#1: Setting out a Studio

Published: 12th August 2006 by Anthony

Every Disney park evolves. Disneyland was originally envisaged by Walt as a small leisure park opposite the Disney Studios in Burbank, before the project grew into the huge Anaheim theme park destination we know today. Walt Disney World Resort in Florida was originally due to centre around a huge new city, the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow, which eventually became the theme park we know as Epcot. The planning, design, construction and expansion of Walt Disney Studios Park has been and will be no different, with evolution at every turn.

Disney-MGM Studios Europe

As Imagineers began work on planning the Parisian resort’s second park in 1987, even as the original Euro Disneyland was still in early planning phases, The Walt Disney Company itself was rapidly changing. New animation projects were bringing the studios to life once again and the management team of Michael Eisner and Frank Wells were looking for worldwide expansion at every opportunity. In Florida, the race was on to develop an Orlando movie studio theme park before Universal and Disney entered into a contract with MGM that, amongst other perks, allowed the park to be named Disney-MGM Studios Florida. The park opened in 1989 with full live-action soundstages and a new Walt Disney Feature Animation base, with plans and features from the park then serving to produce the initial concepts for the sister park, Disney-MGM Studios Europe.

1992 Resort layout plan from Michelin guide

An important feature of the park, and a key difference to the reality of today’s park, was the expanse of working soundstages and a full animation production studio. To be situated at the back of the new park, this massive studio operation would have undoubtedly been the largest in Europe, as can be seen from the massive expansion area reserved for the park in the above plan. The studio would have transformed Euro Disney Resort from a simple a Disney holiday destination into a fully working and immensely important outpost for Disney’s film production.

And what of the park that guests would actually have experienced? Surprisingly, it would have featured near enough the same number of attractions as our current park at opening. The huge initial indoor street set (which became Disney Studio 1) was part of the plans from a very early stage, leading to a welcoming courtyard with Florida’s “Grand Movie Palace” before you and a “Route 66 Roadside Diner” to your right. The initial plans for the park differ most from the final Walt Disney Studios Park layout in one area – that the original park would have led guests immediately to the right, away from Euro Disneyland. The Roadside Diner would have blocked expansion in this direction (where the current Animation area lies), with a Parisian version of Florida’s “Sci-Fi Dine In” next to the Grand Movie Palace fencing the area in further. Even the Hollywood Boulevard itself was to be angled away from the park next door, taking guests diagonally from the entrance to the main park.

Disney-MGM Studios Europe layout plan coloured zoom

Once in the park, guests would have been forced to continue into the area now occupied by Production Courtyard, passing the “Gangster Shootout” dark ride and “Backlot Express” restaurant to arrive in an animation area. Here, Walt Disney Feature Animation France would have sat opposite an “Animation Café”, with the path beyond this point splitting in two. To the right, the path would have led past New York Street Sets to a huge Indiana Jones area, with Florida’s “Epic Stunt Spectacular” show, a new restaurant and a merchandise location.

If guests continued straight ahead into the area now occupied by Moteurs... Action!, however, they would have first crossed a bridge over the Backlot Tram Tour’s route before coming across four large “Attraction Studios”, housing Special Effects Stages, a “Video Complex”, Soundstage Restaurant and a “Special Effects Tank” for the tram tour. At the end of this street, the Backlot Tram Tour loading station would have taken centre stage. Unusually, if guests had then turned right and continued into the Indiana Jones area, they would have directly crossed the tram tour’s path as it left the loading station. Catastrophe Canyon was to have been located directly behind the loading station, a huge distance from it’s final location on the other side of the forest.

Disney-MGM Studios Europe layout plan in full

Ultimately, the financial problems of the resort after its grand opening in April 1992 put a stop to all plans for the second theme park, originally due to open in 1995. With the benefit of hindsight, it’s also possible to say the emphasis on real production facilities at the studio would have been a problem. Not only would the live-action soundstages have likely proved hugely unprofitable in a world of cinema rapidly switching to CGI, green screens and cheaper production facilities, but the animation studio may have fallen victim to the company’s post-millennium cull, which saw both the Florida and Paris animation outposts closed for good.

Disney Studios Paris / Walt Disney Studios Park

Fast-forward to 1999, and Disneyland Paris believes it is finally ready to become a true Disney “resort” with a second park. The Disney-MGM Studios Europe plans are dusted off and the Imagineers get to work on a new Studios concept. A far smaller budget, practically no working production facilities and a far smaller footprint all go into the mix and the first plans for the “Disney Studios Paris” project are produced.

Late 1999 Walt Disney Studios Park layout plan

Infact, the only elements remaining from the Disney-MGM plans are the indoor Hollywood Boulevard, Animation tour and Backlot Tram Tour. The layout still directs guests away from Disneyland, but the entrance soundstage is no longer diagonal and the Roadside Diner has been replaced by a new Animation Courtyard. The large courtyard of Front Lot has been created for a grander entrance plaza, with two large buildings and a central fountain. Studio Tram Tour has become the centrepiece attraction in place of the extremely expensive Grand Movie Palace (Great Movie Ride), with its route now extending into the forest and beyond to Catastrophe Canyon. The above plan even shows the proposed “Jungle Ape” scene of the tram tour in the forest, and all early plans for the park positioned the loading station far closer to Disney Studio 1, which would have made construction of The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror in its current location much more difficult.

Production Courtyard shows an additional attraction in most plans for the park – a sound effects demonstration show, which was eventually cancelled later in the project. In the Backlot, early plans were barely changed for the final design, although the queue line of Armageddon: Special Effects was eventually moved to the right of the building rather than opposite the Stunt Show as shown here.

Early 1999 Walt Disney Studios Park model

The early park model above shows an interesting difference in Animation Courtyard (Toon Studio), where not only is Art of Disney Animation located much further into the land, but the building also features an extra extension to house Walt Disney Feature Animation France. When negotiations with the unconvinced French Feature Animation team fell though, however, this extension was axed.

As construction on the park was just beginning, some last-minute changes to the layout and line-up of attractions were quickly made. Studio Tram Tour was pushed further back, Art of Disney Animation was moved further towards the hub and the empty turnaround on the Studio Tram Tour was earmarked for the Reign of Fire set. The most substantial change, however, was the cancellation of the sound effects show in favour of Flying Carpets Over Agrabah in Animation Courtyard. A vital attraction for younger guests and without doubt the attraction which led to the park’s current Toon Studio expansion.

2002 Walt Disney Studios Park map

Perhaps at the same time as these last minute changes, the patch of land between Armageddon and Studio Tram Tour was decided as the location for Tower of Terror. Going completely against the original 1994 attraction’s design in Florida, where it has to be reached by walking two long boulevards, in Paris it was suddenly thrust into the centre of the park, with Studio Tram Tour moving further back and La Terrasse being built to accommodate it.

The park opened with a layout incredibly different yet surprisingly similar to its Disney-MGM Studios origins, preserving the backlot soundstages and Hollywood Boulevard, yet mixing this with more traditional Disney theme park design conventions such as the central hub (Disney Bros. Plaza as Central Plaza?) and iconic attraction (Tower of Terror as the Castle?).

Tower of Terror location plan

Tower of Terror and the new Toon Studio attractions will only serve to evolve the layout further. Animation Courtyard was originally meant to comprise two attractions, yet with Toon Studio it will become the busiest area of the park and a hotspot for more future construction – far different to the empty space envisaged on this spot with the original Disney-MGM plans. Production Courtyard may finally receive a third soundstage attraction, filling the gap between the Disney Channel studios and CinéMagique, and a full street set could lead past the Tower of Terror to more delights, possibly even a new central hub. There was a time when an indoor “Mermaid Lagoon” seemed certain for Animation Courtyard’s empty space, yet today construction is halfway done on two separate, outdoor attractions. Rumours suggest “Soarin’” will land in Production Courtyard. Rumours suggest Production Courtyard will be drastically rethemed to “Hollywood Studio”.

We’re only just entering the second chapter of the park’s history with its Phase 2 attractions, yet already the layout and ergonomics of the park have rapidly changed with every new page. There seems to be no way to predict the long-term future of the Studios, a park which has taken on a life of its own and grown on a whim. The Imagineers most certainly haven’t finished setting out this “Studio of Dreams” just yet, and, as with every production, some things are bound to hit the editing room floor...

Click here to discuss this article »

© WDS Fans 2006