If I were going to do a Phase 4 for Hollywood Studios out behind the Animation building, I might do something like the following and call it "Noir Street":
* A gritty, dilapidated set of winding back alleys themed to movies like Chinatown and Maltese Falcon - the scary side of 30's/40's Hollywood, maybe a wrong turn off Sunset Boulevard
* An anchor attraction called something like "The Underdogs of Hollywood" - your ride vehicle is a floating camera crane that swoops through the action, allowing you to play the camera operator for a film production starring a lovable new cast of cartoon dogs in a dark and threatening urban environment. The crane could swoop over and around buildings, down alleyways, over streets, allowing peeks into glowing windows... Characters might include the honest cop bulldog Duke Holliday and Hollywood star Veronica Bassett with her signature number, "Someone Throw Me a Bone." The climax would be a cleverly designed car chase scene with tommy guns. The ride could end in an "editing bay" where you can assemble your "director's cut" to take home. It would have comforting cute cartoon animals, but be just threatening and scary enough to keep the little kids on edge, like Pirates or Haunted Mansion.
* A cafe/casino modeled after Rick's Cafe from Casablanca - a dining establishment that also serves as the hub for a "living video game," where, using your magic band, you can play either a detective or a gangster and build reputation with the appropriate factions in order to earn rewards - maybe a fetch quest to the lobby of Tower of Terror, a phone call to a mob boss from a payphone, a high-stakes card game in the backroom of the cafe - scattered throughout an elaborate, immersive, entirely original world to discover.
* And a new location for MuppetVision 3D, housed in a somewhat rundown old vaudeville theater, in case they bulldoze Streets of America, because I still find that show hysterical after all these years
For me growing up, MGM was always the "darkest" park, the most threatening (while still keeping things family friendly). I'd love to see that aspect expanded. What do you think?
* A gritty, dilapidated set of winding back alleys themed to movies like Chinatown and Maltese Falcon - the scary side of 30's/40's Hollywood, maybe a wrong turn off Sunset Boulevard
* An anchor attraction called something like "The Underdogs of Hollywood" - your ride vehicle is a floating camera crane that swoops through the action, allowing you to play the camera operator for a film production starring a lovable new cast of cartoon dogs in a dark and threatening urban environment. The crane could swoop over and around buildings, down alleyways, over streets, allowing peeks into glowing windows... Characters might include the honest cop bulldog Duke Holliday and Hollywood star Veronica Bassett with her signature number, "Someone Throw Me a Bone." The climax would be a cleverly designed car chase scene with tommy guns. The ride could end in an "editing bay" where you can assemble your "director's cut" to take home. It would have comforting cute cartoon animals, but be just threatening and scary enough to keep the little kids on edge, like Pirates or Haunted Mansion.
* A cafe/casino modeled after Rick's Cafe from Casablanca - a dining establishment that also serves as the hub for a "living video game," where, using your magic band, you can play either a detective or a gangster and build reputation with the appropriate factions in order to earn rewards - maybe a fetch quest to the lobby of Tower of Terror, a phone call to a mob boss from a payphone, a high-stakes card game in the backroom of the cafe - scattered throughout an elaborate, immersive, entirely original world to discover.
* And a new location for MuppetVision 3D, housed in a somewhat rundown old vaudeville theater, in case they bulldoze Streets of America, because I still find that show hysterical after all these years
For me growing up, MGM was always the "darkest" park, the most threatening (while still keeping things family friendly). I'd love to see that aspect expanded. What do you think?
