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  

you weren't going to put your password in there  were you you're tired you're in pain but then  

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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