You want a fix for Disney's Hollywood Studios? We've re-built the park from scratch. Today we’re kicking off a new series of idealized park “build-outs,” redesigning parks we know and love to make them feel more complete, well-rounded, and alive. Theme Park Tourist writer Brian Krosnick has teamed up with the incredible S.W. Wilson – who designs attractions and entire parks at his blog, Ideal Build-Out.
Looking forward, we’ll feature a few of Brian and S.W.’s completed parks, but we’ve decided to start right out the gate with Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
If you're on a desktop PC, what you’ll need to do is to open S.W. Wilson's large map of this newly reborn park in a separate window by clicking here. Explore it on your own, and then follow along as we walk through! Note that the map is ©2014 – S.W. Wilson with all rights reserved.
Let’s see how Brian and S.W. tackle this 90’s studio park and give it a new lease on life. Here's a hint: it starts with a name change.
Disney Hollywoodland Park
© S.W. Wilson. Click for source.
To all who explore these worlds of adventure: welcome. Disney Hollywoodland Park celebrates the intrigue, romance, imagination, and optimism dreamed up by daring minds such as Walt Disney and those like him who forever changed – and were forever changed by – the magic of cinema. This unique world is a Hollywood that never was, and always will be; and is dedicated to the dreamers that it continues to inspire. May these lands born of imagination be a source of wonder for all.
This is Disney Hollywoodland Park – a reverent celebration of Hollywood – not as a place on a map, but as a state of mind. The notion of Hollywood is alive with sights, sounds, glamour, fame, adventure, and mystery. For that reason, Disney Hollywoodland Park is not a movie studio. You won’t see or hear the term “movie magic,” and you’d be hard-pressed to find studio-rig lighting.
Hollywood is a place of enduring hope where stories come to life and viewers escape into impossible worlds of yesterday, tomorrow, and fantasy. That describes Disney Hollywoodland Park pretty well, too.
Passing under the soaring, teal Pan-Pacific Gates (modeled after the iconic entrance to Los Angeles’ loved-and-lost Pan-Pacific Auditorium), guests enter not into a film set or a studio backlot, but into Hollywood in the 1930s. “Extree! Extree! Read all about it! Spirit of optimism sweeps California! Mr. Disney to premier world’s first full-length animated film!” shout the Red Car News Boys from their mobile Pacific Electric Trolley stage in Pan-Pacific Plaza. Yep, this is a very different park.
Hollywood Blvd.
© Disney
Are you ready? Step down the authentic Hollywood Blvd. and take in the atmosphere. Sunset-hued storefronts conceal abundant shopping opportunities like Keystone Clothiers, The Darkroom, Oswald’s Filling Station, and the lavish and majestic Lillian’s department store where crystal chandeliers and ornate rotundas set a very specific scene of Hollywood’s Golden Age.
At the far end of the street stands the opulent Chinese Theatre, the park’s icon. Inside is The Great Movie Ride, a 25-minute guided dark ride through the history of cinema that serves as the park’s mission statement, cataloguing and bringing to life some of the greatest stories ever told.
Click for source.
Behind the façade of the Hollywood Pantages Theater is the impressive Cinemagic, a mixed live-action / film presentation that chronicles the evolution of film from black-and-white silent features of Georges Méliès to today’s most well-loved. This innovative presentation literally surrounds guests in the sights and sounds of film with unique 360-degree screens and effects where you least expect.
The Easten Gardens are nestled alongside the Chinese Theatre at the base of the Hollywoodland Hills. Click for source.
Once you’ve taken in the entertainment of Hollywood, relax in the Eastern Gardens, a tranquil and gorgeous garden nestled alongside the Chinese Theatre and into the Hollywoodland Hills, which serve as the street’s backdrop. Under the hill’s uneven letters reading HOLLYWOODLAND are the garden’s walking paths, bridges, streams, pagodas, and waterfalls that serve as a break from the hustle and bustle of Tinseltown.
If you haven't done so, open the large map of Disney Hollywoodland Park in a separate window by clicking here, then follow along as we walk through! The map is ©2014 – S.W. Wilson with all rights reserved.
Sunset Blvd.
© Disney
Turn the corner and gaze down Sunset Blvd., presided over by the looming Hollywood Tower Hotel. Shuttered in 1939 after a freak accident, the hotel has mysteriously re-opened. But this former shining beacon has seen better days, as The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror sends guests on an unusual journey past the hotel’s thirteenth floor and into another dimension…
The Hyperion Theatre exterior proposed for Disney California Adventure would be built at Hollywoodland Park. © Disney
Sunset Blvd. celebrates the 1930s and 1940s of Hollywood as it matured and expanded to new heights of popularity. The Theatre of the Stars (which formerly hosted Beauty and the Beast – Live on Stage) has been converted into a beautiful, fully enclosed Broadway-style theatre, with an added lobby expanding the theatre’s footprint up to Sunset Blvd. as the new Hyperion Theatre. Modeled after the concept art proposed for Disney California Adventure’s Hyperion, the brick-faced clock tower exterior of this theatre betrays its regal grand interior. The Hyperion is equipped to present hour-long, Broadway-style tellings of Disney’s finest, like The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, or Frozen.
Across the way stands the elegant broadcasting tower of Mercury Radio Studio. Step inside the 1938 studio to tour the recording booths. You just may happen upon Orson Welles, who’s reading a news bulletin being beamed to American households everywhere about an alien invasion currently underway. Is it real? Could there truly be lights in the sky over Los Angeles? Proceed through the studio and witness for yourself aboard Invasion!, a launched roller coaster into the dizzying recesses of radio and wonder.
A new on-ride photo for Invasion!
To a riveting musical score interspersed by Welles’s narration of an intergalactic attack, you’ll blast into the light and through the stars aboard the ride formerly known as Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. This sensational attraction will leave you wondering if we’re alone in the universe.
The Carthay Circle Theatre (right) is now the entrance to Snow White's Adventures. © Disney
Just down Sunset Blvd. stands the impressive and iconic white tower of the Carthay Circle Theatre, where Walt risked it all the premier the world’s first full-length animated feature film. Step inside and be whisked away into that tale aboard Snow White’s Adventure, a classic dark ride based on its Fantasyland forerunner that brings the film to life for a new generation.
If you’re a fan of the Disney classic Fantasmic!, prepare to be floored. The refurbished Sunset Amphitheater has been re-built with an incredible, daunting twisted mountain at its center and n elaborate recreation of Captain Hook's ship, the Jolly Roger, replacing the Sternwheeler in the enhanced and updated show. Count on new special effects, new characters, and a surprising new finale.
Laguna Fortuna
Absorbing the land east along the former Echo Lake, Laguna Fortuna is a new land built exclusively for Disney Hollywoodland Park. In the 1920s and 30s, you couldn’t dial a radio or visit a cinema without seeing the flawless face of Miss Lana Olivier. From her start in the industry (practically at birth) to her retirement at the ripe old age of 29, Ms. Olivier never yearned for the spotlight. Even after her characters gained her international fame, Lana preferred to leave it behind.
In 1937, she and her blue macaw Alain retreated to an elegant cinematic mansion in Bolivia to spend the rest of their days in solitude.
It didn’t last long. It’s 1942, and just five years into retirement, Lana is swinging wide the gates and allowing any who make the pilgrimage to her home deep in the misty rainforest to take a tour of her sprawling property and the priceless movie props she’s collected there. It begins in the Garden of Wonders, filled with massive and oversized relics and film props too large to fit into her home. And keep an eye out… Though they may seem suspiciously odd, viewing these massive props through magic lenses and from the right camera angles reveals incredible illusions…
Click for source.
Lana’s home, the towering Villa Fortuna, is a sight to behold with its many turrets and steeples clearly influenced by Olivier’s roles in films ranging from 1929’s Bracelet of the Gods to 1932’s Eye of Anubis; 1935’s Private, I to 1936’s La Reine de Neiges. Inside, Lana invites you to tour through her film collection before boarding a most ingenious invention: floating, gliding Mystic Magneto-Electric Carriages on loan from a friend she knows well through an organization.
On board, guests are welcomed into the Prop Cataloguing Room where she’s just received her most highly-anticipated item yet: a silver cranked film projector said to bring any film to life as never before. When the musical Alain lands on the projector’s crank, it triggers an unforgettable adventure through her many genre-spanning pictures as her movie posters and props spring to life…
View ancient film props through magical lenses in the Garden of Wonders. Click for source.
Outside and nestled into the manor’s hill is the Enchanted Aviary where macaws, parrots, and other tropical birds are waiting to meet and interact with guests. You can also tour the Tramp Steamer that carried Olivier to the mystical land.
Comments
These are mostly beautiful ideas but they still don't fix the problem of Hollywood Studios' lack of cohesive theming. What do Star Wars, Metroville, a land modeled after BROOKLYN’s Coney Island, and PARIS have to do with Hollywood?
I get that you're going for Hollywood the idea rather than Hollywood the place, but that still doesn't make for a cohesive theme. "The notion of Hollywood is alive with sights, sounds, glamour, fame, adventure, and mystery." Aren't sights, sounds, and adventure inherent to any theme park? I just think "sights" and "sounds" is much too vague of a concept.
That said, I absolutely LOVE the idea of Laguna Fortuna, and think it fits the Hollywoodland theme amazingly well. That's something I'd like to see in the park ASAP.
I really like this concept. I would LOVE to see the Snow White ride return. It was my son's favorite. The villains days at the parks are wildly popular so I don't understand why there isn't more villains themed concepts. They used to have that villains shop but then it was watered down. You've got a lot more attractions in this concept of the park which could bring more traffic for sure. I always thought there was a lot of wasted space in the backlot area.
First off, thanks for taking the time to do a little blue-sky development on a much needed Disney park. I'm sure if anyone is reading this then they consider themselves theme-park aficionados, like myself. I've worked for the Mouse at WDW and I have a great respect for the company and their ideas. I am disheartened that it appears there is more attention into developing the Shanghai park and possible Brazil park than further WDW development. I understand the global economy and making as much money as possible from a new market, but you always gotta take care of your own home. That said, I do feel that there are some brilliant ideas that would reinvigorate this park much like Disney actually did with California Adventure. They basically admitted it was built on the cheap and needed improvement, and that improvement came. Next on the list; Hollywoodland.
Love the name. Great job on that. The themed lands are for the most part ideal. I do agree with the comment above about making the black & white land similar to the outstanding theme of Animators Palette on the Disney Dream cruise ship. That area does fit in the overall theme of the park and it is bold to do black & white and that is why I support it.
Not feeling "Invasion!" Honestly, not feeling the coaster as it stands now either...just been a long time looking at Steven Tyler...and that's not good for anyone. Other ideas could be a helicopter ride over Hollywoodland that gets outta control, or maybe theme it to an existing IP like Frozen. I dunno.
Keep it coming guys!
Realistically, there are some concepts i definitely think could become a reality.
1. Hollywood Land definitely works way better as a name.
2. Love how you organized Star Wars land and even the rides you put in it, however, I think a roller coaster (e-Ticket Ride) would also work well here.
3. Ratatouille could definitely really work well in the land.
4. Wow, you figured out how to involve the Incredibles into a Park with it's on themed land also very doable.
5. The general additions to the park's theme especially the hills and the Hollywoodland sign. Brilliant.
On the other hand it does not make any sense for disney to build a brand new Muppet's ride when the last muppet movie did so poorly in theaters (this saddens me greatly because I love the Muppets.)
Additionally, I am not a fan of Timeless River. I do not think it will work very well. Practically speaking a land completely made of black and white seems unpractical. Also, I really do not know how interesting the land would actually be. Too gimmicky.
What kind of seasonal events would you have at Disney Hollywoodland park? (please so scary Halloween event)