On April 10, 2001, a fleet of armored cars rolled through the streets of Disney’s Hollywood Studios. And no, they weren’t hauling away all of those $35 Lightning Lane fees that WDW visitors had been charged during Easter Week (That’s surge pricing gone crazy). But – rather – those armored cars were delivering Regis Philbin & Mickey Mouse to the site of that theme park’s newest attraction, “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire – Play It!”
“Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” – ABC Television Game Show
This was the Imagineers attempting to capitalize on a worldwide phenomenon. This hugely popular television game show had originally been launched just three years earlier in the UK. By 1999, ABC had acquired the US broadcast rights to “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.” In mid-August of that year, as sort of a trial balloon, that broadcast network did a two week-long run of this game show in primetime with Philbin (Who – as that time – was co-host of Buena Vista Television’s syndicated daytime talk show, “Live with Regis & Kelly”) as host.
“Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” scored so high in the ratings that ABC brought it to primetime just three months later. And this game show did so well ratings-wise during the crucial November 1999 Sweeps period, that – starting in 2000 – this Disney-owned television network began airing episodes of “Millionaire” sometimes three, four and even five nights a week. Where as many as 28 million viewers would then tune in to say Regis say “Is that your final answer?”
And given that this is The Walt Disney Company were talking about here (which – when it has a hit on television [Think Davy Crockett, Zorro, even Baby Grogu on “The Mandalorian”] – immediately looks for other ways to cash in on this phenomenon. Strike while the iron is hot. Haul in all those Benjamins before this fad inevitably fads), the question almost immediately came up: What can we do with “Millionaire” at the Disney Parks? Is there any way we can turn this hit game show into something that the Guests can do at – say – Disney’s Hollywood Studios and/or Disney California Adventure.
Game Shows at Disney-MGM Studios
And the Imagineers said “Sure. We’ll just do what we did with ‘Let’s Make a Deal’ at the Studios back in 1990.”
Do you remember the “Let’s Make a Deal” attraction that used to be presented several times daily in Soundstage One at what was then called Disney-MGM Studios theme park back in the early 1990s? This was back when Walt Disney World’s third gate was supposed to be a working studio. A place where Guests could then see actual movies & TV shows being made as they walked through those sound-proof, glassed-corridors. Which had been built into those three soundstages that Florida tourists got to visit whenever they took Disney-MGM’s backstage tour.
This theme park opened in May of 1989. And almost immediately, Disney found that it was far harder to persuade film & television professionals to fly on down to Florida and then shoot their movies & TV shows on site at the Disney-MGM theme park than they thought it would be. And given that the Disney Channel couldn’t really afford to film its entire broadcast line-up in Orlando (Over the years, only a handful of that cable channel’s series – “MMC – The New Mickey Mouse Club,” “Adventures in Wonderland,” and “Storytime with Belle” – were actually shot at Disney-MGM) … As 1989 gave way to 1990, the executives who were in charge of Disney World’s third theme park really began to scramble. Looking for some movie or TV show that was willing to be produced inside of Disney’s brand-new, very-expensive-to-build soundstages in Central Florida.
“Wheel of Fortune” Filmed at Disney-MGM Studios
Mind you, by now, the syndicated version of “Wheel of Fortune” – hosted by Pat Sajak & Vanna White…
FYI: Those two have been working together on this TV game show since 1981. Sajak [Who – starting with the 2023 – 2024 season of “Wheel of Fortune” – has been the host of this game show for 41 years. Vanna, on the other hand, has been turning letters on this program since 1975. That’s 46 years if you can believe it …
Anyway, “Wheel of Fortune” had – the year previous – shot 10 episodes onsite at Disney-MGM. And that TV game show already had plans to return to Orlando in 1990 and shoot another set of shows. Guests seemed to have really enjoyed getting the chance to sit in on a taping of “Wheel of Fortune.” Which is what then made Disney-MGM officials think: “Okay. Let’s see if there’s another TV game show that might then be willing to be produced in our Florida soundstages.”
“Let’s Make a Deal” Filmed at Disney-MGM Studios
And – as it turns out – there was: “Let’s Make a Deal.” This classic TV game show had originally debuted on NBC back in December of 1963 as part of that network’s weekday morning line-up. After 5 years on the Peacock network, “Let’s Make a Deal” suddenly jumped to ABC in 1968. Where it then ran as part of the Alphabet network’s weekday morning line-up for another 8 years.
Hosted by Monty Hall (who served as master of ceremonies on 4500 half-hour-long episodes of this TV game show back in the 1960s & 1970s), “Let’s Make a Deal” had been so popular with TV viewers / had such strong brand recognition that – by 1989 – there had already been two attempts to revive the program. One in 1981 and a second attempt in 1984.
By January of 1990, a third attempt to revive “Let’s Make a Deal.” Only this time around, Monty Hall wasn’t going to be in front of the camera. He was only going to be a producer of this TV game show.
“I’m looking for new fields to conquer,” Hall said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times at the time. “I am committed to finding just the right new host for the show.”
Disney learned about this revival of “Let’s Make a Deal” that was in the works and quickly approached Hall & Co. By February of 1990, a deal had been struck. This TV game show would begin shooting in Florida in June of that same year and typically shoot two shows a day several times a week.
Faux Shows of “Let’s Make a Deal” at Disney-MGM Studios
Which brings us to what Disney-MGM would do on those days when this 1990 revival of “Let’s Make a Deal” wasn’t shooting. Which was that it would load Guests into Soundstage One anyway (sometimes five and six times a day) and do a pretend taping of “Let’s Make a Deal.” Guests would be pulled out of line outside of the soundstage and then taken into the soundstage ahead of this pretend taping. Where – just like game participants did during production of the original version of “Let’s Make a Deal” game show back in the 1960s & 1970s – Guests would be encouraged to dress in zany outfits. Only these zany outfits would then be pulled from Disney World’s Wardrobe Department. Which had over 15,000 costume pieces right there onsite at Disney-MGM (You used to be able to see a lot of these costumes on display when you took Disney-MGM’s tram tour).
Disney spared no expense on this project. They built an elaborate two level set for this “Let’s Make a Deal” revival inside of Soundstage One. They also installed seating for 800 Guests inside of that soundstage (So that 1600 people could then see a taping of this game show on those days when “Let’s Make a Deal” was actually taping. Shooting two episodes back-to-back. And also because upwards of 4000 Guests could then get in on a faux taping of “Let’s Make a Deal” on those days when production of this TV game show was dark and Disney-MGM was just pretending to shot an episode of “Let’s Make Deal’).
Did the Revived “Let’s Make a Deal” Work?
It was a great idea on paper. The new version of “Let’s Make a Deal” began shooting at Disney-MGM in June 4, 1990. These episodes actually began airing on NBC some 5 weeks later on July 9th of that same year. And that’s when the trouble started. Monty Hall had selected as host of this “Let’s Make a Deal” revival a young guy called Bob Hilton. Who was handsome & affable but just not up the task of handling a TV game show. Especially one that had a live audience of 800 people.
In hindsight, Disney’s desire to turn this “Let’s Make a Deal” revival into an actual attraction at Disney-MGM tanked the TV show. The original version of this television series on NBC & ABC in the 1960s & 1970s had an audience of only 200 people tops. It also had a simple, single level set of just … Well, Door Number One, Door Number Two and Door Number Three. Plus whatever was in the box that Jay was bringing down the aisle.
Whereas the version of the “Let’s Make a Deal” set than was built on Soundstage One had two levels. Plus the Disney characters regularly took part in the tapings of this TV game show. Bob Hilton – as a TV newbie – just couldn’t compete. He was swamped by his surroundings.
Quickly realizing that Hilton was in over his head, Monty Hall (who – let’s remember – was one of the producers of this “Let’s Make a Deal” revival) saw that the ratings for this TV game show were tanking and made a tough decision. Which was to fire Bob Hilton and then step in as the new host of this “Let’s Make a Deal” revival.
It didn’t help. By January of 1991 (just six months after this show had first debuted), NBC had pulled this “Let’s Make a Deal” revival off of its weekly daytime morning line-up and then replaced with a reality show which featured footage from trials around the country. Which left Disney with a dark soundstage and a really expensive set that now needed to be torn down & hauled away.
“Who Wants to Be a Millionaire – Play It!”
Back now to “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire – Play It!” (which first opened to the theme parking-going public on April 7, 2001), the Imagineers definitely took the hard lessons they learned from that “Let’s Make a Deal” revival and then applied those when it came to turning this hit ABC primetime series into a theme park attraction.
First of all, WDI made sure that what they were building inside of Soundstage Two & Three was virtually identical to what people had seen when they were watching “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” at home. The set, the lighting cues, the sound effects, the musical stings were all replicated to the best of the Imagineers’ abilities.
How Guests Played “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire – Play It!”
The one thing that was different was … Well, the Guests taking part in “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire – Play It!” weren’t playing for money. But – rather – points.
And for each question they got right, the Guests were then awarded a certain number of points (and a collectible pin that then acknowledged that this person then acknowledged that they got to that particular level while taking part in “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire – Play It!”). And if this Guest then made it through the first few levels, they then:
- At the 1,000-point level, they then earned a “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire – Play It!” baseball cap.
- At the 32,000-point level, they earned a “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire – Play It!” polo shirt.
(In the early days of this attractions, contestants were also awarded a copy of the “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” CD-ROM game after they correctly answered the 32,000-point question).
- At the 1,000,000-point level, they were then awarded an “I’m a Million Point Winner” black leather jacket. These Guests were also gifted a trip to New York City to see a taping of the real “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” TV show.
FYI: The folks at Disney-MGM sometimes changed this up. And – instead of that trip to NYC to attend a “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” taping – they’d then gift these Guests a three night trip aboard the Disney Cruise Line.
“Who Wants to Be a Millionaire – Play It!” at Disney California Adventure Park
“Who Wants to Be a Millionaire – Play It!” was popular enough with Disney-MGM visitors that a second version of this attraction was then fast-tracked for Disney California Adventure Park. A brand-new building – Soundstage 17 – was hurried thrown together in that Hollywood Studios Backlot section of that theme park over the Summer of 2001. With the West Coast version of this TV game show opening on September 14th of that same year. Just three days after 911.
“Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” Pulled from Network TV
Wait. It gets worse. By this point, ABC had effectively killed the golden goose. The “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” TV show was airing so often on the Alphabet Network now that audiences had started to lose interest in this. And by late June of 2002, ABC execs had pulled “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” off of that network’s primetime schedule entirely.
Mind you, there was still the syndicated version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” (which was hosted by Meredith Viera rather than Regis Philbin). Which would begin airing on television stations around the country in September of 2002. But “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” was no longer the white-hot phenomenon that it once was. And the drooping attendance levels at the East & West Coast versions of “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire – Play It!” reflected that.
Removal from the Theme Parks
By August 20, 2004, Disney California Adventure threw in the towel. They shuttered their version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire – Play It!” on that day. And since that time, Soundstage 17 has been a variety of things. Among them “Olaf’s Snow Fest” and – more recently – it’s been the “Super Store featuring Avengers Campus.” Meaning that Soundstage 17 is the place you go to buy MCU stuff when the lines are too long inside of the Avengers Campus.
In Florida, “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire – Play It” hung on two years longer. It eventually shuttered on August 19, 2006 so that Soundstages Two & Three could then become home to “Toy Story Mania.” Which opened at Disney’s Hollywood Studios some 21 months later on May 31, 2008.
Fun Little Fact about “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire – Play It!” The TV version of this game show had a “Phone a Friend” option. The theme park version of this game show had a “Phone a Complete Stranger.” Which meant that a Cast Member standing outside of this soundstage would then attempt to recruit someone who just happened to be walking by this attraction at the moment this phone rang to come attempt to answer that question.
Memories of Game Shows in Disney Parks
Me personally, my favorite version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire – Play It!” was staged during “Star Wars Weekends” at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. This was when “Phone a Complete Stranger” was replaced by “Ask the Jedi Council.”
Any winners reading today? If so, do you still have your “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire – Play It!” baseball hat, polo shirt or leather jacket?
We would love to hear your stories. Let us know your memories of game shows in the parks in the comments or over on social media.
This article is based on research for The Disney Dish Podcast “Episode 422”, published on April 3, 2023. The Disney Dish Podcast is part of the Jim Hill Media Podcast Network.