This is a continuation of a series of blog entries about how I would fix Walt Disney World. My crazy plan, which I call the Disney Walkabout, demands the closing of one park for a year, so it can be tweaked upon, fixed, changed, and given a brand new makeover. The order goes as follows: Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Epcot, and lastly, Magic Kingdom. With the park closed an entire year, it gives all the workers and Imaginneers all the time and space in the world to do some drastic changes that they could never do if there are guests involved. Enjoy, and feel free to make any suggestions or arguements.
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Part 2: Disney's Hollywood Studios
This is a fun one. The Hollywood Studios is one I have the most grudges with, simply because of my background as a dropout film major. This park can excel in so many different ways, it’s unbelievable. The Disney folks would have the hardest time against me because I want to re-align this theme park so badly. For starters, the front of the park is perfectly fine; I have no trouble at all with the old-school Hollywood vibe. Perhaps even expanding a bit would be my only little change. Now, the big hat has always been an issue for me. But, now I know MGM and Disney have had their grudges, hence the hat being placed directly in front of the Great Movie Ride. Because of this grudge, this might be the only time you’ll hear me request that an old-school attraction be totally replaced. But, The Great Movie Ride needs to go. The building itself should be remodeled.
Instead of a re-creation of the Chinese Theater, that building should be remodeled to become the Walt Disney Concert Hall. The Great Movie Ride will never unleash its full potential, simply because Disney is up against all these other movie studios---so how can we really nail all the big classics? There’s no way it can ever be truly the Great Movie Ride, when we will have to look away from certain classics from companies like Fox, Warner Brothers, Columbia, etc. With the Walt Disney Concert Hall, they can bring out a massive orchestra to do multiple instrumental performances and themes of the biggest films past and present throughout the day. I’d love to be able to walk in there three times; once to hear Star Wars music, the second time to hear the best work of Barnard Hermann, and then lastly hear some rousing Pirates of the Caribbean music.
We are now traveling a bit west. Because of my hatred of American Idol, I am willing to demolish that entire building and not replace it with anything…just no American Idol. Luckily for all of us, I know how to replace that building and the one next door (Sounds Dangerous, really?). The two buildings should become an ongoing movie theater that plays nothing but old-school movies. So for those of us that never got to see Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Empire Strikes Back, Psycho, Jurassic Park, or other movies that benefit better on a big screen, this is your chance to relive the experience that moviegoers of the past had the privilege of witnessing. That way, in case it storms or it’s a very hot day, you can enter the theater for a bit and watch a good classic for a while.
The Star Wars/Indiana Jones area is perfectly fine, as the new Star Tours is being made, the Jedi Training Academy thing is great for the kids, and the Indiana Jones Stunt Show will forever become a classic. But, I would expand it a bit to include another ride or two. If I am not mistaken, there is still some extra space behind the LucasArts area, and if we really want to, push the Streets of America area to invade where Backlot Tour used to be (since that will never fully open ever again). We can add a Star Wars roller coaster ride there, re-creating the speeder chase sequence of Return of the Jedi. Lastly, Hollywood Studios should get the Indiana Jones ride from Disneyland. If there is an area that should have an attraction showing the magic of special effects, the LucasArts area would definitely be the right fit.
One of two things will happen in Streets of America: whether totally disappear and expand the Muppets area to cover this ground, or not change anything except use this area for actors to do re-creations of classic musical sequences. Examples include: Singing in the Rain, Meet Me in St. Louis, On the Town, West Side Story, etc. With the amount of space in this area alone, doing musical numbers would become an absolute cinch. The Lights Motors Action Extreme Stunt Show shall remain, but there should be another stunt show right next door. Ladies and gentlemen, its time that Hollywood Studios gets a martial arts stunt show. In the Jackie Chan Stunt Show, guests are shown how Jackie Chan and actors of today film fight scenes and film crazy stunts made popular by the Chinese star. Those showings will occur during the in-between times of the Lights Motors Action show.
Pixar Place is here to stay, I am sad to say. But, we can make the best of it by moving the Nemo ride from Epcot to here, add the Monster’s Inc. roller coaster that has been rumored for so long, move the Monster’s Inc. Laugh Floor from Magic Kingdom to here, and throw in a Ratatouille restaurant. I would also suggest moving Buzz Lightyear Spaceranger Spin, but then it will get eaten alive from the competition of the similar Toy Story Mania. But in my opinion, almost anything Pixar from the other parks should be moved here. They already conquered the parade, so just let them take over a vast majority of the park. Move the Little Mermaid and Playhouse Disney show to where Fantasmic and the Beauty and the Beast Show are located, and use those buildings for the Pixar stuff. Then the transition to the animation area will be better. One last thing: nullify the Prince Caspian thing….please.
Now, the animation courtyard area, with the character greetings and the Art of Animation attraction, that should be connected to Rockin’ Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror, because those two attractions are going to lose most of their connections to Fantasmic to make way of the buildings for Little Mermaid and Playhouse. Personally, I think grouping up all the shows to one section of the park will make the park better-themed, and will not have us scrambling around in search of shows all over the park. And yes, the moving of the shows will eliminate the quick-service eatery in Sunset Boulevard, or will be moved to the new pathway(s) from Animation Courtyard to the two big thrill rides of Hollywood Studios. The Rockin’ Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror can be part of a new section of the park dedicated to the music and television aspects of Hollywood.
Fantasmic itself is perfectly fine, no changes necessary there. Tower of Terror is a classic and should not be changed besides where to enter, the entry point. Rockin’ Roller Coaster should remain with Aerosmith, but if that contract changes, nobody better even think about mentioning one of the Disney pop bands to take over. Call someone else, anyone else. Metallica, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Bon Jovi, anyone?
Bottom Line: The Hollywood Studios Walkabout: Switch locations of the shows, remove Great Movie Ride and Backlot Tour, add Pixar rides/attractions from elsewhere, add Indiana Jones and Star Wars ride, add martial arts stunt show, enhance Streets of America, add Walt Disney Concert Hall, add movie theater/dining experience, and lastly include more pathways to prevent Hollywood Studios from continuously becoming a park with many dead-ends.
To Be Continued. Part 3 will focus on Epcot and why they can have the coolest ride in all of Walt Disney World......
Part 1 is right here
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