Stitch's Great Escape! was a "theater-in-the-round" attraction based on Disney's Lilo & Stitch franchise. A non-canon prequel to the original 2002 film that detailed Stitch's "first" prison escape, it was located in the Tomorrowland area of Magic Kingdom at the Walt Disney World Resort, as the fourth attraction to occupy the building and theater space that was previously used for Flight to the Moon, Mission to Mars and the Extraterrorestrial Alien Encounter. Designed by Walt Disney Imagineering, many of the animators who worked on Lilo & Stitch were directly involved with the attraction's development. The attraction, which struggled with a mixed reception from park guests during its existence, was the only major permanent attraction based on Lilo & Stitch to have operated in the United States; all other such major attractions since (i.e. Stitch Encounter and Tokyo Disneyland's Stitch-themed Enchanted Tiki Room) have been exclusive to non-American Disney Parks resorts. As of 2025, no new major attractions have opened in this attraction's former space, making Stitch's Great Escape! the last attraction to date to have operated in Tomorrowland's northern show building (not including the PeopleMover that runs through the building).
Voice cast Chris Sanders as Stitch Kevin Michael Richardson as Captain Gantu Zoe Caldwell as Grand Councilwoman Kevin McDonald as Pleakley Richard Kind as Sergeant C4703BK2704-90210 Dave Fouquettte as Lieutenant Sledge and Donut Guy Doug Stone as Ensign Getco Debra Jean Rogers as First Officer Ombit Jennifer Hale as Cinderella Susan Silo as Computer system
History On September 21, 2003, Magic Kingdom announced that a new Lilo & Stitch themed attraction would be replacing ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter. On October 10, the park announced more details about the new attraction, named Stitch's Great Escape! and would reuse the Alien Encounter technology. Because Alien Encounter was considered too scary and intense for kids, officials wanted to make the new attraction less scary and more family-friendly. Two days later, Alien Encounter closed to the public on October 12 and the Lilo & Stitch remodel was underway. Stitch's Great Escape! opened on November 16, 2004. During the opening event, a large inflatable Stitch was outside the park's entrance, but as guests reached Main Street, U.S.A., they spotted some signs noticing that Stitch was causing chaos at the park. These signs featured his mugshots and mischievous information. Guests could also find security guards who were looking for Stitch. Even worse, the Cinderella Castle was decorated with toilet paper and a graffiti message that said, "Stitch is King". Cobra Bubbles told guests that Stitch was on the loose. The opening celebration soon began, but Stitch had already taken over the party with Elvis Presley singers. As he was being escorted off the stage, a large group of elementary school students arrived at the scene. They were dressed in Stitch hats and light blue t-shirts. Several guests were also given interviews with Stitch and Cobra Bubbles. Near the World of Disney store over at Disney Springs, then called Downtown Disney, there was a van that was hijacked by Stitch surrounded by police line ribbons and barriers. Inside the van, there were road signs, a travel guide map, shoes, and boxes with toy dinosaurs. The attraction was met with a mixed reception from guests, as some considered Stitch's Great Escape! a kid-friendly attraction, but others considered it as the worst attraction at Magic Kingdom. The most common complaint was the chili dog burp that made many guests nauseated. At one time, Stitch's Great Escape! featured a FastPass entrance. When the system was modified to include wristbands instead of tickets, this entrance was removed as the popularity significantly declined. After October 1, 2016, the attraction entered seasonal operation. In October 2017, the attraction's first pre-show area began being used as a costumed character greeting area for Stitch called Stitch's Alien Encounter Character Greeting!.
Closure
The attraction last operated on January 6, 2018, which led to speculation about the attraction's fate. The closure of Stitch's Great Escape! was said to be temporary, but in October, the Stitch animatronic and pre-show were completely dismantled. In 2019, the exterior was given a fresh coat of paint. On July 16, 2020, Disney confirmed that the attraction was permanently closed, with the attraction's signage later taken down on August 10, 2020.
Attraction summary
Pre-show
Guests entered the Galactic Federation Prisoner Teleport Center, where the attraction took place. As the doors opened, guests entered the first pre-show. The Grand Councilwoman (voiced by Zoe Caldwell) was shown on the television screens, telling the guests that they would be guards for the United Galactic Federation. After being taught the basic procedures of guard duty, guests entered the second pre-show, where they were introduced by a robot known as Sergeant C4703BK2704-90210 (Richard Kind). He performed a demonstration, explaining the types of prisoners that are incarcerated, ranking from Level 1’s to Level 2’s (intending to start off with Level 1’s) and proceeds to demonstrate the teleportation tubes using an alien named Skippy, who appeared in the former ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter in both normal and "deformed" forms, with the "deformed" form retrofitted in this attraction as a separate character known as the "doughnut guy", allowing both forms to appear at the same time, with Skippy said to be caught jaywalking between the moons of Jupiter. Shortly afterwards, the demonstration was interrupted by Captain Gantu (Kevin Michael Richardson), who gave an alert of a Level 3 (The highest threat level) prisoner being beamed to the center, at which point Sergeant 90210 fainted. Guests were then instructed by Pleakley (Kevin McDonald) over a public-address system to proceed to the High Security Level 3 prisoner teleportation chamber.
Main show
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