Why Hollywood Studios is being rebuilt

[THPFanatic]

In all honestly, this topic doesn't affect me at all. As long as Disney forever stays away from the end of Sunset Blvd (ToT, RnR and Fantasmic), I am perfectly fine with them removing any attractions they wish to make the park better. Those shows are mostly overdated for a lot of people, me included. I'm glad they're keeping ABC Commentary, for that eatery has grown on me the most, but mostly everything else doesn't make the park worth it for me.

 

[SJN1279]

In all honestly, this topic doesn't affect me at all. As long as Disney forever stays away from the end of Sunset Blvd (ToT, RnR and Fantasmic), I am perfectly fine with them removing any attractions they wish to make the park better. Those shows are mostly overdated for a lot of people, me included. I'm glad they're keeping ABC Commentary, for that eatery has grown on me the most, but mostly everything else doesn't make the park worth it for me.

Add Toy Story Mania, Star Tours, Jedi Academy(unless they update it), and even the new Jack Sparrow show to that list for me. Everything else can go....

 

[NoChesterHester]

Hey @pheneix what ever happened here? Dead forever?

 

[JeffH]

As I stated on page 98 and illustrated with a detailed to-scale photo-map of DHS (reposted below), this plan make no sense. Removing beloved attractions to replace with new ones isn't going to increase traffic for the long term. The new (amazing, now one of my favorite attractions) Star Tours II, is a good example, after the initial rush, it, like it's predecessor is a short wait (mainly due to it's high capacity vs. TSMania). DHS is small, and can (still) be done in a day with proper planning. DHS needs to grow and offer MORE. Another reason the backlot area is a ghost town after 6 is because most of DHS attractions are closed and most of the daily guests are waiting in line for the 1st showing of Fantasmic or Idol. With the line for TSM 2 hrs, Indy, Beauty, BackLot, LMA, DJrLive closed there is little to do after 6 except TO wait in line for Fantasmic or Idol.
CarsLand would be great, but it can easily fit in the place where the backlot tour goes and include Catastrophe (CARtastrophe) Canyon (vs destroying it & the fairly new LMA), which is perfectly themed for CarsLand.
And the area south of the park is vast and easily expanded into (after moving the entrance gates to the back of the parking lot where they belong and unifying the entrance into one avenue). The area could accommodate Star Wars, Muppets, Marvel and whatever else they want to put there, and the insane parking lot would become sane and easier to manage.
This simple parking lot redesign, would transform a park hemmed in by 2 roads and its own parking lot into a park with a huge area to expand into with an bigger efficient parking lot.

 

[Arty Cordova]

What will they replace the Hat with??

 

[Hobnail Boot]

What will they replace the Hat with??

With luck? A clear view of the Chinese Theater.

 

[JeffH]

Why replace the hat? Like the castle, Spaceship Earth, Tree of Life, the Hat is the central Icon for DHS and fits the theme of the park perfectly, Hollywood Magic and it's Mickey's hat as well, the most Disney icon of them all. The "return" of the Chinese Theater (as the Icon) has NO meaning, is not Disney, what is the point? The only point of the Chinese Theater is that it was there 1st (so what?)...as the water tower served as the temporary park icon. And like the other park icons, the hat provides for a GREAT picture, the alternative is a picture of your family standing with a fake Chinese Theater in the background (?!?).
And if your argument is that the hat doesn't belong on main street, neither does Cinderella's castle, or that it blocks the Chinese Theater which is part of the theme of main street, then I would like to point out that the Chinese Theater stands alone, there are NO buildings around it themed towards it and main street stops a block before the Chinese Theater, so again, it stands alone. It is a beautiful entrance to a great movie ride, but that's all it is, it is not Disney, and it is not appropriate as a Disney Icon (and if Disney ever used it as such, they'd probably get sued, which is why the Water Tower was the icon before the hat). The only problem is that the hat is so close to the Chinese Theater, that you can't get a good picture of it, but considering the hundreds of "iconic" pictures the hat provides...
There is nothing wrong with the hat except it isn't big enough to house anything significant. Make it bigger...

 

[imagineer boy]

Why replace the hat? Like the castle, Spaceship Earth, Tree of Life, the Hat is the central Icon for DHS and fits the theme of the park perfectly, Hollywood Magic and it's Mickey's hat as well, the most Disney icon of them all. The "return" of the Chinese Theater (as the Icon) has NO meaning, is not Disney, what is the point? The only point of the Chinese Theater is that it was there 1st (so what?)...as the water tower served as the temporary park icon. And like the other park icons, the hat provides for a GREAT picture, the alternative is a picture of your family standing with a fake Chinese Theater in the background (?!?).
And if your argument is that the hat doesn't belong on main street, neither does Cinderella's castle, or that it blocks the Chinese Theater which is part of the theme of main street, then I would like to point out that the Chinese Theater stands alone, there are NO buildings around it themed towards it and main street stops a block before the Chinese Theater, so again, it stands alone. It is a beautiful entrance to a great movie ride, but that's all it is, it is not Disney, and it is not appropriate as a Disney Icon (and if Disney ever used it as such, they'd probably get sued, which is why the Water Tower was the icon before the hat). The only problem is that the hat is so close to the Chinese Theater, that you can't get a good picture of it, but considering the hundreds of "iconic" pictures the hat provides...
There is nothing wrong with the hat except it isn't big enough to house anything significant. Make it bigger...

If maybe the water tower was relocated to the front of the park then it would be a more suitable icon for the park.

 

[imagineer boy]

Anyways, here's a plan I wrote a while ago if I would improve DHS with an unlimited budget and everything done my way:
Disney’s Hollywood Studios
-First of all the name goes! The park will be renamed to “Disney Studios Florida” and will become a real working movie studio once again.
-The giant Mickey hat will be demolished and never seen again!!!!!
-The Great Movie ride: Ride is extended with new movie scenes (possibly backwards into the HISTK playground) while existing scenes are upgraded including the removal of Tarzan scene. New movies possibly include Goodfellas, Pulp Fiction, Godfather, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and possibly more. End montage is updated as well.
Echo Lake:
-Indy Stunt show is removed to make way for Indy attraction similar to the ones in DL and TDS. Ride will mostly be the same except with an Aztec theme and a few new encounters. Exterior will be a huge Aztec pyramid with minimal studio themeing.
-Right next to Indy an “Excavator” coaster similar to Raging Spirits (but with somewhat different track design to be less painful) is added.
-Current new version works fine. POSSIBILITY: Area in front of attraction redone to expand star wars theme. Possibility of converting Drew Cary show into Mos Eisley cantina.
-When American Idol eventually dies, the AI show theater could get an entirely new show possibly a comedy stunt show.
Muppets Courtyard:
-Muppets gets their own sort of mini-land.
-Muppets 3-D stays mostly the same except with some possible enhancements such as digital projection, smell effects during pie scene, and other various things here and there.
-Pizza Planet is relocated to Pixar Place and building rethemed to the Swedish Chef’s restaurant.
-Christmas street theme is relocated and current street is rethemed to Muppets.
-Muppet mobile labs added to the area.
-Muppet Movie Ride also added finally!
Streets of America: Area is expanded a little bit to have more street sets and even a town square sort of area.
-Some shops are added to the area.
-Area expands over into the currently un-occupied area to the south of the park where the station for the new back lot tour will be built.
-New Backlot Tour will be added which will tour a brand newly built real production studio area built in the unoccupied area south of the park. It’ll go through real soundstages and outdoor sets and façade laden streets. A special in depth small group tour can be offered at a special price. Tour has special encounters including updated new Catastrophe Canyon.
-LMAX will be re-shifted to fit the expansion of the land. The show will be greatly improved to be less boring, have more exciting stunts, better special effects, etc. More human stunts will be added to the vehicle ones. Herbie and Lightning McQueen are permanently removed from show.
Animation Courtyard: Little mermaid, animation tour queue, one man’s dream, and old Narnia exhibit are all torn down to make way for a bigger area.
-The animation building is brought back to be a regular animation production facility for Disney animated features. Yay! The building will get a lobby similar to DL’s version with several different experiences. These include a how to draw a character demonstration, art from the films exhibits, and the main animation tour complete with movie (similar to Back to Neverland), trip through the animation work areas, and interactive areas similar to the ones in DCA (Ursula’s Grotto, Beast’s Library, etc. ).
-Nightmare Before Christmas Dark Ride is added to the land, potentially in former Playhouse Disney theater.
-Magic Carpets of Aladdin is moved here
-Kiddy Coaster based off of Mickey’s Plane Crazy cartoon is added.
-Water play area based off of Steamboat Willy is added.
-POSSIBILITY: Dark ride based off of old Mickey cartoons or silly symphonies.
Pixar Place: Area is relocated to the western side of the TSMM building with entrance to the ride relocated as well. Old costuming building is torn down to make way for expansion. Area retains its identity with the same brick look.
-Toy Story Midway Mania: Keep mostly the same, but maybe perhaps the midway theme could be removed. Not sure. Add more real props and maybe a few animatronics throughout the ride. Perhaps recycled from the old buzz lightyear ride. Finale must be changed to a battle with Zerg.
-Luxo Jr. Animatronic is ADDED BACK INTO THE LAND!!!!!
-Monsters Inc could get its treatment with a relocation of the laugh floor from MK or perhaps the doors coaster. Either one would work.
-Pizza Planet direct from the Toy Story movies is added.
-Ratatouille restaurant direct from the movie is added.
-Buy n’ Large from Wall-E is made a store in the land.
-Finding Nemo could get its treatment here with either:
A: Crush’s Coaster like in DLP
B: Ride in Epcot relocated here
C: Musical show from AK moved here
I’m leaning towards C. However Nemo could have a presence in the new Australia area in AK. Either would work.
-Incredibles could possibly get their own attraction based on Kuka technology. TBD.
-A dark ride themed to the various other movies could be a possibility as well. All land expansion is strictly blue sky at this point in time. This also includes possibility of a Radiator Springs mini land.
Sunset Blvd: Area stays mostly the same.
-RnRC: Exterior could get a face life to express the surrounding architecture in the area.
-Beauty and the Beast theater will be enclosed to simulate watching a show at the Hollywood Bowl theater under a night sky. B&B show is replaced with something new. Current show is very outdated.
-Fantasmic: Theater could possibly be relocated for better traffic solutions and theater upgrades, but could be too costly and pointless. Just a thought for now. The actual show will be vastly upgraded and be similar to the show currently playing in TDS. Better effects, less use of stock footage, removal of Pocahontas sequence, better Dragon finale added, cheesier elements removed, possible music remixing, just an overall improved show.
Entertainment:
-Add a new parade that mixes floats with a motor cars parade thing that evokes a Hollywood premier. Floats are themed to Disney films with a Hollywood twist, as well as Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Muppets.
-Bring back the fireworks with a new show called “Blockbusters in the Sky.”This show is set to famous movie music such as Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Last of the Mohicans, Wizard of Oz. Lord of the Rings, Chariots of Fire, Gone with the Wind, Close Encounters, Pirates of the Caribbean, etc.
-Seasonal Things-
-Keep Star Wars weekends the same. Have the special Star Wars themed fireworks and parade be a permanent staple of the event.
-Give the fireworks seasonal overlays for Halloween and Christmas. The show plays famous themes from various classic horror and Christmas movies. These could be simple tags to the ends the regular fireworks show rather than totally new shows on their own.
-Keep Osborne Lights, add more decorations for Halloween.
-Add E-ride nights to the park.

 

[drnilescrane]

This simple parking lot redesign, would transform a park hemmed in by 2 roads and its own parking lot into a park with a huge area to expand into with an bigger efficient parking lot.

Unfortunately the tract of land separating the parking lot from Victory Way are wetlands and considered unsuitable for development by RCID. There is a reason the current parking lot (already expanded from the original 1989 lot) very closely follows the visible curve of the waterway separating the development. There is not all much that can be done without building a garage.

 

[Bairstow]

Why replace the hat? Like the castle, Spaceship Earth, Tree of Life, the Hat is the central Icon for DHS and fits the theme of the park perfectly, Hollywood Magic and it's Mickey's hat as well, the most Disney icon of them all. The "return" of the Chinese Theater (as the Icon) has NO meaning, is not Disney, what is the point? The only point of the Chinese Theater is that it was there 1st (so what?)...as the water tower served as the temporary park icon. And like the other park icons, the hat provides for a GREAT picture, the alternative is a picture of your family standing with a fake Chinese Theater in the background (?!?).
And if your argument is that the hat doesn't belong on main street, neither does Cinderella's castle, or that it blocks the Chinese Theater which is part of the theme of main street, then I would like to point out that the Chinese Theater stands alone, there are NO buildings around it themed towards it and main street stops a block before the Chinese Theater, so again, it stands alone. It is a beautiful entrance to a great movie ride, but that's all it is, it is not Disney, and it is not appropriate as a Disney Icon (and if Disney ever used it as such, they'd probably get sued, which is why the Water Tower was the icon before the hat). The only problem is that the hat is so close to the Chinese Theater, that you can't get a good picture of it, but considering the hundreds of "iconic" pictures the hat provides...
There is nothing wrong with the hat except it isn't big enough to house anything significant. Make it bigger...

 

[tking]

Keep Muppetvision 3D

 

[asianway]

Quick test to tell if you should continue a conversation with a Disney fan-ask them if they like the hat

 

[Kman101]

Good argument but if they wanted the hat as the icon, it would have been there from day one. The theater and the water tower were fine for 12 years. The hat was put up for 100 Years of Magic (there were kiosks underneath and then replaced by pins and merchandise). They just used the excuse they wanted it as the icon.

If you like it, that's fine. But I believe it's been said that even park execs don't consider it the icon. Why have rumors FROM Disney (back to 2009) that state they want to remove it. It was temporary (like the wand) and has outlived it's temporary-ness, no matter who wants to argue otherwise.

And if we're stuck with it, we're stuck with it. I'm fine with it if we are, but many prefer the theater. Place a hat in buena vista street in DCA and see what people say.

 

[Bocabear]

Who builds a theme park surrounded tightly by unsuitable land when they have 43 square miles to work with?? Can the land not be filled and stabilized?

 

[lazyboy97o]

Why replace the hat? Like the castle, Spaceship Earth, Tree of Life, the Hat is the central Icon for DHS and fits the theme of the park perfectly, Hollywood Magic and it's Mickey's hat as well, the most Disney icon of them all. The "return" of the Chinese Theater (as the Icon) has NO meaning, is not Disney, what is the point? The only point of the Chinese Theater is that it was there 1st (so what?)...as the water tower served as the temporary park icon. And like the other park icons, the hat provides for a GREAT picture, the alternative is a picture of your family standing with a fake Chinese Theater in the background (?!?).
And if your argument is that the hat doesn't belong on main street, neither does Cinderella's castle, or that it blocks the Chinese Theater which is part of the theme of main street, then I would like to point out that the Chinese Theater stands alone, there are NO buildings around it themed towards it and main street stops a block before the Chinese Theater, so again, it stands alone. It is a beautiful entrance to a great movie ride, but that's all it is, it is not Disney, and it is not appropriate as a Disney Icon (and if Disney ever used it as such, they'd probably get sued, which is why the Water Tower was the icon before the hat). The only problem is that the hat is so close to the Chinese Theater, that you can't get a good picture of it, but considering the hundreds of "iconic" pictures the hat provides...
There is nothing wrong with the hat except it isn't big enough to house anything significant. Make it bigger...

There was a time when Disney was not obsessed with being self referential. If you think the Hat fits the theme you do not understand theme.

 

[drnilescrane]

Who builds a theme park surrounded tightly by unsuitable land when they have 43 square miles to work with?? Can the land not be filled and stabilized?

Well, it wasn't meant to be a theme park. It was a movie studio with a half-day tour experience attached. Universal Studios Hollywood faces the similar issues built on the side of a mountain range.

Also, Florida has some rather strict rules regarding ecological sustainability and wetlands. Disney and RCID have to get approval from the South Florida Water Management District.

 

[freediverdude]

Well I'm sure that back in the late 60s the land the Magic Kingdom is now on was not suitable for building, but they made a canal system and shaped the seven seas lagoon into what they wanted and built a theme park. If they really wanted to they could build in some of these areas, they probably just consider it too expensive. Some of those areas are huge tracts of land that they're just writing off as unsuitable. I know some of it is required to stay wetlands per environmental policy, but surely not that much of it.

 

[danlb_2000]

Who builds a theme park surrounded tightly by unsuitable land when they have 43 square miles to work with?? Can the land not be filled and stabilized?

If you look a the map you can see that WDW is a crazy quilt of suitable and un-suitable land, there really aren't many large sections of suitable land. Yes, given money they could build on any land but at this point they seem to want to stick to the land that is easiest and cheapest to build on. If you look at the plans for the new laundry facility you can see how the access road takes a rather indirect path so it avoids going over land that is considered un-suitable for construction.

 

[CrescentLake]

Gosh, this thread is back from the dead huh?

We can speculate about what DHS needs until the cows come home, but I think its pretty obvious. The park needs placemaking to unify the front of the park under the "Hollywood that never was and always will be theme," and the back of the park can be entering into specific movies. Pixar, star wars, indy, ect. themed areas can be found in the back of the park.

Basically, ditch the studio idea. Make the park Disney's Hollywood Adventure, half classic Hollywood, half immersive movie lands. Marketing the park would be easy that way, and the park would be unified.

Bottom line though, is that it needs work. Placemaking and attractions. DHS has some wonderful vistas and themed areas, and those should be extended.