several years ago disney sent out a survey asking guests to weigh in on some new names for disney's
hollywood studios asked to rank their top five the survey included some interesting choices
such as disney kaleidoscope park disney xl park disney hyperia park and disney cinemagic park
whilst a fair few of them were doozies it's no surprise that disney were looking at new names
for this theme park with each new edition disney's hollywood studios has moved away
from what its name implies and whilst many regard it as a decent theme park
its identity has become rather muddled over the years i tried to find a name that
cleanly describes disney's hollywood studios because its existence is
an oxymoron i believe for lack of a better word this is disney's most successful failure
a quick thank you to nordvpn for sponsoring this video with the task of expanding epcot's future
world marty scalar and randy bright led a team of imagineers to conceptualize two new pavilions this
eventually led to wonders of life and the plans for a pavilion dedicated solely to show business
called great moments at the movies the company's new ceo michael eisner had come across these new
projects for epcot and decided that the setting for great moments at the movies would instead
be suited for its own theme park dedicated to hollywood entertainment and show business
an idea that would eventually become disney's hollywood studios
whilst today we see disney as an insanely successful film and television giant when michael
eisner came on board in 1984 this couldn't have been further from the truth following the death
of walt disney in 1966 the company essentially entered limbo as it split into two camps that were
fighting out over how the company should be run on one side you had those that believe that disney
should deviate from walt disney and progress forward on its own whilst others believe that
the company should follow a what would walt do philosophy walt left a big void to phil and whilst
his brother roy stepped up to the challenge for several years he would sadly pass away in 1971.
before michael eisner the ceo roll hopped between three different people and many during this
time including roy e disney son of roy o disney publicly denounced the company as it continued to
pump out generic and bland ideas pushed by poor management narrowly surviving several hostile
takeover attempts including one from coca-cola desperate shareholders sid bass and roy disney
brought in former paramount ceo michael eisner to take the reins of the walt disney company
this made a lot of sense during his tenure at paramount the studio produced
greece star trek raiders of the lost ark footloose and happy days this experience in production and
management was exactly what the walt disney company needed but it wouldn't change overnight
now this was a problem when it came to michael eisner's envision studio theme park there was
an urgency in this project that the company just couldn't keep up with because disney films at the
time weren't doing anything to stir the general public and it would take some adjustment under
the new management to turn things around whilst their animations were doing okay their live-action
films were lackluster and barely the successes that they had hoped for so instead of resting on
their laurels eisner decided to license the metro goldwyn mayer brand to bolster the park's esteem
keep in mind that they were not partners in this project for the most part disney were doing their
own thing and merely licensed the mgm name and a few select movies for their great movie ride
attraction even though it seems bizarre by today's standard it was a wise choice and
expanded their potential audience greatly but why was eisner so insistent on this project's quick
turnaround he came on board in late 1984 and by early 1985 had already entered a
licensing agreement with mgm and officially announced the theme park what was the rush
whilst never officially confirmed many believe that when he worked as ceo of paramount pictures
he was privy to information that universal studios was planning a floridium-based theme park it's
believed that disney mgm studios was an effort by disney to force universal's hand and prevent them
from building their theme park by beating them to the punch but universal didn't really seem to care
and continued anyway disney put on a smile and welcomed their new neighbors but they were furious
eventually more information would come out about the project taking inspiration from their friends
at universal disney believed that their theme park dedicated to filmmaking would be more appealing if
it actually did some filmmaking it was decided that the theme park would be built parallel to
sound stages in production facilities for films and television along with a new florida unit for
walt disney animation studios with this emphasis on being an active studio guests would have the
opportunity through various tours to get up close and personal with film products and animation an
entire backlight would be created that simulated the many streets of america for film productions
to utilize and disney wanted to open their doors so that anybody could rent and use their new
florida-based facilities it was to be a grand hub for a wide range of film and television shows and
before the park had opened they filmed the luxury with bette midler to showcase what the facility
had to offer this short comedy film has never been publicly released but has been ingrained
in the minds of all of those who saw the backlit tour because it also doubled as an opportunity to
showcase the behind the scenes of the backlot that disney had constructed mgm wasn't pleased with
this new information though in 1988 before the park had opened they filed a lawsuit that claimed
that disney violated their licensing agreement by operating a work in movie and television studio at
the resort in typical fashion disney turned around and filed a counter suit where they claimed that
instead mgm violated disney's rights by creating their own theme park hotel and casino in las vegas
they were worried that that would damage disney's reputation eventually a judge slapped them on
the wrist and said stop fighting and they both continued doing what they were doing on may 1st
1989 disney mgm studios opened adjacent to the production facilities the park was physically
much smaller than both the magic kingdom and epcot of walt disney world and it only featured two
attractions at opening the great movie ride and the studio backlit tour but rather surprisingly
given these facts it opened to overwhelming success this was part of michael eisner's master
plan for the theme park walt disney world was expanding to become more than just a theme park
destination with each new addition it became a vacation destination where all needs could
be satisfied and the plan was to entice guests with disney mgm as a half day experience and
then push them to see what else the resort has to offer like typhoon lagoon and pleasure island and
it worked even though the park opened with two attractions one was kind of a mega attraction the
studio backlog tour was an elaborate experience that originally took several hours to go through
multiple studios backlots production facilities and more i believe that this attraction deserves
a video of its own but keep in mind that this was the main draw for the theme park but as the park
became more popular the park essentially needed to self-cannibalize this experience to accommodate
for the sheer number of bodies surprisingly as the studio theme park succeeded the studio next
door wasn't doing so great you're sitting down to watch the newest hit movie the lottery with
bette midler filmed at disney mgm studios but oh no it's blocked in your country you pull out your
phone to figure out how to bring an end to this awful ordeal but then you smell it public wi-fi
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yourself do it for bet midla now back to disney mgm studios the home of all things bet midla
the backlight facilities housed two major components the first was walt disney feature
animation florida and the second was walt disney studios florida the animation studio
by all accounts was doing okay as a satellite facility they assisted in the production
of beauty and the beast aladdin and the lion king but they also managed to produce some feature
films on their very own which were milan brother bear and lilo and stitch walt disney studios
florida the film-based production house was much larger than the satellite animation department
and consisted of three sound stages which were predominantly used just for disney projects
beyond a few minor projects from third parties that was kind of it the original plan to make the
studios a grand hub for film and television just didn't get off the ground and while some projects
were produced on the backlot there simply wasn't enough to satisfy demand on their tours disney had
a ticking time bomb the park was attracting great crowds and was well received but with only two
attractions the success of disney mgm studio was riding off a fulfilling studio backlot tour their
choice was either to adapt the park into a fully fledged theme park or double down on the studio
disney was fast to improvise adapt and overcome the situation before it got out of hand by the
end of the year the theme park received additions such as indiana jones stunt spectacular in october
and star tours in december these both proved to be immensely popular and whilst it spelled the
beginning of the end for the studio it relieved much of the pressure that was being placed on the
bachelor tour piece by piece the significantly more successful theme park began to encroach
on the studio's land originally the studio tour would drive you through the working backlot set
of new york but this was cut after several years and was open to guests to relieve foot traffic
being renamed as the streets of america the walt disney theater portion of the tour became its own
independent theater first hosting a muppet show in 1990 and then voyage of the little mermaid in 1992
within the streets of america they opened honey i trunk the kids movie set adventure which was
a playground themed as a giant movie set for the giant backyard scenes from the film for the most
part the animation studio continued to do its own thing for the majority of disney's renaissance
it was a prominent part of the backlit tour but eventually got separated into its own tour
called the magic of disney animation which had a showroom where a professional animator would guide
you through character designs unfortunately after the turn in millennia disney just wasn't having
as much success with their animated features and the floridian animation division closed in 2004
the animation tour was transformed into the magic of disney animation attraction which
stayed open for another decade in the now defunct studios to satisfy growing crowds disney created
streetmasphere with an improvisational troupe of actors called the citizens of hollywood which
would go on to become one of the longest running attractions throughout the park's history the park
saw its biggest expansion to date in 1994 with the addition of sunset boulevard and the twilight
zone's tower of terror an attraction which we have personally covered the history of before
the dark tones and thrill aspects of this attraction helped to grow walt disney world's
appeal amongst teenagers and young adults a group that michael eisner was personally
interested in capturing the attention of in 2001 disney added one of their most unique attractions
who wants to be a millionaire player a fascinating experience where guests could feature in their
own episode of the hit tv game show instead of competing for cash guests competed for points and
the hot seat was determined by the fastest finger amongst the crowd now because of this sometimes
a child would merely smash all of the buttons randomly and the round would be insanely short but
that was rather rare you could exchange your points for pins a baseball cap shirts and others
but if you won the one million dollar point prize by answering 15 questions right then you would
receive an all expenses paid at disney cruise line vacation for four during this same year a
giant sorcerer's hat appeared on the park's main street to celebrate walt disney's 100th birthday
this made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move many thought that
the cartoon aesthetic clashed with the art deco realism of hollywood whilst also blocking the
view of the chinese theater which was the center point of the theme park so it was removed in 2014
though whilst the hat remained in the park mgm decided they didn't want to renew their licensing
agreement with disney and thus they were forced to rename the park from disney mgm studios to
disney's hollywood studios in this name change somewhat bookmarked the thematic shift away from
the exploration of film and production to be more of a celebration of movies and television
the park was no longer about the now defunct studio which it shared its land with
but instead provided new stories and worlds for guests to explore with toy story land
and eventually star wars galaxy's edge which spelled the end of the studio
as it was constructed over the streets of america many of the sound stages and backlot facilities
it made sense for star wars to call hollywood studios home starring in 2003 on the weekends in
may and june the park would host a huge celebration for everything star wars
called star wars weekends bands would dress up the park would feature additional shows
and it was all around a campy good time though they stopped shortly after disney purchased
the rights to star wars in 2012 as the star wars weekends had a tendency to be a little bit silly
this went against their vision of a serious gritty star wars universe and so it was shut down in 2015
i'll be honest in saying that originally i thought this would be another mistakes video
similar to epcot a walt disney studios park in paris where i provide a list of problems
which could have easily been avoided and whilst this theme park did have problems disney under
michael eisner's early management was damn quick to fix them they recognized that the studio simply
wasn't going where it needed to be and instead of doubling down on what was failing they made the
necessary changes to sweep it under the rug and bolster the aspects of the theme park that guests
were drawn to there was no whining or complaining just quick necessary action interestingly this
strategy of start small and expand quickly went on to influence most other theme parks opened under
michael eisner they would always open smaller albeit with a huge master plan and it seemed that
the intention was if you came back in a year or two you would be treated to a brand new experience
this worked wholeheartedly with mgm studios but it started to dwindle with animal kingdom
and disney's california adventure park before absolutely falling flat on its face with walt
disney studio park and hong kong disneyland why didn't they work hard to say perhaps the strategy
was a one-time fluke or the momentum just wasn't there for the other projects later in disney's
timeline but these later failures would spell the beginning of the end for michael eisner at disney
i mentioned earlier that this was perhaps disney's most successful failure and i stand by that this
theme park had no reason to succeed opening with such little things to do centered around a backlot
which nobody wanted to use could have very easily swung the popularity in a different direction
word of mouth and bad press could have ruined this theme park but quick thinking
and successful management led to it becoming one of the most attended theme parks in the world
probably also helps that it's part of the world's premier theme park destination as well
for the home of all things theme parks i'm dom from review time thanks for watching
brown