>>118144365The reasons were most commonly these:
1. It replaced the ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter, an attraction that got a cult fanbase for its dark comedy and frightening horror, with a thematically less intense, more family-friendly experience. It's believed that many parents ignored warning signs in Alien Encounter's queue line telling them that the attraction, in the middle of the all-ages Magic Kingdom, is not for kids. So when Alien Encounter closed, that ride's fans got really ticked off, and even more so when they found out that SGE! was the same attraction but more childish and still too much for little kids.
2. The experience was uncomfortable; even though they were a holdover from Alien Encounter, people had to be held into their seats by these heavy restraints that came down on their shoulders and prevent people from leaving until the attraction was over. (These very restraints stored most of the show's practical effects.) Not only that, but the theaters used a chili dog scent that made the theater air smell stale and disgusting.
3. The show's humor fell flat and was mostly seen as annoying and juvenile. The funniest part was most often seen to be the second half of the pre-show involving a robot sergeant with a long name that ended in 90210. When people think that a ride's pre-show was the better than the actual show, then you have a problem there.
4. The show made Stitch too unlikable. He's supposed to be the star, and yet, since the ride was meant to be a prequel to the original film, that meant that the character had to be the crude, naughty and irritating pre-character development Experiment 626 instead of the lovable, nicer and emotionally complex Stitch. He spits, runs around in the theater in the dark, touches people's heads, he takes peoples' things, eats peoples' food and belches, and even invades the privacy of a human woman. In short, the attraction was a textbook example of how NOT to promote a film's lead character.
