Month: February 2016

With the recent rumors swirling around the placement of two new lands within Disney’s Hollywood Studios, it seems necessary to look at part of the first real expansion that was planned for the then Disney-MGM Studios.

As one of the major components of the Disney Decade, Michael Eisner used his connections within the movie industry to expand on an EPCOT pavilion concept: the movie pavilion. By expanding this idea, the Disney-MGM Studios was born, and through that creation, so did a completely different direction for the Walt Disney Company in Florida. Eisner’s idea was a full year ahead of rival Universal’s own park opening (although we can argue if Eisner knew what Universal was doing, and what would have happened if Universal didn’t have continual construction problems), which in turn gave Disney the edge.

Disney-MGM Studios was originally conceived to be a half-day park, as it was meant to just be a behind-the-scenes type experience. Fortunately for them, guests wanted more. The park became an immediate success, and more to do was demanded by park goers. This led to the addition of such things as Muppet-Vision 3-D and the entire Sunset Boulevard area to the park. With all that the park had up until recently, as well as all of the additions over the years, it is a wonder that there were many concepts left on the drawing table, and ones that simply were shelved during development. One of these projects was Roger Rabbit’s Hollywood.

In an attempt to capitalize on the success of “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”, Imagineers came up with a concept for a new area for park. This area would mimic the sets of the film with a slew of new attractions, including a Toontown Trolley simulator, a Benny the Cab Ride (which eventually was built as Roger Rabbit’s Car-Toon Spin in Disneyland and Tokyo), and The Baby Herman Buggies attraction.

The Baby Herman’s Runaway Baby Buggy would take guests right into the middle of a Roger Rabbit/Baby Herman cartoon, notably the Tummy Trouble short as guests loaded into dark ride style baby carriages, to be Baby Herman’s replacement for a shoot. It was described by one Imagineer as being a ride that, ” … guests zoom through the cartoon sets of Toontown Hospital, fly down stairs, crash through doors and bound over beds.” Though the concept had promise, and would have added a completely new dimension to the park, it never made it past the concept stage.

One attraction from this concept that did make it off the drawing board and into reality was a Benny the Cab attraction, which eventually was built in Tokyo Disneyland and Disneyland in California. Roger Rabbit’s Car-Toon Spin takes guests today on a ride aboard Lenny, Benny the Cab’s brother. Through scenes in the film and eventually allowing guests to control the steering wheel, the attraction became a hit for both parks, though never making it to Hollywood Studios.

The land would also include a version of the Terminal Bar, which might have even been below the launch for the trolley car that would have went up and down the planned street that became Sunset Boulevard. The rumor always went that most of the land would encompass the parcel that now is home to  Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, though the land sadly never made it past the concept and planning stage.

There have been many rumors as to why Roger Rabbit’s Hollywood never came to fruition. Some point the finger at Eisner and Frank Wells being a bit too bold during the Disney Decade, and others blame the character’s fleeting popularity for its eventual cancellation, but the truth seems to lie somewhere in the middle. One major issue that seemed to be a sticking point was the ownership of the character and Disney’s disagreement with Amblin Entertainment (Steven Spielberg’s production agency) led to multiple delays. Being that both Touchstone (Disney’s live-action production company) and Amblin were responsible for the creation of the film, disagreements arose over the profits, the usage, and the design of the land and attractions. Considering Spielberg’s affiliation with Universal, it is unsurprising that this became a major issue moving forward. The other problem that may have contributed to the lands cancellation was the rising costs of construction of EuroDisney, though planning and construction of the Tower of Terror was not far behind this cancellation. As the disagreements finally seemed to be ending with Amblin, Disney found that it had a capital issue which led to much of the plans from the Disney Decade to be shelved. Once this capital issue was resolved however, it seemed that the Roger Rabbit character had lost its luster and popularity, so the company went in a different direction as they eventually decided on a project that eventually became Sunset Boulevard and the Tower of Terror which opened in July 1994.

Though this attraction was never officially green lit, and therefore never has been created, much of the technology developed for it has found itself in other attractions, notably the Winnie-the-Pooh attraction in Magic Kingdom with its “bouncing” and “floating” honeypots. Again, Roger Rabbit’s Car-Toon Spin was opened in Disneyland in January 1993 and in Tokyo in April 1996, allowing some guests to enter the world of Roger Rabbit, but never for those visiting Walt Disney World.

When Michael Eisner opened Disney’s Hollywood Studios in May 1989, it was a park with a different name and a firm identity.  It was the Disney-MGM Studios.  It was designed with the intent of being a working, full fledged tv studio, movie production center, and animation studio.  It was also by design intended to be a half-day behind-the-scenes experience, rather then a full theme park gate.  Announced and built in a rush in order to preempt the opening of Universal Studios Florida nearby, the park opened with 5 attractions and expansion pads for future attractions.  These attractions were the Great Movie Ride, the Backstage Studio tour (which was a two and a half hour studio tour at the time), the Monster Sound Show, Superstar Television, and the Magic of Disney Animation.  It was dedicated as follows:

“The World you have entered was created by The Walt Disney Company and is dedicated to Hollywood—not a place on a map, but a state of mind that exists wherever people dream and wonder and imagine, a place where illusion and reality are fused by technological magic. We welcome you to a Hollywood that never was—and always will be.

— Michael Eisner, May 1, 1989”

It was so popular when it opened that Eisner fast-tracked new projects to help add capacity. By August, the much maligned  Indiana Jones Stunt show opened, and by 1991, both Star Tours and Muppet Vision 3-D had joined the mix.  To be fair it was an amazing concept for a park, the Great movie ride and Hollywood Boulevard were rich in detail, theming, story, and movie references; it was brilliant Imagineering. However the problem of capacity reared its head.  The studio tour was long, had a small capacity, cost a lot to run and often times the sound stages were empty. Even Disney’s own productions of the new Mickey Mouse club tv had problems with the filming location. The Studio aspect was successful enough, but as a theme park it was desperate for capacity. Parts of the studio tour were cut down and other sections opened for pedestrian use.  

The park was at crossroads, with the studio and backlot portion of the park failing to stay interesting and useful, yet another expansion was planned for the front part of the park. When Sunset Boulevard opened it added a much needed thrill ride and huge capacity to the park with the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. This area was themed to post World War two Hollywood, which complimented wonderfully the meticulous theming of Hollywood Boulevard. The front half of the park fulfilled the mission of being “a Hollywood that never was—but always will be.”

The studios continued to struggle to find relevance and the park stagnated in growth. The back half of the park was a confusing mix of pathways, an empty Streets of America, and an underwhelming backlot tour now displayed costume facilities and a boneyard instead of any real production.  The Animation Studio closed in 2004 with the then-death of hand-drawn animation, leaving the studio without any actual, real productions in the works.  By 2008, the park’s name changed to Disney’s Hollywood Studios after years of arguing between Disney and the owners of the MGM Studios name. Meg Crofton (then WDW president) said the new name reflected a celebration “new entertainment that today’s Hollywood offered.” The park now had a wider theme and somewhat new focus. A theme so vague and all-encompassing they hoped it could work as a cover-all to put any attraction into the park. The park quickly added Toy Story Midway Mania, Block Party Bash, and the American Idol Experience after the name change, reinvigorating the park in many aspects.

Today we are left with an awkward park with a hodgepodge of areas mixed together so haphazardly that it makes no real sense. Toy Story Mania is thrown into a narrow alley way themed to PIXAR Studios, the backlot tour has closed leaving a giant dead space, and the popular Jedi Training Academy attempts to cram way-too-many guests into essentially what was a parade entrance and exit.  The promise of the future of Star Wars Land and Toy Story Land is sure to revitalize the park, however it does little to alleviate its identity crisis. With a now defunct studio, closed backlot tour, closed animation studio and soon closing Street of America, the park will soon become more of a park themed to a construction site than anything else.

Rumors of a name change are swirling about the internet, Bob Iger even let it leak that a name change was coming. The question is what name will do justice to the park, reorient its theme to mesh together old Hollywood, Star Wars and Toy Story into a coherent theme?  Disney’s Hollywood Adventure, Disney’s Cinema Spectacular, and Disney’s Cinema Celebration have all been suggested. Whatever the name change is, it’s clear that any reference to “studio” should be dropping away. The park is in no way a studio, Disney acknowledged this in when they confirmed the Earful Tower to be coming down, and when the last major remnant of the Studios falls, with it falls the studio theme. Studio references will still remain, including the soundstage numbers on the buildings, but  with a new name and new expansions, it is quite likely for these references will become a thing of the past.

However, a name change will not be enough to solve the problem though, Imagineers will have to think long and hard about how to justify the three very different areas of the park into one unified vision. If their solution is to say it is a celebration of the movies, this may not solve the incoherence felt inside its gate.

Whatever the name is, we are reminded of Disney’s miraculous re-Imagineering of Disney’s California Adventure and that gives me great solace.  They took a similar hodgepodge of a park and created a wonderful model-theme-park in its stead.  I am hoping they can work similar magic with Hollywood Studios. Until 2018 when these new projects are intended to open, Disney’s Hollywood Studios will remain a shell of a park with an identity crisis, but hopefully once these expansions are finished, Disney’s Hollywood Studios Cinema Adventure Entertainment Movie Park (or whatever they decide on calling it) will be something to be genuinely excited about again!