Disney's Hollywood Studios Part 6: Pixar Place

At Hollywood Studios, the area where there is by far the most room (and potential) for a major expansion is at the back of the park in the space currently occupied by the Lights, Motors, Action Stunt Show and the Backlot Tour. Lights, Motors, Action is a show that draws in large crowds, but it is the type of show that after you have seen it once you really don’t need to see it again. Not only is the show only held three times a day, but it also really suffers from a lack of identity since it is not tied-in with any specific movie. The Backlot Tour is a shadow of its former self. When the park first opened it was a two-hour experience, but the attraction has suffered since the park is no longer a working movie studio. The real death knell came with the loss of residential street and besides Catastrophe Canyon there is nothing really worth seeing on the tour. If you were to remove these two attractions this would create a significant amount of space for a major expansion.

The most logical thing to go into this area is an expanded Pixar Place. Pixar is responsible for some of Disney’s most memorable movies and characters in recent years. Toy Story Mania has proved incredibly popular and draws huge crowds and the new Cars Land at Disney’s California Adventure shows how immersive a Pixar-themed land could be. An expanded Pixar Place would thus be a huge draw for Hollywood Studios.

The first part of the expansion would take place on the current Streets of America. When the park was a working film studio there were actually several movies and television shows that were filmed on these streets. In fact, the street was originally closed off from pedestrian traffic and was traveled by the Backlot Tour trams. Since the park is no longer a working studio, Streets of America has become primarily a place where Guests just walk through when going from one point of the park to another. I would convert Streets of America into a highly immersive Radiator Springs, similar to the new area at California Adventure. The building facades meant to resemble those of New York City would be replaced with an array of shops and restaurants themed after Pixar’s Cars.

First, I would convert the existing Sci-Fi Dine-In restaurant to have a Cars overlay. If you watch the clips during the credits of the movie you will see a scene at a drive-in showing spoofs of other Pixar movies featuring all car characters. The new Radiator Springs Drive-In restaurant would be along similar lines:



As Guests would make their way down the former Streets of America they would now be completely immersed in all the sights and sounds of Radiator Springs. What is most impressive about Cars Land in California Adventure is that it makes Guests feel as though they are stepping right into the middle of the movie. This new area at Hollywood Studios would do the same. Here Guests would encounter shops like Sarge’s Surplus, Ramone’s Body Shop, and Radiator Spring Curios all selling a variety of Cars-themed merchandise.

There would also be a variety of new dining options. Guests could stop by for a refreshing drink at Filmore’s Taste-In, offering a variety of snack options would be the Cozy Cone, and replacing the existing Studio Catering Company would be Flo’s V-8 Café.

Flo's V-8 Cafe would be a highly-themed counter service restaurant and expand beyond the size of the current Catering Company into the space currently occupied by the Honey I Shrunk The Kids playground. At California Adventure the café’s interior is highly themed and home to Flo’s personal memorabilia, collected during her glamorous career as a singer with the Motorama Girls. Half of the restaurant is decorated with Flo’s goodies while the other half of the restaurant features a repair shop theme.

The major attraction of this new Cars area would be similar in appearance and theming to the new Radiator Springs Racers at California Adventure. However, whereas Radiator Springs Racers uses a ride system similar to that of Test Track, this Hollywood Studios version of the attraction would be more along the lines of the Tomorrowland Speedway. Unlike the Speedway, however, the vehicles would be electric, which would both cut down on the fumes and the amount of noise generated by the vehicles. While the Test Track ride system would certainly be more thrilling, Hollywood Studios already has a good share of thrill rides and the Speedway ride system would appeal to all members of the family regardless of age and have no height requirement.

Like Radiator Springs Racers at California Adventure, this attraction would include impressive rockwork complete with waterfalls and combine both indoor and outdoor elements. Throughout the ride Guests would encounter various animatronic characters and put them right into some of the most memorable scenes from the movie Cars.

Here is a look at Radiator Springs Racers at California Adventure:



With all the space occupied by the Backlot Tour and Lights, Motors, Action there would be room for a second Pixar attraction in this area, a Ratatouille-themed mini-land. It has long been rumored that the Disney Studios in Paris will be receiving a Ratatouille dark ride. In fact, some concept art has actually surfaced for the attraction:

The new Ratatouille-themed area at Hollywood Studios would include both a dark ride and a restaurant. The ride would utilize a trackless ride system where Guests would travel through Gusto’s kitchen and the streets of Paris from a Remy-sized perspective.

The trackless ride system would add a sense of unpredictability to the ride as Guests would experience a variety of twists and turns with no real sense of where they would be going next.

The other component of this new Ratatouille area would be Gusto’s restaurant, a sit-down restaurant featuring French-inspired cuisine. This restaurant would offer a more upscale dining experience for the park and its design would take inspiration directly from the movie. As Guests dine in the restaurant they might also notice an animatronic Remy figure sneaking along the rafters.

The final new addition in this Pixar Place expansion would take place in the currently-empty Soundstage 1, which is located next door to Toy Story Mania. This soundstage has not been used in years with exception for being used as a merchandise location for several Star Wars Weekends. In this location I would put an attraction that has long been rumored for Hollywood Studios, a family rollercoaster based on the door chase scene from Monsters Inc.:



Guests would enter through a queue designed to look like the Monsters Inc. factory. Here they would encounter an interactive Roz animatronic, similar to Mr. Potato Head in the Toy Story Mania queue.

From here, Guests would enter the scare floor where they would board their vehicles.

The ride itself would be a coaster/dark ride hybrid, combining various show scenes and animatronic characters along with a series of drops, twists, and turns. It would be a suspended coaster with each vehicle seating four Guests, two on each side of the door back-to-back. In terms of thrills it would be a step up from the Barnstormer at Magic Kingdom, but something that could be enjoyed by most members of the family.

This expanded Pixar Place would be the final piece of the puzzle in helping to turn Disney’s Hollywood Studios into a legitimate theme park. All the changes that I have made to the Studios are to help the park fully make the transition from a working film studio into a full-day park. Hollywood Studios has always had an overarching theme, but now it would be divided into a series of well-themed, highly immersive lands. The park would become less about how movies are made and more about putting Guests right into the middle of these movies. In addition, the park would shift its balance from relying heavily on shows to a wide variety of new rides that would appeal to all Guests. Hollywood Studios has always had so much potential and I think that all these changes will help the park reach that potential.

So concludes my re-imagining of Disney's Hollywood Studios. Up next is another park with so much potential and also a lot of room for expansion, Animal Kingdom.