Remember the Epcot original artwork series of articles i did recently? Well, the same day i was at WDW photo library during the 25th anniversary press event, i also had the good idea to ask them some material about the Disney MGM Studios - which they delivered to me after approval of WDW Imagineering. Now, with the digital era we are living in i'm not sure it will still be possible to have access to the photo library, but in those days of the end of the 90's, everybody was still using slides...
So, here is the part one of this Disney MGM Studios celebration, with lot of original artwork, and probably many that you will see for the first time. The first one below is of course a park overview, without the Sunset Boulevard which will be added later.
Next one is another one showing the whole park, from a different angle, and probably an early concept...
...just like this one, showing the soundstage and support buildings.
This one show the Hollywood Boulevard...
And on this one we can see a "Pooh Hollywood corner"...was the shop really built? I'm not sure, but tell me if i'm wrong...
This next one is a bird eye view of the Indiana Jones epic stunt spectacular building.
And this rendering show the final explosion scene.
Now, here are some interesting renderings, as i think - once again, please correct me if my wrong - that they're showing never realised attractions. And the one below show a kind of "filming tour" where guests would have been able to look behind windows to the real shooting of a movie - just like in the animation tour you were able to watch Disney artists working.
Here is another one, probably from the same concept.
Does anyone know to which attraction this next one is related - it seems to be the shooting of a tv show...
As well as this one, maybe the preshow of the one above...
The caption on the slide for the one below is: "Sounds effects theatre"
This one is for the Tram Tour on the New York street.
And here are three renderings for the Catastrophe canyon scene.
Next, is a rendering for the Honey i shrunk the kids playground.
And here is a picture of the model, with two WDI imagineers...
And another photo, shot during the making of the HISTK playground.
This last rendering is also related to an attraction based on the Honey i shrunk the kids movie, and i don't remember if it was finally built or not...i think it was - or is it not? Anybody knows?
Don't miss the part two coming soon, with a tribute to the Great Movie ride and the Chinese Theater replica!
The Pooh's Hollywood Shop was built and does exist. It just wasn't themed to Pooh. It's the more adult/high-end shop, Keystone Clothiers. This is the view of it that you see if standing in the "hub" of the park and look toward the entrance. I believe Mickey is on the sign over the entrance in an art deco design. I can't be certain that the sign says "Keystone Clothiers" on this side of the building because some of the Hollywood Blvd. stores have multiple marquees out front to match the street facades, but are one big store within.
ReplyDeleteThe shot where people see into a sound stage also were built. They were from the walking part of the studio tour. When the park first opened, you took the tram tour and then walked through the soundstages to possibly view a real working production. I saw the Mickey Mouse Club set here once, although they weren't filming. I also saw some sci-fi type set in the mid-90s. Over time, as less and less was filmed, this tour became less and less interesting to guests. It's now the home of the soon-to-open Toy Story Mania.
The next shot, featuring the director chair, also seems from the walking portion of the tour. It reminds me of the sections where they taught you about special effects. For instance, they used to strap a kid onto the bee from the Honey I Shrunk the Kid movie and put it into real footage from the film--your last picture of this post.
The stage/sitcom sets were from Superstar Television. This includes them filming on a stage with an audience to the left, and the following shot where you look over the heads of the audience to the stage. This wasn't the pre-show--the monitors above the audience were used to show the footage of the selected guests who acted out sitcom roles on the stage. Those video taped segments were then spliced into real sitcom clips of the day. This theater is now being converted into an American Idol show. It also housed briefly a stage show based upon the animated series Doug. Since 2001 or so, it has been closed, only reopening to hold special events (Star Wars weekends, ESPN the Weekend, ABC preview, etc.). One more note: when it opened, the theater/attraction was sponsored by SONY. When that ended, it became the ABC theater. Now it will be simply themed to American Idol.
The sound effects theater went through many iterations, but that's basically how if looked at first. Guests were invited on-stage to add foley effects to some existing footage. It too was sponsored by Sony; the two attractions are next door to each other, near Echo Lake.
Don't remember the shop but the attactions were built. The filming tour was part of the backstage tour (don't remember the actual name). If I recalled correctly, the tour started with the tram portion and eventually unloaded near what is (used to be) the Studio Catering Company. The tour proceeded through the a sound stage that contained the ant from Honey I Shrunk the Audience and from there one eventually walked above the soundstages and was able to peek at the shows being produced (I remember the new Mickey Mouse Club). The images from the audience watching a show being filmed is probably Superstar Television. I believe that the original name for the sound show was the "Monster Sound Show".
ReplyDeleteSure like the Poogh Hollywood Corner.Elaine cooke
ReplyDeleteGreat artwork!
ReplyDeleteLike posted above, everything in the artwork was in the park at one time. I remember seeing all of it in person. It's unfortunate most of it is no longer there. The park is less and less "Studios" and more and more park. :(
ReplyDeleteHello, Alain, here. I want to thanks all of you for providing these infos. It's a long time since i've been at the Studios, and i didn't remember everything. So, thank you so much for your help!
ReplyDeleteFor reference, thousands of my D/MGM Studios photos here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.disneyfans.com/photos/WaltDisneyWorld/
Eventually, the walking tour was split from the tram tour and became a separate attraction called "Backstage Pass". In 2001, the first stop was the "Jim Henson Creature Shop", featuring animatronic puppies from "101 Dalmations". The second stop was the Home Improvement set. This replaced the bee from Honey and instead of pulling a kid out of the audience, an adult male (usually) was pulled down to play Al Borland. The soundstages featured the TV Show "Sheena The Warrior Princess", starring Geena Lee Nolan (a big hit with the dads), the Millionaire attraction, and ended with an up close look at the 101 Dalmations house set.
ReplyDeleteSadly, it closed in fall of 2001 after 9.11.
Sure loved your exploson scene. Elaine Cooke
ReplyDelete