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4. The E.T. Adventure Preshow - Universal Studios Florida

ET Queue
Image: Jeremy Herbert (personal photograph)

If Disney gets some obscure archaeology, so does Universal. It’s only fitting that this bit of trivia belongs to one of its last surviving day-one attractions.

Spielberg In The Original ET Preshow
Image: Universal (electronic press kit)

The E.T. Adventure was once so synonymous with Universal Studios Florida that his wrinkly face came attached to the logo on t-shirts. Thirty years later, it endures as living history of an era when the park still invited guests to “Ride The Movies” and every other attraction taught them how to make their own. But though E.T. even retains the original blue, pink, and gray color scheme on its soundstage, that doesn’t mean it’s a perfect time capsule.

The earliest incarnation wasn’t about taking E.T. home; it was about making E.T. 2. In the first preshow, which Universal included on their pre-opening press kit, Steven Spielberg enlisted guests as actors in the grand finale of the long-awaited sequel. Instead of an Interplanetary Passport, you’d need a pass for the closed set. “Your role in the story is to hop a dirt bike or one of E.T.’s spaceships and take E.T. home.” Like the ADA-compliant spaceship vehicles he mentioned, this preshow didn’t last long. By 1992, the story was tweaked to the more adventurous version that still thrills today.

What’s left of the original setup, though, is the second room. Now a nondescript hall with behind-the-scenes photos from the movie and concept art from the ride to come, it was designed as the entrance to the soundstage, with notes on the walls about the day’s shoot. Take a look next time you file for an Interplanetary Passport and you’ll wonder why it never seemed out of place before.

5. Gift Shops and Hotels - International Drive and 192

192 Gift Shop
Image: Jeremy Herbert (personal photograph)

The arms race to be the largest World’s Largest Gift Shop in Orlando didn’t kick off in earnest until Universal entered the fray. Souvenir outlets, discount ticket shacks, motels with and without continental breakfast. As the two heavyweights grew into the contenders we know today, so did their surroundings.

Tenants on International Drive and 192 come and go, but a few have proven as permanent as the humidity. If you want nonpartisan evidence of Orlando’s play for Hollywood fame, look no further than the Studio 1 Gift Shop on the west end of 192 or the Monumental Movieland Hotel on International, just across the street from Universal’s Endless Summer Resort.

6. Revenge of the Mummy Production Tour - Universal Studios Florida

Mummy Queue Props
Image: Flickr; user: Roller Coaster Philosophy (License)

By now, the Men In Black: Alien Attack “Immigration Tour” is a pretty poorly kept secret, but there’s not enough chatter about Revenge of the Mummy’s counterpart. It works the same way - approach the attendant out front and ask about a “Production Tour.” Depending on the day, they may not be offering any. It’s harder to land at the Mummy than MIB - this tour is longer and pulls a team member away from their post accordingly - but it’s worth asking.

Mummy Extended Queue
Image: Jeremy Herbert (personal photograph)

Thought it replaced the legendary Kongfrontation, Revenge of the Mummy brought with it a fresh, funky take on Universal’s early mission statement. It’s not a real Egyptian tomb, but the set of an Egyptian tomb that just happens to have a real curse. It still counts as riding a movie, but with a touch of behind-the-scenes magic.

The Production Tour turns that touch into its own attraction. You’ll learn about the screen-used props in the queue, the production difficulties shooting in Morocco, the advent of CGI, and even a little about the design of the attraction.

It opened in 2004 so by no means does it count as an artifact of Hollywood East, but it’s one of the purest expressions of that spirit still around, so it’s worth mentioning to anyone who’s made it this far down the list. Also make sure you study the gold coins. You’ll know what I mean.

Hulk Hogan
Image: Berk/Schwartz/Bonann Productions

6 - Professional Wrestling As We Know It - Disney's Hollywood Studios

If no soundstage was ever built in the state of Florida, sweaty men would still be body-slamming each other for sport and glory. However, the televised history of professional wrestling would look a lot different if it wasn’t for a desperate studio with a built-in live audience.

On August 6th, 1993, in a house show in Sheffield, England, Hulk Hogan defeated Yokozuna by disqualification and ended a legendary decade with the World Wrestling Federation.  An action-adventure pilot he starred in earlier that year had officially been picked up to series. He didn’t mind that it would be filmed a lot closer to his Clearwater home, either.

Hulk Hogan Does Indiana Jones
Image: Berk/Schwartz/Bonann Productions

Thunder In Paradise is a chaste Baywatch knock-off about a talking speedboat, but that’s beside the point. It’s must-watch television for any theme park fan solely because of how much they use and abuse Walt Disney World for locations. Everybody drinks at a beach bar in front of the Grand Floridian. Exotic foreign lands are limited to World Showcase approximations. One episode features an elaborate fight sequence that is simply the Cairo scene of the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular.

The production took advantage of the Disney-MGM Studios soundstages at the same time as an upstart wrestling promotion setting its sights on the WWF.

WCW Monday Nitro Credits
Image: WWE

As a freshly minted executive producer, Eric Bischoff wanted World Championship Wrestling to look big. The crowds. The ring. The lights. All of it. From 1993 to 1997, visitors to the Disney-MGM Studios could score free passes to fill the bleachers. The literally explosive opening to WCW Monday Nitro was shot just around the corner on New York Street. Sure, any fans in the audience would find out who won each title months before the matches ever aired, but that they could live with. What WCW needed was a star.

When Bischoff found out who his backlot neighbor was, he sent over Hogan’s longtime friend Ric Flair to setup a meeting of the minds. Hogan was agreeable, already tired of his 16-hour days on Thunder. Hogan was even more agreeable when Bischoff made him a very, very generous offer. By 1998, the Hulkster's contract included a $2 million signing bonus and absolute control over all of his matches.

As soon as pen touched paper, Hulk Hogan joined the competition and ignited the Monday Night Wars, a six-year dead heat in the ratings between WCW and WWF that is still widely considered the golden age of professional wrestling.

All because two other rival companies bet $1 billion that Orlando would become the new epicenter of film and TV production. Hooray for Hollywood East.

 
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