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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2007 |
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At Disney’s Hollywood Studios, the ride at the Chinese Theatre is Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway. But at Yesterland Studios, it’s The Great Movie Ride. |
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Is it a great ride about movies? Or is it a ride about great movies? It’s both. It’s a great ride about great movies. The place to experience all this greatness is the park’s version of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, arguably the most famous movie theater in the world. |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2007 Genuine movie artifacts in the queue |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2011 Actual carousel horse ridden by Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins |
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First, the queue winds through the lobby. Keep an eye out for Sam’s piano from Rick’s Café Americain in Casablanca, a pair of Dorothy’s ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz, and costumes from movies you’ve probably never seen. |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2007 Waitin’ in the Queue |
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The queue continues into the theater. Wind your way through. Movie trailers on the big screen provide previews of what you’re about to experience during the ride. If the movie loop repeats, the line is moving too slowly. When the movie theater’s exit doors open, you’re directed to a row in a traveling theater car. There are two trains, each with two cars. Each train has a live guide to narrate your experience. |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2011 “Ready when you are, C.B.” |
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Get ready to ride into memorable scenes from classic movies representing the popular movie genres of the 20th century—musicals, adventure, science fiction, westerns, gangsters, animation, fantasy, and more. Along the way, a depression-era gangster or a western villain will step out of a movie scene, hijack your moving theater train, and replace the tour guide. Eventually, the hijacker will meet a grisly fate, and your tour guide will return triumphantly. |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2012 Hooray For Hollywood! |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2007 Footlight Parade (1933) |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2016 Gene Kelly as Don Lockwood in Singin’ in the Rain (1952) |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2013 Julie Andrews as Mary Poppins and Dick Van Dyke as Bert in Mary Poppins (1964) |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2016 Hijacking by a gangster |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2016 John Wayne as Ethan Edwards in The Searchers (1956) |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2016 Hijacking by an Old West bank robber |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2016 Hijacker in place of the tour guide |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2016 Sigourney Weaver as Ripley in Alien (1979) |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2007 Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2016 Cheeta the chimpanzee, Maureen O’Sullivan as Jane, and Timba the elephant in Tarzan and His Mate (1934) |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2007 Humphrey Bogart as Rick Blaine and Ingrid Bergman as Ilsa Lund in Casablanca (1942) |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2016 Mickey Mouse as Sorcerer Mickey in Fantasia (1940) |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2006 Traveling theater trains entering The Wizard of Oz (1939) |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2015 Munchkinland in The Wizard of Oz (1939) |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2016 Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz (1939) |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2007 The stars of The Wizard of Oz on the Yellow Brick Road, with Judy Garland as Dorothy |
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The huge The Wizard of Oz experience—with the Munchkin Village populated by singing Munchkins, the amazing Wicked Witch animatronic who goes up in a puff of smoke, and the yellow brick road to Oz—is the final immersive scene, but your “magical journey through the movies” isn’t over yet. |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2016 Movie clips as the finale |
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Both two-car traveling theater trains park side-by-side in front of a movie screen for a dazzling three-minute montage of clips from some of the greatest and best-loved movies ever made. It begins with Charlie Chaplin as the Little Tramp and ends with Star Wars. Along the way, Arnold “I’ll be back” Schwarzenegger, Robin “Good morning Vietnam!” Williams, and even Freddy Krueger make a brief appearance, along with countless others. Your final stop is the same place you boarded. When you get home, go to your local Blockbuster Video store and rent copies of all the movies on The Great Movie Ride. Don’t forget to rewind the tapes before you return them. |
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The Great Movie Ride was one of just two rides at Disney’s Hollywood Studios when the park opened May 1, 1989, as Disney-MGM Studios. The other was the Backstage Studio Tour. Star Tours opened later that year on December 15, 1989. Originally, The Great Movie Ride was going to be called Great Moments at the Movies, presented by Sears, Roebuck & Co. The Walt Disney Company and the retailer—then the largest in the world—announced a 10-year joint marketing and licensing agreement on November 19, 1987. Sears would sponsor the park’s signature attraction and a Hollywood Showcase Store. |
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© 1987 The Walt Disney Company |
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The Sears-Disney deal fell apart before the park opened. Coca-Cola stepped in as the attraction’s sponsor, and it became The Great Movie Ride to reflect it was a ride, not a movie, despite being housed in a replica of a famous movie theater. With only two scenes of the ride based on Disney Movies—Mary Poppins and Fantasia—and with the park named Disney-MGM Studios, it was reasonable to assume that the other scenes were based on movies owned by MGM. Not so! With a few exceptions, for most of its existence, The Great Movie Ride was really The Great Movies That Are Owned By Warner Bros. Ride. Footlight Parade was a Warner Bros. film, as was The Public Enemy, starring James Cagney. Raiders of the Lost Ark was a Lucasfilm production, released in the U.S. by Paramount Pictures. Casablanca was a Warner Bros.-First National Pictures film. Alien was made by Brandywine Productions Ltd. and released in the U.S. through Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation. What about the famous MGM musical, Gene Kelly’s Singin’ in the Rain? And the great MGM favorite The Wizard of Oz? After all, it was the biggest, most complex scene in the entire ride. And how about the MGM film Tarzan and His Mate, both starring Johnny Weissmuller? These MGM classics were owned by Warner Bros., along with the entire pre-1986 library of MGM movies. Ted Turner bought MGM/UA Entertainment Co. in 1986, and quickly sold most of MGM/UA’s assets—including the MGM and United Artists trademarks. Turner kept the pre-1986 movies and television programs for his Turner Broadcasting System television empire. Turner merged with Time Warner (parent of Warner Bros.) in October 1996. In June 2018, after The Great Movie Ride closed, AT&T acquired Time Warner and renamed it WarnerMedia. Some of MGM’s most valuable properties were never part of the 1987 contract between MGM and Disney that paved the way for Disney-MGM Studios. The Wizard of Oz and Singin’ in the Rain were excluded from the contract and licensed separately. |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2016 Clips from Frozen (2013) and Finding Nemo (2003) added to the end montage |
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The Great Movie Ride did not change much during its run of slightly more than 28 years. The movie montage at the end received several updates, primarily to include some newer Disney movies. The biggest change happened when Turner Classic Movies (TCM), became the sponsor in 2015. |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2015 TCM, the final sponsor of The Great Movie Ride |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2016 TCM host Robert Osborne on the big screen in the queue theater |
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TCM host Robert Osborne appeared on-screen as part of the pre-show and provided recorded narration during the ride—although the tour guide and the hijackers remained. The end montage got yet another update. But the show scenes did not change. The TCM version only lasted slightly more than two years. The Great Movie Ride closed permanently August 13, 2017, to make way for Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway. |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2024 Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, replacement for The Great Movie Ride |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2024 Riding in a trackless train car through a cartoon world |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2024 Jackhammer Pete in Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2024 Pluto, Mickey, and Minnie having a perfect picnic at Runnamuck Park |
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Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway opened on March 4, 2020. The popular ride immerses guests in a cartoon world. The two beloved mice have plans for a perfect picnic spot at Runnamuck Park. Engineer Goofy’s train cars become disconnected from his locomotive, sending guests on an odd journey. The style is based on the 21st century Mickey Mouse shorts by Paul Rudish. If someone tries to tell you it’s the first ride-through attraction with Mickey Mouse, just remember he was in The Great Movie Ride too. |
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© 2024 Werner Weiss — Disclaimers, Copyright, and Trademarks Updated April 26, 2024 |
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