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The Studio Backlot Tour

Image: Disney

The main headline attraction in the park, perhaps only second to the Great Movie Ride, was the Studio Backlot Tour, which was part walking tour, part tram ride through the backstage areas of the park. The tour initially began with guests boarding trams next to the current location of the Star Wars Launch Bay. At the time, this area was devoted to animation studios, where guests could see Disney animators working on the latest features.

In between the walking tour and the tram portion of the tour, was an area where guests could essentially take a break from the attraction, as it was a couple of hours long when it was first opened. The Honey I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set Adventure, and the Studio Catering Co. quick service restaurant was strategically built at the end of the Streets of America to give guests a quick bite to eat, as well as a way for kids to expel some energy in the playground, before continuing on with the tour.

Studio Catering Co.

Before boarding the tram, guests would view the short film titled, The Lottery which starred Bette Midler, and was created entirely on sound stages at the park and on New York Street. In the film, Bette Midler’s character wins the lottery, only to lose the winning ticket out the window of her New York City apartment, where it is picked up by a pigeon.

Upon losing the ticket, she goes on a frantic chase through the city streets and into the subway station in an attempt to catch the lost ticket. The scenes in this film make use of a number of special effects that were explained to guests before boarding the tram, including stunt doubles, forced perspectives, and how certain sound effects were created. After viewing the film in its entirety (about six minutes) guests would watch a couple of more clips from Disney producers further explaining how the different special effects worked, and how they would be able to learn more about how movies like this one were made on the rest of the tour.

Another pre-tram experience included an interactive experience in which guests would become actors for a scene for a movie called “Harbor Attack”. In this section of the tour, guests would be selected to perform roles including captains and deckhands on ships that were going through storms and being torpedoed. The footage would make for some hilarious moments in seeing how random guests could put their improvisational skills to the test, while also demonstrating some secrets to how scenes in these kinds of movies were filmed.

MGM original map

Original park map showing the initial location of the Studio Backlot Tour
Image: Disney

 Once on board the tram, guests would ride through costuming, various backstage areas featuring vehicles from movies such as “Herbie the Love Bug,”  and eventually move on to the New York Street and Residential Streets. While on New York Street, guests would be able to watch a scene from “Dick Tracy’s Crime Stoppers,” be acted out right before their eyes. In front of the tram, live actors would work with the city’s false fronts to act out a quick skit involving comedy, and some use of the area’s New York Street-specific backdrop. When the park opened in 1989, the only way guests could see New York Street was by riding the tram on the Backlot Tour. The area was initially off limits to foot traffic, and would otherwise remain unseen to guests who chose to skip the attraction.

Another feature on the tour was the boneyard, an area which showcased old vehicular props from a number of movies. Among the most famous items here were a couple of props from the Star Wars films including a sandskiff from “The Return of the Jedi,” and a snowspeeder from “The Empire Strikes Back.” One non-movie piece that was in the boneyard was Walt Disney’s personal plane, which he used while surveying land for the “Florida Project” as Walt Disney World was known as in the 1960s. Though the Backlot Tour has been rearranged multiple times over the years, the plane has most recently been seen from behind the stadium for Lights, Motors, Action! and it is expected to be moved to the archives in California upon the area’s complete closure later this year.

Catastrophe CanyonImage: Disney 

Catastrophe Canyon was explained to guests on the tour as an actual movie set that they were able to visit in the middle of the shoot. While the tram was stopped next to the set, an earthquake took place, causing a massive flood and explosion around the tanker that was positioned there. This scene was always one of the highlights of the Backlot Tour, and in addition to providing a little bit more action, it also allowed guests to see the details of how scenes like this one were created in movies. After viewing the scene from the main set, the tram would ride behind the set, so that guests could see how the different mechanisms worked, and how the scene would be reset throughout the day to be performed multiple times. The behind the scenes look at the set was fascinating in that guests were able to see how 70,000 gallons of water could essentially be used and re-used in the canyon ever three and a half minutes. Guests would also receive information on how the set was built, in how it was modeled after the deserts of Southern California, and how although the rockwork looked very aged and dry, it was actually built in only about six months and was intentionally designed with a more arid look in mind.

Residential Street, MGM Studios

Image: Disney

Residential Street was the portion of the Backlot Tour in which guests would be able to see false fronts of famous movie homes arranged along a typical neighborhood street. Some of the most well-known homes on the street included that of the Golden Girls, as well as sets from “Ernest Saves Christmas,” and “Empty Nest.” Older versions of the tour sometimes included skits involving an actor going into a home and exposing it as a false front, though this portion of the tour was generally shortened in many later versions.

 
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