Farewell Citizens of Hollywood

[wdisney9000]

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.

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]

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.

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]

@Club Cooloholic , you’re probably right. I just hope management doesn’t use any pent up travel demand that materializes post-vaccine to justify not replacing entertainment. Unfortunately, we don’t have an apples to apples to compare this to, as the post-9/11 slump won’t be as long lasting or as far reaching as this has turned out to be.

 

[MaximumEd]

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.

That’s a valid point and may turn out to be the case.

 

[Club Cooloholic]

That’s a valid point and may turn out to be the case.

That’s a valid point and may turn out to be the case.

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.

 

[wdrive]

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.

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.