Is More Stitch Coming to Disney Parks?

We are roughly one month away from Destination D23 205, a time when Disney will announce new theme park attractions.

And I know how Josh D’Amaro and his team can get an easy win equivalent to the Disney Villains land announcement.

D’Amaro merely needs to make one simple revelation. Fans will lose their minds.

So, I’m about to ask a simple question, with an answer that absolutely should be yes. Is more Stitch coming to Disney theme parks? Let’s discuss.

A Dramatic Miscalculation

In 2002, Disney slept on a potential blockbuster movie it didn’t understand.

I’m using Disney collectively here, but it was really Thomas Schumaker and his team.

The current President of Disney Theatrical Group had become President of Walt Disney Animation in 1999.

The year prior to his ascension, a child actress named Daveigh Chase had already been cast in a movie.

She would portray a Hawaiian girl named Lilo in a hand-animated movie created at Walt Disney World.

Yes, you read that right. Animators illustrated the entirety of Lilo & Stitch at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

When you visited Animation Courtyard, you might have seen them and not even known it.

That’s pretty much the undercurrent of the entire Lilo & Stitch production.

At the time, Schumaker was new to his job and looking to make an imprint.

He’d seen what Pixar was doing with computer animation and since they were the enemy at the time, Disney felt the need to follow suit.

So, Schumaker threw his support behind Dream Quest Images, Disney’s digital animation team.

Meanwhile, two obscure artists at the company, Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders anonymously worked at Hollywood Studios.

DeBlois left a different Disney animated project, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, to co-direct Lilo & Stitch.

When Schumaker and his cohorts saw footage of the film, they simply had no idea what to do with it.

Stitch mirrored Donald Duck in that he was accidentally destructive. Disney executives failed to anticipate his warmth, though.

After a modest marketing campaign that featured an absolutely killer trailer, Lilo & Stitch debuted in theaters.

Frankly, Disney left the film to die, yet it chugged along enough to $273 million against an $80 million budget.

Disney had almost unintentionally created a hit.

Twenty Years of Negligence

Do you know those stories about the author who dies penniless but then becomes legendary postmortem?

Well, a few people had to read those books while they were still alive. That’s the feeling I had about Lilo & Stitch.

I was one of the few people lucky enough to watch the film in a theater on its opening weekend.

Then, I watched in fascination as Disney ignored the sleeper hit throughout the year.

By Christmas, something unexpected happened, though. Disney sold Lilo & Stitch merchandise.

That part isn’t unusual. It’s the standard playbook for every Disney film.

No, the surprise came from the fact that Disney struggled to keep Stitch merchandise in stock.

And that was year one of the phenomenon. Lilo & Stitch didn’t even debut on DVD until December 3^rd of 2002.

The only people buying the merchandise were the ones who had seen it in the theater or bought the DVD on day one.

Everyone who had seen the movie wanted ALL THE STITCH, and they were willing to fight holiday shopping crowds to get it.

Parents were especially passionate about Stitch because their kids cried until they got Stitch toys.

My girlfriend at the time was like that, too, but I married her anyway.

The point is that Disney had a hit on its hands, even though nobody fully appreciated it.

Schumaker and his team again ran the standard playbook plays for a modest hit.

They quickly greenlit a television series that would air 65 episodes in 2003-2006.

There were also a couple of standalone movies akin to The Lion King 1 ½, which is to say they were blatant cash grabs.

Oddly, nobody at Disney stopped to wonder where and why the cash was coming from.

For 20 years, Lilo & Stitch languished.

The Hottest IP

There was one notable exception, although it again reinforced Disney’s apathy about Stitch.

Magic Kingdom created a Stitch attraction, although in the least respectful way possible.

At the time, Disney needed to re-theme ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter, which was scaring children.

So, Disney tried to turn a negative into a positive by using a friendlier alien, Stitch.

This lazy reboot pleased no one, as ExtraTERRORestrial fans found it childish.

Meanwhile, Stitch fans found it trite and more than a little bit lazy. The show withered and died.

Even though the attraction closed and Disney aired no new Stitch programming, merchandise sales increased.

Finally, during the pandemic, Bob Chapek got something right, I swear.

As a bean counter by nature, Chapek noticed that Stitch merchandise sold a disproportionate amount.

Technically, the project’s origins date back to 2018, but the escalation occurred on Chapek’s watch.

So, Disney’s now-deposed CEO gets at least a bit of credit, blind squirrel and whatnot.

Disney decided to make a Lilo & Stitch live-action remake, although it was probably planned for Disney+.

Executives were noncommittal about its destination until the returning Bob Iger changed tactics.

He decided to exhibit all potential Disney+ releases in theaters first, thereby earning $1 billion each for Moana 2 and Lilo & Stitch.

In a weird way, Disney’s bungling and inexplicable oversights worked to its advantage.

The first generation of Lilo & Stitch fans had lived long enough to have children of their own.

They couldn’t wait to share the concept of ‘ohana with their kids, creating a stunning frenzy.

As of the end of July, Lilo & Stitch is the number one American release of 2025.

Suddenly, a long-dormant property is arguably the hottest thing in Disney’s massive IP library right now.

Is More Stitch Coming to the Parks?

A while ago, I wrote this article and made a simple point. Timing is everything in theme park design.

You never know when you might stumble into the next Frozen or Harry Potter.

So, theme park planners work on technology first before they tie it to any particular brand or theme.

That fact plays heavily in favor of Stitch fans right now. I say this because Lilo & Stitch is still in the top ten at the box office.

We live in a day and age where many titles are available on streaming platforms after a month (or less).

After nine weeks, families are still flocking to watch Lilo & Stitch in a theater.

The movie’s gonna sell a massive number of Disney+ subscriptions later this year, too.

All the while, a new generation of fans will purchase more merchandise for the franchise.

And oh, by the way, Disney acknowledged $2.6 billion in Stitch revenue LAST YEAR, which was before the film’s release.

Stitch has become one of Disney’s most lucrative properties despite the fact that it languished for years.

Now, Josh D’Amaro can do the previously unimaginable here and get an easy win for himself and Disney.

All he needs to do is get on stage and say, “How would you like a Stitch ride?”

The deafening roar from the crowd would instantly reinforce the fact that this is an idea whose time has come.

An Idea Whose Time Has Come

We know from the way that the Disney Flywheel works that more Stitch is coming to the parks.

In fact, it already has, as Disney has vastly increased the number of character appearances this summer.

That’s a potentially temporary thing, though. Stitch deserves permanence at Disney theme parks.

This character has persevered and remained at the forefront of our thoughts for more than two decades now.

Now is the time for Disney to announce a Stitch ride, and I’m gonna beat this drum until it happens.

We’re talking about an adorable, easily marketable alien who flies a sporty spaceship and lives in Hawaii.

If Disney Imagineers cannot make a ride with as fertile a concept as that, they should all just quit and go home.

Then, we have the hidden aspect of this idea, which is simple. Disney theme parks are for families.

Stitch, like Wu Tang, is for the children. And the concept of ‘ohana has been at the forefront of Disney theme parks since the beginning.

Walt Disney literally invented Disneyland as a place where he could take his daughters.

All sons and daughters would love experiencing a Stitch ride at the parks, and Disney wouldn’t halfheartedly do it this time.

I mean, long story short, people love Stitch, and Disney loves money. So, this idea suits everyone’s needs.

Come on, Josh D’Amaro. Stand up there at Destination D23 and give the people what we want!

Thanks for visiting MickeyBlog.com! Want to go to Disney? For a FREE quote on your next Disney vacation, please fill out the form below, and one of the agents from MickeyTravels, a Diamond Level Authorized Disney Vacation Planner, will be in touch soon!

Feature Photo: Disney