How to Fix Hollywood Studios

There has been a lot of talk lately about what Disney is going to do with Hollywood Studios including rumors of a $3B makeover of almost the entire park. This is where I get to do some speculation as to what I think they should do.

First off, I am not against gutting most of the place. The layout isn’t conducive to moving from one attraction to another. The Rockin’ Roller Coaster and Tower of terror have always seemed like they were tucked away from the rest of the park. This could be solved by a few small changes that would allow all of the walkways to interlink.

The rumors of the renovation include keeping only The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, Rock ‘N’ Roller Coaster, Toy Story Mania and the Great Movie Ride. I don’t see Star Tours going anywhere personally, unless they move it to a new area in the park. The rumor also suggests that there will be three distinct areas to the park: Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Pixar. I get all of them but Indiana Jones. I am a huge Indy fan but I also think it’s a dying franchise. Unless Disney plans on reinvigorating the franchise, it doesn’t make sense to me for them to dedicate that much land to that franchise.

A dedicated Pixar area makes total sense. They have done wonders with Cars Land at California Adventure and who wouldn’t love to ride a coaster based on the doors in Monsters Inc.? I assume this area would takes over the former backlot tour area or possible the animation area, depending on which way they decide to expand.

I expect Star Wars to take their existing Star Tours area and grow into the Indian Jones Stunt Spectacular area and even out towards The Great Movie Ride with the demolition of the American Idol theater. There are so many things you could do with this area. How awesome would it be to ride a speeder bike through the Forest Moon of Endor? Or maybe take an X-Wing into battle against the Empire? I also suspect they will take over the Muppets area with all the new attractions.

Now what to do with the rest of the land? I don’t know how many of you have gone into the Disney Junior Theater recently but with an almost 3 year old, I am in there all the time. The thing that shocked me is that it’s also almost always packed. I think it would be amazing for them to expand what they currently have into a toddler/preschoolers heaven. Give each of the major Disney Junior characters their own do. Give kids a chance to visit Doc’s Clinic or fly high above the world of Henry Hugglemonster. I doubt they would ever do this but after a recent visit to Legoland I can see the potential of having a whole area for the little ones.

One thing I would like to see is One Man’s Dream moved to EPCOT. I think this would be a perfect fit for the now empty west side of Innovations. They could expand the existing attraction and include all of the EPCOT plans that are currently locked up in a room behind the new Starbucks location. One Man’s Dream just seems to be a great fit for the man who envisioned a real EPCOT.

As far as a name is concerned, I like Disney’s Grand Adventure. I am not sure if they end up stripping the studio from it all together with The Great Move Ride staying but I don’t see a name that incorporates it either.

I am sure there are plenty of changes people would like to see. What would you suggest?