The only real announcement of any substance made at the Press Event over the last three days was the official confirmation that Disney-MGM Studios will be getting a new attraction – Toy Story Mania. Pretty much every other attraction talked about was already known/confirmed to open.
It’s true that Disney-MGM needs a new attraction and the details of Toy Story Mania sound great. It’s obviously too late to make any changes. But it seems to me that Toy Story Mania would fit much better in the Magic Kingdom theme than in a Movie Studio theme. Perhaps they’re getting reading to abandon the Disney-MGM Studios theme just as they have abandoned California Adventure’s theme.
What would you like to see them reshape the park into? More thrill rides? more shows? A Villain themed land?
Anything! Probably the worst aspect of the Studio park is that there are a lot of themes around it. Where the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and Animal Kingdom have a bunch of free-flowing themes that make sense via the way they’re fit together, at the Studios, the combination of themes is puzzling (except on Sunset Blvd., which has a nice plan applied to it).
In other words, a mish-mash of themes, and outdated attractions (Honey I Shrunk the Kid’s playground? Voyage of the Little Mermaid? Sounds Dangerous starring Drew Carrey? What is this, the 90’s?), and a the fact there hasn’t been a true E-Ticket introduced in the park in the last decade outside of Sunset Boulevard… it tells me the park needs a change.
My suggestion? Take the Pixar themes and run with it. Throw in Crush’s Coaster from WDSP (rethemed to the Incredibles), a few flats to replace the aforementioned “HISTK” playground (like the Cars ride from WDSP or something out of “a bug’s land” from DCA), and maybe work on adding a water ride? I know that getting Indiana Jones Adventure is a big thing for a lot of fans, but I’d rather see a Indy ride like “Journey to Atlantis” at Sea World (a water coaster).
Finally, add something to the tram ride to make it a hot ticket again. Another special effects “disaster” scene would work, especially with Disney’s available franchises… imagine driving through a scene from The Chronicles of Narnia, or National Treasure, Tron, Return to Oz.. or how about anything involving the Muppets?
In closing, there is so much potential for a park like this, and that’s why it’s my least favorite park at the ‘World.
I’d love for MGM to maintain it’s vintage theme throughout the entire park… since Hollywood Blvd and Sunset Blvd are the only tolerable areas of the park for me, perhaps I’m biased. Mickey Ave. is awful. imagine how simple it would be to get rid of those banal character greeting locations along the west wall, add some 40’s cars and propping, and replace the current TV show / movie promo posters with something more classical.
LucasLand is an issue for this too, and this area may have to be totally abandoned vis a vis this idea, although Indiana Jones fits right into the 40’s… Indiana Jones Adventure is badly needed, and I don’t have to stress how disjointed this mess of a park is.
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