Studio Backlot Tour
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| Studio Backlot Tour | |||||||
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| The Sign advertising the Backlot Tour | |||||||
| Disney's Hollywood Studios | |||||||
| Land | Mickey Avenue | ||||||
| Attraction type | Tram Tour | ||||||
| Theme | Backlot tour of a working movie studio | ||||||
| Opening date | May 1, 1989 | ||||||
| Vehicle type | Trams | ||||||
| Vehicle capacity | 200 | ||||||
| Ride duration | 35 minutes | ||||||
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The Studio Backlot Tour is an attraction at Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. It is a combination of a walking and tram tour of the backlot area of the park.
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[edit] The queue area
Upon entering the queue, guests are put into four different lines underneath a large canopy. Throughout the area are props from different movies, including Pearl Harbor, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, and The Rock. A film also loops with director Michael Bay telling guests how some of the special effects scenes from Pearl Harbor were filmed. While guests are waiting, four volunteers are chosen to be used in the first part of the attraction.
[edit] Walking tour
A number of guests in each line are taken into a show area with a large water tank in front of them. In the water tank are props reminiscent of Pearl Harbor: the deck and the engine room of a patrol boat. Cast Members explain how the water tank and props can be used in filming scenes from action films. Using the volunteers from before the guests are shown a special effects demonstration, known as Harbor Attack. One volunteer sits in the engine room and is overcome by a deluge of water (1000 Gallons of Water) coming into the room through a window from two dump tanks. The other three volunteers are standing on the deck when an attack happens. Explosions underwater, simulated torpedo bursts, and fireballs are used to simulate the attack. When filming is finished the footage is put together with previously recorded footage of airplane attacks and dialogue and shown to the guests.
When the demonstration is finished guests move into another line in a prop building. The line moves guests up and down aisles of props used in different Disney productions. Several of the props are tagged with information about each one. At the exit of the building the tram part of the tour begins.
[edit] Tram tour
As guests exit the prop building they are boarded onto a tram for the main part of the tour. As the driver brings the tram through different areas, another Cast Member explains what is found there and tells the guests facts about it. Guests first travel past the Earful Tower, the former icon of the park. The tram ride is the closest that guests can get to the tower in the park. After the tower the tram drives through the costume and materials building, which has a thru-way for the tram and windows for guests to see the costumes and people working. A highlight in the building is the room full of tires used for the Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show.
When the tram leaves the building it brings guest through an outside area named the boneyard (named after an aircraft boneyard). In the boneyard are vehicles which were featured in many films. Included are ships from the Star Wars films, the escape pod from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, cars used in the Herbie the Love Bug films, bone cages from Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest, and boats and other vehicles used in other Disney-produced films.
After leaving the boneyard guests are told that they will be entering a current movie set while the cast is on break. It enters into an area known as Catastrophe Canyon, a rocky area with a fuel truck and water tanks inside of it. While the tram is stopped "filming" starts suddenly. An earthquake shakes the tram and causes the fuel truck to explode, sending a fire ball into the air. Then a flood of water comes rushing down from the canyon and from above the tram. When the earthquake subsides and the water stops, the set begins to reset for the next tram and the host on the tram tells guests how it was done as the tram goes around behind the set to show the back of the set.
After exiting the canyon the tram travels through parts of the boneyard again. Guests go past the Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show stadium and practice areas. The tram also passes Walt Disney's private airplane. After this part the tram pulls to the exit and that part of the attraction is finished.
[edit] Post-ride
In order to leave the attraction, guests must walk through a museum exhibit based on AFI's 50 Greatest Villains. Many of the villains on the list are represented with life-sized figures in display cases, with drawings and pictures of them from their films. The entire list is presented with pictures of all of the villains on a wall in the building. While guests on the Backlot Tour must go through the exhibit to exit, it is not necessary to go on the tour to see the exhibit, as it is possible to enter it through the exit.
[edit] History
The first incarnation of the Backlot Tour had its entrance where the current entrance to The Magic of Disney Animation currently is. The original tour was far longer and more elaborate than the current version. One of the highlights from the former tour included Residential Street, a faux neighborhood where all the houses were nothing more than fronts (no sides), which included the houses used in hit NBC sitcoms The Golden Girls and Empty Nest as well as The Disney Channel's educational series Adventures in Wonderland. They were torn down to make room for Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show. The former tour also drove through New York Street/Streets of America. Due to the surprise popularity of the park, NY Street was removed from the tour and made into public walking space with the first few years of operation. After driving through NY Street, the tram drove to Catastrophe Canyon, just like the tour today.
After visiting the canyon, guests disembarked at the current exit area. The area where the current Studio Catering Co. restaurant & adjacent shop are, was originally a break area for guest before embarking on the second half of the Backlot tour. This break area was expanded to include an area for kids to play; Honey, I Shrunk The Kids Movie Set Adventure. The second half of the tour was a walking tour. It encompassed the current water special effects tank, an effects shop, and the existing soundstages along Mickey Avenue & the soundstages that currently house Journey Into Narnia: Creating the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Walt Disney: One Man's Dream, and Voyage of the Little Mermaid. Guests viewed the soundstages using overhead walkways. Portions of the walkway can still be seen in the park. Most noticeably by the current Backlot Tour entrance and by Journey Into Narnia: Creating the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe there are walkway bridges. Just like NY Street, due to the overwhelming popularity of the Disney's Hollywood Studios, former Backlot areas were opened up (present day Mickey Avenue & southern Animation Courtyard).
Much of the former walking portion of the Backlot Tour became its own attraction, Backstage Pass, separate from the original tour. This greatly reduced the overall Tour time. Around this same time, the entrance to the Backlot Tour was moved to the end of Mickey Avenue, with a new entrance ramp built to the water effects tank, a prop warehouse building constructed for additional queue, and a new loading area for the trams.
In 2001, Backstage Pass was shuttered. In April 2001, Soundstage 3 opened to the public to house Who Wants To Be A Millionaire - Play It! and was closed in 2006. In 2008, Soundstage 3 and the adjacent Soundstage 2 were converted into the Toy Story Midway Mania! attraction. Soundstage 1 sits empty waiting for a future attraction. Further down the street, Soundstage 4 currently houses Journey Into Narnia: Creating the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
The adjacent building, an unnamed enclosed area & theater, housed for many years an attraction called "The Making Of ______"(Of course with the blank filled in with the name of the next upcoming blockbuster from Disney or Touchstone.) When the walking tour was removed from the Backlot Tour, this became a separate attraction the previously mentioned Backstage Pass attraction. In 2001, the space was converted into Walt Disney: One Man's Dream. Originally the display area of the building emptied into the theater currently occupied by Voyage of The Little Mermaid. Within months of the parks opening, the theater became a separate venue from the walking tour portion of the Backlot Tour. The first show in the "new" separate theater was Here Comes the Muppets. When the original theater was separated, a new slightly smaller theater was built right behind it for "The Making Of ..." attraction. This is the current theater guests enter in Walt Disney: One Man's Dream.
In 2003, Residential Street was walled off from the tour and demolished. The land is currently used for the The Lights, Motors, Action Stunt Show. The addition of the stunt show caused the Backlot Tour to be re-routed majorly to go around the large stadium. Small portions of the former residential street were turned into areas for the tour's relocated & downsized "boneyard" and for the tram roadways. The addition of the stunt show also caused NY Street to lose it's arch, as the area was needed for the tour tram to turn around to arrive at the exit station. Overall, the tram portion of the tour was obviously greatly reduced due to the new show.
[edit] External links
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