Tag: Disney's Hollywood Studios

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Some Assembly Required: 10 Memorable Moments when Disney Animatronics Froze, Burned, and Lost Their Heads

Like all Disney Parks fans, we love Audio-Animatronics.

That’s why we created a must-read list of the 25 Best Audio-Animatronics on Earth, celebrating the essential role that Disney’s greatest invention plays in the parks today. Make no mistake – these complex, dynamic, sensational figures have been cutting-edge since their debut in 1963. And like all technological marvels, they don’t always work the way they’re supposed to…

For Imagineering fans, the only thing more amazing than watching one of Disney’s Animatronic marvels work is catching one when it doesn’t. Thanks to the age of the Internet, fans’ cameras are ready at every moment to capture the slightest crack in Disney’s shell of immersive show. That’s why we’re able to curate this countdown of 10 misfiring, malfunctioning Audio-Animatronics across Disney Parks, offering a fascinating glimpse into Disney’s rare failures and flubs… 

Stories in the Extra Features and Special Features collections of Park Lore are all about connections – they’re the threads that interlace between the Lost Legends, Declassified Disasters, Modern Marvels, and Possibilitylands you’ll find in our Main Collections. In other words, these features are for people who really want to dig deep.



This article and hundreds more are available for Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Members who help support this ad-free, clickbait-free, quality-over-quantity collection with a monthly membership. Park Lore Members can access more than a hundred Member-exclusive articles, unlock rare concept art and construction photos in every story, stream audio across the site, tune into podcast exclusives, and receive an annual member card and merch in the mail!

If you choose to join Park Lore’s community of Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Members, you’ll instantly unlock this story (and of course, a lot more). You can learn more about joining and supporting Park Lore (and browse all the available Extras and Special Features) in the “Memberships & Perks” menu above. If you can’t afford a Pass, please contact us; we’ll make some magic happen.


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8 “What Were They Thinking?” Disney Parks Mistakes We’re Happy to Forget

There are plenty of fan-favorite attractions that have come and gone from Disney Parks. In fact, our Lost Legends series was compiled just for super-fans to dig into the histories of beloved closed classics… But sometimes, even Imagineering can make a mistake… a big one. No, we’re not talking about regrettable Declassified Disasters like Stitch’s Great Escape, Superstar Limo, or Journey into YOUR Imagination.

We’re talking about giant eyesores, sorry icons, and big bad decisions that we just can’t believe happened to begin with. Check out these eight massive features that we’re glad to have seen removed in our lifetime.

Stories in the Extra Features and Special Features collections of Park Lore are all about connections – they’re the threads that interlace between the Lost Legends, Declassified Disasters, Modern Marvels, and Possibilitylands you’ll find in our Main Collections. In other words, these features are for people who really want to dig deep.



This article and hundreds more are available for Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Members who help support this ad-free, clickbait-free, quality-over-quantity collection with a monthly membership. Park Lore Members can access more than a hundred Member-exclusive articles, unlock rare concept art and construction photos in every story, stream audio across the site, tune into podcast exclusives, and receive an annual member card and merch in the mail!

If you choose to join Park Lore’s community of Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Members, you’ll instantly unlock this story (and of course, a lot more). You can learn more about joining and supporting Park Lore (and browse all the available Extras and Special Features) in the “Memberships & Perks” menu above. If you can’t afford a Pass, please contact us; we’ll make some magic happen.


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Mini to Massive: How Disney’s BIGGEST (and Smallest) Parks Measure Up

Discerning Disney Parks fans are known to critique and analyze all aspects of the parks they love: their style, their stories, their smarts… But what about their size? From miniscule to massive, Disney Parks come in all shapes and sizes… but does size matter?

On our cross-continental tour today, we’ll stop by each of the 12 Disney Parks on Earth to take their measurements. Sometimes, Disney’s official numbers don’t quite add up… That’s why we’ve used simple acreage calculator maps when we need to to get closer to the real figures about just how big (or not) these parks are. Our ultimate agreement? We measure the simplest shape of a park – including its showbuildings and behind-the-scenes facilities – but excluding parking lots and empty expansion pads (which you’d think Disney would exclude, too, but they don’t always). 

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From Big to GARGANTUAN, These are the Enormous Showbuildings You Never See

What do an off-roading ride through the last minutes of the Cretaceous and “the happiest cruise that ever set sail” have in common? Not a whole lot. But like so many of Disney and Universal’s E-Ticket adventures, one thing they do share is the kind of building in which they take place. Most of the industry’s leading, anchoring, epic attractions take place in enormous soundstage-style warehouses – called “showbuildings” in Disney-speak – that are (to varying degrees of success) completely hidden from the view of Guests.

Stories in the Extra Features and Special Features collections of Park Lore are all about connections – they’re the threads that interlace between the Lost Legends, Declassified Disasters, Modern Marvels, and Possibilitylands you’ll find in our Main Collections. In other words, these features are for people who really want to dig deep.



This article and hundreds more are available for Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Members who help support this ad-free, clickbait-free, quality-over-quantity collection with a monthly membership. Park Lore Members can access more than a hundred Member-exclusive articles, unlock rare concept art and construction photos in every story, stream audio across the site, tune into podcast exclusives, and receive an annual member card and merch in the mail!

If you choose to join Park Lore’s community of Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Members, you’ll instantly unlock this story (and of course, a lot more). You can learn more about joining and supporting Park Lore (and browse all the available Extras and Special Features) in the “Memberships & Perks” menu above. If you can’t afford a Pass, please contact us; we’ll make some magic happen.


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13 Abandoned, Broken, and Canceled Special Effects at Disney Parks

Since the earliest days of Disneyland, Walt and his designers set out to wow guests by making the unimaginable real. From singing birds to zooming through the stars; haunted ballrooms to the depths of the jungle, Disney Parks are all about dazzling guests with inexplicable effects. That’s why we took an in-depth look at 10 “How’d They Do That?” Special Effects that STILL Amaze Us to celebrate how Imagineering’s tricks – from simple to astounding – make all the difference.

But for fans of Imagineering, there’s only one thing more interesting than a special effect that works: a special effect that doesn’t. So today, we’ve created a special list to explore a “lucky” 13 special effects that just didn’t work. Broken, malfunctioning, abandoned, or removed, these almost-amazing moments simply didn’t work out the way designers had hoped… And since Disney’s designers tend to have smart solutions, you may not have even noticed when these effects simply disappeared, were replaced, or were left broken in plain sight! 

Stories in the Extra Features and Special Features collections of Park Lore are all about connections – they’re the threads that interlace between the Lost Legends, Declassified Disasters, Modern Marvels, and Possibilitylands you’ll find in our Main Collections. In other words, these features are for people who really want to dig deep.



This article and hundreds more are available for Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Members who help support this ad-free, clickbait-free, quality-over-quantity collection with a monthly membership. Park Lore Members can access more than a hundred Member-exclusive articles, unlock rare concept art and construction photos in every story, stream audio across the site, tune into podcast exclusives, and receive an annual member card and merch in the mail!

If you choose to join Park Lore’s community of Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Members, you’ll instantly unlock this story (and of course, a lot more). You can learn more about joining and supporting Park Lore (and browse all the available Extras and Special Features) in the “Memberships & Perks” menu above. If you can’t afford a Pass, please contact us; we’ll make some magic happen.


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The Backstage Studio Tour: Behind the Screens of the Death of the Disney-MGM Studios

Not every attraction is destined for greatness. Not every attraction stands the test of time. We’ve seen tone-deaf “upgrades,” character overlays, fried technologies, and outright embarassments turn fan-favorites into Declassified Disasters. 

But even standing aside unfortunate disasters like Stitch’s Great Escape, DisneyQuest, and the Rocket Rods, there may be no attraction on Earth that serves as a bigger symbol of an entire park’s gradual decline in concept and quality than the Backstage Studio Tour – the multi-hour mega-attraction meant to headline the Disney-MGM Studios that signalled its downfall instead.

Image: Disney

In fact, the 25-year life of this doomed attraction mirrors the unthinkable reality faced by Disney’s designers: their studio park was not going to survive. Today, we’ll go backstage on the Backstage Studio Tour to see its lofty ambitions… and to see how its decline mirrors the abandonment of the park’s purpose. Even Disney’s most eager fans may be surprised at the tumultuous history of this disastrous ride…

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The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror: Beyond the Fifth Dimension in the Hollywood Tower Hotel

You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension: a dimension of sound; a dimension of sight; a dimension of mind. You’re moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas; you’ve just crossed over into… The Twilight Zone.

Looming over the movie palaces and marketplaces of Sunset Blvd. stands a lost icon; the lightning-scarred shell of the once-glamorous Hollywood Tower Hotel. Its neon sign sparking, this decripid, imposing tower may not look like a beacon for the showbusiness elite, but something is indeed about to happen that will change all that.

Though guests may have quickly abandoned this supernaturally haunted hotel on Halloween Night, 1939, a new generation of visitors flock to its misty grounds today, eager to take on one of the most spectacular Modern Marvels in all of Disney Parks history.

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“PLUS IT!” The Top 10 Best Results from Imagineers “Plussing” Modern Rides

Walt Disney believed that his parks would never be complete so long as there was imagination left in the world. That didn’t just apply to new additions. Walt reportedly would walk through Disneyland Park telling Cast Members to “plus it!” What he meant was that there are always changes – big and small – that could drastically improve an attraction for guests.

Stories in the Extra Features and Special Features collections of Park Lore are all about connections – they’re the threads that interlace between the Lost Legends, Declassified Disasters, Modern Marvels, and Possibilitylands you’ll find in our Main Collections. In other words, these features are for people who really want to dig deep.



This article and hundreds more are available for Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Members who help support this ad-free, clickbait-free, quality-over-quantity collection with a monthly membership. Park Lore Members can access more than a hundred Member-exclusive articles, unlock rare concept art and construction photos in every story, stream audio across the site, tune into podcast exclusives, and receive an annual member card and merch in the mail!

If you choose to join Park Lore’s community of Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Members, you’ll instantly unlock this story (and of course, a lot more). You can learn more about joining and supporting Park Lore (and browse all the available Extras and Special Features) in the “Memberships & Perks” menu above. If you can’t afford a Pass, please contact us; we’ll make some magic happen.


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Wild Sightings: 10 Places to Spot Disney and Universal Animatronics “In the Wild” and Outside of Rides

In an era of screens, special effects, and projection mapping, there may still be nothing more sensational for theme park fans than an encounter with a good, old-fashioned animatronic. Since the technology’s debut in 1963, Audio-Animatronics have become industry-standard storytelling tools, bringing to life everything from pirates to princesses; dinosaurs to dragons. That’s why our must-read Countdown: 25 Best Animatronics on Earth feature is one of the most-read Extras here at Park Lore, celebrating the most astounding animatronic encounters on E-Ticket attractions the world over.

But for those who prefer to keep their feet on the ground, a number of well-known animatronic figures are scattered across theme park paths, simply there to expand the worlds of “yesterday, tomorrow, and fantasy” and present one-of-a-kind encounters outside of the parks’ rides and attractions.

Stories in the Extra Features and Special Features collections of Park Lore are all about connections – they’re the threads that interlace between the Lost Legends, Declassified Disasters, Modern Marvels, and Possibilitylands you’ll find in our Main Collections. In other words, these features are for people who really want to dig deep.



This article and hundreds more are available for Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Members who help support this ad-free, clickbait-free, quality-over-quantity collection with a monthly membership. Park Lore Members can access more than a hundred Member-exclusive articles, unlock rare concept art and construction photos in every story, stream audio across the site, tune into podcast exclusives, and receive an annual member card and merch in the mail!

If you choose to join Park Lore’s community of Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Members, you’ll instantly unlock this story (and of course, a lot more). You can learn more about joining and supporting Park Lore (and browse all the available Extras and Special Features) in the “Memberships & Perks” menu above. If you can’t afford a Pass, please contact us; we’ll make some magic happen.


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Disney’s 10 Most Outrageously High-Capacity Rides

Safety, courtesy, show, and efficiency. Any Disney Cast Member can recite these Four Keys to exceptional guest service… And while the first three are deeply tied to Disney’s identity, the last – efficiency – is certainly not least. An estimated 60,000 people per day visit Magic Kingdom, and at some point, you’re likely to end up at the back of a line behind many of them. That’s when a very important number – capacity – matters.

Stories in the Extra Features and Special Features collections of Park Lore are all about connections – they’re the threads that interlace between the Lost Legends, Declassified Disasters, Modern Marvels, and Possibilitylands you’ll find in our Main Collections. In other words, these features are for people who really want to dig deep.



This article and hundreds more are available for Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Members who help support this ad-free, clickbait-free, quality-over-quantity collection with a monthly membership. Park Lore Members can access more than a hundred Member-exclusive articles, unlock rare concept art and construction photos in every story, stream audio across the site, tune into podcast exclusives, and receive an annual member card and merch in the mail!

If you choose to join Park Lore’s community of Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Members, you’ll instantly unlock this story (and of course, a lot more). You can learn more about joining and supporting Park Lore (and browse all the available Extras and Special Features) in the “Memberships & Perks” menu above. If you can’t afford a Pass, please contact us; we’ll make some magic happen.


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