Stitch — that impish, blue, Elvis-lovin', six-limbed alien first introduced in the 2002 animated comedy Lilo & Stitch — has landed in Tomorrowland. "Experiment 626" headlines Stitch's Great Escape!, a new/old attraction at Florida's Walt Disney World that capitalizes on the wildly popular character's reputation for mischief and pandemonium. And, in so doing, quietly supplants the much more adult-themed ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter, which had called this venue home for a decade.
Devised as a prequel to the film, the events of Stitch's Great Escape take place entirely in the SF realm of the Galactic Federation, before Stitch is exiled from the planet Turo as "the flawed product of a deranged mind." "The naughty member of the Disney family" — as his creator Chris Sanders proudly refers to him — Stitch had just the right mix of madcap and mayhem that Disney's Imagineers were looking for when they decided to revamp Alien Encounter into a tamer family attraction.
"Stitch is one of the most popular Disney characters of the last decade with both boys and girls ages three to 11," says Vincent Vedrene, vice president of corporate brand management for the Walt Disney Company. "And the reason why Stitch is so popular with kids is because he's at the same time an alien, a funny character and he's cool. He plays the guitar like Elvis!"
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