From Great Movie Ride to Rise of the Resistance: How Star Wars changed a Disney park
When Disney’s Hollywood Studios opened 30 years ago, the Great Movie Ride, housed behind the facade of the Chinese Theatre, was intended to be the centerpiece of a park that would tell the public what went on behind the scenes of moviemaking.
Now that ride and the other original movie-themed attractions are gone and it looks like the park has been taken over by Star Wars attractions. Not only did another new ride, Rise of the Resistance, open on Dec. 5 in Galaxy’s Edge, but next to the park, a Star Wars themed hotel is under construction.
When the park, then called Disney-MGM Studios, opened on May 1, 1989, it had five or six attractions that showcased the movie and television industry and demonstrated how such elements as sound, special effects and animation worked, plus studios where TV shows and movies would be filmed.
“Nobody really understood the magic of the movies,” said Phil Holmes, who was then a member of its opening team and is now the park’s vice president. “What was behind the scenes, that was a mystery. We thought ‘we’ll pull the curtain back.’ That was the theme, old Hollywood.”
In addition to the Great Movie Ride, which featured a tour of Hollywood’s classic films, the park opened with the Backstage Studio Tour, SuperStar Television, the Monster Sound Show and the Magic of Disney Animation Tour
Today, none of the opening day attractions still operate. They have been torn down, replaced by thrill rides — Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith and the Tower of Terror — and attractions based on intellectual properties including Toy Story, Cars, the Muppets and the Incredibles.
The attractions displaying how movies were made are no longer necessary, Holmes said. When Hollywood Studios opened, that was before YouTube and other media that showed the public what happened behind the scenes. “There are many places you can go now to see how the magic is made,” he said.
And that has changed the nature of Disney’s theme park attractions, which have become more immersive. “Guests don’t want it to be passive, they want to be in the middle of the action,” he said.
Dave Minichiello, executive creative director of Toy Story Land, which opened in 2018 at Hollywood Studios, was talking about that project, but he could have been talking about Star Wars land right next door when he said, “We’ve gone from these amazing stories that people love and now we work at how can we take you into the film and immerse you in the story.”
At the center of Hollywood Studios, behind the elaborately detailed façade of the Chinese Theatre, a new ride is being built. Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway, scheduled to open on March 4, will be the first ride in any Disney park based on Mickey Mouse, who was first introduced 91 years ago.
It’s also a homage of sorts to a segment— albeit a narrow one — of the movie industry, the Mickey Mouse Shorts. The Chinese Theatre is a doorway to the attraction, said Kevin Rafferty, executive creative director, where guests will enter to see the premiere of Mickey’s newest short, “Perfect Picnic.” And then things go wrong, as they usually do when Mickey and his friends are involved.
But Star Wars attractions physically dominate the park, no matter how venerable Mickey is. That’s no surprise — the movies alone have produced $9.4 billion in revenue. That doesn’t include income from books and comics, an animated series, TV shows, video games, action figures, or other merchandise. At Disneyland this spring, 65,000 fans — many of them in costumes — showed up for a Star Wars convention.
The newest installation is Galaxy’s Edge, which opened in August. It features a ride on the Millennium Falcon along with a cantina, several eating places, a bazaar, starfighters, and shops where you can build your own droid or lightsaber. The rocky land, spiked with petrified trees, is an attraction in itself.
The final piece of Galaxy’s Edge opened Dec. 5: Rise of the Resistance, with fans lining up before sunrise to board the ride. Disney calls it “one of the most ambitious, advanced and immersive experiences ever undertaken by Walt Disney Imagineering.”
Here is what happens: Guests are recruited to join the Resistance, but they have to get off Batuu quickly because a First Order starship is headed for the planet, where the Resistance has a secret base. They board a Resistance transport ship, but are intercepted by the Star Destroyer, which pulls the shuttle aboard with a tractor beam. The heart of the ride is the passengers’ efforts to escape the clutches of Kylo Ren and the First Order, and it showcases creative and startlingly effective technology.
The attraction combines multiple ride systems, Disney said. “In one sequence, a new simulator experience will give the sensation to guests they are falling from space to crash land on Batuu.” In another, “guests will race through a Star Destroyer in a trackless ride vehicle featuring an onboard droid that reacts to its surroundings.”
But Star Wars doesn’t stop at the boundaries of Galaxy’s Edge. Just outside the park, a hotel called Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser is being built. It will offer a two-night adventure aboard the starship Halcyon that will be an immersive experience far more detailed and extensive than any theme park attraction so far. Its opening date has been announced only as 2021.
And across the park is Star Tours, a motion simulator ride combined with 3-D film that opened about six months after the park did. It closed temporarily in 2010 for an overhaul; scenes from more recent Star Wars movies were added to the adventure, and scenes from the final episode, “The Rise of Skywalker,” will be added in 2020. Nearby is the Jedi Training Academy, where younglings learn lightsaber skills.
Four years ago, just months after Disney announced it would create a Star Wars land at Hollywood Studios, the company built attractions to satisfy fans’ appetites while Galaxy’s Edge was under construction. Launch Bay features character meet and greets; museum-like displays of weapons, vehicles and movie props; videos and video game stations; appearances by Imperial stormtroopers; and shops where fans can buy products as varied as a BB-8 astromech or a $4,000 Darth Vader costume.
In front of the Chinese Theatre stand a stage and screen where two Star Wars shows play out several times a day. One show features iconic scenes from the movies and some of the characters, the other stars Imperial stormtroopers. And there’s a fireworks and laser show at night.
What will happen to all those attractions that were intended to be temporary?
“Ultimately we’re going to let our guests tell us.” Holmes said. But he hinted that Launch Bay may not be as temporary as was originally planned. In Galaxy’s Edge, he noted, set in the final trilogy of the Star Wars movies, the legacy characters are long gone, replaced by a new generation of heroes and villains on the planet Batuu. On Batuu, he said, you don’t meet Darth Vader. “In Launch Bay, you can meet Darth Vader. … all of the old stories can still live.”
When all the Star Wars attractions are completed, will Hollywood Studios finally be completed? No, Holmes says.
“Hollywood Studios is certainly in a continuing evolution. ... As Walt said, we’ll never be done. This is not a museum.”
This story was originally published December 3, 2019 at 6:00 AM.
