The problem with Stich is not that they tried to tone it down, its that a good part of the attraction just doesn't provided anything to keep anyoner entertained or even interested.
A large part of both SGE, like AE before it, is based on 3D sounds and what has become known as 4d theater effects (water spayed on you, smells blown at you, filiments tickling, etc). While AE was not a great attraction, its 3D sounds and 4D effects came at a fairly brisk pace and were convincing enough to be entertaining. SGE, on the other hand, almost completely fails in this category. There are long periods where absolutly nothing is happening. When the 3D sounds do take place, they are boring and not very creative. You mostly hear stich moiving around the theater saying things "boing, boing, boing" or " you cant catch me, neener, neener, neener". As for the 4D effects, they are next to non existant (one filiment tickle, one smell (a burp blown on you by Stich), one water spray and one bump from your shoulder harness).
AE wasn't the best attraction ever built, but it beats SGE simply because its used its effects more often and better SGE does. With its amazing Stich animatronic and use of familiar characters and story, SGE should have won hands down. Instead, it failed because they simply didn't use the effects at their disposal well and left long dead spots in the show.
I beleive the show can be fixed. Tighen up the story, use the Stich aninmatronic more (or add more animatronic Stiches around the theater), use the effects more often and remove the dead spots and you could have a real E-ticket here. I have only one concern. This show is so heavily based on 4D effects and the time where these effects could be used as theb main theme of a show may be past (but that is a topic for another thread).