-the-round" experience starring the titular alien from Walt Disney Animation Studios' 2002 film Lilo & Stitch. It opened November 16, 2004, and is the fourth attraction to occupy the site in Tomorrowland. Many of the animators who worked on Lilo & Stitch partnered with Walt Disney Imagineering for Stitch's Great Escape! The attraction is a replacement of the ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter, which formerly occupied the building the attraction is housed in. On September 21, 2016, it was announced that the attraction would be switching from a daily operated attraction to a seasonally operated one, depending on attendance, starting October 2, 2016.[2] From October 2, 2017 onwards, the ride's first pre-show room is turned into a Stitch meet-and-greet called "Stitch's Alien Encounter Character Greeting!".[3][4]
The attraction last operated from December 23, 2017 to January 6, 2018. After that last day, many Disney Parks fans and even cast members quickly assumed that the ride was permanently closed for good, but on January 9, a Disney spokesperson told Orlando's Spectrum News 13 that the attraction is still in seasonal operation and that it would reopen, although the spokesperson did not specify when it will.[5] The ride's official website remains online as of June 26, 2019, marking the attraction as "temporarily closed". In October 2018, online outlets began reporting the attraction is being dismantled without notice from Disney, with a leaked photo of the Stitch animatronic's skeleton scavenged for parts appearing to confirm the story.[1]
Premise
Amid a row of blinking monitors, begin your intergalactic training session with an eye-opening welcome video and discover what it means to be a guard with the Galactic Federation Prisoner Teleport Center.
Step forward and learn how the science of prisoner teleportation works from a helpful Audio-Animatronics robot named Sergeant C4703BK2704-90210.
A mysterious high-security Level 3 prisoner has been captured and is due for arrival! Because Level 3 aliens can be quite dangerous, make your way to the High Security chamber to assist with the incoming teleportation.
Inside, take a seat around a floor-to-ceiling tube. As the teleportation begins, the prisoner is revealed to be none other than the free-spirited Stitch, who naturally manages to break out of the transport chamber and wreak havoc throughout the room in the dark!
Synopsis
The experience, set before the first film, takes place in the Galactic Federation Prisoner Teleport Center. Guests have been recruited by the Grand Councilwoman to be guards for the Galactic Federation. After being taught the basic procedures of guard duty and the classification of prisoner hazard levels by a robot sergeant (and a brief, but comical, reprisal of Skippy from the ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter), Captain Gantu gives an alert of a Level 3 prisoner being beamed to the Center. Guests are then instructed by Pleakley over an intercom communicator (off-camera) to proceed to the Level 3 prisoner teleportation chamber.
After being seated in the chamber, shoulder restraints (made to resemble scanning units for DNA) come down onto the guests' shoulders and the prisoner is then beamed into the chamber via a large plume of smoke and is revealed to be an enlarged Stitch. After a brief period of puzzled talking by Gantu and his two assistants, Stitch uses the flaws of the armed laser cannons (the cannons follow and destroy any genetic material, including saliva) and disables all power to escape, causing mass (happy) chaos in the crowd. During this period, hydraulic pumps and small hoses in the shoulder restraints make it seem as if Stitch is jumping on guests' shoulders and tickling their heads. When the power comes back on, the laser cannons continue their attempt to bring Stitch down. Again, using the cannons' fatal flaws, he manages to fire the laser cannons into the crowd. Shortly after using the diversion, he escapes to Florida's Walt Disney World Resort. Cameras capture him traversing Cinderella Castle before licking the camera lens. The audience is then released from their duty and exits into one of two gift shops—Merchant of Venus or Mickey's Star Traders.
Technology
The attraction includes much of the technology and sets from its predecessor, the ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter, including the comical alien Skippy in the preshow area.[6] The 39-inch Audio-Animatronic Stitch figure built by Imagineering reportedly is one of the most complex creations of its size. Other special effects include binaural sound, simulated laser cannons and a pungent smell (that of a chili dog, which lampoons the rule about bringing food and drink into the theater).
In the exit halls of the attraction, after the "Days Without an Escape" sign, there are three (previously four) "wanted posters" of other experiments written in either Tantalog or English (the former fourth poster was actually an ad promoting Lilo & Stitch: The Series on Disney Channel). The three wanted posters are those of 523/Slushy (in Tantalog), 222/Poxy (in English with name rendered as "Poxxy"), and 151/Babyfier (in Tantalog).
Before the attraction's opening, Disney released a downloadable game called Stitch's Escape Game to promote the attraction. It can still be downloaded from the Walt Disney World website to this day. (See external links.)
Gallery
Attraction logo
Stitch's Great Escape! appearing on the Magic Kingdom map
Concept art
Promotional photograph featuring a drawn Stitch hanging from the plasma cannons
Add a photo to this gallery
