WDW Hollywood Studios: General Discussion

[Danny]

Toy Story Land has been officially confirmed:

The Slinky Dog coaster does look set to be one of Disney's more substantial family coaster offerings, I was expecting something more along the lines of Goofini in terms of layout length.

At long last, Studios is no longer going to be the bare minimum of a Disney park.

 

[Benzin]

They're also getting the Star Wars Land at the Studios...

Wait ages for something major, and two come at once!

 

[Danny]

It was inevitable that Studios would get such a revamp at one point and both these expansions are undeniably needed.

Star Wars has never appealed to me so I shan't be following that area as such, but both areas look delightful from the concepts.

On closer inspection, there does look to be a launch on the Slinky coaster...

 

[Nick]

There's some utter brilliance in the Star Wars Land concepts:

Millenium Falcon and Mos Eisley Cantina confirmed.

 

[Maelstrom]

Their will be two major attractions in both the Star Wars lands in Florida and California. One which lets you fly the millennium falcon and the other that puts you in the middle of an epic battle. Both lands will be 14 acres (cars land is 14 acres in size).

 

[tayspru]

Just knocked this up to get my head around where Toy Story Land will fit in, I think its as accurate a layout as we will get for now, hopefully something more concrete will get turned out soon!

TOY STORY LAND by Tayler Spruce, on Flickr

- Tayler

 

[Rob]

Quite simply brilliant announcements by Disney for Hollywood Studios or whatever the park is going to be called going forward. Both areas look to be perfect and much needed. Toy Story Land looks brilliant for families whereas Star Wars just sounds like it could be epic.

With both of these areas and Avatar Land at AK it is clear that Disney have upped their game to compete with Universal.

 

[Graeme]

Mack for the slinky dog coaster PLLLEEASSEE!!!

 

[Europa Matt]

Very excited and pleased with these announcements in HS about Toystory & Star Wars Land.

Big fan of both IP's so can't wait to see them develop. Star Wars will likely be highly immersive & richly themed whilst Toy Story will likely be a fun exciting place to visit.

 

[Ketz]

It's about time Disney sorted the Studios, and the best thing is this is only the started the process, with both Cars Land and Monstropolis getting added. Although the latter is a strong rumour it's certainly exiting time.

The only downside is that there are only limited amount of resources and time that can be spend at any given moment, with projects at Animal kingdom, Studios, Epcot, Disneyland, and California Adventure (that isn't including the international parks) it could be quite a while before the project is complete.

 

[Rob]

It's about time Disney sorted the Studios, and the best thing is this is only the started the process, with both Cars Land and Monstropolis getting added. Although the latter is a strong rumour it's certainly exiting time.

The only downside is that there are only limited amount of resources and time that can be spend at any given moment, with projects at Animal kingdom, Studios, Epcot, Disneyland, and California Adventure (that isn't including the international parks) it could be quite a while before the project is complete.

Indeed, even for a company the size of Disney they have a hell of a lot of major projects ongoing. Right now they are constructing a whole park (Shanghai Disneyland), Avatar Land, Frozen in Norway Pavillion at Epcot and the Iron Man Experience in Hong as well as Disney Springs in Orlando and many other smaller projects in severl parks. Then upcoming they have Toy Story Land at HS, Frozen Land at DisneySea, two Star Wars lands, rumoured Marvel Land for DCA, undoubted re-work of Studios in Paris and probably a few other things.

The Star Wars land won't be finished until 2019 at the very earliest with either 2020 or 2021 being rumoured at the moment. I'd guess Toy Story Land will be either 2017 or 2018 depending on whether or not they want 2017 to be an Avatar only year in Orlando, I suspect they may. So any other projects for Hollywood Studios, whether that be Cars Land, a future Marvel Land or others are nearing 10 years off! Who knows what the theme park industry will be like then.

 

[Rob]

So, with Toy Story Land and Star Wars announced for Hollywood Studios, where are these developments going to go? Let's start with an aerial look at the park from Google Maps:

Toy Story Land

Credit for this goes to Mark Hickson of disneybymark.com.

If we take another look at the area conceprt at, Mark has labelled a number of rides, attractions and buildings:

These then correspond with the labels on the following overhead image:

Ds represent building that would be demolished. Certainly seems to fit in well but I suppose with the pending removal of the Lights, Motors, Action show there is scope for it to be slightly further towards the south.

This in itself will be a fairly large expansion of the park, never mind the 14 acre Star Wars Land as well. Speaking of which...

Star Wars Land

Credit for this goes to Theme Park Insider.

It is less clear as to where Disney plan to build the new Star Wars area in Hollywood Studios but there is every chance that it will not be in the current park boundaries. Obviously they do have Star Tours in the park at present but Star Wars Land over at Disneyland California is going to be on the opposite side of the park to Star Tours there so it is possible for the same scenario here.

The most likely location appears to be on the land south of where Star Tours is located. This would involve a re-route of the South Studio Drive entrance road but I think this is expected regardless as the park prepares for increased visitor numbers in accordance with expansion plans.

There is also the possibility of it being towards the north of the park where RnR is however this option seemingly makes less sense when there is more space to utilise aorund where the current Star Tours ride is.

---------------------------------------------------

All in all it is interesting times for Hollywood Studios. The park is expected to recieve a re-name although this may not be announced until D23 in 2017. There are rumours, as said in posts above, of other future areas for the park but in my opinion I think between now and say 2022 we will get what has been announced along with other cosmetic changes in the park.

 

[Sam]

Thoughts on DHS:

• In terms of design, concept, execution and imagination, the Tower of Terror remains the greatest theme park ride ever built. It's the highest accomplishment in theme park history, the closest thing to a perfect execution that we've yet seen. I think it's partly because the concept of the ride so closely matches the mechanics of the ride system. It's themed around an elevator going out of control and plummeting several stories and, for all intents and purposes, you are basically in an elevator that plummets several stories. No smoke and mirrors... it is as the theme is. The storyline and the use of a moribund IP is masterful - the IP greatly enhances rather than distracts or detracts, partly thanks to its irrelevance (like Splash Mountain). The approach to the gorgeous building down Sunset Boulevard is pure theatre. The theming inside is perfect. The vision of the family appearing and beckoning you towards them is mesmerising (I don't think I've ever seen a more visually convincing scene in any of the so-called more-technologically-advanced rides that have been built since). When the elevator moves forward, it's an 'I-can't-quite-believe-this-is-happening' moment. And then, of course, the closest any ride comes to existentialism: when you're in complete darkness and two vertical white lines split apart in front of you, like in a dream. I don't know how they manage to create absolute darkness at that moment, but no other ride I've ever been on manages it. A sublime ride.
• Rock 'n' Roller isn't quite the masterpiece that its neighbour is, but it's wondrously joyous fun, isn't it? Just... the absolutely campest, silliest rollercoaster ever built. The pre-show is a riot. The station is preposterous. The on-board audio is beyond ridiculous. A joy - long may it be so
• The park feels a bit dead by day but has the best atmosphere of the four by night. I think its the neon lights and the alcohol.
• Midway Mania is a dull ride. Even if you like it, it's surely not worth the ridiculous waits it gets. It's barely better than Maus au Chocolat at Phantasia.
• Lights, Motors, Action! is a genuinely thrilling show, even if it's a little slow at times.
• Star Tours 2 is less of a new attraction, and more of a refresh. Fortunately, they kept all the charm and self-deprecating humour of the old one. Crucially, it doesn't take itself too seriously at all which is where it gets its warmth, unlike, say, Transformers at Universal which is utterly charmless.
• MuppetVision*3D sits just behind T2:3D as the best cinema attraction in Florida. Great fun, especially all the knowing references ("We're definitely not going to resort to cheap 3D tricks" etc.) and the two guys sitting in the balcony hurling abuse. Please don't get rid of this, Disney.
• The Great Movie Ride is nowhere near as good as I remember it being. Actually, it's very tedious. It's very slow-moving, past a load of movies that nobody cares about (yeah, the kids are really gonna go nuts for the aeroplane from Casablanca). I bet the bit where the actor takes over the ride vehicle was once really novel, but now it just feels dull and a bit naff. This ride needs something doing with it because it's boring as sin.
• Despite my generally positive comments above, DHS seriously needs more rides. That will probably remain my central criticism of the park for a long time.
• Fantasmic! doesn't really do it for me. Too kiddy for my liking and most of the big set pieces feel a bit contrived. Why are scenes from old Disney films floating past us on rafts again? It doesn't help that the version in California is slightly better. Fortunately, the other big spectacular in the park at during our visit was much better.
• The Frozen Summer Spectacular or whatever it was called was a superb event, of the kind that only Disney know how to put on. Crucially - and this is what Disney do better than any other theme park company - they don't underestimate what kids can handle. Thus, during the day on a massive stage in front of the Movie Ride, we were treated to some pretty banging techno that wouldn't have gone out of place warming up Fabric or the Night Kitchen. I'm relatively au fait with clubs, and the intensity of the music blasting from the massive speaker stack took me aback somewhat. At park close, a feverish crowd were treated to a house remix of Let It Go, followed by really, really good fireworks set to the big Frozen tunes. I'd go as far as saying that it was the best show in Florida - and it was only temporary!

 

[Harv]

In terms of design, concept, execution and imagination, the Tower of Terror remains the greatest theme park ride ever built. It's the highest accomplishment in theme park history, the closest thing to a perfect execution that we've yet seen. I think it's partly because the concept of the ride so closely matches the mechanics of the ride system. It's themed around an elevator going out of control and plummeting several stories and, for all intents and purposes, you are basically in an elevator that plummets several stories. No smoke and mirrors... it is as the theme is. The storyline and the use of a moribund IP is masterful - the IP greatly enhances rather than distracts or detracts, partly thanks to its irrelevance (like Splash Mountain). The approach to the gorgeous building down Sunset Boulevard is pure theatre. The theming inside is perfect. The vision of the family appearing and beckoning you towards them is mesmerising (I don't think I've ever seen a more visually convincing scene in any of the so-called more-technologically-advanced rides that have been built since). When the elevator moves forward, it's an 'I-can't-quite-believe-this-is-happening' moment. And then, of course, the closest any ride comes to existentialism: when you're in complete darkness and two vertical white lines split apart in front of you, like in a dream. I don't know how they manage to create absolute darkness at that moment, but no other ride I've ever been on manages it. A sublime ride.

Couldn't agree with this more. You put it very, very well; it is the absolute theatre of the ride in its setting. The façade itself is beautiful and haunting and almost melancholy as you see all the grandeur of the hotel crumbling and decaying, lost in time. The slowed-down and reverberated 1930s jazz music chugging away in the background, the tiny details such as the unfinished card game on the table - the whole ride experience is perfectly thought out and implemented. No other attraction in the world brings the whole package to the table as well as Tower of Terror.

 

[Harv]

It's as if they read these posts and acted accordingly!

http://uk.ign.com/articles/2015/10/25/disney-planning-movie-based-on-tower-of-terror-theme-park-ride

No doubt this will please lots of fans of the ride, let's hope they do a good job.

 

[Ketz]

It appears permits have been filed in readiness of the future expansion of the studios. So it seems work will starts shortly. Exiting times!

 

[Rob]

Screamscape are reporting that due to the popularity of Hyperspace Mountain in California, Rock 'n Rollercoaster at Hollywood Studios may recieve a similar temporary theme overlay. I have no idea how this would work as it would appear far easier to apply the theme to Space Mountain than RnR. But it's not eactly surprising, send in the IP!!!

 

[Rob]

I can't quite believe that it has been a year since the Toy Story and Star Wars lands for Hollwood Studios were announced. Anyway, here is an aerial photo from back in June showing demolition progress in Hollywood Studios:

Source: WDW News Today

It is currently thought that Toy Story Land is due to open in summer 2018 and Star Wars land in early 2020. However this is Disney so you'd epxect one of those to slip at least!

It is also expected that Star Tours will be re-themed once Star Wars Land has opened although an IP for this has not yet been decided.

 

[cptnmingo]

We're headed there at the end of March 2017, I guess from the post above there will be absolutely bugger all to do at Hollywood Studios then... xD

 

[Maelstrom]

Hollywood studios is still worth a visit, all the major rides and attractions are still there. While they have shut a lot of stuff nothing has closed that we are are particular bothered about and never visited any of them on our last visit. They have added some stars wars stuff and the new Star Wars Evening show is getting fantastic reviews. We looking forward to visiting when we go again in October.