What’s New & Next for Hollywood Studios
For the 30th Anniversary of Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Walt Disney World held a media event to share some details about the future of the park. In this post, we’ll share some of what we learned, including a preview of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway, Toy Story Land restaurant, Wonderful World of Animation, and the new park logo.
The big reveal was the new table service restaurant in Toy Story Land. We already covered this in our New Roundup Rodeo BBQ Table Service Restaurant Coming to Toy Story Land, so check that out for more info. We’ll be curious to see whether Walt Disney World addresses some other known operational issues with Toy Story Land while building this restaurant.
Editorializing a bit more on that post (and the comments thereto), we’d expect Roundup Rodeo BBQ to be built pretty quickly. We aren’t privy to any inside information or even rumors; it’s just a simple matter of need. Dining options at Disney’s Hollywood Studios are fairly limited, and with a huge influx of guests, dining capacity will be desperately needed. Pure speculation, but a 2020 opening for Roundup Rodeo BBQ would not surprise us in the least.
Jumping around a bit, today is the actual 30th Anniversary of Disney’s Hollywood Studios, with the park offering a variety of limited edition merchandise and snacks to celebrate.
Additionally, a new logo was revealed at the end of a small cavalcade up Hollywood Boulevard…
Above is the new logo for Disney’s Hollywood Studios via concept art of the archway leading into the Animation Courtyard.
I’m not a fan. It just looks like a generic font ‘spiced up’ with characters from a few key intellectual properties. The animated version is better, but it’s still pretty bland.
Contrast that with the logo above, which is a variant of the original Disney-MGM Studios logo.
Personally, I’d love to see something like this. Pay homage to an old Hollywood movie marquee to reinforce the park’s theme, with a style that conveys both timelessness and personality.
In other words, pretty much exactly what Imagineering is doing with the marquee for Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway.
This is absolutely perfect, and is one thing that was revealed during the main presentation about what’s on the horizon for Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
Not a ton of new info here. The attraction is inspired by the new Mickey Mouse shorts, with the premise being that guests are stepping into an original story titled, “Mickey Mouse in a Perfect Picnic.”
Imagineers working on the project stressed that it’s a cinematic experience, and it seems like careful attention is being paid to everything from the sound effects to the scenic backdrops.
Concept art of how the ride vehicles would appear in both bright and dark light were unveiled. There are still a lot of unknowns, but I’m still really enthusiastic about this–even with the delay.
Kevin Rafferty has served as creator, show writer, and/or creative director for a lot of high profile Disney projects: Radiator Springs Racers, Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, Toy Story Mania, Mickey’s Philharmagic, Test Track, Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith, and Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage. He seems genuinely enthusiastic about this project, and it sounds like the Imagineers working the project are passionate about doing justice to the legacy of Minnie and Mickey Mouse in the duo’s first major attraction.
We also had a chance to preview the Wonderful World of Animation, which debuts officially tonight.
This is the new projection show at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, which offers a montage of Disney animated films arranged in themed sequences around magic, family, adventure, villains, romance, etc.
I was pleasantly surprised by the Wonderful World of Animation. Its runtime is nearly 13 minutes, which is only a few minutes longer than Disney Movie Magic. However, between the longer runtime and the use of pyro, this feels almost like a standalone nighttime spectacular. The editing and sense of polish also suggests more than ‘just a pre-show.’
Disney has indicated that Wonderful World of Animation will lead into Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular, and there have been separate reports that Disney Movie Magic is not being permanently retired, either. (With that said, I wouldn’t expect it to run nightly until Star Wars: Galaxy’s debuts.)
Wonderful World of Animation exceeded my expectations. For better or worse, it feels like “Happily Ever After: B-Roll.” That’s not necessarily meant as praise or a knock–how you take it will depend upon how you feel about Happily Ever After and more projection shows.
In terms of the Wonderful World of Animation, I appreciated that the show is bookended by Walt Disney-era Mickey Mouse. This nod to the past is a nice touch and appropriate both to the ‘Old Hollywood’ area of the park, and Grauman’s Chinese Theater, specifically.
I also appreciated some of the deeper cuts, and I think that was the general (vocal) sense of the audience, too. The Emperor’s New Groove segment received the biggest reaction from the crowd, and other films that aren’t staples of the Walt Disney World entertainment lineup were also well received.
Conversely, the lack of a unifying theme song or narrative through-line reduce the show’s cohesiveness. Likewise, the soundtrack is also on the weak side and it completely lacks emotional weight in that regard. Unlike Happily Ever After, I don’t think this will really make you feel anything outside of the opening and closing.
Additionally, overuse of projection-heavy offerings at Walt Disney World creates a certain sense of fatigue. From that perspective, I’m a bit surprised that the current plan is to keep all three projection-heavy shows in use at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
In isolation, I found the Wonderful World of Animation to be enjoyable, well-produced, and with enough nods to Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse to resonate. However, I cannot imagine also watching both Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular and Disney Movie Magic in the same night.
Finally, I got a chance to go behind the construction wall in Grand Avenue and into Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge as part of a small group construction tour. We went about to where the queue will be for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, which is not super deep into the land…
In the way of meaningful impressions, I don’t have a ton to offer. I was struck by how enveloping the environment is, with rock spires, outpost buildings, and environmental details in every direction. Disney has been getting better and better with this type of integrated ‘village and mountain’ settings, with Cars Land and Pandora both setting a high bar.
This is nothing new, but I’d expect Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge to top those efforts solely in terms of how easy it is to lose yourself in the engrossing world of Batuu. Directly behind the construction wall in the entrance tunnel is a model similar to the one at the D23 Expo two years ago, except with reference detail for the mountain range, and none of the actual structures. In what I could see of the land itself, the rock-work appears to be mostly done, and the finished results look incredible.
On the other hand, a lot of work remains to be done on the building facades and other architectural details. Nothing that can’t be finished in ~3 months, but still a lot. Unfortunately, that’s all of the commentary I can offer. The scope and depth of the visit was incredibly limited, with no photos or video allowed…so you’ll just have to take my word on all of that intel.
Here’s a photo of the progress from Slinky Dog Dash, though:
We had a chance to ask questions about Galaxy’s Edge…but all of my questions pertained to operations, and none could be answered at this time. I suspect Walt Disney World has tentative plans for the logistics and crowds, but I’d also hazard a guess that there’s some ‘wait and see’ fluidity to those plans until the Disneyland version of the land opens and operates for a couple months.
Personally, I don’t expect any specific details on how access to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge will work until well after June 23, 2019, which is the date that Disneyland stops doing reservations. For Walt Disney World, I’d bet on a timed entry “boarding pass” system that guests can book via the My Disney Experience app to be the primary form of entry.
Just today there was a queue for 30th Anniversary merchandise in Stage 1 Company Store (the Muppets shop), and the line for that wrapped all around Grand Avenue. Now just imagine how much worse that would be for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. There’s simply not enough space for a physical line–it’d wrap through half the park…if not all the way to BoardWalk!
Overall, not a ton of new-news from Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and all of the pressing questions many of you have about how the park will operate when Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge opens remain. I suspect we aren’t finished with news about Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and anticipate a lot of the logistics as well as splashier announcements between now and the D23 Expo in August. Stay tuned!
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Your Thoughts
What do you think about the new DHS logo? Are you excited about Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, or has the delayed opening dampened your enthusiasm? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
I feel like, with that new logo design, when saying the name of the park we should shout “HOLLYWOOD!!!!” and whisper “(studios)”
Was looking forward to the cavalcade parade for the 30th celebrations – remembering the previous parades with lots of cars and characters as well as walking entertainment. We were quite near the entrance with kerbside places. What did we get Mickey and Minnie zoomed past too fast to get the camera up. Content of some of the attractions were good but so few with a long timing delay between and still all over before you could blink. We felt foolish for getting up at silly o’clock, realised we wouldn’t be getting near any attractions due to the crowds so left and went to Magic Kingdom ..feeling disappointed. Bring back Backlot, cars stunts, Osbourne lights. Will definitely be avoiding ALL the Starwars launching.
I’m obviously in the minority here, but I love the new logo. I appreciate the clean lines and pops of color. Beyond that, though, looking at it just makes me happy. That might be a rather subjective and emotional reason for appreciating it, but it’s working for me.
Nah I’m totally with you–the overdone logos are cool and all, but there’s so many that I really like the simplicity of this one.
tom, did GE feel as if it can absorb the anticipated crowds? i know there will still be a line from the entrance all the way to Tatooine, but wondering about the land itself and what it looks like it can hold.
i’m still holding out hope that WDW is going to have some kind of crowd control in place. i agree with you, all along i feel like disneyland is the “soft opening” and they will take what works from that and tweak it to fit WDW. just can’t see it being a free for all. there would still be plenty of time between end of june- end of august to implement something. our labor day week trip would be affected by crowds, and we don’t even want to see star wars right now, so any crowd control measures help us.
I’d be interested to know this too. Hopefully it’s massive and very large walkways and areas for people to be. I agree that I really don’t think that Disney is going to have it be a free for all. Lots of talk online about camping out but I definitely can’t see Disney allowing that for lots of reasons. I think by July we will hear their plans for crowd control. lol they are helping me to learn patience
Interesting, I didn’t know that about Marvel. But as you pointed out there’s room for other things, leaving me to wonder how long this logo will even be around.
I feel the new logo is limiting and a guarantee to be changed at some point. While I’m sure that happens anyway as designs become “outdated” eventually, what happens if/when they add another expansion? With Marvelland eventually coming to Paris, and End Game’s massive success, I think it is only a matter of time before we see Marvelland on US soil. In my personal opinion (which obviously doesn’t matter) Marvelland makes the most sense in HS, I know Guardians of the Galaxy will already be in Epcot, but still. So then you have a logo featuring only 3 of 4 elements to the park? Back to my main point, I just think it is very limiting to the HS future.
Disney will never be able to use Marvel in Orlando because Universal Studios has the rights to Marvel east of the Mississippi. They are building Marvel in California, Paris, and Hong Kong. My guess is that they might do an Incredibles Land at HS to get that superhero fix in Orlando.
I thought it was for certain characters that are in the Universal Park. Guardians is Marvel and coming to Epcot. I think what characters they can’t use are Iron Man and Hulk among the few. I also know they can’t use the term Marvel in either US based park for sure. I think there is some term verbiage that says if a character is part of a group i.e Avengers they can’t be used either (Captain America being biggest name not available to use due to Avengers)
The more love we give Emperor’s New Groove the greater the possibility we get “Pull the Lever, Kronk – Yzma’s Groovin Peruvian Coaster”. Can’t wait to see the show in June!
I wonder if Disney has really thought about what this park really means to them , the customers and how it fits in with everything else. Originally built as a night only experience for the few , then rushed to complete with Universal, over the years it seems to have become a bit of a mess. Universal has stuck to their plan that you are there to “ride” the movies.
I’m curious what types of operational questions you asked?
Did you ask anything that caught them off guard, or did it at least seem like Disney has been giving managing the flow of people into the new land a lot of thought?
Thank you!
The same kind of questions that we’ve speculated on here: crowd flow, capacity, entering the park, entering the land, etc.
When it comes to events like these, Disney sends out the most media savvy reps. They aren’t flatfooted on any questions nor do they divulge anything they don’t want to share.
Oh I’m sure they are working hard trying to figure it all out. It’s frustrating for everyone else because not much information is coming out from Disney and that makes it hard for us all to plan our trips. I think they really just don’t know yet. Disneyland is definitely the guinea pig on this.
The new HS sign is OK. However it seems WDW is getting more and more away from the Disney of old with the carton stuff and going more towards the generic. This can be seen in the new resorts being built. It is a shame but not much us common folk can do about it. They should drape Star Wars with the Osbourne Lights. LOL. David..
I watched the anniversary celebration live and wasn’t too impressed. I’m super excited for MMRR and am sad it was delayed but better for them to not rush it and we will be back in 2021. I was hoping for much more in announcements so was disappointed. Probably years away if ever but I’m hoping for an announcement for something like Incredibles Land and/or Monsters Inc Land there.
I also expected a lot more in terms of announcements than just a new logo. Hopefully we get more–but I wouldn’t expect Incredibles or Monsters, necessarily.
I actually went to HS and stood outside for an hour to see the “big” announcement in person…what a let down! There were supposed to be “celebrities” and a big parade. What we got were the Indiana Jones stunt show performers and a couple of Disney princesses. The park was too crowded to ride anything after the “parade” so I just ended up going back home. And don’t get me started on the “big” announcement – a logo change?! I can’t decide if the marketing team for this event was brilliant or unpardonably cruel – haha!
Oh man! I was so sad for all of you standing around in the crowd for that! I’ve decided I’m never watching anything live for Disney again. Even watched the dumb live thing at Star Wars Celebration and ooo look at these shiny Coca Cola bottles Learned my lesson lol
The logo is a disappointment compared to the Mickey on the Disney-MGM Studios Logo. I love the Mickey logos where Mickey wears an outfit that matches the theme such as vintage Fort Wilderness logo.