Texas84
Well-Known Member
I think you're right. Seems like there was a running joke here about the 'mystery' tower.
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Studio Backlot Tour Closing on September 27, 2014
- Thread starter FutureWorld1982
- Start date
I think you're right. Seems like there was a running joke here about the 'mystery' tower.
Goofyernmost
Well-Known Member
What a blast from the past. I had forgotten about that. Looking around I see recognizable buildings that still exist today. The Hanna Barbera one is now "Despicable Me". And wasn't that building that has Shrek where the Alfred Hitchcock movie making show was? It seems like I remember that either where Men In Black ended up or where Back to the Future/Simpsons is now was a depiction of the Bates Motel. I also remember the Bone Yard right in the middle of the park in that fenced in area, and I think I remember places on Hollywood Blvd. where they had plastic fake pictures of a skyline that lined up perfectly with existing buildings where you could take pictures and it looked like a complete cityscape behind you. You know the first Universal Florida was a pretty good park and well done. I'm really glad now that I wasn't completely Pixie Dusted and would, in clear conscience, make sure I saw everything that was available in that area.
Brought my kids to the Nickelodeon studio as well. That green slime was cool.
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
The Bates Motel was behind Back to the Future: The Ride/The Simpsons Ride where Kids Zone now stands. The original in Califoria is no longer very menacing as the bright colors of Whoville rise from immediately behind the motel.
One of those photo things still remains at the edge of Central Park across the street from Mel's Drive-In.
GoofGoof
Premium Member
I remember an article that called it "the worst best kept secret".
This is the first mention I found on this site:
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/contemporary-dvc-is-coming-demo-starts-oct-1st.80420/
This was in August of 2006.
The North Wing of CR came down in 2007.
The official press release from Disney was in September 2008.
BrerJon
Well-Known Member
I suspect they considered that for the name change, but then realised calling DHS fun-fun-fun is a bit of an exaggeration.
'Disney's Five Rides' is quite a snappy name though, if that's what they go with, although maybe for a burger joint more than a theme park.
baloofigment14
Well-Known Member
BrerJon
Well-Known Member
Although when Disney went in the store to buy them, they paid ten times as much as they should have.
BrerJon
Well-Known Member
Universal Orlando still does plenty of filming.
I was there today and even with all the Halloween stuff going on, one of the soundstages was shut off for filming. It had a Spanish title so I guess it wasn't filming anything for a domestic audience, but if I understood what was going on correctly then they're still attracting international projects to film in Florida.
BrerJon
Well-Known Member
Nickelodeon Studios was phenomenally awesome. I remember watching a slime show and loving it, and they got us all up to do some kind of audience participation. I can't remember the details, other than it was amazing fun, and made all us kids want to work in TV when we grew up!
BrerJon
Well-Known Member
So I was right, they didn't officially announce it until long after construction had started, although they had only demolished the old wing and hadn't gone vertical yet, is that right? Thanks for checking that out, I thought my memory wasn't too far off on that one.
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Announcements are not needed! They just need to move and start building. Then, they can make any announcement the day before the new attractions/lands open as far as I am concerned. We have to focus on what they do, not what they say. Remember that announcements not always mean that something is coming. Plans change constantly, so let them DO, then talk.
Mike S
Well-Known Member
So jealous. I always wanted to go to Nick studios as a kid but never got to
Gabe1
Ivory Tower Squabble EST 2011. WINDMILL SURVIVOR
Captain Neo
Well-Known Member
We are loosing Catastrophe Canyon for THIS????
I think i'd stick with the backlot tour at that point
I think i'd stick with the backlot tour at that point
dgp602
Well-Known Member
Yes..That was my point. I was replying to someone who said that the announcements about those DVC's weren't made until construction was almost finished, which was not true. Pre-sales were happening way before that..
Next Big Thing
Well-Known Member
They shrug because the BLT is a shell of it's former self.This is a glaring example of how radically differently the two American theme park properties operate.
The DHS Studio Backlot tram tour, the very reason why there was a theme park there in the first place as a direct rip-off of the original (and still operating and wildly popular) Universal Studios Hollywood tram tour, has just been shut down. And without so much as a Tweet from TDO's cheeseball paid Twitterers about what/how/why/when. And the WDW fan base just sort of shrugs their shoulders and says "Oh well".
If any major attraction shutdown had happened at Disneyland there would be massive upheaval in the fan community and lots of park events planned for the last day. Or, God forbid, Universal Studios Hollywood were to shut down their famous tram tour and eliminate the entire reason for the theme park being there in the first place, headlines would scream from the front page of the Los Angeles Times about it.
But TDO closes the tram tour at DHS without announcement or replacement, and on the importance scale with online fans it ranks somewhere between new cell phone charging stations at the Tangled restrooms and the latest rumors on a refurbished gift shop.
I know for the last 20 years the whole DHS Backlot Tram Tour was a fake series of aging props and half-lies about "filming" in a place the film industry abandoned during the Clinton years, but what the heck is the point of a "Studios" theme park if they can't even pretend to have fake studios any more? What is the reason DHS now exists?
And by no means is it a major attraction anymore. I consider this a minor closing with major implications on the parks future. This is what the parks NEEDS.
Next Big Thing
Well-Known Member
USF is actually very active. I'll go to bat for it any day as a working studio. Commercials are filmed there all the time, the local lottery films from their daily, there is a film school in one of the stages and then there's the occasional major filmings/shoots in the stages (The Tonight Show this summer just for one example). Plus TNA still comes in every once in awhile and films there. USF is very much a working studio. Maybe not as active as it was originally intended to be, but it still gets a lot of business because they have the best facilities in Florida.
Unfortunately for Uni, places like Louisiana and Georgia are booming in the east coast film industry bc of their tax incentives. Not to mention the beautiful on-location scenery. Universal can't provide that as they are in the middle of Orlando. Nothing beautiful about Orlando.
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Mike S
Well-Known Member
Now we just need LMA to close so work can really start on whatever they want to do.