“The world you have entered was created by The Walt Disney Company and is dedicated to Hollywood - not a place on a map, but a state of mind that exists wherever people dream and wonder and imagine; a place where illusion and reality are fused by technological magic. We welcome you to a Hollywood that never was - and always will be.”

- Dedication Plaque at
   Disney’s Hollywood Studios

“Which park is better ... Disney’s Hollywood Studios or Universal Studios?” Ah, if I only had a dollar for every time I have heard that question. The fact is, they are two entirely different kinds of theme parks and both are must-see Orlando vacation experiences. Since you are in the Walt Disney World section of the o-towninfo.com Orlando Vacation Guide, you will have to explore Universal Studios later and, instead, turn your attention to the magic of Disney’s movie studio theme park.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios is an amazingly perfect theme park that actually gives Orlando vacationers an opportunity to see how movies are made. From the laying down of soundtracks to the creation of special effects, from spectacular stunts to how they animate a mouse on film, Disney’s Hollywood Studios will show park visitors the way it is really done in “Tinsel Town.”

Unlike The Magic Kingdom, which is laid out in sections called “lands”, Disney’s Hollywood Studios has themed streets that contain its various attractions. Click on any of the street names in the navigation bar at the top left of this page to get further information about the many fabulous things there are to see and do during your Orlando vacation at Disney’s Hollywood Studios theme park.

Did You Know?

• Before he was the CEO of Walt Disney World, Michael Eisner was Paramount Pictures’ studio chief. In the early 1980’s, Universal Studios approached Paramount Pictures with the concept for a $250 million movie studio theme park based in Orlando. Paramount decided the price was a bit too steep, so Universal sought out additional partners to help fund their theme park.
  
  When Eisner joined Disney, one of the first things he did was set up plans to open a third theme park with a movie theme. Some say that this is because he never forgot what he saw while at Paramount Pictures. Disney was able to get the jump on Universal Studios, opening Disney’s Hollywood Studios (then called Disney/MGM Studios) a year before the competition, because Disney’s Reedy Creek Development District, an officially recognized governmental body operated by Disney, allowed them to bypass a lot of the bureaucratic zoning red tape that was to hold up the Universal Studios project.
  
  
• Disney’s Hollywood Studios theme park is an actual working studio. Movies filmed at the park include Splash Too, Oscar, Passenger 57 and Ernest Saves Christmas. Television shows such as ER, Full House, Step by Step and Talk Soup have been shot here as well. Literally hundreds of famous actors and actresses have visited the park during their Orlando vacations including Charlton Heston, Gene Kelly, Warren Beatty, Sylvester Stalone, Lou Gossett Jr., Michael J. Fox, Christie Brinkley, Tom Hanks and Bette Midler.
   
• Disney’s Hollywood Studios was originally called Disney/MGM Studios. The name was changed to Disney’s Hollywood Studios on January 7, 2008 after years of legal battles between Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Disney. The litigation began when Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer sued Disney for operating a working movie and animation studio at the theme park and the use of the MGM name on productions that were filmed there. Later, a lawsuit by Disney was brought against Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer regarding the opening of an MGM theme park by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in Las Vegas. Walt Disney World president Meg Crofton said of the name change, “the new name reflects how the park has grown from representing the golden age of movies to a celebration of the new entertainment that today’s Hollywood has to offer in music, television, movies and theater.”