Stitch is ‘Live’ on TV, and you’re in the audience!  This is your chance to experience the buzz of a live television production, as the satellites of the Disney Channel Studios in Production Courtyard beam into Outer Space for a live satellite link-up with the ever-mischeivous blue alien!

Got a question for our studio guest?  Great!  Clear your throat, speak loud and clear – this is your one and only opportunity to interact, talk and laugh with the little blue monster in real-time via state-of-the-art technology developed by the Walt Disney Imagineers themselves!

Facts & Footnotes

Stitch Live! will be located at Walt Disney Television Studios, the home of Disney Channel France and several real production stages. It will replace the old “tour”, which never lived up to its promise of a real backstage glimpse at television production, and the entire attraction will be renamed.

It is expected that much of the popular Disney Channel CyberSpace post-show games area will be conserved, with the Art Attack stage (formerly a live Disney Channel studio in the park’s early days) the location for Stitch’s giant high-definition screen and audience. New automatic doors will lead from here to the post-show studio next door, for a more seamless tour experience very similar to that featured at Art of Disney Animation.

History

Walt Disney was a television pioneer, introducing viewers to far-off lands, fantastical tales, his next big projects and – most importantly – Disneyland through his Sunday night televion programme.  The Disney studio was reponsible in no small part for the unstoppable take-up of television as a viable entertainment format in 1950s America, treating viewers to such hits as Davy Crockett, The Mickey Mouse Club and unrivalled backstage access to the making of many a Disney classic.  Walt Disney looked ahead by filming his television shows in colour long before the format was widely available for viewers, and broke new ground with such memories as having an animated Tinkerbell fly around his office.  The live opening day broadcast from Disneyland in California on 17th July 1955 was the biggest outside broadcast ever attempted at the time. Now, the television legacy returns to the parks with a unique and groundbreaking “living character” appearance by Stitch in a TV studio setting.

The “Living Characters” initiative from Walt Disney Imagineering has now made its way to the California, Florida, Hong Kong and Paris resorts.  The programme aims to use state-of-the-art technology to bring park guests closer than ever before to some of Disney’s unique characters and interact with them live.

Stitch Live! originates from Hong Kong Disneyland, opened on 13th July 2006 with the name ‘Stitch Encounter’ as one of the first new attractions at the park since its inauguration in September 2005.  In Hong Kong, the attraction is featured in the park’s Tomorrowland, in the same building as Space Mountain, and is presented in Cantonese, English and Putonghua scheduled in various performance blocks throughout the day.  The attraction is based on the same technology as Turtle Talk With Crush (at Epcot and Disney’s California Adventure parks), replacing Crush with Stitch and modifying the location and events accordingly.  In its Tomorrowland setting, Stitch Encounter is presented during a tour of Space Traffic Control, which the alien interrupts in his passing space craft – eventually revealed to be stolen from Captain Gantu!

Rumours first appeared out of the blue (no pun intended) that Stitch Encounter may arrive at Walt Disney Television Studios in October 2006, and immediately became a viable future addition for the park. The rumours were confirmed to Cast Members at the old attraction later the same month, before an official announcement was made to all Cast Members during their January 2007 Rendez-Vous event.

Stitch Encounter was publicly confirmed at both the Shareholders’ Annual General Meeting of 21st February 2007 and the 15th Anniversary press conference of 1st April 2007.  The press conference also saw the release of a brand new concept art for the building’s redesigned exterior (see above).

Television Production Tour at Walt Disney Television Studios officially closed for good on 16th April 2007, surrounded by blue construction fences immediately.  Prior to the closure, CyberSpace Mountain at the old attraction’s post-show was closed in January 2007 due to its low capacity and poor accessibility for disabled guests. The CyberSpace post-show itself was already closed for several weeks before the closure of the main tour.

On Friday 18th May 2007, an entertainment casting website announced a casting call from Disneyland Resort Paris for Stitch sound-alike comedians who could portray the character’s voice and CGI movements in the new attraction.  The performers, aged 20 to 35, are required to speak at least French or English fluently, be capable of operating a joystick console and have good audience interaction skills with a solid experience in comedy and improvisation.  Auditions were announced for the week of 2nd July 2007, for a contract spanning from October 2007 to March 2008.

An online poll in June 2007 asked visitors to the official Disneyland Resort Paris website for their thoughts on possible names for the new attraction. The original ‘Stitch Encounter’ was not given as an option, instead users could choose from ‘Stitch’, ‘Stitch Live’ or ‘Stitch Interactive’. A holiday brochure released in September 2007 confirmed the final chosen name to be Stitch Live.