We got to ride Stitch! And other stuff...

[Butch50]

We got back last night from a great week at WDW (10/9 - 10/15).

We were on the second show of Stitch's Great Escape on 10/11. As we were walking out of Tomorrowland, I happened to notice some CMs with sticks to measure kids standing at the entrance to Stitch. I turned to our group and asked, "Why would they be there if the ride isn't open." We walked up, removed our cameras, and went inside. The height restriction is 44", so DD didn't get to ride. We didn't even let her know we rode it. DW just took her to ride Buzz again. I tried to tell my son, niece and nephew how special getting to ride was, but I'm not sure they really understood. The ride is obviously not completed yet, but the 5-12 year-olds will love it.

My DD did get to do something a little special though...
On 10/10, we were in the MK. My nearly 3-year-old DD wanted to ride the "fast train" (Thunder Mountain Railroad). She love the ride. She laughed her way through the entire ride. Getting off was another story. She started screaming that she still wanted to ride. As we tried to exit the ride, a CM asked DW if DD got scared. Oh no, she wanted to ride again.
Well, the CM asked us to follow her. We went back into the loading/unloading area through the exit. She then put us on the next train leaving and asked DW how to spell DD's name. After the second ride, we told DD that she needed to thank the nice lady that let her ride again. When she did, the CM gave her a sheet of paper that got her into the Fastpass line of any ride she wanted to use it on.
This little episode really got our week off to a great start, and shows just how wonderful some of the CM's are.

We stayed at SoG, and was very impressed with the new addition.

We ate at:
- Boma's (this was our first time, but not our last - my new favorite)
- O'Hana's (great as always)
- Donalds Breakfastasaurus at AK (I thought it was really good)
- Breakfast at CRT (DD dressed as Cindy, and we had a great time)
- The Garden Gallery at SoG (a pleasant surprise)
- We also "tasted the world" by snacking our way around the WS at Epcot.

 

[thotfulspot]

*not jealous, not jealous, not jealous*

Ack! I'm jealous!!

So, how was Stitch? Had you been to Alien Encounter before, and were there big similarities? Would it be too scary for kids? Give us the scoop!!

What a wonderful experience for your DD! Nothing like a sprinkling of pixie dust to make a special day!

 

[BCVBRUCE]

Can't wait to try Stitch. Thanks for the info.

By the way, WAR EAGLE!!!

Have Fun,
Bruce :

 

[NYDisneyMom]

Oh I was soooo hoping they'd be previewing it by the time we get there!! Thanks for letting us know!!!

 

[AdventurerKat]

Please tell more! If it would be a spoiler for some, PM me! My DS was so wanting this to be open when we got there and it won't be but maybe we will get a preview ride too!

 

[Butch50]

Originally posted by thotfulspot
So, how was Stitch? Had you been to Alien Encounter before, and were there big similarities? Would it be too scary for kids? Give us the scoop!!

The only time I rode AE was in 1996, so I don't remember it in much detail. Stitch is not as scary as I remember AE being. It is really themed more for being funny than frightening. It would be great to get some of the under 44" crowd in there, but I can understand how that would be tough for the imagineers to do. The ride is geared more towards the 5-12 age group, so I probably would not return without DS or DD. They have done a great job of putting everything together though and I'm sure I will ride it again with the kids in a couple of years when we go back.

 

[gouldmanj1]

I saw on-line somewhere that the ride was opening on November 17th, but we are leaving to come back home on the 15th....wouldn't you know it! Hopefully they might be doing promo rides - we'll be celebrating my son's 4th birthday so when I pick up his birthday pin I can mention that he is a big Stitch fan and see if they might be able to help us out.

 

[tjmw2727]

My two dd's are fanatic Stitch fans but unfortunately we were not as lucky as you were. We were at MK on the 8th, 9th and 11th but didn't see any signs of life at Stitch. My girls wanted to ride especially my oldest - oh well. We did spend an unusually long time in the gift shop for stitch however!

TJ

 

[don8life]

Yeah for you!
I;ve been waiting to hear somebody rode.
Hopefully we will have luck too.

 

[Fridye]

Does anyone know if there will be a FastPass for this?

 

[janeski]

Butch50 - do you have anything else to share about SOG? We'll be there in 2 weeks....first time since the renovations have been completed. How was the bus transportation? I saw a post somewhere that said the buses were terrible, and that only one elevator was working in the new section?? Hard to believe that to be true.

 

[dopeys biggest fan]

Originally posted by Fridye
Does anyone know if there will be a FastPass for this?

I just got back on wed. and yes there are fast pass machines for stitch. it wasn't open for us though.

 

[Daxx]

We were at WDW on 10/7-12 and Stitch was dead the whole time we were in the area! So, I was surprised to hear anything about it ... esp. preview rides! We asked the CM's when it would be opening, etc. and they gave us the 17th Nov. as the target date.

Anyway, there were fast pass machines, as Dopey's Biggest Fan stated -- just not the opportunity to use them. You could see the fast pass lane signs above the barriers.

I can't wait til we go back and we can do the Stitch ride. DS would've killed to have gone on a test run!!!