Studio Backlot Tour Closing on September 27, 2014

misterID

Well-Known Member
I actually don't want Cars land to be in DHS. I think the unheralded Pixar films should get rides like The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Wall-E and Up. Plus favorites like Toy Story, Bugs Life and Monsters Inc.

Plus they only have one good ride in Cars Land. Also Racers is very similar to one they already have in Epcot (Test Track).
That's not the way it works, though. Cars Land is proven, that makes sense to TDO to add it, and clones are cheaper and proven to work (Soain'). I don't see them investing anything to develop an original attraction based on The Incredibles or Wall-E or even Up!. The best bet would be a Monsters INC ride as it will also be a clone. WS Frozen should tell you that much, and proof that those rumors are completely ridiculous.

And the argument about not having more than one TT system is pretty meaningless. It's like UNI not building anymore Kuka arm attractions because they already have one. Or worse, that WDW shouldn't have the INDY attraction because of Dinosaur. And I'd be open to seeing more TT style rides. Journey To The Center Of The Earth would be awesome in Animal Kingdom.
 

choco choco

Well-Known Member
I don't think it's ever been good. Many much better attractions have come and gone before it. I don't know why I even went on it more than once.

Disney only built it because they heard Universal was coming to Orlando.

Do you wanna know a secret? Do you promise not tell? Backlot studio tours are boring. All the major studios, and even many of the minor ones out here in Southern California, have some form of these guided tours through their "backlot", and they are sneakily laughed at as tourist traps. A soundstage is a large concrete box, feature-less on the outside and essentially featureless on the inside too. On the off-chance you do glimpse a currently in-use set (and not some dusty prop), you're likely to be disappointed. Sets are desiged to be easy to put up and quick to take down. They are almost always smaller than you'd think, and they are made out of the cheapest, slap-shod material you can think of. But of course they are, they are made to look good on film and nowhere else.

Even the world's most famous studio tour, in Universal Studios Hollywood, is widely acknowledged by locals as an anachronistic oddity. We take it because it is a nice, comfortable, 45 minute open air tram ride through some scenic Hollywood Hills backcountry. There's trees and hills and a breeze, and it's no wonder most people fall asleep. But heaven help you if you take the Sony Pictures studio tour out in Culver City, that one is hot and flat and treeless...and you have to walk it (yikes!).

If studio tours through real working studios are such snooze-fests, it's a wonder anyone (Universal or Disney) thought they could be attractions at places that aren't real production facilities (and yes, I know both were intended to become real production facilities, but come on that's like putting the cart before the horse). That Disney opened another one out in France and tried to pass it off as a real attraction? I mean, what was Eisner high or something?
 

Adam Santos

Member
Honestly I don't think much of us here are gonna miss BLT because I Remember the last years the Backlot Tour has been Stripped down and that their was'nt much of a crowd to fill the Tram tour and not only that but the SFX in "Pearl Harbor" was terribly dated and when they took out the Golden Girls house that's when things went Downhill for the Attraction sure it's nice seeing some LMA stuff like the tires they use and seeing CM's work on costumes but now it's just not much of anything I'm actually glad their getting rid of the Backlout tour as BLT has lost it's Magic throughout the years..I won't miss it at all maybe the Trams yea but as for the Entire Attraction " No "
 

Mike S

Well-Known Member
Honestly I don't think much of us here are gonna miss BLT because I Remember the last years the Backlot Tour has been Stripped down and that their was'nt much of a crowd to fill the Tram tour and not only that but the SFX in "Pearl Harbor" was terribly dated and when they took out the Golden Girls house that's when things went Downhill for the Attraction sure it's nice seeing some LMA stuff like the tires they use and seeing CM's work on costumes but now it's just not much of anything I'm actually glad their getting rid of the Backlout tour as BLT has lost it's Magic throughout the years..I won't miss it at all maybe the Trams yea but as for the Entire Attraction " No "
Maybe they can keep one of the teams and have it on display somewhere in the park.
 

Next Big Thing

Well-Known Member
It certainly seems that @WDW1974 nailed it with that rumor. If they close Backlot tour then they have to get the word studio out of the park name since it won't be a studio park anymore.
It hasn't been a studio park for YEARS. Universal doesn't have their short lived studio tour, but they still have Studio in the USF name. Know why? Because they actually film stuff there. Disney hasn't operated Soundstages the way Universal rents theirs out from time to time in a long, long time.

The Studios Tour leaving is just the icing on the cake.
 

Zac Skellington

Well-Known Member
Well they can't wait to the last second to build it. They missed out on Frozen money because they didn't have anything in place. They should have had attractions for that when it was at the theater. It will be past its prime by the time the Epcot attraction comes out.
Jim Hill told @lentesta about the Frozen overlay for Norway back in December of '13. (Is that correct Len?) WDI always has someone working on attractions for upcoming films in the event it hits big. Sadly, they didn't aim high on the whole Frozen in Epcot thing... :(
 

Chroniq

Member
Just 3 D tickets and an E ticket, all original for one park. I think in that situation, the new areas get built out by 2030 and costs twice as much.
Heres a new theory.

I have the permits from the SFWMD that they are getting ready to raise the roof on the American Idol stage (it's probably on here). Only reason you raise the roof is too add formal stage and catwalk for a permanent show. So this is a done deal. Do you want to build a snowman?

Now the quickest way time wise and cost effectiveness is to either put a ty "off the shelf set of rides or the radiator springs ride in that back lot. But how about this, this is something TCO would totally do. You clone radiator springs racers and then instead of doing the whole radiator springs thing, you switch out the springs kiddie rides for toy story play land rides.. This will give you one cohesive pixar related area and everyone just crosses their fingers for a door coaster.

Then starwars land comes out last.. I mean it's definitely coming, but they probably want to throw R&D time into it like they did with avatar. They do have the demo permits though. there is a demo package filed.

You announce both the pixar area and anna elsa, then tease the starwars land at this year's D23 so it convinces families to make two trips instead of wait off
 

Chroniq

Member
I think you are correct about the training and storage where the parking lot was/is. I'm still not certain if LMA is staying. I think it will stay right now, because, really, what else is there to do at that park. However, that doesn't mean that it cannot move the training to the area just to the right of LMA and open that up for a big block of another land, so to speak.

The only reason why I waver on the LMA life span is that on one hand it's less then 10 years old now and it cost a lot of money to establish, but, on the other hand, it is a very expensive attraction to operate. Just the CM staffing alone is staggering and the vehicle upkeep is pretty huge as well. I don't see a long future for it either way.
all of that stuff can easily be moved to the empty parking garage created animation disney.
 

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