When they said ‘Early 2008’ they really did mean early 2008. Not mid or late March as we might have guessed, but – as confirmed by the latest Walt Disney Studios Park guide map – January 2008. Following this month’s double attraction opening, January 2008 looks as if it will also welcome two brand new attractions to Walt Disney Studios. Typical, isn’t it, we wait five years for new attractions and then two come in the same month, twice!

Anyone who follows other Disney resorts around the world will know the immense rehearsal schedule these “Living Character” shows go through before their official premiere, so if January 2008 is the official opening, the first guests through the turnstiles could potentially come much sooner – especially when we remember the contract for Stitch’s voice performers begins as early as October.

We can also garner a little more information about the attraction from this latest park map update. The attraction is still listed in bold as ‘Walt Disney Television Studios‘ – the name of the building and its former attraction, with “Stitch interactive attraction” below. Both the April press release and recent Shareholders newsletter also named the attraction with this vague statement, suggesting the Imagineers and operations haven’t agreed on the final moniker yet.

Since ‘Walt Disney Television Studios’ is still used here, could we see the latest in Disney’s new craze of double attraction names (see Pirate’s Lair on Tom Sawyer Island), with a name along the lines of ‘Stitch Encounter at Walt Disney Television Studios’? In reality, this wouldn’t be too different to the former attraction, which opened as ‘Television Production Tour at Walt Disney Television Studios’ before later being shortened.

But this is just a name – for the attraction itself, this sign of clinging on to the ‘Walt Disney Television Studios’ name suggests that the show may well be presented slightly differently to its Hong Kong Disneyland Tomorrowland original, perhaps with a more studio-based edge.

At least with this early early 2008 opening, we don’t have long to “wait and see”…

Park map scan provided by WDSFans.com.