Hollywood Studios has seen quite a few changes over the years.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios
From the additions of Toy Story Land and Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge to attraction re-themes like Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway, the park looks completely different than it did when it opened in 1989. The changes are far from over, as Disney has announced even more updates for the park.
As Disney fans, we sometimes hold on to the past, which is understandable; we grow attached to what is in the parks, and change is hard to get used to. Hollywood Studios is gearing up for even more change as Disney announced that a Monsters, Inc. themed land would be joining the park line-up leading to the closure of Muppets Courtyard.
©Disney
The change does not stop there; while the Muppets may be getting evicted from Muppets Courtyard, they will be moving into Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. And right next door, a new show will take the place of Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy.
©Disney
It seems that Hollywood Studios is moving away from its original theming, which is causing some Disney fans to worry about the park. We reached out to you all, our amazing readers, to see how you felt about the changes, and 42% of you said that Disney is quietly ruining Hollywood Studios.
Hollywood Studios
One reader said, “They should just go ahead and change the name. Hollywood Studios no longer exists. The park is a catchall for stuff that doesn’t fit anywhere else. I’m afraid EPCOT will become that as well.” Another reader agreed and said, “It no longer feels like Hollywood; it feels like a junk drawer.”
Hollywood Studios
Hollywood Studios has started to steer away from the studio and movie-making aspect of the park as rides like the Backlot Tour and The Great Movie Ride have closed. One reader said that they miss the “actual Studio feel and seeing how things were done – the Backlot Tour and water tank show, the soundstage character meal, the AFI costumes, Great Movie Ride, Lights Motors Action, Art of Animation, etc. They’ve changed it to feel more like you are inside a real land based on an actual movie instead of on a live set. Some people prefer that, and some people don’t.”
Toy Story Land
That reader brings up an interesting point: instead of focusing on how movies are made, Disney is taking the approach of transporting you to different lands based on popular films like Star Wars, Toy Story, and soon, Monsters, Inc. Another reader shared a similar thought and said, “As long as the lands focus on movies, I understand what they are doing. I liked the studio theme from the past, but now it’s more like Hollywood Movieland than Hollywood Studios.”
Galaxy’s Edge
While some readers understand that maybe Disney is leaning more towards transporting you into popular films, some do not think that the theming is cohesive. One reader said that it was too late and Disney had already ruined the park. They also shared that they “find the Star Wars area ugly and boring, and they are taking away Muppets. It’s just a hodgepodge of things now. There’s nothing Hollywood about it. I can skip this park easily.”
Hollywood Studios
While it can be hard to adjust to the changes that Disney is making to Hollywood Studios and across all its parks, we will just have to wait and see how these new projects are developed and look forward to enjoying them in the coming years.
Echo Lake
There is so much going on around the resort and so many projects on the horizon, so make sure you continue to follow along with DFB to stay up to date on all the latest Disney news!
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I’m surprised the numbers aren’t higher I’m disliking what they are doing to Hollywood Studios. It’s time to go, Bob Iger! You have killed the Disney brand, nickeled and fined us to death, and now you are ruining the parks!
I’m surprised the numbers aren’t higher in disliking what they are doing to Hollywood Studios. It’s time to go, Bob Iger! You have killed the Disney brand, nickeled and dimed us to death, and now you are ruining the parks!
DISNEY HAS DIED. NO LONGER THE HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH
I agree that the closing of original attractions is disturbing. There is definitely something missing. But with the Star Wars “movie set” visitors get the feeling of “being on set”. And still, mny of the changes have seemed like Disney is just becoming an amusement park
It’s not only Hollywood Studios. It seems that every park is moving farther from Walt’s vision. One might think this is by design. Right Mr. Iger?
Sadly, Hollywood Studios is not what it was. There used to be fun characters interacting with each other. They had a great side shows.
The animation studio was cool because they had TV along the line showing the magic of animation. There were movie props for great photos. And a playground to let kids run off some energy.
Used to be my favorite park. Loved the Osborne Lights at Christmas…experiencing that alone was worth a holiday trip to WDW. Will miss Muppet Vision. Miss several of the old attractions…Great Movie Ride, Catastrophic Canyon, and Animation Studio.
Completely agree with the comments! Disney has lost its way for some time in so many ways! Colossally disappointing!!
YES!!!!!! Hollywood Studios didn’t draw me in like it used to when I was there 3 years ago. I decided then I wouldn’t go back. The Hollywood theme was what I loved. While I’m not really a fan of Animal Kingdom either, (I’m not a fan of big animals in small spaces), I’d rather spend a half day there.
I really enjoyed the Hollywood streetmosphere. It was fun to walk around the streets of Hollywood studios and see the performers act out very funny skits. I really wish they brought those back.
Yes. I like the idea of Star War and Toy Story immersing you in the movies but it is Hollywood STUDIOS. We had the chance to see the Lights, Camera, Action show on our first trip in 2009 and loved the backstage look of where Muppets and Galaxy’s Edge is now, especially during Christmas.
Used to love Hollywood Studios before they got rid of the movie ride and backlot tour and the dinosaur with Ellen ride. Now we often skip this park as we’re not a fan of all the changes.
Getting rid of The Great Movie ride wasn’t a good idea. HS is, was and should be based on movies. They “somewhat redeemed themselves with the movie show at the end of the night. What Disney SHOULD do is, make another park filled with all they attractions they have closed. You wanna see a PACKED PARK-
FUHGEDDABOUDIT….
I LOVE Hollywood Studios! It’s my favorite park. It’s full of rides I love like Tower of Terror and Toy Story Mania. I love the both the Star Wars and Toy Story themed lands. I’m looking forward to the Monsters Inc. land, though I do hope they move the Muppets to the Magic Eye Theater in Epcot. I’ll probably be roasted for saying so, but now that the Indiana Jones ride is coming to Animal Kingdom, I hope they get rid of the Indiana Jones Stunt Show. To me it’s a one and done, and it now bores me to death. I’d love to see a rotation of Broadway style shows there.
I can easily skip this park as well. If it weren’t for Tower of Terror, I wouldn’t ever need to go again. I loved the Great Movie Ride, Muppets Show, and the Backlot Tour.
It’s sad to see where the park is heading vs where it began.
MV3D is a mainstay staple of the park.
To simply shut it down rather than look for options to relocate it is just sad.
Being one of, if not the last project Jim Henson worked on, feels like a dog at his legacy.
It’s such a fun and wholesome experience, so it’s a shame that it’s being erased.
I don’t overly mind the re-theme of Rockin’ Rollercoaster to a Muppet theming, as I think Aerosmith is outdated at this point.
However, I truly hope that Disney does everything they can to keep the Tower of Terror in tact!
If that ride goes, I’ll have no issues bypassing Hollywood Studios.
I find it has been hard to take in many of the changes across all the parks, since I’ve been going since ’89 and you develop a connection with rides and attractions.
Losing Splash Mountain sucked… So to see another iconic attraction disappear like so many others along the way, definitely hurts.
I hope they do justice to the Monsters Inc Land, but it will undoubtedly not feel the same.
To be honest, Imt not a fan overall, with the changes in all their parks. Hollywood is an added disappointment. To suggest that Disney rethink the direction they been traveling is a waste of time. They don’t listen.
I stopped going to the park years ago. There’s nothing about it that says Disney to me anymore. It’s just an amusement park now like many others.
Yeah, you know why? Because when it was movie studio themed, everyone complained about how it was a super boring park and it didn’t have enough rides.
People said they didn’t go to Disney to sit and watch shows all day.
Because the highest rated attractions were moving.
Because kids today don’t know who the hell Clint Eastwood or Gene Kelly are and they don’t care or care to know.
I LOVED Hollywood Studios. I spent some of my best days there when Lights Motor Action was packing the house.
A week before the closure was announced? There was a show I went to that was I kid you not, ¼ full IF THAT and most of the people in attendance were on their phones or talking.
So yes. Things are going to close and change because the people around you, sometimes maybe even the lowest common denominator of Disney fan, are who they have to cater to.
They don’t craft the parks to nurse our collective love of nostalgia, they craft them to make you want to come back.
You know what happened when Epcot only had 1 an E-ticket attraction? No one went.
That’s not what they want.
I recently took my son to Orlando last year, having not been there since the 90’s and whilst it was sad to learn that the backlot tour was gone with the earthquake element and that iconic oil tank truck sliding down towards you still evoking fond memories, I still think it’s an amazing park. It’s packed with so much to do and unlike the other Disney sites with bits that we’d like to revisit next year, Holywood studios is the only one with enough going for it which makes us definitely want to return. I do get though how the bit studios given there’s nothing to warrant its inclusion might be a little outdated now but then I still mistakenly refer to it as MGM studios so what do I know?!!!
I cannot agree more with the comments from fans. When it was Disney/Mgm, it was fun, exciting, innovative, uniques and a Studio that fans could go behind the scenes and become part of the fun. Not any more. Now it is a place to stand in line and wait and eat lousy overpriced food. Catastrophe Canyone and the back stage tour was great, a brief respite among the wonder, Drew Carey Sound Stage, Muppets 4-D and many more crowd pleasers are gone and replaced by dark rides that half of the guests are either too young or too old. To Bad, it used to be a great addition to WDW, now if you’re not a Star Wars fan, episodes 1,2,3, 7,or 8, there is no reason to even go there. I don’t any more.
Not just the Studios, but all over the Parks. I retired after 31+yr and the cheapening, pandering to .01%, raising prices and failing on merch and food quality has left the one time King of entertainment floundering in mediocrity. A recent visit to Disney Springs for a leasure day and nice lunch…we went to every restaurant reading, outrageously over priced menus with a pathetic offering of selections. We left and went up to find a good restaurant at Dr. Phillips. Walt is spinning in his grave.
It’s nice to keep up with progress and I know Walt Disney always like to keep up with progress. The problem is when you do this you have to charge the people more money and unfortunately that’s a problem nowadays people don’t have a lot of money to go to these parks which it should be a great experience for children. And it’s unfortunate that the children can’t experience this lovely part of Disney because of the cost being so high because of the progress in the parks.
Studio parks are so 1990’s. Out with the old in with the new!
It used to be my favorite park. Hasn’t been in decades
Just call it Pixar Park. Add a bunch of attractions based on Pixar movies and characters, similar to Pixar Pier at DCA. Turn the closed Star Wars Galaxy Hotel in another Pixar Place Hotel.
Walt said the parks will always be changing, nothing wrong with that.
I think all the parks except magic kingdom are all lacking. Can’t wait to Epic is open.
Change happens, that was always Walt Disney’s plan, its not the park that have changed, it’s the people. My husband and I have been going for over 20 years and we still find the magic. To expect the parks to not change is ruinous, short sighted , and selfish. The parks evolve to the fan base not to the dwindling nubers of generations past getting older and dieing out. I accepted this in my childhood and accept it now as I get older.
Have you ever been to Hollywood? It IS a junk drawer
The studios with the backlot were a fabulous experience. There was something so fun and interesting there. Now its just more rides.
Hollywood studios has lost what made it so special. Now its a disjointed park. I wish Disney would bring back the old park and honor the “ studio” in Hollywood Studios.
Disney’s need to try and capitalise constantly on its movies and not trying something new is a real issue. Magic Kingdom being an example. Frontier land was all about cow boys and the wild west. It was to feed your imagination. What does cars have to do with that? Epcot was bout looking at the world and learning and progressing. What does guardians of the galaxy have to do with that? Animal kingdom the natural world including dinosaurs. Avatar and tropical areas are close but still don’t feel right. Hollywood studios was about being in the movies not a half baked try and LARPING and having enough space in the lot to just throw anything in there. Compare this with Universals harry potter land. An absolute master stoke in how to make an immersive theme. Jurassic park was old but they kept updating it to keep the theme and make it fresh. Disney thinks they are too big to fail.
You need to remember that when it opened it was MGM. That put a limit on what could happen as far as attractions. When the change went to Disneys Hollywood Studios, it opened the possibility of many more and different attractions. If you’re not old enough to have experienced that change, it may seem that these new changes are extreme. Not so. Look how far entertainment has come over the past 25 years. All the technology, all the inventive ways animatronics have evolved, the CGI that was unheard of just a few years ago. Take it from a 77 year old Disney girl who couldn’t wait to get home from school to watch a sketchy black and white reception of the Mickey Mouse Club, this has been an amazing ride. If it’s not to your liking, just sell your DVC membership, don’t buy the park tickets, find another way to spend your money and time on a vacation. As for me and the 4 generations of my family, we can’t wait to see what’s next.
The whole point of Hollywood movie studios is that you step right onto an immersive set, THAT’S what the new magic of the park is all about! The faux ‘backstage’ idea has never appealed to me and honestly, most of the backstage-themed stuff is seriously outdated. Like do movies even use real-life sets these days? Lightsabers and monsters sounds way more fun (and merchandisable) than greenscreenland!
I don’t know what to say…so many opinions and all have value. I agree with those who say Walt favored change – it has given us many “new” favorites over the years. But what exactly is Hollywood Studios supposed to represent? I don’t think they or we know anymore! Some things are timeless and enjoyed over generations and need to be preserved in some way, but not as a roller coaster (Muppets). That is what I don’t think – no serious strategizing going on with Disney execs – just “take x and move it over to y and then move z to a” because it will be the least costly move!