MGM Studios

Disney-MGM Studios entertains guests of all ages with its excitement, glitz and over the top glamour.  Here, guests can enjoy watching classical Disney characters as they are brought to life with state of the art technology.  For a great thrill, guests can take a limousine ride with the band Aerosmith.  Or, they can take a fun and nostalgic walk down along Hollywood Boulevard, where they are submerged in a multitude of sounds, sights, and Hollywood personalities from the 1930s. 

To enter the Boulevard, guests walk through turnstiles.  While on the Boulevard, guests can enjoy a wonderful shopping area filled with gifts themed to Disney characters and classic films.  At Sunset Ranch Marker, guests can dine light snacks and meals.  All the while, visitors are surrounded by the sights and sounds of the entertainment world. To add to this atmosphere, giant movie sets are nearby, as are neon lights and art deco.  Cast Members include those dressed as “cabbies,” as “starlets,” as “detectives” and as “cops.”

Guests can also visit the Hollywood Tower Hotel, which is located at the end of the Boulevard.  Here, they can enjoy the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.  As they climb into the elevator of the abandoned hotel, the lights go out and the elevator shakes and lurches as guests fall 13 stories!

In the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, which stars Aerosmith, guests take a wile ride through Tinseltown.  During this thrill ride, guests rocket from 0-60 in just 2.8 seconds. During the ride, they will take 4-G turns while riding in a car filled with 125 speakers blaring Aerosmith tunes.

Guests can also enjoy the 25 minute Disney-MGM Studios Backlot tram tour.  This tour takes guests behind the scenes of movie production, as well as a closer look at costumes, vehicles, and props from Hollywood films.  In addition, guests are able to take a sneak peak at soundstages and backlot sets, including those from feature films such as “Marvin’s Room,” “Instinct,” “Passenger 57,” “Honey, I Blew Up the Kid,” “Oscar,” “Ernest Saves Christmas,” “Quick Change,” “From the Earth to the Moon,” and the mini-series “Separate But Equal.”

Many television shows have also been filmed at Disney-MGM studios.  These include “Full House,” “ER,” “Thunder in Paradise,” “Wheel of Fortune,” “ESPN College Football Awards,” and “Miss Collegiate African American Pageant.”

Real life celebrities also often appear at Disney-MGM Studies during “star” motorcades.  They come to place their hands in cement and to participate in autograph, photograph, and interview sessions with park guests.  Celebrities such as Lauren Becall, Alan Alda, Robin Williams, Samuel L. Jackson, Charlton Heston, Bette Midler, Sylvester Stallone, and Tom Cruise have all put their prints in the cement outside the full size recreation of the Chinese Theater. 

The Chinese Theater also serves as the gateway to a fantastic ride-through attraction, called the Great Movie Ride.  This attraction showcases memorable Hollywood moments in cinema, including romance, charm, intrigue, suspense, and action.

Other attractions include the “Honey, I Shrunk The Kids” Movie Set Adventure, during which guests get to experience what it is like to be the size of an ant.  Guests can also enjoy a full-scale performance of the Muppets in “Jim Henson’s Muppet*Vision 3D.”  In this 3-D animated adventure, the wild antics of the Muppet characters are brought to life.  The “Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular” also provides action-packed thrills as the show recreates stunts from the films.

The Star Tours theme park also gives guests the opportunity to take a crazy galactic journey to the Moon of Endor.  This “Star Wars” inspired attraction combines motion picture and flight-simulator technology to send the audience on an amazing spacecraft ride.

Each night at Disney-MGM Studios, Sorcerer Mickey appears in "Fantasmic!" within the Hollywood Hills amphitheater, which seats 6,500 guests.  This presentation includes lights, lasers, water, and fire spectacles.  Mickey’s vivid imagination is brought to life as good battles evil in his dream world. 

A popular attraction of the park is the real-life film making presented by The Magic of Disney Animation.  Here, guests catch an insider glimpse into the work of the animators and production artists as they create the next generation Disney films and short subjects.
 
This tour also includes displays of the Oscars that have been awarded to many of the classic Disney films, as well as recent films.  Many of these Oscar-winning films, including “The Little Mermaid,” “Beauty and the Beast,” and “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” have been brought to life on the stage throughout the park.  "Voyage of the Little Mermaid," for example, includes special effects in combination with puppets, live performers, Audio-Animatronics figures, and clips from the film in order to tell a story about Ariel.  Similarly, "Beauty and the Beast -- Live on Stage" is able to capture the mesmerizing tale of Belle and the Beast through a 25-minute Broadway-style musical extravaganza.  This performance takes place at the Theater of the Stars.

Other shows, such as the “Bear in the Big Blue House” are also brought to life.  The ABC cartoon, Doug, also appears on “Disney’s Doug Live.”  This show combines animation with live action to create a show guests won’t soon forget.  The 32 minute musical "Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame: A Musical Adventure" takes visitors on a trek back to 15th century Paris where they meet Quasimodo and Esmeralda.  This performance is put on several times per day in the Backlot Theater. Mickey Mouse and other Disney character also appear regularly on Mickey Avenue.

The Disney-MGM Studios park also offers a variety of shops and restaurants, which continue the Tinseltown theme.   The Brown Derby, which was inspired by the Hollywood restaurant of the same name, serves its signature Cobb salad and grapefruit cake.  Buildings created to look like life-size dinosaurs and tramp steamers also serve as spots for grabbing a snack or dessert. 

Many themed dining experiences are available in the park.  The 50's Prime Time Café, for example, is created to look like the kitchenettes from '50s sitcoms.  The Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant, Toy Story Pizza Planet, Mama Melrose's Ristorante Italiano, ABC Commissary, Backlot Express, and Hollywood & Vine also offer themed dining opportunities.  In addition, Hollywood & Vine offers character meet-and-greet opportunities.