Wade’s, Ryan’s, Caitlin’s, & Heather’s Guide to Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Disney-MGM Studios opened on May 1, 1989 & was officially renamed as Disney’s Hollywood Studios January 7, 2008.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios was the third WDW theme park, the fifth Disney theme park, & is the seventh-most-attended theme park in the world.
The dedication delivered by Michael Eisner at the park’s opening runs thus: “The World
you have entered was created by The Walt Disney Company and is dedicated to Hollywood, not a place on a map, but a state of mind that exists
wherever people dream and wonder and imagine, a place where illusion and reality are fused by technological magic. We welcome you to a Hollywood
that never was and always will be.”
At 135 acres, Disney’s Hollywood Studios is the closest of WDW’s parks to the Magic Kingdom in size as well as theming. However,
Disney’s Hollywood Studios’ layout is unlike that of any other Disney park in that, rather than being organized into uniquely themed areas with clear
separations & evenly controlled flow from one land to the next, Hollywood Studios is instead, by design, a chaotic, jumbled hodgepodge of attractions & theming
with barely-discernable distinctions between one area & the next. This is an intentional attempt to make the park resemble an actual motion picture studio.
Entrance
Hollywood Boulevard
Echo Lake
Streets of America
Pixar Place
Animation Courtyard
Sunset Boulevard
Entrance
After walking from your car, or riding a Disney bus or the tram from the parking lot, you will arrive at the entrance to Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
Walk through the entrance, and you will find yourself on Hollywood Boulevard.
Hollywood Boulevard
Hollywood Boulevard, the gateway to Disney’s Hollywood Studios & themed after Hollywood of the 1930s & 1940s (as is much of the park), consists mainly of
gift shops. Hollywood Boulevard leads to a central hub. Immediately before arriving at the hub, you can take a right on Sunset Boulevard.
The Sorceror’s Hat—the central park icon—perches at the far side of the hub.
The Great Movie Ride housed in a replica of Grauman’s Chinese Theater sits behind the Sorceror’s Hat.
To the right of The Great Movie Ride & the Sorceror’s Hat (as you face them from the park entrance) is an square studio arch bearing the park’s logo,
beyond which lies the Animation Courtyard.
Echo Lake
To the left of the hub (& the hat) lies Echo Lake, which is both the name of a large pool & the themed area surrounding it.
Echo Lake’s most notable attractions are two based on George Lucas films— Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular & Star Tours.
Starting from the immediate front of the Sorceror’s Hat, go to the left. As you walk, you will pass the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular on the left.
Continue forward, & soon you will come upon Star Tours dead ahead.
Streets of America
Hang a right at Star Tours, and you will find yourself in Streets of America. Continue forward, and you will encounter Muppet Vision 3-D straight ahead. Walk around the
muppet attraction to the left, and eventually, you will come upon Al’s Toy Barn on your left. Follow the walkway more-or-less straight & you will encounter
Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show on your left (not pictured). Now, if you take a right turn, you will find yourself on the New York Street backlot.
Walk to the end of the New York Street backlot, & take a left onto Commissary Lane. Soon you will discover Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater on your left.
Animation Courtyard
Proceed down Commissary Lane to the Sorceror’s Hat. Pass the hat on your left & pass through the square studio arch, & find yourself in Animation Courtyard.
On the far side of Animation Courtyard, is the Magic of Disney Animation.
If you turn left on Mickey Avenue, you will pass Voyage of the Little Mermaid on the right.
Proceeding along Mickey Avenue, you will pass Walt Disney: One Man’s Dream (or OMD, as an acquaintance of mine who was a cast member at this attraction calls it)
& Journey into Narnia on the right.
Pixar Place
Continuing forward, you will enter Pixar Place & encounter Toy Story Midway Mania on the right.
Sunset Boulevard
Execute an about-face. Walk back along Mickey Avenue, through Animation Courtyard, into the central hub, & move toward the park entrance. Turn left on Sunset Boulevard.
All of Sunset Boulevard’s attractions are at the end of the street. Before you reach them, you will pass several gift shops & restaurants. The first major
attraction you will see is the entrance to the Hollywood Hills Amphitheater, home of Fantasmic! on the right.
Proceeding forward, you will next encounter Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster on the left.
On the opposite side of Sunset Boulvard lies the Twilight Zone Tower of terror.
You have completed your clockwise circuit through each land of Disney’s Hollywood Studios!
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