WDW Hollywood Studios

[RailRider]

Only 45 days till we arrive at Disney, very excited to see the castle all light up.

I was unfortunate to see the castle as the ugly birthday cake on my first visit to the Magic Kingdom.

[bkroz]

I personally like what Disney has done with incorporating all the LED technology with Cinderella Castle. Very cool use of an iconic landmark. I especially love the icicle lights that will soon adorn the castle for the winter season. I recall the ugly birthday cake during 1996 and cant say I miss it!

I like it, too. Texture-mapping is the newest tool in Disney's arsenal. They're using projections and texture mapping all over the place. It's a big wow moment for relatively little expense. See the new Alice in Wonderland at Disneyland, Big Thunder Mountain and its explosive finale at Disneyland, Temple of the Forbidden Eye and its eerie intro scene at Disneyland... Disneyland's "it's a small world" has had its own projected nighttime show with the same title and premise as Magic Kingdom's castle show (since Disneyland's castle is much too small for such a spectacle).

That show at Magic Kingdom and World of Color at Disney California Adventure were purposefully designed to utilize new technologies like that. The idea was that instead of resetting insanely expensive pyrotechnics or paying performers for nighttime parades, shows based on water or projection practically run themselves. Just hit the green button and watch. Not a bad idea.

The two concepts coalesced in Disneyland Paris' Disney Dreams show, which uses World of Color style fountains embedded in the lagoon around Sleeping Beauty's Castle mixed with a projection show like Magic Kingdom's. It's truly incredible. Look for more pyro-free installations at Epcot, and a show using World of Color's fountain tech is already announced for Animal Kingdom.

Before you go thinking texture mapping is something only the big guys can afford or pull off... Canada's Wonderland. Made even better this year with the new fountains. Sincerely Disney-esque.

[BB1]

Was sifting through my Disney Literature (which I have many of) and found the 1993 photos of the M.G.M. Studios sans Mickey's Hat, this was also around when Tower of Terror was being built for you Disney junkies. Also pertaining to the original concept art for the park and that little theater, that is such a small place in Sunset BLVD now with the Streetmosphere characters, the flare of the locale props and scenes, and the ToT looming over head. Personally, i just see it as another facade, but a tip "of the Hat" to the history shown here.

To me, the park had 4 major icons: The CrossRoads kiosk, The Great Movie Ride, The Water Tower, and the Mickey's Hat. All of which almost everyone sees once or twice a visit, hopefully TGMR or TWT becomes, yet again, the key icons.

Hollywood Studios is arguably one of the BEST parks at WDW, the themes, the thrills, the family fun, it's all there. The Water Works Mechanics are one of the MUST SEES here and do stick around the characters with their skits, as they are funny. Also, I HIGHLY suggest checking out The Brown Derby for their Cob Salad, it's the best. I need to get back to my true home parks, I miss them.

[PyroKinesis]

While I, on the other hand, absolutely love Fantasmic and can't understand all the love that so many people give to Illuminations, which in my opinion is the worst nighttime show at WDW. Different strokes...

Because Illuminations is based on reality. Real stories. It's the most real show on the property.

Oh, oh, and there's this...

and this...

and lastly this...

NOTHING on the property touches the special endings to Illuminations. Nothing.

[The Interpreter]

If we all liked the same things equally, there would only be one flavor of ice cream, one premier state university, one superb private university, etc.

We don't.

And that's okay, too.

Terp, who actually LIKED watching Fred Flintstone dance with a carrot at Kings Island. Liked the Scooby Show, too. BIG Fantasmic fan. Illuminations? I'd rather listen to a cow eliminate flatulence. Truly.

[TTD-120-420]

Yeah, the whole EPCOT park was boring to me.

[RailRider]

The Celebrate the Magic castle projection show is amazing and one of our favorites. When the lanterns from Tangled take flight it is truly mesmerizing.

[Gabe]

^{As I recall, didn't Music Hall in Cincy use texture-mapping for Luminosity these past two summers? I put in for tix and wasn't selected in the lottery, but if they do it again next summer, I'll def plan on going.}

[XGatorHead 8904]

Before you go thinking texture mapping is something only the big guys can afford or pull off... Canada's Wonderland. Made even better this year with the new fountains. Sincerely Disney-esque.

We watched that from the bridge this year (with the fountains to our back). We had asked an associate where the best place to watch it from would be and that's where they told us. It was a good show; not quite as grand as that tall, tall castle in Orlando, but still very worth seeing!

NOTHING on the property touches the special endings to Illuminations. Nothing.

You can have your spot around World Showcase Lagoon. I'll be off Soarin', Testing a Track, or visiting Nemo instead. And I'll take your spot at the Hollywood Hills Amphtheater while you're checking into the Hollywood Tower Hotel or racing off to see Aerosmith in concert.

I'm not going to try to persuade you that Fantasmic is fantastic, and you're not going to persuade me that Illuminations is the best thing in the World.

If we all liked the same things equally, there would only be one flavor of ice cream, one premier state university, one superb private university, etc.

We don't.

And that's okay, too.

Exactly! And great video!

Yeah, the whole EPCOT park was boring to me.

I love EPCOT. But I can see how some people may not. I love the whole educational aspect of it.

^{As I recall, didn't Music Hall in Cincy use texture-mapping for Luminosity these past two summers? I put in for tix and wasn't selected in the lottery, but if they do it again next summer, I'll def plan on going.}

Yes they did. I was hoping to go too but didn't get picked in the lottery either. Which is probably just as well since we were leaving for our vacation that weekend.

[PyroKinesis]

I didn't say Illuminations itself was the best thing at WDW, I said the special endings were.

I mean, I suppose you can get pretty close with anything at Magic Kingdom, when they use the perimeter effects, but those are really awesome when they actually do the whole perimeter instead of just the front half.

[TTD-120-420]

^I'll agree with that. Happy Hallowishes is insane. Gives me goosebumps every single time. So many explosions it is overwhelming.

[TTD-120-420]

Double post totally worth it:

Look at these texture mapping videos. This technology is crazy.

https://mtc.cdn.vine.co/r/videos/0D55BE1CC31138666945000996864_359c9323918.0.1.12861982916334473905.mp4?versionId=O86J4lz8TJpSg96DQntGm70efgOePQF0

[LongLiveTheSmurfRide]

Have they announced a date for the hat to be gone? I've seen early 2015. We'll be there for marathon weekend in January, so I hope it's gone by then.

[BoddaH1994]

I didn't say Illuminations itself was the best thing at WDW, I said the special endings were.

I mean, I suppose you can get pretty close with anything at Magic Kingdom, when they use the perimeter effects, but those are really awesome when they actually do the whole perimeter instead of just the front half.

I think Illuminations is the best thing in Florida, let alone WDW.

[malem]

As announced yesterday at this year's D23 expo, The Great Movie Ride will close permanently on August 13, to make way for Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway. http://attractionsmagazine.com/mickey-minnies-runaway-railway-replacing-great-movie-ride-disneys-hollywood-studios/

The new Star Wars land at DHS has also been officially announced as Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, opening in 2019.

 

[Rivertown Rider]

All of the Star Wars area images and videos they have released so far have looked great.  Obviously concept art is just that but I have high hopes in this land and Disney will make a fortune if they do it right.

[beastfan11]

Sad to hear about the demise of The Great Movie. It's one of my favorites, always will be. The replacement seems to be fantastic, though. Very exciting. 

 

Bob Iger, can I have the Humphrey Bogart AA from The Great Movie Ride?

[Delirium13]

No doubt that the Mickey ride will be great (seriously, how is Mickey just now getting a ride??), but the decision to replace The Great Movie Ride is a real head scratcher. I'm not a fan of addition by subtraction in any park, but DHS in particular doesn't lend itself well to that concept at all. I know there's more to these parks than rides, but this will bring the total number of actual rides down to 4 in the whole park until next summer. Would've much rather seen this go in the Animation Courtyard area in place of Star Wars Launch Bay.

Glad I got multiple rides in on my last visit to Disney World, the ride will really be missed. Still excited for the Mickey ride.

[Gabe]

The GMR was getting pretty long in the tooth.  Today's generation doesn't know or care about the films the ride highlights (Busby Berkley, old monster movies, Tarzan, Casablanca, Wizard of Oz, etc.).  That plus the tired western/mob ride takeover was getting old.  The end sequence of the ride featuring highlights from the dawn of fimmaking was always my favorite, but even in recent years, the quality of the images on the screens was poor, at best).  The Park needed another D or E ticket ride and from the sounds of things, this will be a nice D attraction like the Slinky Dog Coaster, sandwiched between the Star Wars stuff and TOT.

[jcgoble3]

5 hours ago, Gabe said:

The Park needed another D or E ticket ride

So this is a bit off-topic, but I have a dumb question. What does this mean? Specifically, what does it mean when someone talks about an "E-ticket" or "D-ticket" ride? Are other letters in use for this kind of thing, and what do they mean as well?

[McSalsa]

^
I'm not 100% sure, (and using Wikipedia to find this) but a E-Ticket ride is basically "a big, major ride that is sure to draw people to the park just to ride it". Basically, for Kings Island this year, Mystic Timbers is a E-Ticket ride due to its newness and the fact it is a new roller coaster. The Beast is probably still a E-Ticket even after all these years, and Diamondback and Banshee would also be E-Tickets. A D-Ticket would be the next tier down, something that draws but is not quite top tier, such as Firehawk or WindSeeker. Then it goes down to C, B, and A tickets with a A-Ticket ride being the least popular and smallest...aka kiddie rides pretty much.

[beastfan11]

The origin of the letter assigned ride system dates back to the original Disneyland. The park was originally on a ticket based ride system. You essentially bought tickets for each ride as opposed to paying one ticket price upfront at the gate to gain access to all the attractions. Each letter (from A-E) cost different amounts with E ticket attractions being the most costly. These got you onto bigger rides like coasters, etc. Eventually the ticket system was scrapped but the letter system is still used in order to "label" rides in regards to their thrill, popularity, capacity, and experience. 

So for example, smaller flats throughout the Disney parks would be considered an A or B ticket attraction where as larger rides such as The Haunted  Mansion or Tower of Terror would be considered D or E ticket attractions. 

The more you know!

 

 

 

[jcgoble3]

Ah, I get it now. Thanks for the explanations!

[PhantomTheater]

Both Disney parks (Disneyland and MK) utilized the ticket system until the early 80's. In 1982 the ticket system was abandoned with the opening of EPCOT, they didn't want to have the sponsor companies and countries to complain or feel insulted by ranking the importance of their ride.

[Shawn Meyer]

The last time I went to Disney World(2012), I spent a lot of time in the Hollywood studios area. I'm sure a lot has changed since I went there last. One thing I hope doesn't leave is the Rock-n-rollercoaster featuring Aerosmith. Does anyone know how much longer the licensing on that will run till? If they change it, I wonder what they would theme it too? I would theme it to another band since they have the guitar set up on the building. Maybe they could honor queen for example.

[bengalsguy23]

35 minutes ago, Shawn Meyer said:

The last time I went to Disney World(2012), I spent a lot of time in the Hollywood studios area. I'm sure a lot has changed since I went there last. One thing I hope doesn't leave is the Rock-n-rollercoaster featuring Aerosmith. Does anyone know how much longer the licensing on that will run till? If they change it, I wonder what they would theme it too? I would theme it to another band since they have the guitar set up on the building. Maybe they could honor queen for example.

Honestly if they go with a retheme I think they would go with a complete retheme rather than one like just changing the band. I would imagine it would be something similar to like how Tower of Terror was transformed into Guardian's of the Galaxy. They will probably change it to some Disney/Pixar/marvel movie if the license does not get resigned. This is just my opinion though and honestly I would much rather do that to a ride like RnR than a ride like Tower of Terror.