Stitch Encounter is an interactive show located in Walt Disney Studios Park, and in Tomorrowland at Tokyo Disneyland and Shanghai Disneyland Park. The first edition of the show at Hong Kong Disneyland was closed on May 2, 2016, to make room for Star Wars: Command Post, although it temporarily returned to Hong Kong in 2019 for a limited-time "Magic Access Members"-exclusive event. Disney attractions similar to Stitch Encounter include Turtle Talk with Crush, located in Epcot at the Walt Disney World Resort, Disney California Adventure Park at the Disneyland Resort and in Tokyo DisneySea, as well as Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor at Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World. Neither of the American Disney resorts have ever seen the release of this attraction, with Stitch's Great Escape! in Magic Kingdom having been the sole major Lilo & Stitch-themed attraction in the United States. The attraction is a prime example of both real time animation and digital puppetry. Stitch Encounter consists of an unscripted, real-time conversation between park guests and the animated character Stitch from Disney's Lilo & Stitch franchise. The attraction, which opened in July 2006, was part of a three attraction expansion to Tomorrowland, Hong Kong. It is located adjacent to the entrance of Space Mountain. The attraction offers shows in different languages depending on the version—Cantonese, English and Mandarin in the original Hong Kongese version, French and English in the Parisian version, Japanese in the Tokyo version, and Mandarin in the Chinese version—to accommodate the variety of languages guests in the different parks speak. Showtimes are available at the entrance of the attraction and each show has a length of approximately 15 minutes.
Attraction description
Guests are seated in a movie theater-like room, called the SpaceTraffic Control. Children are then encouraged to sit up front, on the floor, so that Stitch can see them during the show. At the start of the show, the host of the Space Traffic Control requests the computer to search for an available spacecraft captain to talk to, the computer connects to the spacecraft which Stitch is in. After that, guests in the Space Traffic Control are randomly chosen by Stitch to interact with. Stitch can interact with guests in many ways such as chatting, singing them a song with his ukulele and even take their pictures. Stitch looks, moves and sounds much like he does in the films and , complete with corresponding facial expressions, gestures, and vocals. The conclusion of the show occurs when the audience aids Stitch in his escape from Captain Gantu.
