Stitch’s Great Escape

Stitch’s Great Escape is Walt Disney World’s most controversial ride. A whole lot of people find this ride not up to Disney standards. Most of the time Disney takes one of their charcters and tells a heartwarming story about them with some great effects. Not here.

Look inside of Tomorrowland Entrance on the left – Photo by Matthew Cooper

In this ride, a kinda cute character is turned into an absolute monster. Not your typical cuddly Disney monster. This is a real scary (even for adults) ugly MONSTER.

This is either a love it or hate it ride. There’s no middle ground. You’ll either love it or you’ll absolutely hate it. (Dad falls into the latter category.)

Girls scream. Mom’s scream. Dad’s Scream. Even Little Brothers Scream.

Stitch is a sceaming ride.

The Preshow

The doors open up and you step into the Galactic Federation Prisoner Teleport Center. There you are recruited to be a guard by the a cast member posing as a Grand Council woman. After accepting your duty, you are taught the basic procedures of the job and the classification system.

The intercom makes the announcement to come into the chamber. A Level 3 prisoner is being brought in and they need your help. Enter at your own risk.

The Attraction

When you to the transportation chamber as Galactic Federation Securitys agent you are assigned to protect project Experiment 626 otherwise know as Stitch. You take a seat and shoulder restraints come down to shoulders. Then the prisoner is beamed into the chamber and it is a very surprising Stitch.

Stitch releases his terror on the crowd. The chairs you are strapped into simulate Stitch jumping on your shoulder and tickling heads. Then the power comes back on and cannons are trying to get Stitch under control. This is an unsuccessful attempt and Stitch escapes. The fiasco ends as Stitch travels through Tomorrowland and on to Cinderalla’s Castle.

The Harness

The chairs in Stitch’s great escape come complete with shoulder harness restraints. These are massive pieces of equipment that glue you to your seat. There is even more restraint than on the most violent roller coaster.

WARNING – If you are claustrophobic, you might be very uncomfortable in this attraction. (If you have a 13 year old son that gets spooked you might be very uncomfortable.)

WARNING 2 – The lights go off in the theater and you feel Stitch on your shoulders. This always illicits screams from just about everyone.

(I warned you.)

Fun Facts

Here are some interesting tidbits –

• Stitch is the first Audio Animatronic character that spits
• Stitch TP’d (yes the little moster toilet papered) Cinderella’s Castle for his Grand Opening
• This ride tells the story of Stitch before he met Lilo (way before the cute movie)
• The alien language seen throughout the attraction is inspired by the designs seen during the opening scenes of the movie
• “Skippy” an alien who was involved in the ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter, returns for this attraction
• The two plasma cannons in the ride were inspired by the movie and each weigh more than 1600 pounds

History

This attraction on November 14, 2004. It replaced Alien Encounter which was also a very controversial ride. The ride didn’t really change except cosmetically. The story is still pretty much the same. Monster escapes and wreaks havoc on the theater.

Dad’s Ride Information Table

Are You Tall Enough?

Is your child tall enough to ride? Stitch is one of the rides there is a height requirement to ride.

You have to be at least 40 inches tall to ride.

Dad’s Disney World Height Requirements page

Dad also has a cool little tool to measure the kids as they grow and keep track of when they are tall enough to ride the rides, like Stitch’s Great Escape. I call it Dad’s Are You Tall Enough To Ride?…

Every ride at WDW is on this chart. Mount it on the wall and keep track of the kids while they grow.

Get Dad’s Are You Tall Enough to Ride?…

The Fine Print

Here’s some small print information

• This ride may be to scary for young kids (middle aged kids and really old kids too)
• Guests with your children may take turns
• Guests must transfer from motorized scooter or ECV to a wheelchair
• Guest with service animals should check in at the host stand for boarding information
• Assistive Listening Receivers may be used at the attraction
• Video Captioning is available for this attraction

Dad’s Bottom Line

Stitch’s Great Escape is the only ride in all of Disney World that Dad won’t even suggest you try it out and decide for yourself. Skip this one unless you are a big fan of horror movies.

Please don’t take small children who love Stitch to this show.