The History of Disney’s Hollywood Studios Part 2

The Great Movie Ride was one major opening day attraction at Disney-MGM Studios, and the Studio Backlot Tour was the other. Located in an area known as the Streets of America which was mainly based on the aesthetics of New York City and San Francisco, the Studio Backlot Tour ran from 1989 to 2014 and was a combination of a walking tour and a tram tour where guests got to see sets, film crews and props from films like Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Pearl Harbor, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and more.

Once the tram got moving, the driver would tell guests trivia about the various props, including vehicles from films like Star Wars, Indiana Jones, The Love Bug and Flight of the Navigator. At one point you could even see Walt Disney’s actual private airplane. As the tour progressed you also got to see how special effects were created such as water, fire and earthquakes, as well as the famous filming locations for such shows as The Golden Girls and Home Improvement. By the way, if you’re thinking this sounds a lot like the tour at Universal Studios Hollywood, that was very much Michael Eisner’s intention. Eisner wanted Disney to compete directly with Universal, although Universal would eventually be the last one standing when it came to the market of studio tours/theme parks, as Disney’s Backlot Tour would eventually be replaced by Toy Story Land in 2018.

After you left the tram and exited the ride, you would walk through a fascinating museum of movie villains based on the American Film Institute’s list of the 50 Greatest Villains. Although you could also enter the museum from outside the Backlot Tour if you wanted to experience it minus the fire and earthquakes.

Other Streets of America attractions included Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: Movie Set Adventure, based on the 1989 film Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and opening a year after that film was released. This was a playground that gave guests the feeling of being minimized by a shrink ray and it featured giant rideable ants, explorable anthills, spraying hoses, giant bumblebees and more. This area lasted until 2016 and was eventually replaced in 2019 with Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.

But the most popular and important attraction in this area was Muppet*Vision 3D, which first opened in 1991. An attraction that consisted of a 3D film (directed by Jim Henson and one of Henson’s final Muppet projects before his death in 1990) featuring Kermit the Frog guiding guests through Muppet Studios as the Muppets demonstrate 3D technology with their sketch acts, but things of course do not go according to plan (as usual with the Muppets whenever they try to put on a show) and mayhem ensues.

Very early on, an entire Muppet-themed area was in the planning stages for Disney-MGM Studios with the original plan being to feature an attraction called The Great Muppet Movie Ride. However the only attraction the Imagineers completed for that area before Jim Henson died was Muppet*Vision 3D, and after that the plans for a Muppet area were cancelled, as well as Disney’s plan to buy the Muppets that decade, and so the Streets of America was created instead. Although Disney did eventually acquire the Muppets in 2004, and eventually the idea of a Muppet-themed area resurfaced in 2016 when the Streets of America was renamed Muppets Courtyard, as a result of most of the Streets of America area being torn down in preparation for the construction of the upcoming Star Wars attraction that year. Muppets Courtyard however only lasted until 2017 before it was folded into the newly founded Grand Avenue, an area based on contemporary Los Angeles, and Muppets Courtyard would be renamed Grand Park.

Following that Muppet re-theme, Toy Story Pizza Planet Arcade, which opened in 1995 (the same year that the film Toy Story was released) was replaced in 2016 by the Muppet-themed PizzeRizzo where guests can order various types of pizzas in addition to cannolis, meatball subs, caesar salads, sausage subs and, believe it or not, a pizza cookie.