Movies are amazing, there’s no doubt about that. In less than three or four hours you can travel the world, go backwards or forwards in time, or explore a completely different world altogether, meeting some incredible characters along the way. But what if you could really step inside some of your favourite films? Well, once in the history of Walt Disney World Florida that was possible, on The Great Movie Ride.
Formerly located at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, this unique opening day dark ride took guests on a tour through the history of cinema, allowing you to come up close and personal with your favourite movie characters using a mix of actors and animatronics, and earning its place in the hearts of many guests over its twenty-eight year operation. My name is Lily, and I’ll be your tour guide today as we explore the magical history of the Great Movie Ride, so keep your hands arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times… because it’s showtime! Action!
The EPCOT Concept
The nine Future World pavilions of EPCOT Center were icons of the Disney parks, and bringing to life the magic and science of imagination, communication, transport, health, innovation, the ocean, the land, and of course predictions for the 21st Century. But in some of the first concepts for theme park EPCOT (after the city idea was shelved!) there was meant to be a 10th pavilion!
This proposed attraction would show guests the magic of cinema and film production, complete with a dark ride and a real-life cinema production area. As the blue-sky stage went on and ideas grew and expanded, it was decided that the plans were simply too big for a pavilion or even a themed land, and the concept became its own major theme park!
Future World, as well as World Showcase, were unable to be completed in time for EPCOT Center’s grand opening in October of 1982, with new pavilions opening throughout the 80s, and in the same year Future World’s ninth and final pavilion, Wonders of Life, made its debut, Walt Disney World received its third park, with a new way for guests to become part of the magic.
At first, the new-for-1989 theme park was intended to be a half day park, something for guests to do when they have finished at Typhoon Lagoon or other attractions, but like the Epcot pavilion, the ideas just kept growing. With the imaginations of then-company-presidents Michael Eisner and Frank Wells , along with the Imagineers, the park grew and obtained new rides and experiences, until it was a force to be reckoned with beside Magic Kingdom, EPCOT Center, and later, Animal Kingdom.
Disney-MGM Studios opened its doors on 1st May, 1989, and welcomed guests into the magic of movie making while allowing them to step inside their favourite cinematic adventures. Surrounding the stunning Echo Lake and featuring real, functioning production studios, its no wonder this park was such a success, despite having just three main attractions on opening day. One of these was The Great Movie Ride, and quickly became one of the most popular rides at the park, utilising technology that at the time was pretty new, and creating a timeless experience that, even today, very few attractions can master.
A Ride Through the Movies
In order to visualise just what The Great Movie Ride was like (if you never got the chance to ride or haven’t seen a POV!), imagine Jaws The Ride or Jungle Cruise, then place it indoors, replace the boats with travelling theatre ride vehicles. And, instead of looking out for sharks, elephants or temples that lead to adventure, you’re looking out for characters from all your favourite classic movies.
Guests would enter a replica of Hollywood’s Chinese Theater and (after a relatively long queue- it is Disney, after all!) board their ride vehicle, seated in rows of about 4 or 5. Your tour guide would welcome you to the attraction and, after a few moments, let you in on the secret that this will be ordinary tour- as the ride brings movies to life and places you right in the middle of the action!
As you pass under a neon sign introducing you to the attraction, you would enter the world of musicals, passing by iconic scenes from Footlight Parade, Singin’ In the Rain and Mary Poppins, all presented by some pretty cool audio-animatronics. Footlight Parade utilised animatronic technology the most- which led to a LOT of technical issues eventually resulted in several modifications being made to the segment to ensure the magic was disrupted as little as possible.
Once the musical magic was over, the tour would get a little more wild and thrilling, as you enter the segment dedicated to gangster films. The lampposts and choruses of the musical segment gave way to the sketchy backstreets of 1930s Chicago- and amid the slightly nervous feeling you might get in a backstreet, your ride vehicle gets stopped by a red light. After a few moments a gangster named Mugsy- depicted by an actor or actress- engages in a high intensity shootout with his or her rivals Brains, Legs and Weasel. As shots are fired and Brains ends up getting injured, Mugsy chases your tour guide away and takes over control of the ride vehicle, making a getaway into the Western segment of the attractions.
Here you come across two cowboys, a horse and a saloon, before coming across another shootout, this time between a bandit and the town sheriff. I guess the designers of this ride just really loved movies with shootouts! Dynamite explodes and guns are fired, and you are able to escape into the next scene of the attraction- based around movies set in outer space.
Even aboard the Nostronomo spaceship however you still weren’t safe- as before long the ship was on a self-destruct countdown, and to make matters worse, an alien appeared from nowhere and attacked the ride vehicle. From here the adventure continues as you enter a scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark, and are greeted by animatronics of Indiana Jones and his friend Sallah, who are attempting to lift an ancient Egyptian artefact.
In the next room stood a golden altar, featuring a beautiful jewel, which catches Mugsy’s attention. Despite the temple guard’s warning that if Mugsy were to touch the jewel, he would pay with his life, he reaches for it anyway and is reduced to mere bones, whilst in an epic plume of smoke it is revealed that the temple guard was actually the tour guide all along. Your tour guide may have returned but that didn’t mean the danger would be over- as the next scene was dedicated to horror movies.
The ride vehicle passes through a room filled with mummies slowly coming to life (a little scary for a Disney ride!) and horror enters into romance as you move into a jungle, where Tarzan and Jane can be spotted just living life, with Tarzan swinging from a vine, and Jane sat atop an elephant. The next room takes you into the iconic airplane scene of Casablanca, with the airplane itself, rather than the animatronic, stealing the show with plenty of fan theories that the plane was used in some shots of the movie. Whether these are true or not, the airplane can still be seen at Disney World today, accompanied by some quite cheesy jokes about “crash courses” and “winging it” on Magic Kingdom’s Jungle Cruise!
At first, the next scene, set in Munchkinland from the Wizard of Oz, may seem as if it’s going to be a little more light-hearted, with Munchkins appearing from around the scene and welcoming riders to the town. However, as with every scene on the Great Movie Ride, and with every movie, there will always be conflict, and this comes in the form of an animatronic Wicked Witch of the West, appearing in a plume of smoke and demanding to know who killed the Witch of the East (spoiler- it was actually Dorothy’s house when it crashed into Munchkinland in the tornado!).
This was arguably one of the most exciting scenes on the ride, especially with how two ride vehicles would meet in the scene during peak time, but it also held a massive part of Disney parks history. While many of the ride’s animatronics were limited movement, the Wicked Witch was the most fluent and realistic of them all, and was the first animatronic of its kind in the world!
After seeing Dorothy, Toto and friends standing in front of the Emerald City, riders would enter the final scene, a grand showcase of Hollywood’s most iconic and beloved movies, from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves to The Sound of Music. For this last part of the ride, all of the ride vehicles would line up ahead of a huge screen showing a three-minute-montage of these films, and as the montage ends and the tour guides receive much-deserved applause, your ride vehicle would return to the load-unload area so you could disembark and continue your day at Florida’s first movie-themed theme park.
Plot Twists and Arcs
From it’s opening in May 1989, The Great Movie Ride was a guest favourite at MGM Studios (which would eventually be renamed Hollywood Studios in 2008!), and aside from a few modifications to the frequently-malfunctioning Footlight Parade segment at the beginning of the ride, the experience remained largely unchanged.
That was, however, until 2015, when Turner Classic Movies began to sponsor the attraction, and changes were made to make the ride experience more up to date. The update also made it so that the narrator, who could previously only be heard in scenes without the tour guide, had a larger role in the attraction, and could be heard in a few more scenes than originally. Throughout the queueline, changes were also made: movie posters that had not been updated since 1989 and were starting to look a little old were replaced with screens, making for a newer and fresher queueing experience.
The biggest, and most impactful change however, came in the form of a new finale scene, which, although still following a similar premise to the original and still showing a montage of classic films, received pretty negative reviews from some guests. Many complained that it didn’t flow massively well and that the music didn’t fit… but it wasn’t long before an even bigger change would be made to the attraction, putting Hollywood Studios’ Chinese Theatre to a whole new use.
The End of an Era… and the Beginning of Another
Some theme park attractions can seem irreplaceable, but even the most perfect and timeless rides eventually come to the end of their lifespan, and The Great Movie Ride was no different. The announcement that this beloved attraction would be closing came in July of 2017, to be replaced with a dark ride following the adventures of Mickey Mouse and friends, and a month later, the Great Movie Ride gave its final tour. The new attraction, later announced as Mickey and Minnie’s Railway, was planned to open in time for Hollywood Studios’ 30th anniversary, however this was not the case, and the ride was delayed for another year.
When the second planned opening date came around, in March 2020, the Runaway Railway- which was actually trackless rather than being on a railway-like track- did actually open, but even this grand opening wasn’t perfect. The 2020 pandemic put the whole world on hold, and with it the huge amount of fans wanting to try out Hollywood Studios’ newest attraction. Most people who have ridden it weren’t able to until after WDW reopened later that year… but for many, the ride experience proved worth the wait!
Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway, aside from having a name that is actually pretty difficult to say quickly, came as a bit of a relief for those tired of too many IP’s in Disney parks. With an original storyline and starring the characters that started it all, Runaway Railway opened to pretty positive reviews- in both March and July, and for many is a worthy replacement to the fan-favourite that was there before.
The ride allows guests to jump into to the whimsical world of the classic Mickey Mouse cartoons, and hop aboard Goofy’s train for what seems like a relaxing journey through the countryside- but when Goofy flips the “track switch”, the trip starts to go a little, or a lot bit wrong.
Trackless chaos ensues as you explore a carnival, a city, and take a dance lesson with Daisy Duck, before peace is restored and your ride vehicles rejoin the train just in time to see Mickey, Minnie and Pluto enjoying a picnic and singing one of the extremely catchy original song Nothing Can Stop Us Know. It’s stuck in my head right now as I write this! If I got it stuck in your head too… I apologise. At least it’s not Small World!
In many ways Runaway Railway and The Great Movie Ride are pretty similar, in that they both allowed riders to explore a movie world (or in the latter’s case, several!) and both had conflict centred around a relaxing tour going unexpectedly and suddenly wrong. Plus, Runaway Railway is full of nods to its predecessor. In the carnival scene, you can spot a sign advertising “The Great Moving Ride”, and later on in the tornado scene, which in itself is a Wizard of Oz reference, there is a mailbox reading “no place like home”. It’s great how Disney leaves little Easter eggs to their rides and attractions of the past- it gives a unique touch to what are often already unique and magical experiences!
Did you ever get to experience The Great Movie Ride? Do you prefer GMR or Runaway Railway! Share your thoughts in the comments below!
If you enjoyed this article, check out my other posts from theme parks and attractions around the world, and find us on Instagram and Facebook!
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