Disney World -- Hollywood Studios

Today we went to our fourth Disney World park -- Hollywood Studios (previously MGM/Disney) -- and headed immediately for Hollywood Hotel Tower of Terror. The story line for the ride (and all Disney attractions tell a story) is an episode of Rod Serling's "Twilight Zone." After walking through the hotel lobby and registration areas -- all rife with cobwebs and full of dust from being closed for decades -- you learn of the story of people who disappeared decades ago when lightning struck the hotel while they were in the elevator. You then board the service elevator which goes crazy -- up and down without warning on a random basis. Below is the photo of our elevator (we are in the front left seats.)


We enjoyed this ride so much we got FastPass tickets and rode it again later.

We visited the "Walt Disney: One Man's Dream" exhibit which traces the major events in Walt's life and career, followed by a 15 minute documentary of clips from his career. I really liked this photo of a joyful Walt with Mickey in front of the Disneyland castle.


"Muppet Vision 3-D" begins in a waiting area where the Muppets entertain you on TV sets and then you move into the theatre for a 25 minute 3-D show. All your favorite Muppets make appearances, including Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker, Rizo the Rat, Sam the Eagle, Swedish Chef, Gonzo, and my favorites Statler and Waldorf...


"Star Tours" is a thrilling Star Wars flight simulator trip to Endor. C3PO gets you started...


"The Great Movie Ride" entertains you in the waiting line by showing film clips from classic films, and then you board vehicles which take you through many of those movie scenes as the action unfolds around you, with a combination of people and audio-animatronic characters. Here's The Wizard of Oz scene...



Since this is a movie theme park and the most thrilling scenes from movies are often action scenes, two stunt attractions are offered. The first was "Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular" and they re-enacted two scenes from the film, the opening scene in the cave with the rolling rock about to crush Indy, and the scene where he has to escape the Nazis. Below is the Nazi truck being blown up and flipping over its hood -- very exciting!



The second is "Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show" featuring car, motorcycle, and seadoo stunts. This attraction began at Euro Disney in Paris and was later brought over here. The car stunts were spectacular and the split-second driving skills of the team of drivers was delightful to see and worthy of praise. In this photo (click to enlarge) , the red "hero car" is chased by the black car through a window, into a truck, and then jumps over flames and a river...



The cars are Opels that are stripped and rebuilt. Excess weight is removed and the engine is replaced with a 1300cc motorcycle engine. Three red cars were used, including one which was rebuilt so the driver sits looking out the rear and can drive fast backwards with 4 reverse gears, and another where the driver sits in a cage on the outside of the driver's door.

"Voyage of the Little Mermaid" was a multi-media presentation with live actors, audio-animatronics, puppets, and film, and retold the movie's plot. The photo below shows Ariel and Prince Eric -- and Ursula, King Triton, and Sebastian also appeared...



The "Magic of Disney Animation" traces the company's progress from Walt's early drawings through the historic Disney innovations. Walt earned 32 Academy Awards as a producer -- a record no one even is close to matching. Many drawings were hanging on the exhibit walls, but one of my favorites showed my five favorite Disney characters...


We spent 8 hours in the park today, far longer than I thought I'd be able to find interesting attractions to visit. Several attractions were closed or too busy to visit, but we saw quite a bit and enjoyed it all.


To see my other Disney posts, click "Disney" in the "labels" section in the sidebar to the right.