Disney’s Hollywood Studios: Why Is It Still Stuck In The 90s?

You’re probably too busy always running toward Toy Story Mania at rope drop, but have you ever stopped to notice the weirdness that somehow, over the years, manifested itself into today’s Disney’s Hollywood Studios?

While recently thinking about my 90s childhood and days of Ducktales, plastic VHS cases and Disney Happy Meal toys, I have also been analyzing the history of Disney-MGM Studios/Disney’s Hollywood Studios and its futured rumored ideas. I have come to a startling conclusion about this sadly misshapen park:

It is totally 90s.

Remember when you’d pop in a Disney VHS tape and catch a sneak preview of the newest film before the Feature Presentation would begin?

“Walt Disney Animation Studios proudly presents its 32^nd animated feature, The Lion King!”

Cameras would pan over Sir Elton hammering out some tunes at the piano while a handful of nerdy animators were sketching from life with a real lion sitting in the studio, all while “Circle of Life” was booming and building up in anticipation until “Coming to Theatres in 1994” flashed across the screen. Cool, right?

Behind-the-scenes featurettes, sneak peeks, and anatomy-of-a-scenes are still considered interesting, but in this day and age, they are readily available via the Internet, Blu-Ray and DVD. In the 1990s, these featurettes that appeared in theatres and on VHS tape previews were literally a sneak peek into the then unaccessible and magical world of filmmaking.

Which brings us to Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Much of it feels so VHS-tape-y, old-school sneak-peak-y, and “Where’s Michael Eisner?” vibe-y.

The park’s name itself drips with the assumption that you are entering a movie studio theme park. The set facades, 1930s theming and commissary-style and backstage areas even give off an excellent movie studio vibe.

But what is really going on here? Most Guests are too busy rushing toward the park’s E-ticket attractions to even notice that most of the experiences they are enjoying don’t truly encompass the park’s original movie studio theme: Toy Story Midway Mania, Rock n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith, Fantasmic, Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, and Star Tours: The Adventures Continue. These attractions are some of the most thrilling, top-notch on property, so there is great reason to be excited. But most Guests are missing out on what makes this park a movie studio theme park.

Since rebranding the park’s original name and concept (formerly Disney-MGM Studios) in 2008 to become “Disney’s Hollywood Studios,” Rock n’ Roller Coaster and the American Idol Experience also now (technically) fit the “Hollywood studio” bill. But I believe Guests don’t really understand the rebranding concept, which states that:

“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.”

Most Guests hear “Disney” and “Hollywood Studios” and think “movies.” Many, if not most, attractions at Disney Parks are based off of famous films. How does this set Hollywood Studios apart from the other parks?

It doesn’t.

So, by changing the concept and saying, “We are more than movies,” it’s like putting the metaphorical band-aid on a slightly bigger problem. The park’s undercarriage and design is still that of a movie studio, with a majority of attractions that don’t quite fit. While Lights, Motors, Action! and Indiana Jones stunt shows certainly fit the theme of a movie studio, many of the other attractions, besides the fact that they are based on films, are not themed to the stages of show business nor give the illusion of walking onto any kind of film set. The outdoor queue at Star Tours is a bit of an exception, and some may argue that the live shows, like Fantasmic! and Beauty and the Beast, fit the bill.

Many of the original aspects of the park that billed it as a movie studio are currently outdated and left in the dust. Attractions such as the Studio Backlot Tour and the Magic of Disney Animation, pinnacles of the original Disney-MGM Studios, are now after-thoughts; rainy day attractions, mid-afternoon “I guess so’s.” The Great Movie Ride also fails to pull in the crowds that the other thrills in the park offer.

Guests do enjoy these attractions, but they share a common bond with the unofficial theme of the park, which I refer to as:

“Totally 90s and in need of some major plussing.”

When Disney-MGM Studios opened in 1989, the park’s main attraction was the Studio Backlot Tour. This now-often overlooked and dated attraction encompassed the entire back “half” of the park, beginning at the old studio “gate” near Voyage of the Little Mermaid and wrapping around the backside of the Great Movie Ride. The original Backlot Tour was nearly two-hours and included an exclusive walking portion along New York Street and the Streets of America. The tour was quickly condensed to a mere 30 minutes by 1991.  The trip included outdoor sets on the now extinct Residential Street, which featured TV exterior locations such as the Golden Girls house and other famous locales, the Boneyard, and of course Catastrophe Canyon. Soundstages were also included in the tour, and Guests could often catch crews filming the newest rendition of the Mickey Mouse Club or other TV shows or film sequences.

Doctor Disney Note: The Backlot Tour was seriously awesome back in the day. Just my two cents.

Disney’s Florida animation team fully produced three animated films in and around the Magic of Disney Animation, often within Guests’ view: Mulan, Lilo and Stitch, and Brother Bear, along with dozens of other sequences. Now these desks sit empty, as though the animators were literally kicked out of their seats mid-sketch.

These studio-themed attractions are still standing, but they are certainly skeletons of their former selves.

The downsizing of Backlot Tour and Magic of Disney Animation is a good example of why film studios don’t work that well in Florida. Costs outweigh the profits of producing at the tried-and-true actual Hollywood studio lots. Convenience is a big factor too. The loss of the “hot set” now contributes to the problem with the authenticity of Hollywood Studios.

Many of the other attractions that DHS showcases have not changed since the 1990s. The Beauty and the Beast stage show, Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Playground, Muppet-Vision, the Voyage of the Little Mermaid and even the Great Movie Ride have remained largely unchanged since opening. Disneyland and Magic Kingdom have attractions that have been around 1955 and 1971 respectively, but the upkeep is different and the demand is there. Many of the earliest attractions still in operation at these older parks are considered classics.

And of course, there are issues with attraction placement and the layout of the park. For example, Imagineers decided to drop the modern G-Force Records right in the middle of 1930s Sunset Boulevard. And should I even mention the  Sorcerer Hat, also known un-affectionately in the Disney community as the BAH, which obviously stands for “big awesome hat?”

“Hey, I remember that movie…maybe.”

Do Guests want to go behind the scenes of their favorite films? Perhaps if the films didn’t include characters and scenes from outdated so-so’s, like Mulan and Pearl Harbor, then yes. Or maybe it’d be more exciting if Residential Street was alive and actually filming exterior shots for a new series. Or maybe it’s just not as exciting when you have more important things to do, like run to Toy Story Mania at rope drop.

Another “studio” park down the street already has an established name for itself, and while it doesn’t boast a backlot tour (its Hollywood sister takes care of that), the concept motto is “ride the movies.” Simple and effective.

Does Disney’s Hollywood Studios need a makeover like Disney California Adventure had back in 2010? Should it still be branded as a “studio?” With Frozen Summer Fun taking place all summer long, the Disney Villains hard-ticketed event coming up this August, and the American Idol Experience closing in January 2015, it makes us all wonder:

What will Disney’s Hollywood Studios do next? The park needs a solid identity. Can it get out of the 1990s?