The Hollywood That Was

It's hard to believe, but just one week from today, we'll be celebrating the 20th anniversary of Disney's Hollywood Studios. In honor of the occasion, I'll have a series of posts for you about the Grand Opening of the park, its history, and many of the storytelling details found throughout. But let's begin at the beginning...

The idea for a tour of the Disney Studios actually originated with Walt Disney and predates Disneyland. As early as the 1930s, Walt was receiving letters from fans wanting a peek behind-the-scenes at the place where Mickey Mouse and Snow White were born. Walt maintained that the actual day-to-day activities of production would be boring to the average outsider, but he ultimately couldn't resist the demands of the public. With the 1941 release of The Reluctant Dragon, Walt gave the people what they wanted... sort of. The film follows comedian Robert Benchley as he stumbles through all the various Studio departments on his way to a meeting with the Big Cheese.

Although The Reluctant Dragon was, in essence, a filmed tour of Disney's new Burbank Studio, people still couldn't visit, so Walt started dreaming up ideas for something that could be open to the public. His initial plans for a Mickey Mouse Park on Riverside Drive, across the street from the Studio lot, eventually grew into Disneyland. Meanwhile, Walt Disney continued to give his audience the occasional peek behind the curtain via the Disneyland and Wonderful World of Color anthology series on TV.

Many years later, when Disney's Imagineers were tasked with developing potential expansion ideas for EPCOT Center, one of the concepts which took hold was for an Entertainment Pavilion, to be located between The Land and Journey Into Imagination (concept art below ©Disney). Guests would have passed through a theater marquee facade to experience several attractions, including a trip through great movie moments, a show placing Guests into scenes from classic TV shows, and an interactive exhibit showcasing Disney animation.

When Michael Eisner and Frank Wells joined the Company in 1984, one of their primary goals was to increase the Studio's output of movie and television production. On an early visit to Walt Disney Imagineering in Glendale, they were presented with the Entertainment Pavilion concept. The Imagineers were asked to expand upon the initial idea to create what would become the third theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida: a working film and TV studio and Studio Tour attraction.

For the attraction side of things, Disney wanted to present an homage to the Golden Age of movies, fleshing out the idea by striking a licensing deal with classic movie studio Metro Goldwyn Mayer. The Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park would bring together the classic glitz and glamour of old Hollywood with a look at a modern production facility, where Guests could see actual movies, TV shows, and Disney animated shorts created right before their eyes.

The working studio started operations in Summer 1988, with the production of the Touchstone Pictures comedy Ernest Saves Christmas. The theme park made its debut the following year, on May 1, 1989. At opening, the Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park was intended to be a half-day experience. In fact, there were only five attractions: The Backstage Studio Tour, The Magic of Disney Animation, The Great Movie Ride, Superstar Television (current home of The American Idol Experience), and Monster Sound Show (now Sounds Dangerous - Starring Drew Carey).

Everything in purple on the map above was part of The Backstage Studio Tour. The tour began at the Shuttle load station (what is now the entrance to the Disney Animation attraction). In addition to areas still included on the Studios Backlot Tour, the Backstage Studio Tour Shuttles also visited the Greens Department, Residential Street, and New York Street. Along the way, Guests were treated to views of exterior sets from Golden Girls and Empty Nest (and later Honey I Blew Up the Kid, George of the Jungle, The Rocketeer, and Dick Tracy), and encounters with Herbie the Love Bug and the Dip-Mobile from Who Framed Roger Rabbit. At the conclusion of the Shuttle experience, Guests could take a break at the Studio Catering Company, then continue with Part II of the tour, a guided walk through the Special Effects Warehouse and Shooting Stage, Soundstages, and post-production facilities. Videos featuring Warren Beatty, the cast of The Cosby Show, George Lucas, Mel Gibson, and Pee-Wee Herman attempted to explain how everything was done, and a short film produced at Disney-MGM Studios (The Lottery, starring Bette Midler) showed how it all came together. The final stop on this two-hour tour was the Walt Disney Theater (now home to Voyage of the Little Mermaid), where previews of coming attractions were introduced by a humorous interaction between Michael Eisner (wearing a Mickey Mouse watch) and Mickey Mouse (wearing a Michael Eisner watch).

The Studios park was an immediate hit with Walt Disney World Guests, and work began on ways to expand the park and its offerings. Over the past 20 years, the Studios has grown by leaps and bounds. Today, it brings to life experiences from movies, TV, animation, live theater and music. The name Disney's Hollywood Studios, adopted officially in January 2008, reflects this growth and the park's mission to represent all aspects of Hollywood, both classic and modern.