On the set at Disney’s Hollywood Studios

Posted on June 12, 2019June 12, 2019 by Matt Todd

A little Disney’s Hollywood Studios backstory

I am the only family member who had visited Disney’s Hollywood Studios. That was almost 30 years ago, back when it was called Disney/MGM Studios. It was probably my favorite part of the whole Disney experience during that trip.

Back in middle school and high school, I had a plan. I was going to make movies and shock the world.* I had been studying the art of movie making for years. So when we visited Disney/MGM Studios, it was like a dream come true for me. They had stunt shows, a “back lot” tour that showed us a lot of behind the scenes technical stuff. And if I remember correctly, we got to see some animators working on Disney’s next little animated film. It was a small project featuring a tale as old of time. Maybe you’ve heard of it.

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Oh. And there was Star Tours, which was a big-honking deal.

I still have to remind my kids that there was a time when Star Wars had lost its cool factor in the public realm. It had been several years since Return of the Jedi and the Star Wars saga was basically shelved. The faithful were starved for new content. It was like we were wandering through the desert of Tatooine.

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Star Tours was like a cold, refreshing drink in a dry, destitute land. You know, it was probably more like drinking from a fire hydrant, but still refreshing and satisfying at the same time. I have a lot of great memories of traveling with my family. The Star Tours experience ranks pretty high up there.

I was a little worried

Disney/MGM Studios was, by far, my favorite Disney World experience. I have to admit that once we found out from Indiana Children’s Wish Fund that we would be going on this amazing journey to Florida, I was a little worried about what the rest of the family would think about its current version: Disney’s Hollywood Studios. What I remembered was a little too behind the scenes and technical than what I thought my family would enjoy.

Boy, was I wrong.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios knocked it out of the park. In fact, some of us said it was their favorite park in the whole Walt Disney World Resort. We’ll definitely be back. And with Galaxy’s Edge right around the corner? Holy cow. It blows my mind to think of how amazing that will be.

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Here’s a brief rundown of our favorite moments from what has become the favorite park for many of us.

Toy Story Land

Buzz and Woody and riding a giant Slinky Dog and living in a land of toys? Yes, please. I’m pretty sure Toy Story Land is the reason Disney’s Hollywood Studios is Mihret’s favorite. And I don’t blame her.

As you can see, we rode Slinky Dog Dash several times. We had a blast.

Other rides

Don’t show this picture to my mom. Or any of my old youth group leaders (we called them our youth sponsors back in the day). Since the Rock n Roller Coaster is the Aerosmith roller coaster, and we figured out where the in-ride camera is, I convinced the kids, and the other random lady who rode with us, to rock on and pose with the Sign of the Devil. We had no idea the random lady joined in on the fun.

Except me. No way I was gonna condemn myself to hell by flashing that sign. My youth sponsors and Sunday School teachers taught me well.

Sorry, kids. And random lady.

Can you find Aiden? Sure you can. He’s right there in the middle. Can you find Aly? Of course you can, even though she’s hiding her face in fear.

Star Wars

This was the moment I’d been looking forward to all day.

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Honestly? I’d been looking forward to it for much longer than a day. But that’s really no surprise. Is it? He wasn’t really a fan of me touching his arm while we were gathering to pose for this picture. He didn’t pull my arms out of my sockets, though. So I think we were ultimately OK.

After meeting Chewbacca, we…uh…ran into some old friends.

And before we knew it, we were ushered into a room with a dark figure pacing back and forth.

Kylo Ren told Mihret he sensed light in her and then attempted to recruit her to join him. As you can see, I was none too pleased with this unexpected turn of events, so I made sure to position myself between Kylo and our Little Girl. No daughter of mine is joining the Dark Side.

He tried to intimidate me when I asked a question. It really wasn’t in his direction, but he assumed I was talking to him. Because…you know…Kylo Ren is Kylo Ren.

“Be careful what you ask,” he said to me. “And to whom.”

Whatever, Ben.

We quickly decided it was time to go. As we left, he asked Mihret to help him find a spy who was nearby. She refused. And we were relieved to be away from his menacing presence.

Kylo Ren certainly had an impact on Mihret. She kept an eye out for his troops the rest of the day. That led to quite an adventure. But that’s going to have to be another post for another time.

Closing light show

Photos really can’t show the magic of the closing show, but I’ll leave you with this shot of the Chinese Theater after it was turned into a giant screen for the closing light show.

It’s Mary Poppins, y’all!

Endnotes

*How is it that I’ve been blogging since 2004** and I haven’t fully told this story of my movie-making plan when I was in high school and early in my college career? This needs to be fixed soon.

**2004? Holy cow. I’m coming up on 15 years! I need to do something special. But what?

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Matt Todd

Howdy. I'm Matt. My wife, Christy, and I have four kids and two dogs, I'm passionate about orphan care. I'm a die-hard fan of the Evansville Aces, the Indiana Hoosiers, and Star Wars. I'm trying to live life by the Todd family motto: "It behooves us to live!"