Stitch's Great Escape Moves to 'Seasonal Operation' Next Month

[KIghostguy]

The animatronics for Frozen Ever After are really the only good things about it IMO. Practically non-existent story (other than "you're just going to see Elsa") and I've always been a bigger fan of original stories and rides over ones based on movies. The Haunted Mansion has original characters that are still popular even after 47 years. How many more years is Frozen going to be popular?

That being said, when I go to WDW again I would probably ride Frozen Ever After, just to check out the animatronics.

[RailRider]

Malestrom was never that good of a dark ride and it was never considered a classic Disney Dark Ride.  Anyone that argues otherwise is remembering it with rose colored glasses.

[Voicetek]

Also Avatar is not Disney's answer to Harry Potter land, that would be Star Wars.  Avatar is the addition that will make Animal Kingdom more than a half day park, but potentially a 2 day park.  I am not an Avatar fan, but having seen this land in person it is going to be breathtaking.  Think of this as a futuristic Beastly Kingdom that never happened.

 

I believe Avatar Land was supposed to be Disney's answer to Harry Potter Land back when it was first announced.  This was before Disney bought Star Wars and Star Wars Land wasn't even a possibility yet.  It just seemed odd to me that this was the IP Disney decided to go with out of all the IPs that could have been available.  You could tell they wanted something that would allow them to create a huge, immersive land like Universal did with Harry Potter.  By the time Disney purchased Lucasfilm and owned Star Wars, design was too far along on Avatar Land and contracts had been signed.  To me, Star Wars land does seem like a more obvious answer to Harry Potter Land, and perhaps that will end up being the case now.  However, at the time, Avatar Land was meant to be that answer.

[bkroz]

 

This is an interesting twist after recent rumors suggested a VR Wreck-It Ralph attraction would take its place. One would imagine that if that replacement were upcoming, they wouldn't bother switching Stitch to seasonal, but just trudge through until the new attraction could close it permanently.

 

Though most here probably know, Disney Parks tend to almost unanimously agree that Stitch's Great Escape is the worst Disney attraction at any of their parks today. I wrote an entire in-depth Dateline Disaster: Stitch's Great Escape feature just a few weeks ago! (Great timing!) I think it's worth reading if you're into this sort of thing, but I'm biased!

 

So if was changed to a Wreck It Ralph attraction, would it be the same attraction concept as Stich's Great Escape, I mean with animatronics and such?

 

 

Nope. VR in the sense that you would likely put on a set of VR goggles like the new Six Flags coaster conversions (or more accurately, like Darren Brown's Ghost Train at Thorpe Park) with virtual reality simulating a race inside the Sugar Rush game from Wreck-It Ralph. People would likely be seated on motion bases. In my mind, I picture Universal's Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem with pods on motion bases around a room, but instead of a screen in front of you, everyone would wear their own VR goggles. That's just a guess!

[bkroz]

 

This is an interesting twist after recent rumors suggested a VR Wreck-It Ralph attraction would take its place. One would imagine that if that replacement were upcoming, they wouldn't bother switching Stitch to seasonal, but just trudge through until the new attraction could close it permanently.

 

Though most here probably know, Disney Parks tend to almost unanimously agree that Stitch's Great Escape is the worst Disney attraction at any of their parks today. I wrote an entire in-depth Dateline Disaster: Stitch's Great Escape feature just a few weeks ago! (Great timing!) I think it's worth reading if you're into this sort of thing, but I'm biased!

 

So if was changed to a Wreck It Ralph attraction, would it be the same attraction concept as Stich's Great Escape, I mean with animatronics and such?

 

 

Nope. VR in the sense that you would likely put on a set of VR goggles like the new Six Flags coaster conversions (or more accurately, like Darren Brown's Ghost Train at Thorpe Park) with virtual reality simulating a race inside the Sugar Rush game from Wreck-It Ralph. People would likely be seated on motion bases. In my mind, I picture Universal's Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem with pods on motion bases around a room, but instead of a screen in front of you, everyone would wear their own VR goggles. That's just a guess!

[RailRider]

The animatronics for Frozen Ever After are really the only good things about it IMO. Practically non-existent story (other than "you're just going to see Elsa") and I've always been a bigger fan of original stories and rides over ones based on movies. The Haunted Mansion has original characters that are still popular even after 47 years. How many more years is Frozen going to be popular?

That being said, when I go to WDW again I would probably ride Frozen Ever After, just to check out the animatronics.

 

 

So you haven't ridden Frozen Ever After yet?  The story of the ride is pretty simple but very effective.  Its a Snow Day in Summer and Queen Elsa has opened the Ice Castle up for her guests.  Thats the story and its well accomplished.  Biggest grossing Animated movie of all time, it will be relevant for years to come.  Especially with planned additions to the franchise.

 

 

So what about movies based on rides?

[Gabe]

Actually a blue tang named Dori has usurped Anna, Elsa and Olaf for that title.  As to the discussion above, Disney paid a ransom for both Star Wars and Marvel; how can you blame them for integrating the IP into the parks?  You don't buy a Mcleran for several hundred thousand dollars just to keep it parked in the garage all day.

[Timmeh]

The one time I rode Stitch's great escape was miserable. Probably the weirdest feeling, looking, and smelling ride I have ever rode. Never again. 

[jcgoble3]

With regard to Maelstrom: I spent an entire day in Epcot on Labor Day 2012, and I had no idea that such a ride existed until Frozen Ever After was announced. Not sure what that says about Maelstrom or me.

[Tanna]

GoG may not be crazy popular but supposedly it's the gateway to a whole Marvel land. I'm not sure how this is bad. The Marvel Land will probably have Marvel Legacy characters.

 

Have you been to Disney California Adventure? In 2012, the park got a billion dollars infused into it to turn its modern spoof of California into a storied recreation of the Golden Age of California. Its themed lands are a 1910s Pacific boardwalk, a 1950s National Park, a 1920s Los Angeles, a 1940s Hollywood. Tower of Terror was a linchpin of that narrative and continuity that bound the whole park together. The 190-foot tall 1920s Art Deco hotel sincerely looms over the park. It's gorgeous and it's a piece of the larger storyline of the park.

 

That this Golden Age Californian park will now be lorded over by a (and I'm quoting the Imagineer responsible here) "warehouse power plant fortress" covered in pipes and tubes and satellite dishes and glowing neon emblems.... it's absolutely laughable. Sure, tuck a Marvel land away inside Disney California Adventure (or, y'know, put it in Disneyland's desolate and empty Tomorrowland.) 

 

As it is, this is your literal view upon entering Disney California Adventure.

 

 

How do you suppose the Hollywood Tower Hotel becoming this...

 

 

...might change the larger feel of the park?

 

A different discussion entirely, but evidence of the odd track Disney's on.

 

To my estimation, the tables have turned radically... Disney is chasing Universal by doing what Universal does – cannibalizing its classics to insert flavor-of-the-month stories and IPs. They've seen how much success Universal has had with refreshing their entire ride lineup every decade or so. Tower of Terror is the biggest culprit.

 

Also consider: Disneyland's famous Space Mountain became the Star Wars themed "Hyperspace Mountain" as part of a temporary Season of the Force Star Wars promotion. Problem is, the "Season" lasted for a year. Hyperspace Mountain finally closed, but only because the Halloween-themed Space Mountain: Ghost Galaxy took its place last week. The Disney Parks fan community awoke this morning to the news that after Halloween, regular Space Mountain won't be restored... It'll be Hyperspace Mountain again.

 

See also, the delightful Aladdin: A Musical Specular being replaced by Frozen despite tremendous outcry and overwhelming negative reception not from fans, but from the public. Or World of Color: Celebrate. Frozen Ever After at EPCOT I get, because Maelstrom was a tired attraction, even if it was a fan favorite. But Disney's new course is set. And it looks eerily like Disney's chasing Universal.

Are they going to yellow up the sky to look like Knowhere?

GotG has two more movies to go, and are highly rumored to be in Avengers: Infinity War.

We don't know if the warehouse is going to be dwarfed by a gigantic Stark/Avengers tower in the future.

What ride is going to be switched out so you can go through giant blades of grass on the back of a hornet?

Disney was a complex man, but I'll be honest, I was floored when I learned here he saved aside so much of the park for conservation, or else we wouldn't be talking about changing out rides like this. He had good vision, but there was no way he could've seen the park as it is today.

He only planned for cartoons, not eveybody else and their mother being part of the company.

I'm going to have to look up an HD video of Frozen Ever After to look at the animatronics faces.

[Gabe]

His vision extended beyond just cartoons.  He was involved in things like urban planning, global conservation of resources (esp. water), and transportation (he envisioned monorails everywhere), along with a dedicated Disney airline.  The movies and cartoons helped foot the bill for these efforts, but I don't think he'd be overwhelmed if he saw his company today.

[RailRider]

The PBS series The American Experience did an episode on Walt Disney, it is highly worth 3 hours of your time to watch this series.  Great insight in to Walt's life and the reason he did the things he did.

[Tanna]

Rail rider and Gabe,

You are absolutely right, and I did see the documentary.

I'm absolutely lucky to be learning, of all things, the vanishing art of 2d animation from a Disney artist. When I saw the documentary, I was surprised to see so many philosophies that seeped through to my learning. To see the same note on a desk in the documentary as I have on my desk brought home how fortunate I was. "Don't flatten. Draw graceful curves".

The "Paperman" software will again change the way we see animation.

I just think the Disney corporation is such a monolith today, that he couldn't have possibly seen the great advances that came with computer age. No matter how advanced one's forethought is, it would very difficult to imagine the worlds that Disney parks now embrace.

I don't know if he could have ever envisioned the huge universe we saw in "The Incredibles" no matter how futurist his sight.

[shark6495]

These boards, in general, are a great example of everything right and wrong with enthusiasts and park goers.

We want our nostalgia and we want new. Most times they can't work together forever.

Disney spent a ton of money to upgrade the FP experience along with streamlining everything at WDW (which I absolutely loved, but I can understand while others wouldn't). But when they did that there were complaints about how nothing new was added.

Prices go up on tickets and people complain about not being able to afford it. But the place is too packed or stuff costs too much money.

And now the discussion of the rides leaving or being replaced. It's inevitable but will happen. One day Beast won't be at KI and one day It's A Small Word won't be at Disney.

(Not commenting on one person or discussion just overall)

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[TTD-120-420]

I'd like to comment on the annual pass price increase. While I don't agree with the people who say it's too expensive and every family should be able to visit (no, you're not born with the right to go to Disney World) I do agree people should be mad. Where is the increased value? People are paying more for a lot less than what they used to be getting. 80% of Hollywood Studios is closed. Things are closing left and right. And they want you to pay more for that. At least with the Universal pass increase they have new offerings every year.

[Magenta Lizard]

For me, decreased crowds would be increased value.

[shark6495]

I'd like to comment on the annual pass price increase. While I don't agree with the people who say it's too expensive and every family should be able to visit (no, you're not born with the right to go to Disney World) I do agree people should be mad. Where is the increased value? People are paying more for a lot less than what they used to be getting. 80% of Hollywood Studios is closed. Things are closing left and right. And they want you to pay more for that. At least with the Universal pass increase they have new offerings every year.

I think that's the hard part to justify but it happens. In cities the price of a burger goes up not because it got better but because many people come to that restaurant and order that burger.

As with Disney the value got better each year that an increase was worth it (imo).

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[FoF96"]

Theoretically, The Beast could last as long as Kings Island does. It just comes down to " do we want to replace this lumber?" Wooden coasters have that luxury.

[RailRider]

I see validity in all the points raised in this discussion and there is one thing that hasn't been discussed to great length is how Disney is using pricing to limit crowds.  Yes you read that correct, Disney can only handle so many people in the parks on a daily basis and crowds have exploded for the parks the last 5+ years.  Heading in to this season Disney raised prices all around, plus they limited the discounts they offered. One example being Free Dining, it was still offered this year but it required either a park hopper ticket or an upgraded room from standard level.  This is just one example of how Disney has worked to limit, even scale back attendance growth.

Look at any Disney blog site that is frequently in the parks and they are all commenting that even days it should be packed the crowds haven't been as heavy as they were in years past.

 

Something else to discuss is Disney is a huge expansion/transition phase right now and once they new lands open, Pandora, Star Wars and Toy Story, the effected parks will become more than just half day parks.  They will become whole day if not 2 day parks, allowing Disney to spread their guests over more of the property instead of guests flocking back to Magic Kingdom or Epcot once they realize they are done with the other parks.  Once these new areas go live Disney will begin reworking Epcot to increase its appeal with added attractions like Guardians of the Galaxy and character centered rides in the World Showcase, like Ratatoui (These are the rumors and they make sense).  Also at some point Tomorrowland will be getting a fresh update with a Tron Light Cycle coaster and other attractions, this has already begun with paint work and the limiting of Stitch, which is a horrible ride.

This expansion phase isn't new, but it is more evident right now.  New Fantasyland was first, followed by the Magic Band system, which is amazing, and then the retiming of Downtown Disney to Disney Springs, which is very nicely done.

 

Lastly I was one who didn't want to go to the Studios at all this trip because of all of the construction, but as our week progressed we realized there was no need to go back to the other 3 parks so we visited the Studios our last day.  The new Star Wars offerings at the park are great and the nighttime Star Wars Spectacular was insane. Plus the new character meet n greets are fantastic, Olaf is in a league of his own, as are the shows they continue to run at the park.  With the changes coming to this park it will easily be a 2 day park and potentially a 3 day park when you consider there is close to 20 acres of expansion coming.

[TTD-120-420]

We were at Magic Kingdom on Wednesday and Friday. Stitch is being used as a trick or treat location.

[Gabe]

We were at Magic Kingdom on Wednesday and Friday. Stitch is being used as a trick or treat location.

I assume it's being used as that for the MNSSHP? During the day, it's open for normal operations.

[TTD-120-420]

The only time I walked by it was during the Halloween Party, so I'm not sure what is going on with it during the day.