Disney-MGM Studios
Encyclopedia
Disney's Hollywood Studios is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort
. Spanning 135 acres (546,000 m²) in size, its theme is show business, drawing inspiration from the heyday of Hollywood in the 1930s and 1940s. The third park built at the resort, it opened on May 1, 1989 as Disney-MGM Studios.
In 2010, the park hosted approximately 9.6 million guests, ranking it the fifth-most visited amusement park in the United States, and eighth-most visited in the world.
The park is represented by The Sorcerer's Hat
, a stylized version of the magical hat from Fantasia
. It replaced the Earful Tower
as the park's icon in 2001.
. A team of Imagineers led by Marty Sklar
and Randy Bright had been given an assignment to create two new pavilions for the park's Future World section. The fruits of the brainstorming sessions were the Wonders of Life
pavilion and the Great Movie Ride pavilion. The second of the two was to have sat between the Land
pavilion and the Journey Into Imagination
pavilion, and was to look like a soundstage backdrop, with a movie theater-style entrance in the middle. The actual attraction is very similar to the plans for the equivalent at Epcot, only, when newly-appointed CEO Michael Eisner
saw the plans for the pavilion, he requested that, instead of placing the ride in an already existing park, it should be surrounded by a brand new theme park which extended the showbiz, Hollywood and entertainment theme.
, which was visible in aerial photographs of the park and on the park's early guide maps. However, construction and other changes to the park have eliminated much of this image.
but in a style more fitting to the Studios.
At the far end of Hollywood Boulevard stands the Sorcerer's Hat, the icon of Disney's Hollywood Studios. Behind it, inside a replica of Grauman's Chinese Theater, is The Great Movie Ride
, a dark ride
paying homage to several classic films, including Casablanca
, The Wizard of Oz and Raiders of the Lost Ark
.
Echo Lake is the park's small oval-shaped lagoon, which was designed to form one of the ears in the enormous Hidden Mickey from the park's original layout. Surrounding it are numerous attractions and services, some in structures designed to mimic the "California Crazy" form of architecture from Hollywood's Golden Age.
At The American Idol Experience
, park guests can audition and sing for live audiences, and potentially win a special front-of-the-line pass for the popular TV series' real tryouts. Next door, Sounds Dangerous!
features a 3-D audio presentation starring comedian Drew Carey
. In between them is the A.T.A.S.
Hall of Fame Plaza, a display of busts of past and present icons of the television era, such as Oprah Winfrey
and Walt Disney
.
Echo Lake includes three attractions based on characters and films produced by George Lucas
' Lucasfilm
studio. Star Tours: The Adventures Continue
is a 3-D
motion simulator
ride set in the Star Wars
universe. This attraction also exists at Disneyland Park
. The Jedi Training Academy, a live-action stage show, invites children to become "padawan learners" and receive "lightsaber training" from a Jedi master. Lastly, the live-action Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular!
re-enacts various scenes from Raiders of the Lost Ark
while illustrating how movie stunts are performed.
Originally the New York Street backlot set that was part of the park's original Backlot Studio Tour, the section was later opened to pedestrian traffic. More recently, additional architectural treatments were added to create street sets resembling San Francisco and New York. The current version of the Studio Backlot Tour
features the American Film Institute
Showcase, a rotating exhibit of movie props and memorabilia, and a tram ride through the backlot areas and through Catastrophe Canyon, an effects-laden "movie set". Muppet*Vision 3D is a 3-D film featuring Jim Henson
's Muppets. The attraction utilizes multiple effects to display the characters inside the theater during the presentation. Younger guests can play amongst oversized plants and toys at the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: Movie Set Adventure
, based on the 1989 Disney film
. Added in 2005, the Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show
is a behind-the-scenes look at how vehicle action sequences are created for films, and was adapted from a similar show at Walt Disney Studios Park
.
is an attraction that examines the development process of an animated character. It also includes interactive games and exhibits, along with meet-and-greet areas for Disney and Pixar characters.
Mickey Avenue, a sub-section of Animation Courtyard, is home to a walk-through exhibit, Walt Disney: One Man's Dream
, which explores the life and legacy of Walt Disney through photos, models, rare artifacts, and a short biographical film narrated by Julie Andrews
.
The Courtyard section also hosts two live shows. Playhouse Disney
Live on Stage! entertains guests with puppet characters from the Playhouse Disney block of programming on The Disney Channel, including Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
, Handy Manny
, and Little Einsteins
. Across the plaza, Voyage of the Little Mermaid
uses glow-in-the-dark puppets, lasers, music, projectors, human actors and water effects to re-create favorite scenes and songs from the animated Little Mermaid film.
campus of Pixar Animation Studios. Its sole attraction is Toy Story Midway Mania!
, an interactive 3D attraction inspired by classic carnival midway games, each hosted by characters from the Toy Story film series
. Pixar Place is also the home of Luxo Jr.
, a six-foot-tall audio-animatronics
version of Pixar's desk-lamp mascot. The moving character performs periodic shows throughout the day and evening across from Toy Story Midway Mania.
, a thrill ride based on the classic television series
. Located nearby is Rock 'n' Roller Coaster
Starring Aerosmith
, an indoor roller coaster
in the dark with three inversions and a high-speed launch.
Sunset Boulevard has two outdoor amphitheaters for live stage shows. The covered Theater of the Stars hosts Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage
, a stage show featuring highlights of the film
. The open-air Hollywood Hills Amphitheater is the home of Fantasmic!
, a nighttime show featuring Mickey Mouse and many other Disney characters in a story filled with fireworks, lasers and water effects.
At other times, Disney has imported characters that were not part of its own library of films and television shows. Some of these characters have included the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
, Ace Ventura, Pet Detective and characters from the Goosebumps
series by author R. L. Stine
. The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
made appearances in the park during the first seasons of the television series, but then vanished. Disney had ownership of the Power Rangers franchise through its purchase of Saban Entertainment until May 2010 when Saban Entertainment purchased the franchise back, and were regular members of the park's cast of characters through that time.
Many of the park's costumed entertainers are not related to any particular film or TV show. Instead, they are live-action caricatures of figures from Hollywood's history. Originally dubbed "streetmosphere" by Disney and now called the "Citizens of Hollywood", they appear at regular intervals on Hollywood and Sunset Boulevards. Some of these characters include directors, talent agents, starlets or hopefuls, and will often take part in streetside shows that will include audience participation.
Today, guests are treated to a wide array of characters and performers, many of which make their only Walt Disney World appearances at Disney's Hollywood Studios. Some examples include characters from JoJo's Circus
, Little Einsteins
and Kim Possible
. Similarly, characters from new Disney and Pixar animated features will make their Walt Disney World debuts at the park, such as those from Bolt and Pixar's Ratatouille
. Live musical acts, such as the cover band
Mulch, Sweat and Shears and the a cappella
quartet
Four For a Dollar, will perform on the park streets or as pre-show entertainment at the larger shows.
Like the Magic Kingdom and Disney's Animal Kingdom parks, Disney's Hollywood Studios also runs daily parades down Hollywood Boulevard. The "Pixar Block Party Bash" parade features Pixar
film characters performing in a street party along Hollywood Boulevard and near Echo Lake. Several times each day, the "High School Musical 3 Senior Year : Right Here Right Now" show will travel Hollywood Boulevard before performing a live street show in front of the Sorcerer's Hat.
Disney's Hollywood Studios hosts a number of events during the year that often draw thousands of fans to the park.
One former event of note was the ABC Super Soap Weekend. Scheduled in November, the event paid tribute to the legions of fans of soap opera
s from ABC
. Guests could meet stars from All My Children
, One Life to Live
and General Hospital
. The event's final presentation was in November 2008, with ABC instead planning to schedule multiple, smaller regional events around the country for its fans.
and Newsies
. When the park opened in 1989, the studio/production facilities housed two major components, the first of which was Walt Disney Feature Animation Florida
, where Disney produced a number of projects, including Mulan
, Lilo & Stitch
, Brother Bear
, and sequences from other 1990s-early 2000s Disney animated features. The second, larger component was Walt Disney Studios Florida, which consisted of three sound stages used for various Disney projects including The Disney Channel
's Mickey Mouse Club, Teen Win, Lose or Draw
and Adventures in Wonderland
. Several third party productions also used the Studios, including Superboy
(first season only, from 1988–1989), Thunder in Paradise
, a revival of Let's Make a Deal
, special broadcasts of Wheel of Fortune
and airplane interior sequences for the feature film Passenger 57
. In addition, a number of music videos and several tapings for World Championship Wrestling
(as well as live broadcasts of WCW Monday Nitro
) were also shot there. Even The Post Group had a Florida-based post-production facility located on the Studio lot throughout the 1990s. All these production and post-production facilities were constructed to be an integral part of the theme park's Backstage Studio Tour as well.
During the closing credits of the Mickey Mouse Club (later, MMC in its final seasons) and Adventures in Wonderland, the lit Disney-MGM water tower appeared on the screen and one of the cast said, "(insert show title here) was taped at the Disney-MGM Studios at the Walt Disney World Resort, Lake Buena Vista, Florida." Disney management (including CEO Michael Eisner
) decided to downsize Disney's Florida operations by closing the animation studio, laying-off personnel and then moving the operations to the main animation studio in Burbank, California
.
A radio studio is also located on the lot, appropriately behind "Sounds Dangerous". It originally housed the first children's radio network Radio Aahs
which rented the studio. Later, Disney founded Radio Disney
and essentially drove Radio Aahs out of business. Radio Disney decided it was no longer profitable to operate in Florida so they moved all of their shows from the Disney-MGM Studios to the Radio Disney headquarters in Dallas, Texas
and the once bustling Disney Studios Florida radio studios are now used as remote studios for radio shows that are visiting Disney or the Orlando area and need a broadcast facility.
entered into a licensing contract that gave Disney worldwide rights to use the MGM name and logo for a yet-to-be-built backlot studio theme park.
Disney's plans for what became the Disney-MGM Studios theme park at Walt Disney World Resort included working production facilities for movies and television shows and a satellite animation studio, which began operation prior to the park's debut. In 1988, MGM/UA responded by filing a lawsuit that claimed Disney violated the 1985 agreement by operating a working movie and television studio at the Florida resort.
In 1989, the theme park opened adjacent to the production facilities as the Disney-MGM Studios. The only affiliation MGM had to the park was the original licensing agreement that allowed Disney to use the MGM brand name and lion logo
in marketing, plus separate contracts that allowed specific MGM content to be used in The Great Movie Ride
.
Disney later filed a countersuit, claiming that MGM/UA and MGM Grand, Inc. had conspired to violate Disney's worldwide rights to the MGM name in the theme park business and that MGM/UA would harm Disney's reputation by building its own theme park at the MGM Grand
hotel and casino in Las Vegas, Nevada
.
On October 23, 1992, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Curtis B. Rappe ruled that Disney had the right to continue using the Disney-MGM Studios name on film product produced at the Florida facility, and that MGM Grand had the right to build a Las Vegas theme park using the MGM name and logo as long as it did not share the same studio backlot theme as Disney's property. The 33 acres (133,546.4 m²) MGM Grand Adventures Theme Park
opened in 1993 at the Las Vegas site and closed permanently in 2000.
Disney was contractually prohibited from using the Disney-MGM Studios name in certain marketing contexts like the free Walt Disney World vacation-planning kit; in those instances the park was called The Disney Studios.
On August 9, 2007, Walt Disney World President Meg Crofton
announced that the theme park would be re-branded as Disney's Hollywood Studios in January 2008. In announcing the name change, Crofton said, "the new name reflects how the park has grown from representing the golden age of movies to a celebration of the new entertainment that today's Hollywood has to offer—in music, television, movies and theater."
The Florida resort later announced that the new name would be effective January 7, 2008, adding that it would take several more months to change all affected signage.
called Walt Disney Studios Park
. Originally, a Disney-MGM Studios Europe was to open in 1996, but plans were scrapped when the resort underperformed. Plans for a film-themed park were revived when the resort finally made a profit in 1995.
The two parks share the same basic theme (the entertainment industry) and have provided attractions to each other. The French park debuted with a Backlot Tour that included a version of Catastrophe Canyon, and a re-themed version of Florida's Rock N Roller Coaster. For the Happiest Celebration on Earth in 2005, a state-side version of Walt Disney Studios' popular auto stunt show was built at the Florida park, now known as Lights! Motors! Action!.
In addition, the Hollywood Pictures Backlot
themed land inside Disney's California Adventure Park at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California
is a condensed version of the two larger "studio parks" in the Disney empire. It contains the Disneyland counterparts to The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
, The Magic of Disney Animation
, and Muppet*Vision 3D, and formerly housed Who Wants To Be A Millionaire - Play It!
. In 2006, the Hollywood Pictures Backlot was given a facelift to match the red-and-black color scheme of the Florida and Paris parks. Beginning in 2010, the Backlot will be reimagined into "Hollywoodland" as part of DCA's larger renovation project. The newly-themed land will maintain some of its original backlot decor, but will more closely resemble Hollywood as it appeared in the 1930s, which was one of the original themes of the Florida park.
for more information.
Walt Disney World Resort
Walt Disney World Resort , is the world's most-visited entertaimental resort. Located in Lake Buena Vista, Florida ; approximately southwest of Orlando, Florida, United States, the resort covers an area of and includes four theme parks, two water parks, 23 on-site themed resort hotels Walt...
. Spanning 135 acres (546,000 m²) in size, its theme is show business, drawing inspiration from the heyday of Hollywood in the 1930s and 1940s. The third park built at the resort, it opened on May 1, 1989 as Disney-MGM Studios.
In 2010, the park hosted approximately 9.6 million guests, ranking it the fifth-most visited amusement park in the United States, and eighth-most visited in the world.
The park is represented by The Sorcerer's Hat
The Sorcerer's Hat
The Sorcerer's Hat is the icon of Disney's Hollywood Studios, one of four theme parks at Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. It replaced the Earful Tower as the theme park's icon in marketing material...
, a stylized version of the magical hat from Fantasia
Fantasia (film)
Fantasia is a 1940 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and released by Walt Disney Productions. The third feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the film consists of eight animated segments set to pieces of classical music conducted by Leopold Stokowski, seven of which are...
. It replaced the Earful Tower
Earful Tower
The Earful Tower is an icon used in Disney theme parks. The tower is based on water towers commonly found on Hollywood studio backlots of the first half of the 1900s, originally a safety measure to douse any fires on the film sets. The tower resembles the water tower found at the Walt Disney...
as the park's icon in 2001.
Dedication
Park development
The idea that led to Disney’s Hollywood Studios began at its sister park, EpcotEpcot
Epcot is a theme park in the Walt Disney World Resort, located near Orlando, Florida. The park is dedicated to the celebration of human achievement, namely international culture and technological innovation. The second park built at the resort, it opened on October 1, 1982 and was initially named...
. A team of Imagineers led by Marty Sklar
Marty Sklar
Martin A. "Marty" Sklar was The Walt Disney Company's International Ambassador for Walt Disney Imagineering, the subsidiary of the company which designs and constructs the Disney theme parks and resorts across the world...
and Randy Bright had been given an assignment to create two new pavilions for the park's Future World section. The fruits of the brainstorming sessions were the Wonders of Life
Wonders of Life
The Wonders of Life pavilion was an attraction at Epcot at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. The pavilion was devoted to health and body related attractions. It is located inside a golden colored dome between Mission: SPACE and the Universe of Energy...
pavilion and the Great Movie Ride pavilion. The second of the two was to have sat between the Land
The Land (Disney)
The Land is the name of a pavilion that sits on the western side of "Future World", one of two themed areas of Epcot, a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida USA. It opened on October 1, 1982 as part of the Phase I features for the grand opening of what was then...
pavilion and the Journey Into Imagination
Imagination!
Imagination! is a pavilion on the western side of "Future World", one of two themed areas of Epcot, a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida USA...
pavilion, and was to look like a soundstage backdrop, with a movie theater-style entrance in the middle. The actual attraction is very similar to the plans for the equivalent at Epcot, only, when newly-appointed CEO Michael Eisner
Michael Eisner
Michael Dammann Eisner is an American businessman. He was the chief executive officer of The Walt Disney Company from 1984 until 2005.-Early life:...
saw the plans for the pavilion, he requested that, instead of placing the ride in an already existing park, it should be surrounded by a brand new theme park which extended the showbiz, Hollywood and entertainment theme.
Attractions
The park consists of six themed areas. Unlike the other Walt Disney World parks, Disney's Hollywood Studios does not have a defined layout; it is more a mass of streets and buildings that blend into each other, much like a real motion picture studio. The layout of the park, however, did have an interesting design characteristic. The plaza at the end of Hollywood Boulevard featured a large Hidden MickeyHidden Mickey
A Hidden Mickey is a representation of Mickey Mouse that has been inserted subtly into the design of a ride, attraction, or other location in a Disney theme park or elsewhere on Disney properties...
, which was visible in aerial photographs of the park and on the park's early guide maps. However, construction and other changes to the park have eliminated much of this image.
Hollywood Boulevard
Hollywood Boulevard serves as the park's main entrance and is lined with venues selling Disney merchandise. Parades such as the Pixar Block Party Bash travel down Hollywood Boulevard on their route through the park, and live street entertainment can be found here throughout the day. Michael Eisner, who had a major part in the park's creation ever since the earliest development, demanded the opening land operate on the same principle as Main Street, U.S.A.Main Street, U.S.A.
Main Street, U.S.A. is the first "themed land" inside the main entrance of the many 'Magic Kingdom'-style parks run by The Walt Disney Company around the world....
but in a style more fitting to the Studios.
At the far end of Hollywood Boulevard stands the Sorcerer's Hat, the icon of Disney's Hollywood Studios. Behind it, inside a replica of Grauman's Chinese Theater, is The Great Movie Ride
The Great Movie Ride
The Great Movie Ride is an attraction at Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park. It is a dark ride which takes guests through scenes from famous films throughout motion picture history....
, a dark ride
Dark ride
A dark ride or ghost train is an indoor amusement ride where riders in guided vehicles travel through specially lit scenes that typically contain animation, sound, music, and special effects....
paying homage to several classic films, including Casablanca
Casablanca (film)
Casablanca is a 1942 American romantic drama film directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid, and featuring Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre and Dooley Wilson. Set during World War II, it focuses on a man torn between, in...
, The Wizard of Oz and Raiders of the Lost Ark
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Raiders of the Lost Ark is a 1981 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg, produced by George Lucas, and starring Harrison Ford. It is the first film in the Indiana Jones franchise...
.
Echo Lake
At The American Idol Experience
The American Idol Experience
The American Idol Experience is a theme park attraction at Disney's Hollywood Studios at the Walt Disney World Resort. Inspired by the popular American television series American Idol, the attraction invites park guests to audition in front of live audiences who will vote for their favorite...
, park guests can audition and sing for live audiences, and potentially win a special front-of-the-line pass for the popular TV series' real tryouts. Next door, Sounds Dangerous!
Sounds Dangerous
Sounds Dangerous! is an audio show at Echo Lake inside Disney's Hollywood Studios starring comedian Drew Carey. The presentation takes place inside an ABC soundstage with theater-style seating. Guests are told that the show is an ABC test pilot called Undercover Live...
features a 3-D audio presentation starring comedian Drew Carey
Drew Carey
Drew Allison Carey is an American actor, singer, comedian, photographer, sports executive, and game show host. After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps and making a name for himself in stand-up comedy, Carey eventually gained popularity starring on his own sitcom, The Drew Carey Show, and serving as...
. In between them is the A.T.A.S.
Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences was founded in 1946, just one month after network television was born. It is a nonprofit organization devoted to the advancement of telecommunications arts and sciences and to fostering creative leadership in the telecommunications industry...
Hall of Fame Plaza, a display of busts of past and present icons of the television era, such as Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her self-titled, multi-award-winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011...
and Walt Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
.
Echo Lake includes three attractions based on characters and films produced by George Lucas
George Lucas
George Walton Lucas, Jr. is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones...
' Lucasfilm
Lucasfilm
Lucasfilm Limited is an American film production company founded by George Lucas in 1971, based in San Francisco, California. Lucas is the company's current chairman and CEO, and Micheline Chau is the president and COO....
studio. Star Tours: The Adventures Continue
Star Tours: The Adventures Continue
Star Tours: The Adventures Continue is an attraction located at Disneyland Park and at Disney's Hollywood Studios. It is also set to open at Tokyo Disneyland in Spring 2013. Set in the fictional Star Wars universe, The Adventures Continue updates the two parks' original Star Tours attractions...
is a 3-D
3-D film
A 3-D film or S3D film is a motion picture that enhances the illusion of depth perception...
motion simulator
Motion simulator
A motion simulator or motion platform is a mechanism that encapsulates occupants and creates the effect/feelings of being in a moving vehicle...
ride set in the Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
universe. This attraction also exists at Disneyland Park
Disneyland Park (Anaheim)
Disneyland Park is a theme park located in Anaheim, California, owned and operated by the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts division of the Walt Disney Company. Known as Disneyland when it opened on July 18, 1955, and still almost universally referred to by that name, it is the only theme park to be...
. The Jedi Training Academy, a live-action stage show, invites children to become "padawan learners" and receive "lightsaber training" from a Jedi master. Lastly, the live-action Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular!
Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular!
Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular is a live amusement show at Disney's Hollywood Studios at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. Based on the popular and successful Indiana Jones film franchise, it includes various stunts and live reenacted scenes from Raiders of the Lost Ark...
re-enacts various scenes from Raiders of the Lost Ark
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Raiders of the Lost Ark is a 1981 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg, produced by George Lucas, and starring Harrison Ford. It is the first film in the Indiana Jones franchise...
while illustrating how movie stunts are performed.
Streets of America
Studio Backlot Tour
The Studio Backlot Tour is an attraction at Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. It is a combination of a walking and tram tour of the backlot area of the park.-The queue area:...
features the American Film Institute
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
Showcase, a rotating exhibit of movie props and memorabilia, and a tram ride through the backlot areas and through Catastrophe Canyon, an effects-laden "movie set". Muppet*Vision 3D is a 3-D film featuring Jim Henson
Jim Henson
James Maury "Jim" Henson was an American puppeteer best known as the creator of The Muppets. As a puppeteer, Henson performed in various television programs, such as Sesame Street and The Muppet Show, films such as The Muppet Movie and The Great Muppet Caper, and created advanced puppets for...
's Muppets. The attraction utilizes multiple effects to display the characters inside the theater during the presentation. Younger guests can play amongst oversized plants and toys at the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: Movie Set Adventure
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: Movie Set Adventure
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: Movie Set Adventure is a playground at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Orlando, Florida. It is located in the Streets of America area and is based on the 1989 film, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. The playground, which opened almost a year after the film, features blades of grass...
, based on the 1989 Disney film
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids is a 1989 comedy film. The directorial debut of Joe Johnston and released through Walt Disney Pictures and Silver Screen Partners III, the film tells the story of an inventor who accidentally shrinks his and his neighbor's kids to 1/4 of an inch with his electromagnetic...
. Added in 2005, the Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show
Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show
The Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show is a performance show at the Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.It is based on the original show, Moteurs.....
is a behind-the-scenes look at how vehicle action sequences are created for films, and was adapted from a similar show at Walt Disney Studios Park
Walt Disney Studios Park
Walt Disney Studios Park is the second theme park to open at Disneyland Paris, owned and operated by Euro Disney S.C.A.. It is located to the west of the hub, next door to Disneyland Park at the heart of the resort in Marne-la-Vallée....
.
Animation Courtyard
This section of the park originally was the starting point for the tours of the park's active production studios. Its entrance is marked by a square "studio arch," much like a real Hollywood studio lot entrance might be marked. The Animation Courtyard is home to a number of attractions based on Disney characters of yesterday, today and tomorrow. The Magic of Disney AnimationThe Magic of Disney Animation
The Magic of Disney Animation is a show and tour at Disney's Hollywood Studios, Florida.It originally contained a short film starring Walter Cronkite and the voice of fellow Disney Legend Robin Williams, guiding guests through the different stages in animating a feature-length film.The Magic of...
is an attraction that examines the development process of an animated character. It also includes interactive games and exhibits, along with meet-and-greet areas for Disney and Pixar characters.
Mickey Avenue, a sub-section of Animation Courtyard, is home to a walk-through exhibit, Walt Disney: One Man's Dream
Walt Disney: One Man's Dream
Walt Disney: One Man's Dream is an interactive gallery in Disney's Hollywood Studios featuring memorabilia from the Disney archives that have never been available before. Visitors are shown artifacts from Walt Disney's life and from the history of the company he founded from his birth in 1901...
, which explores the life and legacy of Walt Disney through photos, models, rare artifacts, and a short biographical film narrated by Julie Andrews
Julie Andrews
Dame Julia Elizabeth Andrews, DBE is an English film and stage actress, singer, and author. She is the recipient of Golden Globe, Emmy, Grammy, BAFTA, People's Choice Award, Theatre World Award, Screen Actors Guild and Academy Award honors...
.
The Courtyard section also hosts two live shows. Playhouse Disney
Playhouse Disney
Playhouse Disney was Disney Channel's television block for programs aimed at entertaining preschool aged children, often airing as its own channel outside the United States. It was introduced in 1997 after Disney Channel's move to basic cable from premium cable, with a target audience of children...
Live on Stage! entertains guests with puppet characters from the Playhouse Disney block of programming on The Disney Channel, including Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is a children's television series, that premiered in prime time on Disney Channel on May 5, 2006. The program was originally part of the Playhouse Disney daily block intended for preschoolers...
, Handy Manny
Handy Manny
Handy Manny is a Disney animated children's television program that premiered on September 16, 2006. The program was originally part of the Playhouse Disney daily block intended for preschoolers...
, and Little Einsteins
Little Einsteins
Little Einsteins is an animated television series on Disney Junior. The educational preschool series was developed for television by Douglas Wood who created the concept and characters, and a subsequent team headed by Emmy Award-winning director Olexa Hewryk and Dora the Explorer co-creator Eric...
. Across the plaza, Voyage of the Little Mermaid
Voyage of the Little Mermaid
Voyage of the Little Mermaid is a live show attraction at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Florida that features puppets and live actors. It replaced the previous attraction Here Comes The Muppets in January 1992. Voyage follows an abridged version of the 1989 film The Little Mermaid. The show...
uses glow-in-the-dark puppets, lasers, music, projectors, human actors and water effects to re-create favorite scenes and songs from the animated Little Mermaid film.
Pixar Place
The park's newest section includes many of the original soundstages used when the park hosted actual production facilities. Today, Pixar Place resembles the Emeryville, CaliforniaEmeryville, California
Emeryville is a small city located in Alameda County, California, in the United States. It is located in a corridor between the cities of Berkeley and Oakland, extending to the shore of San Francisco Bay. Its proximity to San Francisco, the Bay Bridge, the University of California, Berkeley, and...
campus of Pixar Animation Studios. Its sole attraction is Toy Story Midway Mania!
Toy Story Midway Mania!
Toy Story Midway Mania! is an interactive 4-D theme park attraction, currently located at two Disney theme parks: Disney's Hollywood Studios at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida and Disney California Adventure at the Disneyland Resort.Designed by Walt Disney Imagineering and inspired by...
, an interactive 3D attraction inspired by classic carnival midway games, each hosted by characters from the Toy Story film series
Toy Story (franchise)
Toy Story is a CGI animated media franchise created by Pixar and distributed by Disney, beginning with the original 1995 film, Toy Story. The franchise focuses on a group of toys that secretly come to life and end up unexpectedly embarking on life-changing adventures...
. Pixar Place is also the home of Luxo Jr.
Luxo Jr.
Luxo Jr. is the first film produced in 1986 by Pixar Animation Studios, following its establishment as an independent film studio. It is a computer-animated short film , demonstrating the kind of things the newly-established company was capable of producing...
, a six-foot-tall audio-animatronics
Audio-Animatronics
Audio-Animatronics is the registered trademark for a form of robotics created by Walt Disney Imagineering for shows and attractions at Disney theme parks, and subsequently expanded on and used by other companies. The robots move and make noise, generally in speech or song...
version of Pixar's desk-lamp mascot. The moving character performs periodic shows throughout the day and evening across from Toy Story Midway Mania.
Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard was the first expansion to Disney's Hollywood Studios, opening in July 1994. The visual focal point of Sunset Boulevard is The Twilight Zone Tower of TerrorThe Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, more commonly known as Tower of Terror, is a drop tower thrill ride at Disney's Hollywood Studios , Disney California Adventure Park, Tokyo DisneySea and Walt Disney Studios Park . It is based upon the television show The Twilight Zone...
, a thrill ride based on the classic television series
The Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone is an American television anthology series created by Rod Serling. Each episode is a mixture of self-contained drama, psychological thriller, fantasy, science fiction, suspense, or horror, often concluding with a macabre or unexpected twist...
. Located nearby is Rock 'n' Roller Coaster
Rock 'n' Roller Coaster
Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith is an enclosed steel roller coaster ride at Disney's Hollywood Studios at the Walt Disney World Resort and at the Walt Disney Studios Park in Disneyland Paris...
Starring Aerosmith
Aerosmith
Aerosmith is an American rock band, sometimes referred to as "The Bad Boys from Boston" and "America's Greatest Rock and Roll Band". Their style, which is rooted in blues-based hard rock, has come to also incorporate elements of pop, heavy metal, and rhythm and blues, and has inspired many...
, an indoor roller coaster
Roller coaster
The roller coaster is a popular amusement ride developed for amusement parks and modern theme parks. LaMarcus Adna Thompson patented the first coasters on January 20, 1885...
in the dark with three inversions and a high-speed launch.
Sunset Boulevard has two outdoor amphitheaters for live stage shows. The covered Theater of the Stars hosts Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage
Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage
Beauty and the Beast: Live on Stage! is a Broadway-style musical at the 1,500-seat Theater of the Stars, on Sunset Boulevard, at Disney's Hollywood Studios, Walt Disney World. It is based on the popular animated film Beauty and the Beast , including many of the original songs and characters...
, a stage show featuring highlights of the film
Beauty and the Beast (1991 film)
Beauty and the Beast is a 1991 American animated fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. The thirtieth film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series and the third film of the Disney Renaissance period...
. The open-air Hollywood Hills Amphitheater is the home of Fantasmic!
Fantasmic!
Fantasmic! is a Disney nighttime show at Disneyland in the Disneyland Resort, Disney's Hollywood Studios in Walt Disney World and Tokyo DisneySea in Tokyo Disney Resort. The show features fireworks, live actors, water effects, fire, music, several boats, decorated rafts and projections onto large...
, a nighttime show featuring Mickey Mouse and many other Disney characters in a story filled with fireworks, lasers and water effects.
Live entertainment
Disney's Hollywood Studios has featured numerous forms of in-park entertainment throughout its history. During its early years, the park featured the "Star Today" program, with a daily celebrity guest. The celebrity would often be featured in a motorcade along Hollywood Boulevard, or would take part in a handprint ceremony at the Great Movie Ride's entrance, or even participate in an interview session.At other times, Disney has imported characters that were not part of its own library of films and television shows. Some of these characters have included the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are a fictional team of four teenage anthropomorphic turtles, who were trained by their anthropomorphic rat sensei in the art of ninjutsu and named after four Renaissance artists...
, Ace Ventura, Pet Detective and characters from the Goosebumps
Goosebumps
Goosebumps is a series of children's horror fiction novels written by American author R. L. Stine and first published by Scholastic Publishing. It is a collection of stories that feature semi-homogenous plot structures, with fictional children being involved in scary situations...
series by author R. L. Stine
R. L. Stine
Robert Lawrence Stine , known as R. L. Stine, and Jovial Bob Stine, is an American writer. Stine, who is called the "Stephen King of children's literature," is the author of hundreds of horror fiction novels, including the books in the Fear Street, Goosebumps, Rotten School, Mostly Ghostly, and The...
. The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers is an American live-action children's television series based on the 16th installment of the Japanese Super Sentai franchise, Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger. Both the show and its related merchandise saw unbridled overnight success, catapulting into pop culture in mere months...
made appearances in the park during the first seasons of the television series, but then vanished. Disney had ownership of the Power Rangers franchise through its purchase of Saban Entertainment until May 2010 when Saban Entertainment purchased the franchise back, and were regular members of the park's cast of characters through that time.
Many of the park's costumed entertainers are not related to any particular film or TV show. Instead, they are live-action caricatures of figures from Hollywood's history. Originally dubbed "streetmosphere" by Disney and now called the "Citizens of Hollywood", they appear at regular intervals on Hollywood and Sunset Boulevards. Some of these characters include directors, talent agents, starlets or hopefuls, and will often take part in streetside shows that will include audience participation.
Today, guests are treated to a wide array of characters and performers, many of which make their only Walt Disney World appearances at Disney's Hollywood Studios. Some examples include characters from JoJo's Circus
JoJo's Circus
JoJo's Circus is a musical comedy series for preschool children. The series debuted in 2003 and airs in the United States on the Disney Channel as part of the Playhouse Disney morning programming schedule at 6am eastern time. The program airs daily on both the UK and Australian versions of...
, Little Einsteins
Little Einsteins
Little Einsteins is an animated television series on Disney Junior. The educational preschool series was developed for television by Douglas Wood who created the concept and characters, and a subsequent team headed by Emmy Award-winning director Olexa Hewryk and Dora the Explorer co-creator Eric...
and Kim Possible
Kim Possible
Kim Possible is an American animated television series about a teenage crime fighter who has the task of dealing with worldwide, family, and school issues every day. The show is action-oriented, but also has a light-hearted atmosphere and often lampoons the conventions and clichés of the...
. Similarly, characters from new Disney and Pixar animated features will make their Walt Disney World debuts at the park, such as those from Bolt and Pixar's Ratatouille
Ratatouille (film)
Ratatouille is a 2007 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the eighth film produced by Pixar, and was directed by Brad Bird, who took over from Jan Pinkava in 2005...
. Live musical acts, such as the cover band
Cover band
A cover band , is a band that plays mostly or exclusively cover songs. New or unknown bands often find the cover band format marketable for smaller gigs, and these bands may be known as a wedding band, party band and function band. A band whose covers consist mainly of songs that were chart hits is...
Mulch, Sweat and Shears and the a cappella
A cappella
A cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...
quartet
Quartet
In music, a quartet is a method of instrumentation , used to perform a musical composition, and consisting of four parts.-Western art music:...
Four For a Dollar, will perform on the park streets or as pre-show entertainment at the larger shows.
Like the Magic Kingdom and Disney's Animal Kingdom parks, Disney's Hollywood Studios also runs daily parades down Hollywood Boulevard. The "Pixar Block Party Bash" parade features Pixar
Pixar
Pixar Animation Studios, pronounced , is an American computer animation film studio based in Emeryville, California. The studio has earned 26 Academy Awards, seven Golden Globes, and three Grammy Awards, among many other awards and acknowledgments. Its films have made over $6.3 billion worldwide...
film characters performing in a street party along Hollywood Boulevard and near Echo Lake. Several times each day, the "High School Musical 3 Senior Year : Right Here Right Now" show will travel Hollywood Boulevard before performing a live street show in front of the Sorcerer's Hat.
Annual events
- ESPNESPNEntertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
The Weekend (late winter) features commentators from the Disney-owned cable sports channels as well as sports celebrities. - Star Wars WeekendsStar Wars WeekendsStar Wars Weekends is a festival generally held annually at the Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort. Included with park admission, the event typically occurs on Friday, Saturday and Sunday for four consecutive weekends in May and June and features appearances by...
(May - June) brings Star WarsStar WarsStar Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
fans and celebrities together for special park events. Running Fridays-Sundays throughout June, they feature the 501st Legion501st LegionThe 501st Legion is an international fan-based organization dedicated to the construction and wearing of screen-accurate replicas of Imperial Stormtrooper armor, Imperial officer uniforms, Clone Troopers and other villains and nefarious characters from the Star Wars universe...
(a worldwide Star Wars costuming group) parading through the park in Stormtrooper costumes, several Star Wars actors appearing each weekend for photos and autographs, Jedi Training Academy classes for younger guests, and other activities. - The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing LightsThe Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing LightsThe Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights is a display of Christmas lights and decorations at Disney's Hollywood Studios at the Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Florida...
(November–January) take over the Streets of America during the ChristmasChristmasChristmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
season. The display features over five million Christmas lights on more than 350 miles (563.3 km) of wire.
One former event of note was the ABC Super Soap Weekend. Scheduled in November, the event paid tribute to the legions of fans of soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
s from ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
. Guests could meet stars from All My Children
All My Children
All My Children is an American television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 5, 1970 to September 23, 2011. Created by Agnes Nixon, All My Children is set in Pine Valley, Pennsylvania, a fictitious suburb of Philadelphia. The show features Susan Lucci as Erica Kane, one of daytime's most...
, One Life to Live
One Life to Live
One Life to Live is an American soap opera which debuted on July 15, 1968 and has been broadcast on the ABC television network. Created by Agnes Nixon, the series was the first daytime drama to primarily feature racially and socioeconomically diverse characters and consistently emphasize social...
and General Hospital
General Hospital
General Hospital is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-running American soap opera currently in production and the third longest running drama in television in American history after Guiding Light and As the World Turns....
. The event's final presentation was in November 2008, with ABC instead planning to schedule multiple, smaller regional events around the country for its fans.
Production history
The Walt Disney Company's original concept of the Disney-MGM Studios was to operate it as a full fledged television and motion picture production facility, not just a theme park. In 1988, among the first feature-length movies filmed at the facility, prior to its completion and opening as a theme park, were Ernest Saves ChristmasErnest Saves Christmas
Ernest Saves Christmas is a 1988 Touchstone Pictures comedy film directed by John R. Cherry III and starring Jim Varney. It is the third film to feature the character Ernest P. Worrell, and chronicles Ernest's attempt to find a replacement for an aging Santa Claus.-Plot:A man who claims to be Santa...
and Newsies
Newsies
Newsies is a 1992 Disney musical film starring Christian Bale, David Moscow, and Bill Pullman. Robert Duvall and Ann-Margret also appeared in supporting roles. The movie is widely claimed to have gained a cult following after its initial failure at the box office...
. When the park opened in 1989, the studio/production facilities housed two major components, the first of which was Walt Disney Feature Animation Florida
Walt Disney Feature Animation
Walt Disney Animation Studios is an American animation studio headquartered in Burbank, California. The studio, founded in 1923 as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio by brothers Walt and Roy Disney, is the oldest subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
, where Disney produced a number of projects, including Mulan
Mulan
Mulan is a 1998 American animated film directed by Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook, with story by Robert D. San Souci and screenplay by Rita Hsiao, Philip LaZebnik, Chris Sanders, Eugenia Bostwick-Singer, and Raymond Singer. It was produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney...
, Lilo & Stitch
Lilo & Stitch
This article is about the movie. For the television series, see Lilo & Stitch: The Series.Lilo & Stitch is a 2002 American animated feature produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released on June 21, 2002...
, Brother Bear
Brother Bear
Brother Bear is a 2003 American animated fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures, the forty-fourth animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics. In the film, an Inuit boy pursues a bear in revenge for a battle that he provoked in which...
, and sequences from other 1990s-early 2000s Disney animated features. The second, larger component was Walt Disney Studios Florida, which consisted of three sound stages used for various Disney projects including The Disney Channel
Disney Channel
Disney Channel is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company. It is under the direction of Disney-ABC Television Group President Anne Sweeney. The channel's headquarters is located on West Alameda Ave. in...
's Mickey Mouse Club, Teen Win, Lose or Draw
Teen Win, Lose or Draw
Teen Win, Lose or Draw is the teenage version of the sketchpad charades game show, Win, Lose or Draw. It was produced by Burt & Bert Productions and Buena Vista Television; the show was co-produced by Jay Wolpert Productions for its first season and Stone Stanley Productions for the last two.The...
and Adventures in Wonderland
Adventures in Wonderland
Adventures in Wonderland is a live-action musical television series based on Walt Disney's animated classic Alice in Wonderland. In the series, Alice , was portrayed as a girl who can go to and from Wonderland simply by walking through her mirror .Usually the...
. Several third party productions also used the Studios, including Superboy
Superboy (TV series)
Superboy is a half-hour live-action television series based on the fictional DC Comics comic book character Kal-El's early years as Superboy. The show ran from 1988–1992 in syndication...
(first season only, from 1988–1989), Thunder in Paradise
Thunder in Paradise
Thunder in Paradise was a one-hour action-adventure TV series from the creators of Baywatch, which starred Hulk Hogan, Chris Lemmon, and Carol Alt. This first-run syndicated TV series originally premiered as a straight-to-video feature film in September 1993, then ran for one season in 1994, before...
, a revival of Let's Make a Deal
Let's Make a Deal
Let's Make a Deal is a television game show which originated in the United States and has since been produced in many countries throughout the world. The show is based around deals offered to members of the audience by the host. The traders usually have to weigh the possibility of an offer being...
, special broadcasts of Wheel of Fortune
Wheel of Fortune (U.S. game show)
Wheel of Fortune is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin, which premiered in 1975. Contestants compete to solve word puzzles, similar to those used in Hangman, to win cash and prizes determined by spinning a large wheel. The title refers to the show's giant carnival wheel that...
and airplane interior sequences for the feature film Passenger 57
Passenger 57
Passenger 57 is a 1992 American action film starring Wesley Snipes and Bruce Payne. The film's success made Snipes a popular action hero icon.-Plot:...
. In addition, a number of music videos and several tapings for World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling, Inc. was an American professional wrestling promotion which existed from 1988 to 2001. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it began as a regional promotion affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance , named Jim Crockett Promotions until November 1988, when Ted Turner and...
(as well as live broadcasts of WCW Monday Nitro
WCW Monday Nitro
WCW Monday Nitro was a weekly professional wrestling telecast produced by World Championship Wrestling, created by Ted Turner and Eric Bischoff. The show aired Monday nights on TNT, going head-to-head with the World Wrestling Federation's Monday Night Raw from September 4, 1995 to March 26, 2001...
) were also shot there. Even The Post Group had a Florida-based post-production facility located on the Studio lot throughout the 1990s. All these production and post-production facilities were constructed to be an integral part of the theme park's Backstage Studio Tour as well.
During the closing credits of the Mickey Mouse Club (later, MMC in its final seasons) and Adventures in Wonderland, the lit Disney-MGM water tower appeared on the screen and one of the cast said, "(insert show title here) was taped at the Disney-MGM Studios at the Walt Disney World Resort, Lake Buena Vista, Florida." Disney management (including CEO Michael Eisner
Michael Eisner
Michael Dammann Eisner is an American businessman. He was the chief executive officer of The Walt Disney Company from 1984 until 2005.-Early life:...
) decided to downsize Disney's Florida operations by closing the animation studio, laying-off personnel and then moving the operations to the main animation studio in Burbank, California
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
.
A radio studio is also located on the lot, appropriately behind "Sounds Dangerous". It originally housed the first children's radio network Radio Aahs
Radio AAHS
Radio AAHS was a radio network managed by the Children's Broadcasting Corporation. Its flagship station was WWTC-AM 1280 in Minneapolis, which broadcast from the former First Federal Bank building at Highway 100 and Excelsior Boulevard in St. Louis Park. At its height in 1996, Radio AAHS had 29...
which rented the studio. Later, Disney founded Radio Disney
Radio Disney
Radio Disney is a radio network based in Burbank, California and headquartered out of the Disney Channel headquarters on West Alameda Ave., from where it has been based since November 2008. Prior to that, the network was based in Dallas, Texas...
and essentially drove Radio Aahs out of business. Radio Disney decided it was no longer profitable to operate in Florida so they moved all of their shows from the Disney-MGM Studios to the Radio Disney headquarters in Dallas, Texas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
and the once bustling Disney Studios Florida radio studios are now used as remote studios for radio shows that are visiting Disney or the Orlando area and need a broadcast facility.
MGM litigation
In 1985, Disney and Metro-Goldwyn-MayerMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
entered into a licensing contract that gave Disney worldwide rights to use the MGM name and logo for a yet-to-be-built backlot studio theme park.
Disney's plans for what became the Disney-MGM Studios theme park at Walt Disney World Resort included working production facilities for movies and television shows and a satellite animation studio, which began operation prior to the park's debut. In 1988, MGM/UA responded by filing a lawsuit that claimed Disney violated the 1985 agreement by operating a working movie and television studio at the Florida resort.
In 1989, the theme park opened adjacent to the production facilities as the Disney-MGM Studios. The only affiliation MGM had to the park was the original licensing agreement that allowed Disney to use the MGM brand name and lion logo
Leo the Lion (MGM)
Leo the Lion is the mascot for the Hollywood film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and one of its predecessors, Goldwyn Pictures, featured in the studio's production logo, which was created by the Paramount Studios art director Lionel S. Reiss....
in marketing, plus separate contracts that allowed specific MGM content to be used in The Great Movie Ride
The Great Movie Ride
The Great Movie Ride is an attraction at Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park. It is a dark ride which takes guests through scenes from famous films throughout motion picture history....
.
Disney later filed a countersuit, claiming that MGM/UA and MGM Grand, Inc. had conspired to violate Disney's worldwide rights to the MGM name in the theme park business and that MGM/UA would harm Disney's reputation by building its own theme park at the MGM Grand
MGM Grand Las Vegas
The MGM Grand Las Vegas is a hotel casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. The MGM Grand is the third largest hotel in the world and largest hotel resort complex in the United States in front of The Venetian. The MGM Grand was the largest hotel in the world when it opened in...
hotel and casino in Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
.
On October 23, 1992, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Curtis B. Rappe ruled that Disney had the right to continue using the Disney-MGM Studios name on film product produced at the Florida facility, and that MGM Grand had the right to build a Las Vegas theme park using the MGM name and logo as long as it did not share the same studio backlot theme as Disney's property. The 33 acres (133,546.4 m²) MGM Grand Adventures Theme Park
MGM Grand Adventures Theme Park
MGM Grand Adventures Theme Park was a theme park adjacent to the MGM Grand hotel and casino in Paradise, Nevada, United States. Opened in 1993, it closed to the public on September 4, 2000 after it showed a bad performance....
opened in 1993 at the Las Vegas site and closed permanently in 2000.
Disney was contractually prohibited from using the Disney-MGM Studios name in certain marketing contexts like the free Walt Disney World vacation-planning kit; in those instances the park was called The Disney Studios.
Name re-branding
Meg Crofton
Meg Gilbert Crofton is an American businesswoman, currently serving as president of the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida...
announced that the theme park would be re-branded as Disney's Hollywood Studios in January 2008. In announcing the name change, Crofton said, "the new name reflects how the park has grown from representing the golden age of movies to a celebration of the new entertainment that today's Hollywood has to offer—in music, television, movies and theater."
The Florida resort later announced that the new name would be effective January 7, 2008, adding that it would take several more months to change all affected signage.
Sister Parks
Disney's Hollywood Studios has a sister park at the Disneyland Resort ParisDisneyland Resort Paris
Disneyland Paris is a holiday and recreation resort in Marne-la-Vallée, a new town in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. The complex is located from the centre of Paris and lies for the most part within the commune of Chessy, Seine-et-Marne....
called Walt Disney Studios Park
Walt Disney Studios Park
Walt Disney Studios Park is the second theme park to open at Disneyland Paris, owned and operated by Euro Disney S.C.A.. It is located to the west of the hub, next door to Disneyland Park at the heart of the resort in Marne-la-Vallée....
. Originally, a Disney-MGM Studios Europe was to open in 1996, but plans were scrapped when the resort underperformed. Plans for a film-themed park were revived when the resort finally made a profit in 1995.
The two parks share the same basic theme (the entertainment industry) and have provided attractions to each other. The French park debuted with a Backlot Tour that included a version of Catastrophe Canyon, and a re-themed version of Florida's Rock N Roller Coaster. For the Happiest Celebration on Earth in 2005, a state-side version of Walt Disney Studios' popular auto stunt show was built at the Florida park, now known as Lights! Motors! Action!.
In addition, the Hollywood Pictures Backlot
Hollywood Pictures Backlot
Hollywood Pictures Backlot is a themed land at Disney California Adventure park at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. The area is based as a backlot of a Hollywood studio and has attractions themed to this concept. Hollywood Pictures Backlot opened with the park in 2001...
themed land inside Disney's California Adventure Park at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California
Anaheim, California
Anaheim is a city in Orange County, California. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was about 365,463, making it the most populated city in Orange County, the 10th most-populated city in California, and ranked 54th in the United States...
is a condensed version of the two larger "studio parks" in the Disney empire. It contains the Disneyland counterparts to The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, more commonly known as Tower of Terror, is a drop tower thrill ride at Disney's Hollywood Studios , Disney California Adventure Park, Tokyo DisneySea and Walt Disney Studios Park . It is based upon the television show The Twilight Zone...
, The Magic of Disney Animation
The Magic of Disney Animation
The Magic of Disney Animation is a show and tour at Disney's Hollywood Studios, Florida.It originally contained a short film starring Walter Cronkite and the voice of fellow Disney Legend Robin Williams, guiding guests through the different stages in animating a feature-length film.The Magic of...
, and Muppet*Vision 3D, and formerly housed Who Wants To Be A Millionaire - Play It!
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire - Play It!
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire - Play It! was an attraction at Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida and Disney's California Adventure Park in Anaheim, California...
. In 2006, the Hollywood Pictures Backlot was given a facelift to match the red-and-black color scheme of the Florida and Paris parks. Beginning in 2010, the Backlot will be reimagined into "Hollywoodland" as part of DCA's larger renovation project. The newly-themed land will maintain some of its original backlot decor, but will more closely resemble Hollywood as it appeared in the 1930s, which was one of the original themes of the Florida park.
Incidents
Disney's Hollywood Studios park has had its share of controversy, including the hospitalization of some guests, and at least one death. See Incidents at Disney parksIncidents at Disney parks
The following lists of Incidents that occurred at various Walt Disney Parks and Resorts are organized by resort area:*Incidents at Disneyland Resort*Incidents at Walt Disney World Resort*Incidents at Tokyo Disney Resort*Incidents at Disneyland Paris...
for more information.
See also
- Walt Disney Studios ParkWalt Disney Studios ParkWalt Disney Studios Park is the second theme park to open at Disneyland Paris, owned and operated by Euro Disney S.C.A.. It is located to the west of the hub, next door to Disneyland Park at the heart of the resort in Marne-la-Vallée....
- Disney's Hollywood Studios attraction and entertainment history