What Even Is It Anymore?’ Guests Lament Changes at Disney’s Hollywood Studios

When it first opened, the concept was pretty simple: take guests back to the golden age of Hollywood. Disney’s Hollywood Studios, or Disney/MGM Studios, as it was known when it first opened, demystified the movie-making process and showed guests everything that went into creating their favorite works.

As guests walked down Hollywood Boulevard, they were transported back to the glitz and glamour of the 1940s. What better way to celebrate that than with the Great Movie Ride in the Chinese Theater? Then, guests learned how to make movies or television shows or draw their favorite Disney characters.

If you were lucky, a television show would be shooting on the backlot, and guests would poke their heads in for a minute or two. It was an entire park that had one immersive theme: the celebration and glory of the movie and television-making process.

And now? Not so much.

With the announcement that Disney was removing Muppets Courtyard and Muppet Vision 3D later this year, guests took to social media to lament the destruction of a once-cohesive park that has since turned into Disney’s “IP junk closet.”

Guests lamented that the park’s theming is gone, and now it appears to be a dumping ground for Disney’s intellectual properties, which they have no place else to put them.

One person wrote:

It’s lost all its meaning. That’s such a good way to put it. Star Wars over here, Toy Story over here, monsters Inc. on the way, and oh, here’s a smidge of the original park with Sunset Blvd. Sad.

While the original park did not have thrill rides like Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror, they seemed to fit the park’s aesthetic. Newer additions like Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and Toy Story Land seem out of place with what the park was meant to be.

The new Monsters, Inc. Land coming to Hollywood Studios will add to the park’s eclectic nature, only infuriating the older fans who feel alienated by these changes.

Universal Studios building a theme park in Central Florida inspired The Walt Disney Company to make Disney’s MGM Studios. Perhaps, with Epic Universe opening this year, Disney will be inspired again to create a themed park that brings back Hollywood.

Until then, we’ll always have the Backlot Tour.