If The Great Movie Ride isn’t the most-missed attraction in all of Walt Disney World, it’s certainly among the Top 5.
For those with long memories, the Great Movie Ride was the star of the show when the Disney/MGM Studios [now Disney’s Hollywood Studios] opened on May 1, 1989.
Located inside a replica of Hollywood’s famous Grauman’s Chinese Theater, the ride took guests on a nostalgic journey through the history of motion pictures.
The theater’s distinctive façade was [and still is] visible to guests as they entered the park and walked along Hollywood Boulevard, serving as a focal point of the Studios.
Twelve classic film scenes from the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer catalogue were recreated during the ride-through [at the time, Disney didn’t think it had enough classic non-animated films of its own, so it worked out a deal with MGM to use some of theirs].
The cinematic tour-de-force was enhanced immeasurably with the use of Audio-Animatronics figures, projections, live actors and special effects.
The Great Movie Ride was an instant classic, drawing large and enthusiastic crowds for most of its run.
When it closed in 2017 after 28 years, to make way for Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway – the first Disney parks attraction to headline Mickey Mouse – fans of the Great Movie Ride sank into a Great Depression.
It was, after all, the last of the Disney/MGM Studio’s original opening-day attractions to be shuttered, which was a not-too-subtle way of telling us the park was moving away from its original mission as a working studio and was heading toward more diverse, exciting adventures.
Still, many fans wondered: “Why close such a beloved attraction?”
Simply put, it was time to move on to something new and different.
Former Walt Disney Imagineering leader Marty Sklar offered this opinion after another long-running Disney parks attraction closed: “We’re not a museum. We have to keep coming up with new and interesting attractions so our guests remain engaged.”
The Great Movie Ride was originally planned as an attraction for EPCOT.
“After EPCOT opened [in 1982], we took a step back and evaluated the project,” Sklar told me in 2012. “We realized that we had omitted one very important aspect of American industry – entertainment.”
With that in mind, a pavilion focused on movies, television and radio went on the Imagineers’ drawing board, to be placed in EPCOT’s Future World section.
But as plans and concepts were bandied about, the idea of one pavilion for EPCOT quickly grew into an entire new theme park devoted to the entertainment industry.
The fact that Universal was planning to build a studio park of its own in Orlando only heightened Disney’s resolve when it came to building an entertainment-themed park.
The Disney/MGM Studios’ goal was to create a working studio, where movies, TV shows and television commercials could be filmed. It also would give guests behind-the-scenes glimpses into the ins and outs of motion picture and television production.
The centerpiece of the park would be The Great Movie Ride.
As a student of classic movies, I was blown away the first time I experienced The Great Movie Ride; I absolutely adored this attraction and made it a point to ride it again and again.
It wasn’t so much a ride, as it was the celebration of all those wonderful movies of long ago.
As a Disney promotional pamphlet stated: “Getting on The Great Movie Ride is like being on the soundstage during the shooting of some of the most famous films of all time.”
Featured along the ride were Busby Berkeley’s glamorous, over-the-top production from Footlight Parade; Gene Kelly leaning from a lamppost while Singin’ in the Rain; Bert and Mary on a rooftop in London during Mary Poppins; John Wayne talking to us “pilgrims” from atop his horse; James Cagney in a dark, sinister scene from one of his classic gangster flicks; Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman in that poignant “Here’s looking at you, kid” moment from Casablanca …
And, of course, there was the stunning stop along the Yellow Brick Road in the elaborate Munchkinland scene from The Wizard of Oz.
That scene – and, indeed, the entire attraction – struck a chord with old-time movie buffs like me.
But after several decades of this glorious excursion down motion pictures’ memory lane, even I grew weary of the nostalgic cinematic journey.
And if I was growing tired of the show, just think of what young children thought. How many kids knew who Gene Kelly, John Wayne, James Cagney or Humphrey Bogart were? For that matter, did they even understand the significance of the movies featured during the attraction?
The short answer was: They didn’t.
But what young children, their parents and their grandparents do know and appreciate are cartoons and, specifically, the whacky world of Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Pluto, and Donald and Daisy Duck.
Disney’s Imagineering team, led by now-retired creative director Kevin Rafferty, did a masterful job in bringing Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway’s from concept to finished product. The attraction debuted on March 4, 2020.
The new Chinese Theater occupant has drawn rave reviews from just about every guest who climbs aboard the faux railway cars as they careen through the cartoon world like berserk billiard balls.
It’s one of those attractions where there’s so much going on, you need to experience it multiple times to truly appreciate all its nuances.
And unlike the Great Movie Ride, which was exclusive to Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Florida, Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway will be replicated in Disneyland in California, where it is scheduled to open Jan. 27 in – appropriately – Mickey’s Toontown. The ride will be housed in the El Capitoon Theater.
The Great Movie Ride has taken its place among Disney’s beloved, but shuttered attractions. And, yes, it is missed.
But as Marty Sklar once said, “Walt Disney always had one foot in the past, because he loved nostalgia, but he also had the other foot in the future, because he was excited about what lies ahead.”
In all probability, decades from now, Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway will be replaced with an exciting new adventure. And disgruntled fans of MMRR will wonder: “Why close such a beloved attraction?”
Simply put, it’ll be time to move on to something new and different.
Chuck Schmidt is an award-winning journalist who has covered all things Disney since 1984 in both print and on-line. He has authored or co-authored seven books on Disney, including his latest, The Beat Goes On, for Theme Park Press. He also has written a regular blog for AllEars.Net, called Still Goofy About Disney, since 2015.
This content was originally published here.
