American Film Institute Showcase permanently closing at the end of this week

[SpaceMountain77]

Sometimes, I think it might be best for giant sinkholes to open underneath certain attractions and resorts.

 

[Marc Gil]

I always liked the exhibit.

It's a shame that more and more movie/entertainment related exhibits and attractions are being removed from what was originally known as the 'movie' park...

 

[FettFan]

I was thinking more along the lines of bulldozing everything south of Star Tours and TGMR and everything south and west of TSMM and starting over from scratch.

Even if they left the buildings south of Star Tours (muppets, pizza planet, mama melrose, etc) and just bulldozed LMA, the studio tour, and the unused backlot theater they'd have a huge piece of land to work with.

LMA and CatCan could both be salvaged as a Pixar Place expansion.
LMA is a French Mediterranean coastal town after all.
Ratatouille, Cars 2, Incredibles could all use that space.

CatCan could be integrated into a Cars ride. Just imagine that truck getting washed off a cliff now with John Ratzenberger's face on it.

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

That WAGON! I Knew it looked familiar after staring at the still image for a few minutes....It's Dumbo's Circus Wagon from the old Disney Channel show!

 

[Mike S]

That WAGON! I Knew it looked familiar after staring at the still image for a few minutes....It's Dumbo's Circus Wagon from the old Disney Channel show!

Had no idea that ever existed. Thanks for the history lesson.

 

[RSoxNo1]

At this point, just put the Backlot Tour out of its misery and shut the whole thing down. It's already a shell of its former self

Said everyone each of the last 5 years when it was down for a month plus for a "refurbishment"

 

[RSoxNo1]

LMA and CatCan could both be salvaged as a Pixar Place expansion.
LMA is a French Mediterranean coastal town after all.
Ratatouille, Cars 2, Incredibles could all use that space.

CatCan could be integrated into a Cars ride. Just imagine that truck getting washed off a cliff now with John Ratzenberger's face on it.

Yep, keep thinking this way... that's a straight shooter with upper management written all over him. Disney rarely succeeds when they have to retrofit something into an existing ride path/structure.

 

[TP2000]

Which is another point in favor of the Backlot Tour Is Closing rumor

Good point. And that's where the future of DHS gets really weird. Or at least unknown and uncharted.

Many folks in this exotic future year of 2014 don't realize this, but when DHS opened in 1989 it was a direct rip-off of the original "studio tour" theme park, Universal Studios Tour, which had been offering tram tours of its backlot since 1964. In the 1960's and 70's the Universal Studios Tour became the Universal Studios Theme Park with added shows and exhibits and attractions, and later in the 1980's actual rides were added beyond the "GlamourTram" tours of the studio. That tram tour at what is now known as Universal Studios Hollywood still exists, and it still lasts over an hour, and it still takes people through a real working movie studio.

Universal Studios GlamourTram - Circa 1964
(Warner Brothers Studios is seen beyond those trees, Disney Studios are the buildings just beyond those)

Without a studios tram tour, DHS ceases to become a true movie studios park. What it becomes instead is unknown. Maybe a park name change is coming? But without a studios backlot tour, what kind of theme park is it exactly?

 

[DisneyDebRob]

At this point lets seriously think of shutting the whole park down. It has no direction... It has more vacant buildings with some recent closing a coming up then any other park. No daytime parade and the night time Fantasmic, well, I think we can agree needs tons
of work.
I predict that in 5 years there will be 1-2 things left to do in DHS. Everyone will be sitting around Echo lake and, oh wait, that will be drained. So depressing.
On a serious note, no matter how small, whether we like it or not, anything that leaves the park should replaced with something. The parks should always continue to be upgraded.
I think I'm trying to convince myself reading that back.

 

[sshindel]

At this point lets seriously think of shutting the whole park down. It has no direction... It has more vacant buildings with some recent closing a coming up then any other park. No daytime parade and the night time Fantasmic, well, I think we can agree needs tons
of work.
I predict that in 5 years there will be 1-2 things left to do in DHS. Everyone will be sitting around Echo lake and, oh wait, that will be drained. So depressing.
On a serious note, no matter how small, whether we like it or not, anything that leaves the park should replaced with something. The parks should always continue to be upgraded.
I think I'm trying to convince myself reading that back.

I was talking with some folks on here yesterday and I think the only ones confirmed closing at this point are American Idol, Sounds Dangerous (of course) and now AFI. The rest of the stuff thrown around on here are still just rumors in flux.
Buy as a park with less to do as it is, I totally agree with what you are saying.

 

[YankeeMouse]

I enjoyed the AFI portion more than tour in the past few years. We would just go to the exit through the gift shop instead of doing the tour. Isn't this kind of a sudden announcement. Closing in 2 days...guess I was in the minority, would have liked to have known I was seeing it one last time at my last trip.

 

[DisneyGentleman]

I predict that in 5 years there will be 1-2 things left to do in DHS. Everyone will be sitting around Echo lake and, oh wait, that will be drained. So depressing.

Look at the bright side - think of how great all the dance parties will be.

"Indiana Jones Crack-the-Whip Dance Party"
"Tower of Terror Zombie Dance Party"
"Little Mermaid Flip-your-Flipper Dance Party"
"Echo Lake Empty Cee-ment Pond Dance Party"
"Lights Motors Action Road-Racer Crash Dance Party"
"Rockin Roller Coaster Aerosmith Dance Party" starring a band that doesn't remotely sound like them
"Sid Cuhuenga Dying Attractions Dance Party"
"Echo Lake Moldy Dinosaur Dance Party"
"Muppets Rag-Doll-Rag Dance Party"
"Toy Story Mania Insania Dance Party"
"BAH to YAH Dance Party"

and of course the

"We Lost the Theme but You Can Dance Anyway Dance Party" starring Bette Midler

 

[ford91exploder]

They must have double secret permits because obviously they are building Star Wars. Why else would they be closing all these attractions? It's not like Disney to close attractions without replacements...

I'm sorry. I couldn't even type that with a straight face.

It's pretty obvious - numerous posters have noted the park attendance is not what it should be this summer and Iger's got to have GROWTH this quarter as the fiscal year ends this quarter, Price increases seem to have lost their mojo as @ParentsOf4 notes.

Now P&R needs major attraction cuts to 'make their numbers' AFI Museum and American Idol are whacked even down to micro stuff like no nuts at Mizers Look for more cuts and shortened park hours in the coming weeks.

Disney P&R is desperate to make their numbers and will do anything but what they NEED to do which is give people a reason to visit WDW as opposed to reasons to visit elsewhere.

 

[FutureCEO]

Star Wars Land should go where Star Wars is now and Pixar Land should go where Toy Story is now. If you put them both together, you have a lopsided park on top of an already lopsided park.

 

[mp2bill]

One by one rides on that side of the park start to shut down....how long until something becomes official.....

Exactly what I was thinking.

 

[freediverdude]

Besides Catastrophe Canyon, what else is there to see? The "backlot" hasn't been there in years. Just shut it down already.

 

[ford91exploder]

Exactly what I was thinking.

fanboi's can foam all they like - NOTHING is coming for YEARS this is strictly a financial move ie reduce opex by closing attractions - after all people will still come will they not?

 

[Texas84]

Good point. And that's where the future of DHS gets really weird. Or at least unknown and uncharted.

Many folks in this exotic future year of 2014 don't realize this, but when DHS opened in 1989 it was a direct rip-off of the original "studio tour" theme park, Universal Studios Tour, which had been offering tram tours of its backlot since 1964. In the 1960's and 70's the Universal Studios Tour became the Universal Studios Theme Park with added shows and exhibits and attractions, and later in the 1980's actual rides were added beyond the "GlamourTram" tours of the studio. That tram tour at what is now known as Universal Studios Hollywood still exists, and it still lasts over an hour, and it still takes people through a real working movie studio.

Universal Studios GlamourTram - Circa 1964
(Warner Brothers Studios is seen beyond those trees, Disney Studios are the buildings just beyond those)

Without a studios tram tour, DHS ceases to become a true movie studios park. What it becomes instead is unknown. Maybe a park name change is coming? But without a studios backlot tour, what kind of theme park is it exactly?

Great tour. When I was a kid Frankenstein passed by the tram as we were boarding. Scared the fool out of me.

 

[muteki]

Without a studios tram tour, DHS ceases to become a true movie studios park. What it becomes instead is unknown. Maybe a park name change is coming? But without a studios backlot tour, what kind of theme park is it exactly?

I’d welcome a name change, honestly. Never liked DHS. It hasn't been "...Studios" in a long time.

 

[jrlang1]

I wish they would turn it into a blue sky cellar like CA one there they have models and concept art of their plans for DHS instead of One mans dream which contains mostly models of completed work or other parks. I would love to see the model for Down Town Disney