Disney/MGM Studio Tram Tour to Bite the Dust?
Walt Disney World: Could the backlot changes at Disney-MGM to accomodate the new motor stunt show be the final blow for Disney's tram tour?
While Screamscape is hardly ever reliable, an interesting piece of information regarding the Tram tour at Disney/MGM Studios was reported:
"Park News - (1/9/04) I’m not quite sure what the deal is, but we’ve received a couple of rumors today claiming that the Backlot Tram Tour may not reopen on April 1st as previously listed. In fact, one of them claims that the tour may not reopen at all... or at least not in anything similar to it’s current form. It’s thought that the needs of the new stunt show may just have too much of an impact on the tour."
The tour itself is only a shadow of what it was a few years back. The backlots of Disney/MGM sit unused and vacant as Disney slowly down-sizes their Florida operations.
The only real-thing that remains un-changed is the Catastrophe Canyon, which is not that much compared to some of the things Universal has got going on.
Does anybody have any more information regarding this?
From Mr. D. T.
Posted January 10, 2004 at 8:08 AM
The tour needs to go ASAP! Besides Catastrophe Canyon, which is getting dated already, there's nothing much exciting. Many of the 'studios' the tour guide takes you through are not studios at all. And you noticed that little bitty 'neighborhood' has only the facades of the houses. This tour was an obvious rip-off of the backlot tour at USH and really needs to be done away with for something more exciting.
Catastrophe Canyon seems to be a copy of EarthQuake at USF. In which I think that something better should go in place of BOTH.
MGM might as well close its doors except for HollyWood Blvd.
However, there is alot of land that contains the back lot tour that a couple of awesome attractions could go there. Maybe a (cough) Finding Nemo version of 20000 leagues under the sea? Just kidding.
The Tram Tour has been a disappointment since D-MGM opened. I know that a decade ago there were efforts to create more Catastrope Canyon-like experiences along the route (much like USF's tour)...one was a pretty cool Journey to the Center of the Earth giant slug animatronic. Nothing I ever heard made sense why they would be pursuing this.
Anyway, that said, I think this Stunt Show is a pretty poor replacement. If it is anything like the WDSP version, it is slow and completely predictable. The giant video displays--while helpful in getting guests in the middle of the action--are in complete discord with the idea this is a live set. A lack of a film brand-connection hurts it all the more.
The current Indy show far exceeds this dog. This is just a cheap way for Disney to say they've added an attraction. I'd rather see the Osbourne lights up all year.
What I want to know is why Ms. Holtsclaw thinks "Screamscape is hardly ever reliable?"
Screamscape has been publishing solid inside info as long as I have been visiting the site. Back in 1999, Screamscape was all over 'Men In Black: Alien Attack!' Screamscape was the first tp break the news about 'Van Helsing.' I think Screamscape does an outstanding job.
I do hope they do something with the land and not just let it sit idle.
I would have preffered that they kept The Hunchback show or even up graded it to the quality of a HunchBack show which is playing or going to be playing soon in Germany.
I also like the idea of a year around Osborne light show, it is truely great!!!!
Let's just say that Screamscape is reliable... except when it regards Disney. And that isn't Screamscape's fault. Disney just always has a million blue sky rumors and a lot of their other rumors come from guest surveys.
My guess for this rumor is that the Backlot Tour just won't reopen out of cheapness. Disney figures once it opens the Auto Stunt Show that it's giving people more than enough for their fifty bucks.
I don't see them permanently closing the thing, since they have those houses back there. They could very well just add a new attraction to the Tour in a couple years and have a big hoo-ha for "the grand reopening." They might as well do that, since no one ever rides the thing anymore.
From Joe Lane
Posted January 10, 2004 at 12:51 PM
The facades are gone. They were bulldozed to make room for the stunt show. I heard rumors the plan was to have the trams pass through the stunt area between shows for a brief demonstration. In any case, a huge portion of the tour is now gone, so it's rather useless and, at this point, it would just be better to gut the remainder of the tour to make room for more attractions.
I remember how the backlot tour was much longer, and involved tours through the soundstages (two of which now house Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? Play It!). I also remember an extra surprise on the tour--closer towards the end in the New York backlot, where the dip machine from Who Framed Roger Rabbit would bust out of the ACME factory as the tram went past.
I also liked the old tour, Joe. And i remmeber years ago when the tram tour had a long wait and isnt the walk on that it is most times now.
In the summer of 1989, Disney-MGM's first, the tour concluded with a walk through the soundstages now occupied by the Millionaire show (as noted above) and finished in what became the Mermaid theater.
The reason I mention this is because there was so little actual production that summer that Disney hauled the All-American College Orchestra (starring the future Mrs. Theme Park Insider) over to the soundstages to practice. Just to have something for people to look at.
That's the real reason this tour has been dying for so long. It's kinda hard to have a studio tour when you don't have a working studio.
That said, when shall we write the obit for the Animation Tour?
From Mr. D. T.
Posted January 10, 2004 at 10:05 PM
Then the remainder of the tour might as well come out of its long-lasting misery.
From Kelly G
Posted January 11, 2004 at 9:09 AM
I just wanted to respond to a previous statement about not having anything on the backstage tour. I am 27 years old and I have been going to MGM since it first opened in 1989. Originally, the backstage studio tour was one of the best attractions there. Everything from Catastrophe Canyon, which at the time was very high-tech, to a special soundstage tour featuring some special movie effects from movies like Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. A couple of my favorite parts were when they would have things from the actual movies located throughout the attraction, such as the ever popular Golden Girls fascade and when you would walk from the actual tram to the second half of the tour, where you had to pass through the Acme factory from the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit... Also, in response to the person that said there was nothing after that in the sound stages... from 1990-1994 one of their studios was being used by the cast of Mickey Mouse Club (the Britney, Christina seasons). I just wanted to point that out.
But compare that with what's happening at Universal Studios Hollywood, where movies and TV shows are in production almost every day. Not props or recreations of sets from shows filmed elsewhere. Not just one show or two. But multiple productions all the time.
That's what makes USH a real, working studio -- and a unique setting for a theme park. Disney-MGM, and Universal Studios Florida, for that matter, failed to attract anywhere near that level of production. Orlando's vaunted "Hollywood East" never materialized.
That's why it appears that the Orlando "studio" theme parks are moving away from their working studio themes toward more generic movie and TV-inspired character themes.
From steve lee
Posted January 11, 2004 at 11:11 PM
Thank you, KellyG - I knew that Acme factory thing wasn't a figment of my imagination! I also seem to remember a massive room with tons and tons of props - I disctinctly remember seeing Vincent from the Black Hole hanging from the ceiling...
From Joe Lane
Posted January 12, 2004 at 8:32 AM
I'm trying to remember my early years visiting Disney/MGM and riding the Backlot Tram Tour. The original entrance wasn't at the end of Mickey Avenue, but rather further up near the Animation Courtyard. After boarding the tram, guests were taken through areas similar to what we saw on the current tour: costuming, props, even the famed Disney topiaries (I'm not even sure if I spelled that correctly). The exact order that followed is unclear, but I'm sure the tour progressed down Residential street as well as through the Boneyard before ending up at Catastrophe Canyon. Then, the tram went around New York Street, which was originally closed off as a walking area. Guests were then dropped off at the ACME factory (near the current attraction entrance) where they were allowed a break before the second part--a walking portion--of the tour started. Folks first saw the effects tank (which wasn't the Harbor Attack, but rather a fishing ship in a storm), then went into the soundstages to see a short film with Bette Midler which had been filmed out on New York Street. The tour continued, looking at props from that film and exploring blue screen effects: one had volunteers riding a mechanical bee from "Honey, I Shrunk The Kids". The guests walked closed second story walkways through the different soundstages to see sets for shows in development (one featured the Mickey Mouse Club--another was a set for a live-action Tarzan). This is all I could recall--according to other accounts, the tour ended with a brief movie of Michael and Mickey introducing new Disney movie trailers.
From Kent Pugh
Posted January 22, 2004 at 4:40 AM
Disney could let MGM use the movie studio. They sold there's to Sony.
From Jen Magee
Posted January 28, 2004 at 10:45 AM
I was just at MGM over the weekend (I'll be posting a trip report with links to some pictures), and saw the area where the new stunt show is going in. It's back in the New York Street area, at the opposite end of the street from where the Empire State Building/skyline facade is. They have construction barriers up along most of the New York Street section, but the stunt show looks like it's going in at the end of the street.
I would still love to see them update the backlot tour. MGM has a lot of shows/movies already, and I'm not sure they need another one at the expense of a ride that, with some updates, could be a must-see. Even if the studios aren't being used, the tram tour could show a lot more special effects than just the Catastrophe Canyon section.
Again, I'll post a link to some pictures as soon as they're uploaded and the trip report I'm compiling is completed.
Just a reminder: deadline's Feb. 5 for the $100 trip report contest....
By no stretch of the imagination was Catastrophe Canyon high-tech when it opened. USH's tour has had the Earthquake section doing similar stuff BETTER for years before that opened.
But it is nice to be reminded of the extra stuff the Tour had in 1989. And, yes, it was the best thing in the park then, since the rest of the park sucked. But it has always been a pale imitation of the original at USH.
I have a question. I thought the old Hunchback theater was torn down for the Auto Show too. Does the new stadium incorporate that area?
From Mr. D. T.
Posted January 29, 2004 at 9:17 AM
I haven't a clue. But I know they gutted the 'house' facades on the street nearby.
I think they should put some more indor sections in,make it longer, make it a real working studio, or tear it down. The trams are way too long. The whole place looks like a prop yard.
They had big ideas for a Muppet Studios back where New York is. Now that much of that has turned into the Auto Stunt Show, they should turn the area into the Muppet area they have long wanted to. It would be especially nice if they could just get rid of Mickey Avenue and connect the New York area to the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster courtyard. That park has the worst layout of any park!
Agreed on that layout. Lack of connection at that point really sucks.
Justin
I agree. Why should you have to walk half way around the park to get to the other side of a building?
Disneyland are trying to give the illusion of space, I mean, with the whole slow moving boats accross the lake and seemingly bad layout...
You'll notice MGM is also the smallest park by the way, so they are going to make you walk further, you feel like it's bigger.
That is a good stradegy for a small park. But what if someone has trouble walking long distances? It just isn't fair for the disabled. It also wastes time and you may not get to do everything in the park because of one obsticle. Has anyone noticed that with the tour closed, there isn't much for kids?
was the tram really "for kids?" what about Muppetvision, Playhouse Disney, etc...
Let's face it. MGM has not near as many kid rides as Magic Kingdom.
Screamscape.com is reporting that a shortened Tram Tour will return in April.
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