Looking back at the early days of Universal Studios Florida and Disney-MGM Studios theme parks

Jim Hill

10 years ago

Given that Disney’s Hollywood Studios is now in the process of
reinventing itself, I thought that it might be fun to take a look back at the
very beginnings of WDW’s third theme park.

Of course, back then, Disney-MGM wasn’t actually supposed to be a theme park.
But rather …

… a full-scale motion picture and television studio, to be located at Walt
Disney World in Florida.

That’s how this project was jointed announced by Michael D.
Eisner, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Walt Disney Productions, and
Florida Governor Bob Graham back on July
8, 1985.

Mind you, what really excited people back then was that
Disney had obtained the rights to use the MGM/UA film library. Not to mention
being able to attach the MGM name and that studio’s famed “Leo the
Lion” logo to this project.

Governor Graham seemed particularly excited that this new
Orlando-based enterprise would combine Disney’s family appeal with MGM/UA’s
cinematic history, insisted that ” … this development, combining two of Hollywood’s
most famous names, will bolster Florida’s
emergence as a world-class center for motion picture production.” Graham
then went on to say that he consider this project to be ” … one of the most
exciting business breakthroughs in this decade for Florida.”

Once they broke ground on the Disney-MGM Studio Tour back on March 27, 1986, Mouse House managers
had originally hoped to have this 100 acre complex up & running by October
of 1988.

As Bob Hope, Mickey, Minnie & Donald look on, Michael Eisner speaks
at the 1986 groundbreaking ceremony for the Disney-MGM Studio Tour.
Copyright Disney
Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved

Bob Hope & Michael Eisner try to exit the stage amid a blizzard of confetti.
Copyright Disney
Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved

Me personally, I always enjoy pouring over WDI’s original
plans for this ” … third gated attraction for Walt Disney World”
(that’s how the Disney-MGM Studio Tour was described in early press
releases” and then checking out the ” … variety of viewing and
participation adventures” the Imagineers had planned.

Take — for example — Video Theater (which would eventually
be renamed Superstar Television). According to an early project overview, this
Disney MGM Studio attraction was supposed to be an interactive experience where
” …. guests can participate in TV show segments.” Below, you can
see where the Imagineers had hoped to give WDW visitors the chance to recreate
a classic bar fight from a TV western.

While over in this corner of the stage, one lucky Guest was going to get the
chance to pretend to the George Reeves version of Superman and zoom through the
air, old school style.

Better yet, check out this early take on the version of Hollywood
Boulevard that the Imagineers wanted to build at
WDW’s “third gated attraction.”

Please note that — if WDI had had its way — the Red Car
would have rolled right down Hollywood Boulevard
in much the same way that the Trolley
Cars go to & fro along Main Street, U.S.A.
at Disneyland Park.

More to the point, actors portraying famous performers from Hollywood’s
Golden Age like Stan Laurel, Oliver and Edgar Kennedy would have been part of
the featured entertainment at the Disney-MGM Studio Tour.

This publicity still for Laurel & Hardy’s 1928 short, “Leave ‘Em Laughing” obviously inspired
the image of these three legendary screen comics used in the above concept painting.

Unfortunately for Disney, MCA decided that it also needed
look-alikes to make Universal Studios Florida’s Hollywood
Boulevard look more like the real thing. So they got
in there ahead of the Mouse and snagged the theme park rights for real-life
entertainment legends like Oliver “Babe” Hardy.

That’s Ollie on the left. And
to the right? Not Stanley
but a very skinny Jim Hill back in the Fall of 1990.

It’s important here to note why Mickey had fast-tracked its “third
gated attraction” for Walt Disney World. And that was because Mouse House
managers had hoped that they got the Disney-MGM Studio Tour built first, MCA
would then abandon its years-in-the-making plans to build a clone of its
Universal Studios Tour in Florida.
But as you can see …

… MCA called Mickey’s bluff. They not all went ahead with
construction of an Orlando-area theme park that also featured its very own Hollywood
Boulevard …

… they also made sure that Universal Studios Florida had rides (which was one
of the big complaints that people had — and still have — about Disney-MGM
Studios theme park / Disney’s Hollywood Studios. How few actual rides this WDW
theme park has) like the “E.T. Adventure.”

You know what I love about the above photo? If you look in
the background, you can see Universal Studios Florida’s Psycho house. Now
what’s kind of cool about that structure is that … Well, 26 years ago this
week, construction workers began assembling a Central Florida
version of this Alfred Hitchcock icon to serve as sort of a coming attraction
for that theme park.

Bulldozers first moved more than 60,000 cubic yards of earth to create this 22
foot-tall hill. They then built a full-sized recreation of the famed house from
the “Pyscho” motion picture atop of that mound. Not only that, but
they deliberately positioned this sinister structure so that anyone driving by
on Kirkman Road could see.

Then — at the foot of this three-quarters of an acre site
— these artisans built a full-sized recreation of the Bates Motel. Better yet,
they had both buildings built & photo-ready by October 31, 1988.

As you might expect, when MCA released photos of Universal
Studios Florida’s new “Pyscho” house on Halloween, the press back in
that era just went nuts. The wire services spread that image far & wide.
Which not only helped promote MCA’s theme park (which wouldn’t then open ’til
June of 1990) but also Universal Pictures’ upcoming cable TV movie, “Psycho
4: The Beginning” (which was actually filmed onsite at USF from June 4 –
July 13, 1990).

And given USF’s “Pyscho” house soon found itself folded into
the selection of seasonal attractions that would be offered at that theme
park’s “Fright Nights” / “Halloween Horror Nights” as both
the site of the Beetlejuice Graveyard Tours as well as the “Pyscho”
Path Maze … Well, I figured that this is as good a place as any to conclude
JHM’s newsletter photo-heavy story for October of 2014.

So do you folks have any favorite memories of the early, early days of
Disney-MGM and/or Universal Studios Florida. If so, please share them here.

Your thoughts?