Celebrated Criminal Stitch Toilet Papers Cinderella Castle Again (But Not Really)
Vandalism is no laughing matter, kids. In this day and age, punks and pranksters are fueled to fan and fortune on the TikTok and whatnot, garnering trillions of views and cult-like adoration as they poison the minds and morals of our nation’s youth. It’s thus exceedingly disappointing that Walt Disney World, once a beacon for family values, is celebrating criminality yet again.
It all happened for the first time back on November 16, 2004. On that fateful day, one of the worst attractions in Walt Disney World history opened, with Stitch’s Great Escape replacing the ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter, one of my favorite attractions of all-time. It came amidst some dark days for Walt Disney World, with a multi-year lull in new offerings and several creative misfires. (Whatever you think of the last few years, the early to mid aughts were worse.)
The same could be said for the Walt Disney Animation Studios, which was why Lilo & Stitch was such a bright spot and there was so much excitement for Stitch’s Great Escape. It was billed by Walt Disney World as featuring the most sophisticated Audio-Animatronics ever developed by Imagineering, with the multi-sensory Tomorrowland adventure putting guests in the middle of the mayhem caused by “Experiment 626” when he’s sent to the Galactic Federation Prisoner Teleport Center.
In the unique theater-in-the-round attraction, park guests arrived as new recruits at a detention facility designed to separate the galaxy’s naughty from the nice. During Stitch’s Great Escape, guests were ushered into the center’s high-security teleportation chamber as the six-limbed Stitch beams in, tracked by two ceiling-mounted “plasma cannons” that follow his DNA whenever — and wherever — it moves.
With guests seated in DNA scanning restraints, Imagineering’s proprietary “proximity audio” technology provides a close encounter with the playful Stitch as he attempts to outwit the galactic authorities in the circular chamber. Sights, sounds and — ewwww! — smells add to the pandemonium.
Online, fans of the crafty alien could learn more about the new attraction and help Stitch explore Magic Kingdom in Stitch’s Escape Game, a free download available for Windows PCs at stitchescape.com. (Most of this is verbatim out of the original press release.) Suffice to say, there was a lot of excitement and fanfare for Stitch’s Great Escape ahead of its debut.
As part of the promotional push for the new attraction, guests to Magic Kingdom on November 16, 2004 were greeted by a huge inflatable Stitch outside the Main Street USA Train Station at the park’s front entrance. The mischievous Experiment 626 was once again on the loose to mark the grand opening of Stitch’s Great Escape. (This inflatable was used on countless occasions from 2004 until at least 2007; we saw him repurposed for Christmas, wearing a Santa hat one year.)
The biggest surprise came when guests turned the corner on Main Street, and were greeted with that iconic sight: Cinderella Castle. Except covered in toilet paper. As it turned out, Stitch had TP’d the Magic Kingdom icon overnight, while also spray-painting “Stitch is King” on one of the Cinderella Castle turrets.
To further clue in guests that it was Stitch who had wantonly vandalized Cinderella Castle rather than a rogue criminal who broke into the park (how would that even work?!), there were “Wanted” signs all over Main Street for Experiment 626. Later that day, there was also a special grand opening stage show for Stitch’s Great Escape featuring Elvis impersonators.
Here are photos of the one-day festivities sourced from Pinterest and Imgur (sorry for the lack of attribution–unable to track down the original sources):
I really regret not seeing this in person. Sarah and I didn’t first visit Walt Disney World together as adults until another year-plus after this, so we missed it. I got into the Disney fandom pretty deep around the same time in Summer 2006.
Already, this was the stuff of legends. There was no social media outrage machine back then, but rest assured, there was most definitely outrage. It was like the 25th Anniversary Cinderella Castle Cake all over again, with complaints about how disrespectful it was, how bad it looked, and how upset guests must’ve been who only had one day in Magic Kingdom and this was in all of their photos. (Since so few photos exist, I assume these complaints are on behalf of other guests, not firthand feedback.)
As with the controversial Castle Cake, my favorite is its detractors expressing sympathy for brides of the nascent “Disney Fairy Tale Weddings” division who arrived to Magic Kingdom on November 16, 2004, shocked and heartbroken to discover that the regal castle they wanted in the backdrop of their photos had been vandalized.
To each their own, but the official position of this website is that we would cherish our wedding photos even more if they had a toilet-papered castle in the background. Think of how unique that would be–an awesome conversation-piece when visitors to your home saw your wedding photos! (Correction/retraction: I have been advised that, in fact, we would not cherish such photos. This blog condemns toilet-papering Cinderella Castle in the harshest of terms.)
Fast forward to May 23, 2025–the release date of the “live action” Lilo & Stitch remake. Oops, he did it again:
Caught in the act of almost turning the iconic Cinderella Castle into a roll of chaos 😉🧻 Don’t miss this troublemaker in #LiloAndStitch, now in theaters! 🌺 pic.twitter.com/Shn5f43TQP
— Walt Disney World (@WaltDisneyWorld) May 23, 2025
As part of a new marketing campaign for the remake, the Walt Disney World and Disney Parks social media accounts have shared a new video of Stitch with the caption: “caught in the act of almost turning the iconic Cinderella Castle into a roll of chaos 😉🧻 Don’t miss this troublemaker in #LiloAndStitch, now in theaters! 🌺”
The video features Stitch in his live-action look rolling in front of Cinderella Castle, which has been digitally decorated as a call-back to the infamous IRL November 2004 overlay. The only differences are the Cinderella Castle color scheme and that it read “Stitch is King” in 2004 and now readers, “Stitch was Here.”
In case it’s not clear, this is all CGI or whatever, and no park icons were harmed in the making of this marketing campaign. So it’s not actual vandalism, and Stitch can only be charged with Attempted Mischief. As I understand it, that’s a second-degree misdemeanor. Good thing that Reedy Creek Prison still hasn’t been built, or Stitch could do 30-days in the slammer. (Then again, if urban legends about the underground Disney Jail are true…)
Joking aside, part of me really wishes Walt Disney World would’ve toilet-papered Cinderella Castle for real. It would’ve been silly and fun, and social media would’ve had a field day with it. Then again, I completely understand why they didn’t. Every little outrage is amplified more these days, and manufactured into more than it’d otherwise be.
Even setting aside those acting in bad faith, there would have undoubtedly been regular ole guests saving up thousands of dollars to step foot onto Main Street for the first time (and only time), devastated to see Cinderella Castle “vandalized.”
I’m very sympathetic to this perspective, and recognize my own entitlement as a blogger who has seen the castle countless times and would just appreciate something fresh and zany–even if objectively ugly. So perhaps Stitch could’ve TP’d his old attraction IRL? That’s ugly anyway.
Disney has had a lot of fun with the marketing campaign for the Lilo & Stitch remake. Earlier this week, Disney shared images of Stitch wreaking havoc at Disneyland during its 70th anniversary celebration, with Stitch crashing a photoshoot for Mickey and Minnie, riding Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, and more.
Stitch has also “crashed” the Disney Parks Blog, with an “Alien Invasion” button that transforms pages. New menu items inspired by “Lilo & Stitch” are also coming to Walt Disney World and Disneyland to celebrate the remake’s release.
The eagerly anticipated film, a live-action reimagining of Disney’s 2002 animated classic, is now playing in theaters nationwide. Lilo & Stitch is the wildly funny and touching story of a lonely Hawaiian girl and the fugitive alien who helps to mend her broken family.
The film is directed by award-winning filmmaker Dean Fleischer Camp, from a screenplay by Chris Kekaniokalani Bright and Mike Van Waes. Lilo & Stitch stars Sydney Elizebeth Agudong, Billy Magnussen, Tia Carrere, Hannah Waddingham, and Chris Sanders, with Courtney B. Vance and Zach Galifianakis, and introducing Maia Kealoha.
Disney reports that the blue alien’s brand has expanded across The Walt Disney Company’s various segments exponentially since 2002. There are of course the animated sequels and the TV series, but guests at locations such as Walt Disney World Resort and Aulani, A Disney Resort and Spa can have fun in-person encounters with the character. As a brand for Disney Consumer Products, Stitch has grown 27-fold over just the last five years.
I was surprised to read that line about 27-fold growth for Stitch, but mostly because it’s been in the last 5 years. Personally, I’ve really come around on Stitch, but over the last decade-plus. For the first several years after the movie came out, I had “Stitch Fatigue” and felt the character was poorly used, and annoyingly so. Disney never quite captured the warmth and heart of the character, which was odd for a movie that had just come out.
Things got better around the time Frozen came out and was a smash success. Stitch was able to fade into the background, was used more sparingly in the parks, and in situations where it actually made sense. Disney also got better about conveying his big heart along with his mischievousness, making the character much less abrasive.
This is a big reason why we loved “A Totally Tomorrowland Christmas,” and hope that the success of the Lilo & Stitch remake is what’s needed to bring back that cult-classic stage show for Christmas 2025. Even if that doesn’t return, I wouldn’t mind Imagineering taking a second-crack at creating a Stitch attraction. They have a vacant space in Tomorrowland and an envelope-pushing Audio Animatronics figure, so might as well give it a try!
Stitch is really lovable when focusing on his best features, and has a ton of unrealized theme park potential. The character has a certain child-like quality to him, which I assume is why he resonates with kids and adults alike. This might sound like heresy coming from me, but Stitch is almost like Figment for modern children. (Almost. He’s more rambunctious and less imaginative–but there are clear parallels!)
Beyond that, the Lilo & Stitch remake actually looks good. Perhaps I’m just being “fooled” by a strong marketing campaign, as almost all of these remakes have failed to justify their own existence (the biggest exception being Pete’s Dragon, which I love). We stopped watching the remakes ages ago, realizing after Beauty and the Beast that they were never as good or better than the animated films they remade–so we might as well watch those.
I highly doubt Lilo & Stitch will be the exception to that rule, but I’m at least curious at this movie since I do think the animated version had room for improvement. We’ll probably check it on Disney+ eventually, which might seem tepid–but it’s fairly high praise for Lilo & Stitch’s PR push given that we haven’t watched any of these remakes since 2017. I wish Disney the best of luck with this film at the box office and hope it joins the billion dollar club. But remember kids: crime doesn’t pay.
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Your Thoughts
What do you think of Stitch toilet-papering Cinderella Castle? Should he have done it for real again, or is the digital homage the best of both worlds? Disappointed to see Disney celebrating criminality and wanton acts of vandalism? Excited to see Lilo & Stitch in theaters, or have you been burned by too many live action remakes? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Am I the only person who loved the birthday cake Castle?
No. I also loved it…but I was ~10 years old at the time. (I still love it, and am now much older and perhaps slightly wiser.)
We were there that year too. I loved it, but apparently a lot of people had an issue with it. I thought it was a very fitting display for a birthday celebration!
I had no idea of the life 2004 prank ! That’s hilarious !
I just went today to see the remake ; for what it’s worth, I thought it’s a very good one. I disliked most of the live action remakes with the exception of the Jungle Book.
The use of CGI was appropriate and clever, and modifications from the original story actually make sense for the live action.
I loved the warmth of the original movie and disliked most other productions – following movies, TV series… but this is definitely worth watching.
I was working at WDW the day of the “TPing” and its status in myth and legend far outstrips its importance in the moment. All of the “signs” were cheap last minute digital printouts and the TP was up for less than 24 hours. Park was near empty, as it was frequently in those days. It was all VERY early 00s WDW.
I’ve been thinking for a while now that Walt Disney World should do more like this, but your comment is what really sold me on it.
“Weird Disney” stuff like this goes viral on social media every so often, and not just on Disney-centric accounts. The marketing value of this one-off has had a long tail, giving Walt Disney World free publicity decades later. But in order for this to keep working, there needs to be a supply of stuff like this, and Walt Disney World has gotten very careful about manicuring its offerings and not letting that weirdness shine through. What like this has been produced recently? All that immediately comes to my mind is KiteTails. There will absolutely be “remember when?” content about KiteTails in another decade. Those crashes will outlive anything else from the 50th.
Accordingly, it behooves Disney to do stuff like this during the August and September off-season. Do it on days when Magic Kingdom is closing early for MNSSHP (or in January when there are those Cast Member events). Attendance is incredibly low those days.
Hope all is well with you! My ‘research’ for this post actually led me to your excellent piece about SGE/Alien Encounter: https://passport2dreams.blogspot.com/2014/11/stitchs-great-escape-ten-years.html Great read, as always.
See what you missed is that somehow the end of Gen Z and Gen Alpha are OBSESSED with Stitch. My daughter and her friends are all about Stitch and I have so much Stitch stuff at my house but I can count on one hand the number of times she’s seen a franchise movie on one hand. I’d also be willing to bet millions of dollars that if Stitch’s Great Escape were still open, the wait times would be astronomical just because of the kids.
At least this live action makes sense- because I can tell you this is the first live action I’m seeing in the theaters, just because of my kid.
I have never been a Lilo & Stitch fan. Didn’t even care for the animation BUT I have to give credit to the marketing dept for this version. Commercials and commercial drop in’s are everywhere, and the TP castle is a scream!
Being a victim of the 25th anniversary cake castle I can understand not doing it for real. That cake castle was horrible. But I do love the idea, as mentioned by another, about doing a Photopass Option. I would do that!!!! with the TP Castle.
I think the best the WDW castle ever looked was for the 50th (the only right thing they did for the 50th). I loved the draping and hoped they would have kept it. I think it made it look even more regal.
I personally resented Stitch’s popularity & was glad when Anna & Elsa’s popularity overshadowed it. My all-time favorite Disney character (& one of my top 2 favorite fictional characters in general along with my anime crush that most of you probably never heard of so I won’t mention him) is Iago. Stitch is obnoxious & crude & gross. Lilo is not much better, also obnoxious & bratty & self-destructive (think of her nailing her sister out of the house when the Child Services people were coming by). I hated her from the moment she waxes dramatic & shouts out, “It would be an ABOMINATION!” in regards to feeding a fish a tuna fish sandwich. Iago, too, is obnoxious, but very witty & funny & not into gross things. He’s a classy sort of obnoxious, & he has a great redemption story. I hate all the crude & gross humor that’s been in children’s animation ever since Ren & Stimpy. It’s one reason why even though I prefer animation to live action, I don’t pursue a lot of non-Disney animated films for fear of gratuitous tasteless jokes involving things like flatulence. It’s hard to take the emotional aspects of a film seriously when they have such jokes. Disney used to be better about such things, though the 90’s films may have had an off scene here or there, like one of Agrabah’s palace guards landing in a manure cart, or Zazu being covered in saliva after nearly being eaten by Scar (& then the whole character of Pumbaa), but with Lilo & Stitch, they fully gave in to grossness. When seeing it in the theater, I almost walked out 3 different times. It’s easily my least favorite Disney animated film over all the ones I’ve seen.
Although there’s no official rivalry between Iago & Stitch, I made my own shirt with a patch of Iago ironed on & wrote underneath it “Stitch drools, Iago rules”. I got some unusual reactions. One cast member delighted me by doing Gilbert Gottfried impressions. Another hypersensitive cast member working at the candy store at Hollywood Studios & who happened to be a Stitch fan bewildered me by bursting into tears. WTH?
Let’s all just be grateful Stitch didn’t use used TP.
Your blogs are always so well – written (which is doubly amazing given the consistency and how many you turn out) but this one was extra hilarious.
No one in my family really liked the OG Lilo and Stitch but on our last Disney trip with the whole family my sister and my daughter, who was 7 at the time, had a hilarious encounter with him. Stitch kind of became their thing. A year later my sister received a terminal diagnosis and we miss her fiercely every day – now when my now-teenaged daughter sees Stitch it’s a link to her aunt. So, yep, we have tickets to a drive in tomorrow that’s tying the screening to a theme night. Ohana means family.
This does not mean I would like a TPed castle shot however.
This new film definitely calls attention to the fact that the Alien Encounter / Stich’s Great Escape show building is still basically empty and unused at a park that could really use extra attraction capacity (thus the investment in Cars Land 2.0, Villains Land, etc.).
Also interesting that while Disney continues to churn out new “live action/CGI remakes” there’s very little investment (at least in the US parks) on IP related to more recent Walt Disney Animation Studios films — by that I mean like anything after 1992. They know Stitch is “valuable IP” — otherwise why produce this remake? But not valuable enough to do anything with in the parks. (That could be a blessing in some ways — injecting mismatched IP like “Carousel of Progress starring Stitch” isn’t the answer either.)
The list of omissions is too long for this reply, but looking at a list of animated film-inspired attractions in the US over the last 33 years or so, we have:
-Tiana’s Bayou Adventure (ride re-theme)
-Frozen Ever After (ride re-theme)
-Journey of Water, Inspired by Moana (walkthrough attraction)
-Forthcoming Zootopia show at AK (show/movie re-theme)
-Forthcoming Encanto Casita ride at AK
Sorry, not going to count the Tangled Toilets here.
Not all of the Disney Animation films were winners over that time period, but that’s still pretty crazy considering there were some big hits as well! Meanwhile Pixar has released 28 feature films since 1995 and, including sequels, 19 of them have been associated with some type attraction in the US Parks. (That number counts both “Up” with roaming Kevin and the former iteration of the bird show at AK, and the “A Bug’s Life” attractions that were prevalent at AK and DCA until recently).
“But not valuable enough to do anything with in the parks.”
Agree with everything you wrote, except this. Which I also don’t think you necessarily believe.
If every WDAS film that’s unrepresented at WDW or DLR is “not valuable enough to do anything with in the parks,” that list would be quite lengthy, as you point out.
The more reasonable explanation is that their additions have been really imbalanced. I’ve made this point before, but it’s absolutely crazy that they’re not catering more to millennial nostalgia by building attractions based on popular films from the 1990s. They could hit the ‘young families’ and ‘Disney Adult DINKs’ in one fell swoop.
Absolutely right — and of course, “not valuable enough” was tongue-in-cheek. This is all so strange given the company’s pivot toward “IP injection at all costs” — and the fact that Disney has always been a pioneer of “corporate synergy” in theory and practice!
I mean, this is the same company that built Sleeping Beauty Castle as the centerpiece of a park that opened in 1955, with the goal of promoting a movie that was still in development and not actually released until 1959! And here we are, 70 years later, and just recently got a Tangled (2010) boat ride in Tokyo and an (announced) Lion King (1994) ride in Paris!
P.S., I did forget Festival of the Lion King in my initial comment. But that film deserves more in the parks, and the point still stands.
you think the animated version had room for improvement??? It’s perfection!!
I sail a roll of Charmins over your prow!
Granted, it’s been a while since I’ve seen the animated Lilo & Stitch, but I remember thinking that it didn’t rise to the same level as the early 1990s renaissance era animated films, height of Pixar, or Walt-era classics.
It’s miles and miles better than the dreck they were churning out in the early aughts, though.
It would be fun if they did a “magic shot” where the castle was TP’d. Then you could have pics with the regular castle and with the “Stitch was here” castle. Best of both worlds.
Yes! It’s been a while since I’ve used the feature, but the augmented reality PhotoPass lenses did this with the Cinderella Castle Cake and that was pretty cool!
I ma glad this was just done digitally! I was there for the castle cake and did not enjoy. I had tuned out to the remakes quite some time ago, so I wasn’t even aware they were making a Lilo & Stitch “live action” film, let alone that it came out today. I did really enjoy Cinderella, perhaps moreso than the original even. But that’s about it.
It’s interesting to see what we all miss in our own little ‘bubbles’ (happens to me all the time!), but I’m surprised you haven’t heard about this remake. It’s had a huge marketing blitz that included the Super Bowl and other major events.
If the movie gets even okay audience scores, it’s going to make over a billion dollars. I’d say there’s more excitement for this movie than any Disney film in recent memory, including the Moana and Inside Out sequels.
This is a fun and different blog post…. The castle defacements (desecrations?) were certainly creative and unique for those of us who are MK regulars. I just can’t imagine the disappointment of those who saved their pennies for years to be able to afford a once in a lifetime Disney trip only to excitedly walk down Main Street to a Pepto Bismol or TPd castle.
By the way, Amplified Outrage is a great band name.
“I just can’t imagine the disappointment of those who saved their pennies for years to be able to afford a once in a lifetime Disney trip only to excitedly walk down Main Street to a Pepto Bismol or TPd castle.”
Yep, this is exactly it. Disney needs to find new things to vandalize to appease us hardcore fans without disappointing first-timers! 😉
Dan,
“By the way, Amplified Outrage is a great band name.”
I agree. It is great.
I sympathize with world travelers not able to get clean photos of the castle. I also get the fun marketing done in the past. In the end, it’s best that the toilet paper be left behind in Stitch’s bathroom deep within the bowels of his spacecraft.
I see what you did there.