Hollywood Studios is one of my favourite Disney parks, not least because it has the wonderful 'Fantasmic' laser and lights show. But it wasn't always called Hollywood Studios. It opened with the name 'Disney-MGM-Studios' in 1989, the third of the Disney parks to debut in Orlando. Here are some of the interesting facts which I have discovered over the years.
Hollywood Studios covers around 135 acres, and its theming was based on the golden age of Hollywood in the 1930s and 40s, and of course the movie industry. It is amazingly popular and is the seventh most visited theme park in the world, and the third most visited in the USA. In 2009 it welcomed 9.7 million people through its doors.
Michael Eisner's dedication of 1989 really sums up what Hollywood Studios stands for, and what Disney had in mind when it opened:
'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 whenever 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.'
Each of the Disney parks has its own icon. At Epcot it is the huge Spaceship Earth at the entrance, at Magic Kingdom it is Cinderella's Castle, and for Animal Kingdom it is the wonderful Tree of Life. - for MGM Studios it was the Earful Tower, a copy of the water towers found in Hollywood studio backlots in the early 1900s. These water towers served an important purpose - that of safety, as should a fire have happened on set, the water from these towers would have been used to douse the flames. Mickey's ears could be found atop the Earful Tower, and these were lit by special lighting which outlined them at night. The Earful Tower was built by Caldwell Tanks of Louisville, Kentucky in 1988, and during the Christmas season a huge Father Christmas hat was placed over it. Indeed, during the Fourth of July festivities in 2001 Mickey's ears were decorated with the American flag. Of course, the name, Earful Tower is a pun on Eiffel Tower.
However, in 2001, as part of the 100 Years of Magic celebration, a new icon was unveiled - the huge Sorcerer's Hat which stands in front of the Great Movie Ride, and which originated in that much loved classic Disney animated film, Fantasia. It stands 122 ft high, and underneath the hat you can see Mickey Mouse's ears and hand emerging from the ground. In fact this huge fibreglass hat is completely empty as nothing has been built within its 60,000 ft of interior space.
After a rather rocky relationship with MGM it was eventually decided that they should go their separate ways, and this gave Disney the opportunity to re-invent this wonderful theme park as Disney felt that it should have a more modern image. In the words of Meg Crofton, the Walt Disney World President, the theme park would become Disney's Hollywood Studios, and the name would reflect how the park had 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 theatre.' Thus is was that the MGM name finally disappeared on January 7th, 2008, although it took several more months before they were able to complete all the changes to the signage that was necessary.
This name change actually resulted in a huge operation, as every single sign had to either be removed and replaced with a new sign, or it had to be painted over. The original logo of MGM Studios featured the iconic MGM lion roaring, with Mickey below it holding a clapboard. Every trace of the old logo had to be obliterated, and that included merchandise in the shops, on maps, and on such things as bus stops. It was a mammoth task, and one which took a huge amount of money to complete. The new Hollywood Studios logo shows the torso, arms and head of Mickey Mouse, holding a film-maker's clapboard, and it has a retro feel about it.
For more interesting facts about Hollywood Studios, read Part 2.
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