Farewell Citizens of Hollywood

wdisney9000

wdisney9000

Truindenashendubapreser
Premium Member
Animaniac93-98 said:
Like The Great Movie Ride and the Animation Tour, the Citizens of Hollywood were one of the things that made MGM-Studios what it was and why it was worth visiting. On theme, engaging and much more enjoyably "interactive" than the overpriced junk they started adding to ride queues.
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I remember how amazing TGMR was back in the 90s. The CM's put so much energy into their roles. They made the attraction even better than it was on it's own.

As time passed it became hit or miss much like having a good Jungle Cruise skipper. Towards the end, the CM's seemed to have just been shoved into the position and had no desire to perform or do anything outside of spiting out the script. But I'd still take the sub par Great Movie Ride over Runaway Railway ANY DAY of the week. And yes (to anybody wondering), I've experienced Runaway Railway several times. It's not bad, but it's far from deserving of being a suitable replacement for TGMR.
 
Club Cooloholic

Club Cooloholic

Well-Known Member
MaximumEd said:
I’ll predict that the parks will be slammed once a vaccine is available, and not because the parks are great with no fireworks, shows, or entertainment, but because folks will be desperate to go somewhere and do something. Chapek and the boys will say, “See? We don’t need these things to draw a crowd.” I could easily be wrong. I hope I’m wrong. The parks are a shell of themselves without the things that make WDW different.
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It depends. If the hotels are still crazy high and the ticket prices are, I just don't know if the usual Disney goer can afford that. Food and drink prices were already hitting critical(plain old grill cheese sandwich, one beer and a cupcake on the boardwalk will cost you around $26 bucks. Insane!
And now they strip all this entertainment. What will is there will be a crush on the beginning (heck we may still not be allowed to travel to Europe), but it will fade. Especially if the economy doesn't recover.
 
MaximumEd

MaximumEd

Well-Known Member
dpla5762 said:
I get what you're saying but we must be prepared for the very real possibility that there never is a vaccine or that it is minimally effective for a few more years until a better variation comes out. So many people are scared of both the virus and the vaccine that I don't see pre-covid crowds there for years.
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That’s a valid point and may turn out to be the case.
 
Club Cooloholic

Club Cooloholic

Well-Known Member
MaximumEd said:
That’s a valid point and may turn out to be the case.
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MaximumEd said:
That’s a valid point and may turn out to be the case.
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Who knows what will happen. I will say this I just read what Uni is planning for the Christmas Holidays, and they have a their live performers doing lots of Xmas stuff in the Harry Potter areas of the park. Wizarding World is popular because of the people and places that populate it. The rides are secondary, IMO.
 
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W

wdrive

Well-Known Member
wdisney9000 said:
I remember how amazing TGMR was back in the 90s. The CM's put so much energy into their roles. They made the attraction even better than it was on it's own.

As time passed it became hit or miss much like having a good Jungle Cruise skipper. Towards the end, the CM's seemed to have just been shoved into the position and had no desire to perform or do anything outside of spiting out the script. But I'd still take the sub par Great Movie Ride over Runaway Railway ANY DAY of the week. And yes (to anybody wondering), I've experienced Runaway Railway several times. It's not bad, but it's far from deserving of being a suitable replacement for TGMR.
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You’re pretty much spot on with GMR. A new operations cast member would have little to no say whether they worked here, Typhoon Lagoon car parking or Agent P’s World Showcase phone game.
 
mergatroid

mergatroid

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Was watching some of the videos from the awesome KPUT Radio youtube channel earlier. The CoH are still a big miss from the Studios every time we go. I know that many walked by in search of further attractions during their skits, however I never witnessed anyone who stopped to watch seemingly not enjoy them. Would be fantastic to see them return but sadly every year we go without them it seems less and less likely.

 
mergatroid

mergatroid

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
As an aside, has anyone thought how much it cost Disney annually to have the Citizens of Hollywood perform? We're looking at 8 - 10 full time performers, costuming and in all likelihood the show writers were already employed and covering other shows? What sort of figures are we looking at here annually?
 
Animaniac93-98

Animaniac93-98

Well-Known Member
mergatroid said:
Was watching some of the videos from the awesome KPUT Radio youtube channel earlier. The CoH are still a big miss from the Studios every time we go. I know that many walked by in search of further attractions during their skits, however I never witnessed anyone who stopped to watch seemingly not enjoy them. Would be fantastic to see them return but sadly every year we go without them it seems less and less likely.

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The business philosophy and sense of showmanship that gave us things like Citizens of Hollywood is gone.

If it costs money to run, but doesn't generate its own revenue through merch or LL sales, it's not worth keeping.
 
Nottamus

Nottamus

Well-Known Member
mergatroid said:
Was watching some of the videos from the awesome KPUT Radio youtube channel earlier. The CoH are still a big miss from the Studios every time we go. I know that many walked by in search of further attractions during their skits, however I never witnessed anyone who stopped to watch seemingly not enjoy them. Would be fantastic to see them return but sadly every year we go without them it seems less and less likely.

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John park hopper said:
It's things like this that made WDW special --shame the current management looks only at $$$$$ and how to make more $$$$$$$$
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Completely correct- Things on the way to things - you’re walking from TOT to Indy and there were perfomers that demanded your attention- it is what made WDW more WDW

Epcot as well

Shame they got rid of or lost most
 
C

Comped

Well-Known Member
mergatroid said:
As an aside, has anyone thought how much it cost Disney annually to have the Citizens of Hollywood perform? We're looking at 8 - 10 full time performers, costuming and in all likelihood the show writers were already employed and covering other shows? What sort of figures are we looking at here annually?
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The last Equity agreement I have access to (ending in 2017 - there's been 2 since then that are unpublished publicly), says they'd be paid $17.28 per hour in 2017, or about $22.50 today without pay raises. Assuming a few, since we'd probably be looking at like $25 or so per hour with a max of $30. So probably $500k-$600k a years in salary, not including benefits (mandated pension, healthcare, and so forth). Not terribly expensive for Disney at all. But a big part of DHS' entertainment budget.
 
mergatroid

mergatroid

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Comped said:
The last Equity agreement I have access to (ending in 2017 - there's been 2 since then that are unpublished publicly), says they'd be paid $17.28 per hour in 2017, or about $22.50 today without pay raises. Assuming a few, since we'd probably be looking at like $25 or so per hour with a max of $30. So probably $500k-$600k a years in salary, not including benefits (mandated pension, healthcare, and so forth). Not terribly expensive for Disney at all. But a big part of DHS' entertainment budget.
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I was guessing half a million or so also. The microphones and audio equipment would be minimal, costuming minimal along with the upkeep of their 2 or so vehicles you would assume negligible in comparison.

As they had actors there from the opening of the park it wasn't as though it was an experiment to see whether they added financial profits as such, but more just a cost of running the park. I understand as I was there back when 'MGM Studios' first opened that they probably 'fit in' more as they were portraying a working studio, however even when that stopped being the case they were still a staple to a visit there.

They really gave me so much additional pleasure to my visit and I would often grab a seat on Sunset Boulevard and wait for them to arrive for a show. Chatted to Jack Diamond several times when he was out with his table performing magic as I have a keen interest in magic and we even discussed names of real people from England he knew in the 'magic community' all whilst he remained in his character. One on one I asked him if his friend 'Terry Ward' was performing at any magic clubs in Orlando over the next three weeks and he said sadly not, but then told me which days 'Jack Diamond was "here in Hollywood" for that period and promised to show me a different trick that I'd like if I saw him. I did see him a few days later and as promised not only did he perform that trick, but he remembered my name also.
 
munchiezxx

munchiezxx

Well-Known Member
I skipped DHS on my most recent visit for the first time. I was a huge citizens fan and would go out of my way to go to DHS for them at least twice a trip. I miss them :( the loss of the citizens is when I knew the state of the parks were not going to turn around.
 

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