"Alien Encounter" was world's better than "Stitch's Great Escape"

Wow... I can't believe the hate toward this show. I barely remember Mission to Mars (1990 I did that), but I thought the Stitch show was OK. The animatronic was pretty impressive, I thought. I agree they tried to stretch out the story a bit, but it was OK.

And Richard Kind played the robot. He's so much less annoying when he's not actually there being a character. :)

It's all about expectations.

Like watching The Phantom Menace after witnessing the original trilogy for the past 30 years.

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Alien Encounter > Stitch's Great Escape

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For you. Not for my seven year old daughter, who put stitch behind only the better coasters and a few other serious E-tickets in her list of "things she wanted to do a second time" on last year's trip, but would have been a puddle of quivering goo coming out of AE. I happily went on Stitch with with her several times, and we still sometimes yell "MY chili dog" at each other a year later.

What's more, my 7 year old daughter is their target market, not some 19 year old coaster enthusiast.

Edited to add: more accurately, my daughter's parent's wallets are the target market.

*** Edited 1/21/2007 2:04:20 PM UTC by Brian Noble***

Hey 2Hostyl, I'm still swinging my keyblade trying to finish number II.

Brian's Daughter is a good example, but overall, the kid audience has given the show a fairly "blah" reaction. I hope they re-do it and make it something better. I know we'll never get AE back, but that doesn't even matter.

I'm certainly with you there. The story could be better.

It's interesting to compare Stitch's development with what is happening across the way at the Laugh Floor. With Stitch, they opened the attraction and then seemed to do prevew-style test&adjust after the fact. Ops raised the height limit. WDI increased lighting and tweaked the story. All after the attraction opened "officially"

Laugh Floor was supposed to open this week, but unlike Stitch, which seemed to open too soon, it has been put off to the spring for show re-writes and animation upgrades. The good news: the reviews I'm seeing now from LF are much more positive than those even six weeks ago---and some reviews are from folks who saw previews both pre- and post-rewrite.

Jeff - Had you experienced Alien Encounter? That's why most people hate Stitch so much. When you compare the two attractions to each other, Stitch is just a big waste of time. Didn't George Lucas do all of the effects in AE (or at least help with them)?

Brian: Good point. I heard a recording of one of the first preview performances of laugh floor. It was lame at best. I think it's a great move to delay it. Heck, Walt Disney personally delayed so many attractions against the outrage of his money men, and it always paid off.

But, as with many things with American Disney in the last 20 years, Disney has really pulled their purse strings WAY too tight (see DCA) and not allowed the full creativity of their imagineers. This is even true with rides like Everest, and Mission Space compared to their original designs. Even with all the fight in the world from Joe Rhode, Everest was still built on a much smaller scale and with way less effects than he wanted.

But, when things are done right withthe full amount of money and creativity, they pay off. (see Disneysea!)

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Brian Noble said:

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Alien Encounter > Stitch's Great Escape

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For you. Not for my seven year old daughter, who put stitch behind only the better coasters and a few other serious E-tickets in her list of "things she wanted to do a second time" on last year's trip, but would have been a puddle of quivering goo coming out of AE. I happily went on Stitch with with her several times, and we still sometimes yell "MY chili dog" at each other a year later.

What's more, my 7 year old daughter is their target market, not some 19 year old coaster enthusiast.

Edited to add: more accurately, my daughter's parent's wallets are the target market.

*** Edited 1/21/2007 2:04:20 PM UTC by Brian Noble***

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Yes, for me. I'm only talking about myself. I'm well aware that Alien Encounter was failing to garner long waits and sell merchandise, so from a business perspective, I'm not arguing that the Stitch ride will bring in more of the Magic Kingdom's target crowd, but that still doesn't change that, in my opinion, the ride that attracted less people was a superior attraction to the one with the Disney favorite.

It's like a movie. It makes more sense to make a sequel to a popular film because it is an established franchise and could very well lead to a large box office gross. However, sequels rarely get lauded with praise like original films do, yet the original films usually fail at the box office and the inferior sequel makes the buck.

For example:

Pan's Labyrinth > Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

*** Edited 1/21/2007 7:53:27 PM UTC by coastergoose*** *** Edited 1/21/2007 7:54:00 PM UTC by coastergoose***

So, boiling your argument down, you end up with "most people don't have good taste."

True. And, immaterial.

Look, I'm as much of a snob as the next guy---probably more so than most. I buy Peete's coffee (whole bean, of course). I drink beer with actual flavor instead of that awful mass-produced stuff made partly out of rice. I've never watched American Idol, or, for that matter, nearly any top-10 television show for the past decade.

I can't stand shopping at Kroger, because their cheap produce sucks, their cheap meat sucks, and their cheap bakery products suck. Instead, I shop at the expensive little boutique grocery, and spend 30% more, but get decent quality. There are never lines there, either---not because of some focus on customer service, but because most people don't go there.

I don't expect the mass-marketers and mass-producers of the world to cater to my tastes, because they are unusual. That's not how the world works. Maxwell House, Budweiser, Fox, and, yes, even Disney simply don't care about *me*. They care only about *People*, and only at very large scale

And, they never have cared about *me*---even Disney. That gee-whiz, aw-shucks, Saint Walt was a shrewd businessman first and foremost. (I'm reading the new biography; very interesting.) He wasn't afraid to spend money on quality, true, but he wasn't doing it just because it was quality. He was doing it because he was convinced he'd make good money doing it.
*** Edited 1/21/2007 8:23:34 PM UTC by Brian Noble***

Brian Noble said:

I don't expect the mass-marketers and mass-producers of the world to cater to my tastes, because they are unusual. That's not how the world works. Maxwell House, Budweiser, Fox, and, yes, even Disney simply don't care about *me*. They care only about *People*, and only at very large scale

Brian, I just watched the Simpson's on Fox while drinking a cold Bud. I now feel so cheap and dirty. Maybe it's time for me to move to the nicer trailer park across town. :)

I don't see how the Magic Kingdom doesn't appeal to 18 year olds. So, there are some kid rides. What about those great roller coasters (Space Mountain, and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad). You are forgetting Splash Mountain. Some people do like Pirates, and Haunted Mansion also.

What does EPCOT have? It has a boring Soarin', a Mission Space in which people have died (sadly), and Test Track. What else is enticing for older than 18?? I'm older than 18, but yet I like stuff like Figment, Snow White, US show at EPCOT, Tea Cup rides, and so on. I don't really agree with you on that.

I'm not sure who's arguing that MK doesn't appeal to people over 18, I think most people would agree that the gist of it is it appeals to folks of all ages.

bsr241- let me know when you beat Sephiroth!

Ilovethevu': The biggest thing Epcot has doesnt really appeal to the 18+ club...but to the 21+ crowd. ALCOHOL and lots of ALCOHOL. Epcot's "International Food and Wine Festival" is perfect for the 'upppity' grown segment (I resemble that remark). Besides, the whole feel of the park (particularly World Showcase) is laid back when compared to most parks. Also, is seems like there are less kids in that park which makes it more relaxing and more hospitible to the "Disney Honeymoon" crowd.

I was just going to say, food and alcohol. Epcot is unique in that it's one of the few places that has generally good food from all over the world that is at least reasonably authentic.

And then there are Beatles cover bands in England, street performers all over, belly dancers in Morocco... you get the idea.

I agree...and I think it has too many cheap thrill rides now and not as many nice future world attractions. (At the risk of sounding like too big of a Disney Geek, I'd rather have Horizons and World of Motion than Test Track and Mission Death)

It's always been more of an "adult" park and hope it stays that way.

Horizons, I can agree with. World of Motion? booooorrrrrinnng. ;)

And, yes, a nice lunch with a carafe of wine while the belly dancer entertains is a perfect way to recharge those batteries. It's not the best N. African/Mediterranean you'll ever have, but Restaurant Marrakesh is a perfectly pleasant place.

My must-see for my next trip? Off Kilter, in the Canada pavilion. Kilts and electric accordion rock. How cool is that?

I happen to be a big fan of Mission: Space. So sue me.

However, I think the most effective attraction at Disney today is "Honey I Shrunk the Audience". The effects in that ride leave an impression.

That I'd disagree with. Of the 4 "4d" movies at WDW I think it's by far the weakest and the most in need of replacement. Heck, I'd almost rather have Captain EO back! :)

Keep in mind that I don't particularly like that show too much. I just said that they used the 3-D and in-house effects so well that it left a lasting effect.

My favorite is Philharmagic.