The 12 Milestones in Disney World History part 11; the studios close at MGM
The plan was a brilliant one. Walt Disney always wanted to have a tour of his California film studio but just couldn’t do it. So instead of trying to make it work out west, Disney decided to build a brand new working studio in Florida and have the tour there. The Disney-MGM Studios were born.
The idea was to make the park a tribute to “the Hollywood that never was”, but more importantly a real working studio. Here guests would come to see Disney animators working their magic, as well as live action films being made, television shows worked on and more. It was all the things California’s tour might have been and more. It defined the park, and made people not even notice the lack of other attraction when it first opened.
The theme the Disney-MGM Studios was based on, the “Hollywood that never was”, was quickly being jumbled throughout the park. As attractions like Star Tours and the Rock n’ Rollercoaster opened one began to wonder how they fit in. But behind all this was the fact that this was a working studio, so it all seemed to make some sort of sense. All of these things related to making entertainment at a studio. But then on February 1, 2005 that all had changed. Due to cost-cutting measures, the working studio was closed, and the park forever altered.
Now Imagineers are left struggling with the theme of this park. As we speak it is being renamed Disney’s Hollywood Studios but that still doesn’t solve the problems left by the decision to close the real working studios. It seems now that any coherent theme is no longer in existence and instead the Studios park is home to whatever attractions are either somehow related to films or not able to fit in the better themed areas of the other parks. .
Change is certainly coming to Disney’s Hollywood Studios, but will it ever be returned to its old self? It doesn’t appear that way. But it still has some of Walt Disney World’s best attractions. All it needs is a coherent theme to bring it all together. It had it once, but it is long gone now.