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Big future for the Studios but what about the past?

I love movies.  So a movie themed park was always going to be right up my Street of America, I love the old “Hollywood that never was-and always will be” and possibly my favourite ride is Tower of Terror, but Disney’s Hollywood Studios is going through some huge changes.  Most would say that it is badly in need of new attractions and I would not argue with that.

But they are changing one of my favourite parks.  Am I happy? Am I sad? Am I going to push Nick off his soapbox and get up there myself? Well yes, yes and no.

I am old enough to have seen Star Wars in the cinema when it first came out, I mean episode IV, not episode I, as I reminisced recently during our Star Wars extravaganza “DaD Series 4 episode 10 “The Dis After Dark Side of the Force Awakens with Tom Ameen”.  So I can’t wait to drink blue milk in the new Star Wars Land and play in the new Toy Story Land.  However some things will disappear forever, that we as a family have enjoyed such as: American Idol, the Magic of Animation and the Osborne Lights (once).

That got me to thinking, the Studios is one of the newer parks, opening in 1989 so it does not have the legacy of previous attractions that say EPCOT or the Magic Kingdom have but there are some things that I remember, that have gone since our first visit in 1998.

Let's start with the name; Disney-MGM Studios is what it was called originally but that was changed to the current Disney’s Hollywood Studios in 2008 after a variety of lawsuits between Disney and MGM and that it was originally a working movie and TV studio.

I remember the Hunchback of Notre Dame stage show, complete with a fantastic comedy juggler pre-show.  Talking about pre-shows I was sad when Four for a Dollar was eliminated from the Beauty and the Beast Stage show.  I even miss Sounds Dangerous and its fun post show area. How about Who Wants to be a Millionaire where Toy Story Midway Mania now lives?  I never even won a pin let alone a cruise.  The ABC Commissary is still there for a Quick Service lunch but the chicken curry is long gone…..bummer.  The hat wasn’t there, then it was, now it’s gone again, no big loss in my book.  I loved entering the park early in the morning with a full day of fun ahead and looking up Hollywood Boulevard and seeing the Chinese Theatre in the distance.

So these are some of things that are now consigned to the WDW history book, only alive in memories, home movies and YouTube but what memories of the Studios do you have that are not there anymore?  It could be; attractions, shows, parades, pre-shows, special limited time events, shops and food.  Since this is DisAfterDark what about extinct beverages of choice.  I would love to hear about them.
Posted by Paul Dolan at 12:24 Labels: Hollywood Studios, wdw

