RESTORED: Studio Backlot Tour and Studio Showcase | Disney MGM Studios Attraction (Filmed in 1995)

RESTORED: Studio Backlot Tour Extinct Disney MGM Studios Attraction
Filmed in 1995


The Studio Backlot Tour was an attraction at Disney's Hollywood Studios at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. It was a combination of a walking and tram tour of the backlot area of the park.

Originally the park's premier attraction, its final operating day, after years of downscaling, for newer experiences not announced at the time, was on September 27, 2014; the ride then closed September 28. In August 2015, it was announced that the area would be used for Toy Story Land. The entire attraction has now been demolished.

Original ride
The first incarnation of the Backlot Tour loaded at the former entrance to The Magic of Disney Animation. The original tour was far longer and more elaborate than the final version. The former tour originally drove through New York Street/Streets of America. However, due to the surprise popularity of the park, New York Street was removed from the tour and made into a public walking space within the first few years of operation. It remained open to pedestrians until April 2, 2016 when Streets of America closed. After driving through New York Street, the tram drove to Catastrophe Canyon.

After visiting the canyon, guests disembarked at the final tour's exit area. The area where Studio Catering Co. restaurant & the adjacent shop stood until Streets of America closed was originally a break area for guests before embarking on the second half of the Backlot tour. This break area was expanded to include an area for kids to play, called Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: Movie Set Adventure. The second half of the tour was a walking tour. It encompassed the water special effects tank, an effects shop, and the existing soundstages along Mickey Avenue and the soundstages that currently house Walt Disney: One Man's Dream and Voyage of the Little Mermaid. Guests viewed the soundstages using overhead walkways. Portions of the walkway can still be seen in the park. Most noticeably, by the most recent Backlot Tour entrance and by the former The Legend of Captain Jack Sparrow entrance, there are walkway bridges. Just like New York Street, due to the overwhelming popularity of Disney's Hollywood Studios, former Backlot areas were opened up to guests (present day Mickey Avenue & southern Animation Courtyard).

Much of the former walking portion of the Backlot Tour became its own attraction, Backstage Pass, separate from the original tour. This greatly reduced the overall Tour time. Around this same time, the entrance to the Backlot Tour was moved to the end of Mickey Avenue, with a new entrance ramp built to the water effects tank, a prop warehouse building constructed for additional queue, and a new loading area for the trams.

In 2001, Backstage Pass was closed. In April 2001, Soundstage 3 opened to the public to house Who Wants To Be A Millionaire - Play It! and was closed in 2006. In 2008, Soundstage 3 and the adjacent Soundstage 2 were converted into the Toy Story Midway Mania! attraction. Soundstage 1 previously housed a gift shop for "Star Wars Weekends". In the summer of 2014, it housed "Wandering Oaken's Trading Post and Sauna". Currently, it houses the third track to the popular Toy Story Midway Mania!.

The adjacent building, an unnamed enclosed area and theater, housed for many years an attraction called "The Making of ______" (the blank filled in with the name of the next upcoming film from either Walt Disney Pictures or Touchstone Pictures). When the walking tour was removed from the Backlot Tour, this became a separate attraction, the previously mentioned Backstage Pass attraction. In 2001, the space was converted into Walt Disney: One Man's Dream. Originally the display area of the building emptied into the theater currently occupied by Voyage of The Little Mermaid. Within months of the park's opening, the theater became a separate venue from the walking tour portion of the Backlot Tour. The first show in the new separate theater was Here Come the Muppets. When the original theater was separated, a new slightly smaller theater was built right behind it for "The Making of" attraction. This is the current theater guests enter in Walt Disney: One Man's Dream.


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