News Disney plans to reboot Voyage of the Little Mermaid stage show at Disney's Hollywood Studios

[MrPromey]

For the record, here are some of the projects Florida animation was involved with:
View attachment 820750

I was talking about the live stuff.

Regarding the animation, though, I'd be curious how much of that work was tweening vs. keyframe drawing, on average.

Either way, I'm sure it was easier to get an animator to relocate to FL than it was to get most name actors to show up in town to do non-location studio-based work.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Armchair Imagineering: Since Monsters Inc is putting on a show (of fear or laughter), then Monsters Inc is a 'studio' of sorts. The surround facades could be Monster-fied versions of Hollywood facades.

Armchair social engineering: Have the Mermaid theater have its entrance to the middle of the back of the theater (and not the side of seating). Just send people right and left and toward the front. People will naturally move to the middle from both sides and they won't have to yell at people to "move all the way down." The efficiency you lose by not having people leave one side as the new audience enters from the other side, will be made up for by not having to yell at people to keep moving.

 

[MrPromey]

Disney-MGM Studios not only had nothing to do with MGM (except the use of the MGM branding) but from the start of the deal with MGM, Disney and MGM were suing each other.

Nostalgia over the park being "MGM" is...

1. not using the actual name of the park, which was: Disney-MGM Studios​

2. solely based on a temporary name/sign​

​

Thank-you for attending my TED Talk.

Was someone getting uppity about this here in this thread or are your feather's just ruffled because we're taking shortcuts with typing out the name?

 

[MrPromey]

Armchair Imagineering: Since Monsters Inc is putting on a show (of fear or laughter), then Monsters Inc is a 'studio' of sorts. The surround facades could be Monster-fied versions of Hollywood facades.

Is anyone even still holding onto the "studio" idea of things anymore?

Armchair social engineering: Have the Mermaid theater have its entrance to the middle of the back of the theater (and not the side of seating). Just send people right and left and toward the front. People will naturally move to the middle from both sides and they won't have to yell at people to "move all the way down." The efficiency you lose by not having people leave one side as the new audience enters from the other side, will be made up for by not having to yell at people to keep moving.

This makes sense but what if people still want to yell?

 

[WDWTrojan]

I don't think Streets of America was really designed with serious production work in mind, either, do you?

Streets of America was originally off-limits to guests and I think he intent was to use it for production.

I mean, they did do some real stuff (That's My Dog bounced between MGM and Universal for a few seasons) Superboy started there though I don't recall them actually using any of the "backlot" for that one like they did when it moved to Universal. There was Thunder In Paradise that was filmed all over Disney but I guess, had that one covered pool used at least once in MGM that they'd describe every time you went by it on the tour though you never got to see it and obviously, there were real people working on some of the production efforts for animation but a lot of this felt more like an attempt to recreate the real thing rather than to be the real thing where I recall attending tapings of actual low-budget stuff at Universal.

Residential Street, as you say, was mostly used for some establishing shots. Even on shows like The Golden Girls, which were heavily featured on the Backlot Tour, nearly all of the footage on the shows was of the real house in LA. To give the exterior some "as seen on TV" street cred they used it for a few select shots where they needed a special effect (eg pouring rain and wind for a hurricane episode). There's also a couple instances of promotional material shot there. For WDW's 30th Anniversary TV Special there's a shot of both Betty White and Estelle Getty waving from the front door of the backlot house.

The only production that I think took real advantage of a Residential Street exterior was Ernest Saves Christmas and maybe Alice In Wonderland.

Superboy did shoot at at Disney-MGM but the only on-lot exterior occurrences I remember used were a couple administration buildings. There's one scene with Superboy stopping a taxi from leaving in front of the cast scheduling building (which remains). The pilot had a big scene on the Seven Seas lagoon.

Bonus: If you're a fan of old WDW appearances in things, check out the 1990s show Seaquest DSV. Absolutely terrible show after Season 1, but they used a TON of WDW interiors from the 90s including Morocco, Team Disney Orlando, Living Seas and Mannequins Dance Palace.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Is anyone even still holding onto the "studio" idea of things anymore?

Most of the guest facing walkways are themed to Hollywood, old and young.

There still are studio lot buildings in DHS, which fits the Hollywood theme even if they aren't plentifully representing active Hollywood filming.

This is just an idea to keep Monsters Courtyard more in sync with its surroundings.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Was someone getting uppity about this here in this thread or are your feather's just ruffled because we're taking shortcuts with typing out the name?

MGM killed my brother!!

 

[Streetway]

MGM killed my brother!!

No, I AM YOUR BROTHER

 

[James Alucobond]

Most of the guest facing walkways are themed to Hollywood, old and young.

There still are studio lot buildings in DHS, which fits the Hollywood theme even if they aren't plentifully representing active Hollywood filming.

This is just an idea to keep Monsters Courtyard more in sync with its surroundings.

Can't they just make the AC entrance archway broader and push it back to obscure things a bit? Like, if they move the entrance of Mermaid to the left so that it faces out rather than straddling the corner and then place the archway on the opposite side of the walkway, they could add flanking walls that essentially span the entire path arc from the corner of Mermaid's theater to the junction point of the Brown Derby and Disney Jr. facades. You'd basically end up with a more defined portal.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Can't they just make the AC entrance archway broader and push it back to obscure things a bit? Like, if they move the entrance of Mermaid to the left so that it faces out rather than straddling the corner and then place the archway on the opposite side of the walkway, they could add flanking walls that essentially span the entire path arc from the corner of Mermaid's theater to the junction point of the Brown Derby and Disney Jr. facades. You'd basically end up with a more defined portal.

Don't know why people want to save a blocky archway. I think they still see "MGM" on it in their dreams.

 

[James Alucobond]

Don't know why people want to save a blocky archway. I think they still see "MGM" on it in their dreams.

I wouldn't want to save it as is, necessarily. But I don't think an archway is bad in theory as an entrance to the land since there's not as much transitional space as in Galaxy's Edge or Toy Story Land, and the visual separation it can provide would help conceal the fact that Mermaid and the Brown Derby encroach on the new land's real estate.

 

[Disgruntled Walt]

MGM killed my brother!!

 

[Brer Panther]

She was also involved in a feature animation project that was cancelled when the Florida animation department closed...

You're thinking of My Peoples, which you can find more information about here (yes, that is indeed MY blog, plug plug plug).

I was talking about the live stuff.

There's a list of productions filmed or animated at Disney-MGM Studios on the Disney Wiki.

 

[ᗩLᘿᑕ ✨ ᗩζᗩᗰ]

Using AC for Monsters is the smart, logical decision.

Actually it's not. But I won't get into that discussion in this thread. (or at all)

 

[James Alucobond]

Actually it's not. But I won't get into that discussion in this thread. (or at all)

It is the one that makes the most sense based on their track record with expansion. Yes, they could do more with the area if they were adequately planning ahead and being a bit bolder with re-routing and demolition, but they're probably not going to within many of our lifetimes. It is better that the absolute wasteland that is Launch Bay becomes something interesting than to let it rot for a couple more decades in the vain hope that something more ambitious gets the green light someday.

 

[rct247]

What if The Little Mermaid is a decoy for "Put That Thing Back Where It Came From Or So Help Me: The Musical"

 

[MrPromey]

Streets of America was originally off-limits to guests and I think he intent was to use it for production...



The only production that I think took real advantage of a Residential Street exterior was Ernest Saves Christmas and maybe Alice In Wonderland.

I could have sworn the bulk of Streets had at one time been part of Backlot tour before slowly being eaten away for things like the Huncback theater and HISTKS play area.

Yeah, the short-lived Alice did use the exterior of one of the houses on Residential a bit.

 

[MrPromey]

Most of the guest facing walkways are themed to Hollywood, old and young.

There still are studio lot buildings in DHS, which fits the Hollywood theme even if they aren't plentifully representing active Hollywood filming.

This is just an idea to keep Monsters Courtyard more in sync with its surroundings.

Oh, I know it still has themed areas but after Galaxy's edge and Toy Story Land, it feels like the holllwood stuff is just a themed land in the park now rather than the actual park.

 

[MrPromey]

There's a list of productions filmed or animated at Disney-MGM Studios on the Disney Wiki.

Like I said

But in seriousness, that's not a comprehensive list.

That's My Dog (a game show) filmed there for, I think 3 seasons. The first one was outside near residential street before moving to a soundstage at Universal for a season and then back to MGM for the rest of the run.

Superboy was done from there for the first season, too though I don't think any external shots were ever done there for it - those were mostly on location around central Florida.

 

[UNCgolf]

Oh, I know it still has themed areas but after Galaxy's edge and Toy Story Land, it feels like the holllwood stuff is just a themed land in the park now rather than the actual park.

Especially since most of that old Hollywood theming is just the facades now -- Sid Cahuenga's is gone and the shops generally sell the same generic Disney merch you find at Disney Springs and the resort gift shops. That area doesn't have remotely the level of theming it did 25-30 years ago.