Yesterworld: The Tragic Fate of Stitch’s Great Escape - Disney’s Most Divisive Attraction 

on the bright side the dead silence before “hey that’s not simba!” really adds to the effect

Me: thinks something is wrong with my sound and puts it at max volume Timon: H E Y T H A T ‘ S N O T S I M B A

Alien Encounter getting canned was such a terrible mistake. That attraction scared the living crap out of me as a kid, but the thrill made me love it afterwards.

"Drake." "Yeah Josh?" "Where's Stitch's Great Escape?" "It's right there, see, I blocked off Alien Encounter." "You were supposed to start construction on it!" "I did!" "So go in and start constructing!" "Dude, I'm gonna!" *bumps into wall covered in posters* "I see the problem." "WELL NOW DO YA"

I used to work at Stitch and I was told that a lot of the parts used to build the animatronics, effects, and overall infrastructure were discontinued and so maintenance couldn’t really fully fix any of the issues of the attraction (speakers not working, monitors not working, bits and pieces of Stitch himself that were broken off, etc). By the end of its life that attraction was essentially held together with duct tape and glue lmao

Like, stitches animatronic looks amazing. I don’t get why they’d just do that to a fine animatronic. They should’ve repurposed it for something, or atleast put it in storage instead of destroying it.

12:56 Congratulations on completing your first day, however your job isn't over just yet. There's another aspect of your end of day routine, and that is inspecting and salvaging any animatronics found in the Alley outside the backdoor. Things are found here quite often and while we aren't sure why, what we do know is that they can be used for parts. Which can mean a much needed revenue boost before starting your next day. Of course, as with everything else in this line of work, those benefits come with risks. The safest thing to do is to throw it back outside, but then you get no money for the salvage. Choose to keep it and you run the risk of certain negative consequences, namely death, should the item in question not be as docile as it first appeared. If you do decide to try to salvage it, then you must complete the maintenance checklist. During this testing phase check on the animatronic frequently, if you feel that it is coming unstable, use the taser provided to you. You can use it three times without damaging the hardware. Every use over three, however, will decrease the item's salvage value.

Alien encounter was Disney’s best ride. Only ride I’ve ever been on that actually scared me. Should have never changed it just put a age limit on it

Disney: Hurry up and make a new ride out of an old one ASAP Disney when the ride is unpopular due to being rushed: :O

i remember riding this as a kid and absolutely adoring it. i thought it was the coolest shit ever. surprised to hear it was unpopular.

Fun fact: I tried going on this ride when I was 4 and had a major panic attack. My mom took me to the dumbo ride afterwards and that’s still a very cherished memory for me :))

I remember when my parents took our family to Disney World and decided to go Stitch's Great Escape. Of course, me being absolutely terrified of the dark, the ride was nothing more than an absurd and villainous plan. The ride didn't break down or malfunction in any way (which is surprising because the year we went was 2016), however it became the second most horrifying Disney attraction to near traumatize me. I couldn't sleep peacefully in complete darkness until I turned 13 or 14 years old. After watching this video and being reminded of my personal experience, I can visualize the entire ride from beginning to end. I can still feel the water being sprayed on the back of my neck and wanting to wipe it off, but couldn't because of the restraints. Luckily, I wasn't the one being sprayed by the animatronic, or else I probably would've passed out. Good times.

That Stitch animatronic is just terrifying looking, like seriously if that thing popped up in a Five Night’s game I wouldn’t even be surprised

One of my favorite memories of this ride was some guy yelling "I just threw up in my mouth!" after the belch scent was sprayed. It made a ton of us laugh.

This ride was terrifying to me as a child. Having the ride break down and having no lights for 10 minutes did not go well with me having no idea what a stitch was. Nightmares were had.

"Prices are up and creativity is down" chilling how history repeats itself lol

Say what you will about the ride, but its still sad to see it all dismantled.

The smell of that chili dog still haunts me to this day....

I remember going on that ride. I didn't find it too 'scary', even as a teenager, but I did have some massive issues with the 'olfactory enhancement' section. I legitimately had to go back to the hotel, change, then shower before I could go about enjoying my time again, because the smell LINGERED and kept causing me to gag, badly enough I had 3 different staff members at the park ask me if I was okay. That said, the animatronic was quite neat and I could very much tell it was more advanced than others at the park. It's just a shame they pretty much destroyed it rather than sticking it in storage or even using it as a 'idea reference' for future engineering projects.

One of the reasons why it probably shut down was because of the malfunctioning safety bars that descend from overhead. For some folks who were still trying to sit down comfortably, the sensors that told the bar to stop descending malfunctioned and kept going until the gears couldn’t go any further. It was fairly painful, especially if said customer was trying to push back up against it and got stuck. I know I was young, but this is still my worst memory of Disneyworld

they should make a ride called Stitch's Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride and make it like a rollercoaster at like Seven Dwarves Mine train speed and have scenes to ride through

Even as a kid I was never a fan of burp humor. So the chili dogs smell was always mildly discomforting, since I also don't like chili dogs. But the concept was so clever and well-executed to me as a kid. It's really sad to find that the ride doesn't exist anymore. stitch was one of my favorite Disney characters and certainly deserves more love in the theme park.

I had a chance to experience the show in 2010. The seats locked you in so they could bounce down on you, as if stitch was jumping on the seat during the dark part. Also, there was this old lady who wasnt really watching the show, just talking to her friend, when stitch's spit stream nailed her in the face. It ruined her glasses, and she was visibly upset and pissed for the rest of the show.

As someone who was traumatized by the original Alien Encounter as a kid, I think Stitch's Great Escape is a huge improvement. If only it came out of its own accord first maybe it would have been more appreciated.

True story. My family in 2007 went to magic kingdom for the first time. It happened to be a rainy may day. Well we decided since stitch was a enclosed that it would help us dry off a bit. I was little, like 6 yr old little. And stitch was my favorite. As we were seated the ride had started and when it became pitch black and we heard him eat the chili dog. Well when the scent dispensers turned on. Everyone in the theater groaned. But my family didn't mind. That was until we left and started walking in the rain. The scent had stayed on our clothes. It was so bad we had to drive an hour to our hotel to change and then go back. By the time we got back it was about 89° and sunny. This ride had always been frequently talked about in my family. So seeing this video made me giggle abit.

Unpopular opinion, I actually really liked that ride and was extremely disappointed when it wasn’t up and running last October

Not gonna lie, I actually enjoyed Stich's Great Escape. It always fascinated me and really introduced me to the idea of stuff outside of 'canon' could also be enjoyable.

I'm sitting here, mighty surprised how nice and fluid the animation and movements of the pre-show animatronics was. So much character and personality for animatronics that were somewhat old by that point already from what I understand. Would've loved to see them in person at the time. The detail of the eyes is also really sweet.

Am I the only one who LOVED the ride? I dunno, it's one of the few rides I remember most vividly from when I went as a kid, and I had a lot of fun listening to Stitch "run" around our heads and act like the rapscallion that he is.

Now when those new stich pictures came out. Stich legit looks spooky. o-o

I remember doing alien encounter as a kid and it was so scary but a memorable experience. They showed you the alien in the center tube. Then lights go out and it breaks out. The seats blow air on your neck and sprits you with waster. It was so surreal and amazing yet still terrifying.

I actually used to love this ride, as a kid I thought it was amazing that the animatronics looked so real, and overall I thought it was pretty entertaining. The part where Stitch started jumping on you really creeped me out, and I'll never forget the smell of that Chili dog. Looking back at it now, I think it's a real shame that it closed down, I would've liked to experience it again.

I remember going on this when I was little. I honestly thought it was some kind of hallucination

tbh the de-clothed stitch animatronic is almost scarier than the original alien encounter

oh my god dude, disney is god tier at making events, that's actually really cool how commited they were with making stitch appear as tho he had been messing around on the park

“Ohana means family, family means no one gets left behind”

Imma be dramatic, check it out: I'll miss it, even if it wasn't unpopular. When I was 8 and 9 and I first got to go on the ride, it seemed popular to me. The line was long and full of Stitch fans we could chat with, and I rode it more than once in the years that followed during our visits. Even as an adult, I've been delighted to go back on, knowing every word of what was coming. Every time we rode, guests would scream or laugh or make grossed-out noises accordingly, and no one seemed disappointed or bored. I'm sure it WAS unpopular, but from my perspective (from 2008-onward), it was fun. I remember how excited we were when we heard the ride was coming to the parks, and I got giddy every time I saw the big sign. I still do! Now it's gone. My mom has experienced countless rides from her childhood leaving the Parks and tells us all about them, but we've never lost a ride we'd ridden since we were children at Disney. Of course the first would be our favorite. [TRYING NOT TO CRY OVER A RECYCLED BUNCH OF ANIMATRONICS HERE.] So yes, I'll miss it a lot--wish I'd known the last time I rode it WAS the last time I'd ride it. I'll probably be describing Stitch's gross belch and the robot's cracking voice to my own kids one day. It was fun, Stitch! Crash the party again any time.

It actually really enjoyed this attraction as a kid, I'm kinda sad to hear that it got shut down.

i feel so lucky to have gotten to see 'alien encounter' when i was young. it was a really great show. honestly one of the best in my memory. only show i can think of that was better was a stage performance of Bram Stroker's 'Dracula' performed in some old church in italy.... that had live bats instead of air-nozzles so it really cant be beat.

I remember crying on Stitch's great escape because of the smell :')

That picture of the Stitch’s animatronic endoskeleton is terrifying😰

I went on this ride a year before it was removed and I didn't have any problems with it. everything worked great. the chilli dog part didn't really smell bad to me the sound worked perfectly and the bars didn't hurt me at all. Maybe I just got lucky.

I grew up loving Lilo & Stitch and remember very vividly as a kid going to the attraction and loving it, it will remain one of my favorites to exist.

I remember really loving this ride as a kid. I never liked the chili dog burp bit, but I thought the rest of it was really fun. I was a bit biased though given Stitch was possibly my favorite Disney character at the time. The last time I went to Disneyworld was over a decade ago, and I had no idea it had shut down. I'm kind of sad that I'll never get to experience it again, but I get why other people didn't enjoy it that much. I hope Disney makes another Lilo and Stitch themed attraction at some point.

I rode this ride so much that the Chilly Dog burp scent was ridden into my clothes. I had to take like 3 baths to get it out.

"His sad tale is a microcosm of what is going on at Disney, where prices are up and creativity is down." Truer words have never been spoken, or printed. However, the same could be said for all of Hollywood nowadays.

1:18 - actually those wanted posters are showing more of the experiments (shown in the video are Babyfier, Poxy, and Slushy)

I remember going into Stitch's Great Escape and I get to say that it was fun, Disney will pulled off the immersion that Stitch was there just doing what he usually does, causing mayhem, breaking shit and just be the furry force of nature that he is.

*I actually really liked that attraction*

The alien ride scared me when I was younger and stitch scared my daughter 😂 wonder if there will be one to scare her kid too lol it's tradition

I cant help but think that someone in orlando once said to stich: "oh boy, I remember you were smaller"

9:10 I guess Stitch loves chili dogs just as much as Sonic the Hedgehog does LOL XD

When me and my cousins went on the ride, when the lights went out and we were strapped in the seats I used to grab the back of my little cousins necks and they would think Stitch did it.😂😂

I remembered when Stitch burped into people’s faces. The smell was gross, but what made it worse is that I could still smell it on my shirt after I left the building. Edit: Thx for 700 Likes!

I’m glad I’m not the only one who liked Stitch’s Great Escape. I mean, sure, it’s not making any top 10s of Disney’s best attractions, but Disney’s worst attraction ever? It wasn’t _that_ bad!

I remember being on this ride when I was younger and actually really liking it for how different it was to other Disney attractions. I understand why a lot of people didn't like it though, and I will miss it

I worked at that attraction for some time. (Astro, Stitch, & TTC) Did you know they didn’t even bother to change the backstage parts to Stitch? The power box running the show still said Alien Encounter in the break room till its closure. Just a fun tidbit there. ;)

I’m glad I got to actually be at the attraction before it went, even as a kid, it was so much fun.

"The tragic fate of stitch's great escape" *He never escaped* 😔

When I was 11, my dad and I went on this ride with absolutely no prior knowledge of what we were about to experience. My only memory of being on it is panicking while in complete darkness. We both hated it and I'm pretty sure I cried.

Stitch really let himself go, huh?

Alot of folks hated this ride but I recall going to it as a kid and absolutely loving it. Mind you I had no idea there was a ride before hand, and I was like 7 but I remeber the ride quite fondly

I’m not gonna miss the attraction, I’m just gonna miss Skippy. May he Rest In Peace

I would’ve loved to have gone on Stitch’s Great Escape before it closed down. It looked really cool, and the Stitch animatronic looks so lifelike and creepy.

While I didn't like this ride. Still bummed to see such a cool animatronic just skinned and left there like that.

Honestly, I'm gonna miss that ride. Edit: thank you guys so much for the likes and replies to this comment, it made my day!

So glad you did a video on this. Despite knowing I probably would have enjoyed Extra Terrorestrial more as an adult, when I was a kid I was too young to go on it until it was gone. So Stitch is what I grew up with and always loved the ride, hate that it got replaced with basically nothing

Alien Encounter was an AMAZING experience in my childhood. I had a badass action figure of the Insect Monster.

I was kinda scared when I first went on the attraction. I got over i quicklyt, but seeing what happened to Stick now, it's something out of a horror movie.

Disney better decide on making a more modern ride for Stitch's sake. I am a HUGE Stitch fan and this makes me very upset that people never appreciated this ride. I always begged my family to go to this ride because I got to see my favorite character. It was mind boggling to me that, they were able to do all those "special effects". I will forever miss this ride and I'm sad that I never got to say goodbye.

I went to the stitch ride about 2 times in my life time. Back in 2012 and 2014. I was a kid back then and I was a huge fan of stitch. The animatronic for me was amazing. Like a kid I believed it was real. When I heard in 2018 that it was getting closed I was a little disappointed tbh. However, nothing compared to the absolute nightmare fuel that the pictures of the destroyed stitch animatronic gave me.

lilo and stitch is an ABSOLUTE classic.

I remember going on the ride once or twice, probably around the age of 9 or so. Personally, I loved it and remembered the whole ride to this day. I came out of the ride laughing, and I clearly enjoyed it, but I remember a lot of other people complaining about it as they left the ride. When I went back for a trip a few years later, I was disappointed to see the ride was closed. I would check back every day and ask when it was open again, but nobody knew. The last time I went to Disney last year, I was disappointed to see it was still closed, even if it said ‘just for today’. Once again, I checked every day of the trip to see if it was open... Only to find out the ride would never open again. I was heartbroken. Personally, I loved the ride, and I wish I could have gone on it one last time to experience it before it closed. Seeing Stitch and the rest of the animatronics like this is so sad (and borderline creepy, haha). I know I’m one of the few people that liked this ride, but I really wish it could have stayed longer... I was hoping to maybe see if it was open the next time I go for whatever reason, but seeing the way the ride is now, I know that’s not happening. RIP Stitch’s Great Escape - Your ride will always be loved.

The dismantled stitch looks like it caught on fire.

Stitch is one of my favorite things in general, but that doesn't make this ride look any more appealing to me. Can't say I'm sad that I missed out on it because it looks pretty dull and a totally forgettable experience outside of the animatronic which is genuinely impressive.

I loved Stitch's Great Escape. I first rode it in 2010 and the las time was june 2015.

I went on the ride sometime last year and it was insanely broken,,, the shoulder bars on the ride kept pushing down even though it was already at my shoulders and it kinda hurt lol the headphones barely worked and only occasionally played sound in one ear. I remember going on it when it first came out too and it was such an,,, experience and as a dumb kid it always made me smile. Looking back on it I still love this ride because it makes me remember how thrilling it used to be. It just breaks my heart to see it all fucked up but it’s for the best (gotta put that poor ride out of its misery)

Growing up, Lilo & Stitch was my favorite Disney movie. Even with my grandpa railroading the trip so that we rode everything we wanted to before our trip was over, I managed to talk my way into this one twice on our second (and last) visit. I was disappointed when I found out it was gone, but seeing that dismantled animatronic makes me pretty upset.

This is crazy, I remember going on that ride a few years ago and loving it and now apparently it’s gone😳

This was one of the first Attractions i ever went to, it was great! didn't know it ended up closing :( the chili dog part was my favorite haha

Stitch should have taken over typhoon lagoon and have crush'n'gusher renamed to Stitch's Hawaiian roller coaster ride!

I can’t lie. I went on this ride when I was 16. I don’t really like scary or jump scare rides and at the time I didn’t know the ride’s history. The preshow was cute and enjoyable, but the ride itself (stitch touching you and breathing down your neck in pitch darkness) actually really scared me. It obviously wasn’t as scary as it’s previous ride, but it makes me wonder what it would be like I’d stitch had his own ride and didn’t replace the alien one. However, I’m in love with the history of the ride now. I’m glad I went on it, extraterrorestrial is my favorite defunct ride because of its unDisney-like scares! Now at 21, I would DIEEEE to go in extraterrorestrial!

I was at Magic Kingdom this last week, was looking for exactly this. It was a fun ride for me as a kid, Stitch being one of my favorite characters. I looked for the sign while I was there, but they've taken that down too now. Wonder what they'll put in there next

I went in 2006 and I miss this ride so badly along with the star wars tour thing. I miss being that young

I remember going to this attraction and freaking out as a kid and started crying. I don’t remember much about the ride tho. I was pretty young.

Finally, someone else who doesn’t hate Stitch’s Great Escape! I’M NOT ALONE!

I remember going seeing this when I was around ~4 years old and at the time I was SUPER afraid of the dark still, that whole ride scared me so bad as a kid it left such a vivid memory I can never forget. Didn't know people disliked it so much, sad to see where it's at now.

It was my first time at Disney world, I had just turned 6, and this was the first thing I went on. Completely scared the shit out of me. To this day, I refuse to go on any rides.

Thank you for doing this video. You’re the first person I’ve seen on RU-vid who actually seems to have cared about Stitch. I remember when those photos got leaked. It was all by people who were basically dancing on the corpses (so to speak) and in doing so, they made me cry. This was a much better way to frame it. I understand the fans of the previous attraction, as I myself get emotionally attached to theme park memories like that (as a matter of fact, I’m still depressed for Beetlejuice and his pals over at Universal Orlando). I know how you all must have felt when Stitch came busting in and though I loved Stitch, I can agree you all had some legitimate complaints. I didn’t even like the discomfort of the seating. But I am still saddened that Stitch was gone so suddenly. I mostly thought it was a great attraction and now that I know what opening day was, I really wish I had been there. Meeting Cobra would have been a lot of fun! I would have done Lilo’s entire speech, I would have been so hyped. (Did anyone else get so obsessed with it that they would lay down and mouth Heartbreak Hotel or put spoons in the pickle jar, turn it upside down and shake it? Haha I know no one else did something I got to do FOR the TV series, but if I told you all here, I bet no one would believe me. Lol) Anyway... I went last Summer to say goodbye to Energy Pavilion and Great Movie Ride (and for the first time hung out with a fellow Movie fan in line, which was awesome when I could stop crying). I got sick on the airplane ride up there because getting delayed all night took my sleep away and I found myself sleeping, unable to eat and throwing up most days, so we were lucky we made it to all the parks in the afternoons or evenings. When we got to Magic Kingdom, it was really late and one of the first things I did was rush over to Stitch because I had heard it had gone on seasonal and knew it would soon die. I wanted to ride it one last time and get my goodbyes in, as I loved it as much as I had Energy and Great Movie, which, in less than 24 hours, would both be history. Unfortunately, it looked closed. A guard sitting outside told us it had already closed up for the day. Something told me I would never see it again and I began to cry very quietly as we walked off. I’m still upset I never got to ride it one last time and am not sure I could face seeing what is left of it just to go in for the meet and greet. But I am really glad someone finally gave it a video with a fair talk! So thank you, again. :)

It’s kinda weird but the **smell** of the attraction is coming back to me and I don’t mean the chili dog one... I’m remember the attraction smelling very industrial

Stitch is and always will be my favorite Disney character.

omg the ride opened on my sixth birthday 🥺 it was one of my favorite rides since Stitch is my favorite character! I’m sad that it’s gone, it will be missed :(

I actually remember watching this attraction when I was twelve and being kinda scared of it since I’m a baby and afraid of the dark. But I was still dazzled by the Stitch animatronic for being so fluid and life-like. It’s a shame the attraction died the way it did

12:28 I would never thought in my life I'll end up being terrified by Stitch.

I remember the smell they used when I visited was of stale popcorn. I recognized it instantly from having recently cleaned out an old popcorn machine that had been stored full for months.

The stitch animatronic's endoskeleton is terrifying

Simple way to make it spookier, just take the skin off. Bare animatronic. As for the dismantling the preshow experiment animatronic photo doesn't show the preshow area, that's the room beneath the preshow room and the animatronic is hoisted up by the piston also in the photo. Despite this I'm sure they're just taking it apart for scraps, but I can't imagine the parts on them being very updated or useful on modern models. Perhaps they're just storing the skins for preservation, but I'm sure I'm probably wrong.

I remember going on this ride when I was like 5/6 and being absolutely terrified because it was dark and there were bars. Then I made it through the ride and I guess all the adrenaline along with my love for stitch in general left me with very fond memories of the ride. I am one of the few who misses it apparently.

10:22 I think those alien posters are supposed to be of Stitch’s siblings (from the tv series).

I was a massive fan of Lilo and Stitch as a child, but surprisingly, I don't remember much of this ride, nor did it leave a lasting impression. I vaguely remember my brother talking about the effects of Stitch running around and touching you and whatnot