|
||||
Photo by Chris Bales, 2017 |
||||
|
Here’s your chance to go behind the scenes at an actual (fake) movie studio. You’ll see where Hollywood blockbusters were (not) filmed. |
||||
 |
||||
|
If it’s the early years of the park (2002-2005), be sure you get in the correct queue based on your preferred language. Your language choices are French, English, Italian, Dutch, German, and Spanish. |
||||
Photo by Werner Weiss, 2005 Onboard video |
||||
|
The busiest queue is for French and English (and after 2005, it will be the only one). That makes sense. The park is in France. Plenty of visitors are from the UK, and English is the second language for many people worldwide. Monitors at the front of each tram car feature two celebrity narrators: French actress Irène Jacob and English actor Jeremy Irons. They each speak their own language. But they don’t say the same things. If you know both languages, you won’t be subjected to the same explanations twice. If you picked a different queue, your narrators will be Isabella Rossellini (Italian) and Famke Janssen (Dutch), or they will be Nastassja Kinski (German) and Inés Sastre (Spanish). |
||||
Photo by Werner Weiss, 2005 No dancing in the tram? |
||||
Photo by Werner Weiss, 2005 Movie props displayed |
||||
Photo by Werner Weiss, 2005 More movie props |
||||
Photo by Werner Weiss, 2005 Fire at Catastrophe Canyon |
||||
|
The highlight of the Studio Tram Tour is Catastrophe Canyon. This “hot set” demonstrates how special effects wizards can produce earthquakes, fires, and floods. |
||||
Photo by Werner Weiss, 2005 265,000 liters of water flooding Catastrophe Canyon |
||||
Photo by Werner Weiss, 2005 Set from Dinotopia |
||||
|
The tour passes a set from Dinotopia, a short-lived 2002 miniseries about two teenage half-brothers who find themselves on an island where humans and talking dinosaurs live together peacefully. Unfortunately, it’s only a temple set. There aren’t any animatronic dinosaurs. You can watch composited scenes from Dinotopia on the video display. They’re much more impressive than the static set the tram is passing. |
||||
Photo by Werner Weiss, 2005 Sculpture at a temple in Dinotopia |
||||
|
Did you enjoy not seeing dinosaurs? Then you might also enjoy the next scene. It involves not seeing dragons. |
||||
Movie poster © Disney Reign of Fire |
||||
|
Reign of Fire is a 2002 movie from Touchstone Pictures (The Walt Disney Company) about fire-breathing dragons emerging in London, igniting the city, and terrorizing the planet. Christian Bale plays the fire chief. Matthew McConaughey plays an American with a plan to rid Earth of the troublesome beasts. Disney had high hopes for the movie. Alas, it was neither a critical success nor a box office hit. But the timing of its release was right for its inclusion on the Studio Tram Tour. |
||||
Photo by Werner Weiss, 2005 Tram entering London |
||||
Photo by Werner Weiss, 2005 London in ruins |
||||
Photo by Werner Weiss, 2005 Mangled steel |
||||
Photo by Werner Weiss, 2005 Fire from a fire-breathing dragon — but we don’t see the dragon |
||||
|
It’s not as impressive as Catastrophe Canyon — which also has fire — but it’s based on a real movie, unlike Catastrophe Canyon. Then again, Reign of Fire wasn’t filmed here, so the ruins of London are just here to impress guests. |
||||
Photo by Chris Bales, 2017 Stars’ Cars: Vehicles from movies and television |
||||
Photo by Chris Bales, 2017 More Stars’ Cars |
||||
|
The trams at Universal Studios Hollywood take guests past soundstages and backlot sets where countless movies have been filmed since 1915. The trams at Disney-MGM Studios in Florida took guests through a complex that began in 1988 as a production facility for live action movies, animation, and television, in addition to being a theme park since 1989. Officially, Walt Disney Studios at Disneyland Paris is the fifth Disney studio — after Kingswell Avenue, Hyperion Avenue, Burbank, and Disney-MGM Studios. But while the first four can boast portfolios of beloved productions, little has been produced at the fifth one — other than fan YouTube videos. |
||||
|
|
||||
|
Studio Tram Tour: Behind the Magic had its grand opening at Walt Disney Studios Park on March 16, 2002, the opening day of the second gate at Disneyland Paris. The only other opening day family ride was Flying Carpets Over Agrabah. There was also an intense thrill ride, Rock ’n’ Roller Coaster avec Aerosmith. Otherwise, the park relied on scheduled shows. To meet a contractual obligation with the French government to open a second park by 2002, the park was rushed to completion with a limited budget. Most buildings were “soundstages” — big boxes, with minimal architectural details, enclosing a lot of space inexpensively. A number of attraction signs were just large billboards. |
||||
Photo by Werner Weiss, 2005 Original attraction entrance, with a luxury car for show |
||||
Photo by Chris Bales, 2017 Updated attraction entrance, with the same luxury car |
||||
|
Over the years, some artifacts along the tram route were replaced or repositioned, but Disney did not add any new show scenes. In 2005, languages other than French and English were discontinued, although the other four narrators all made brief appearances at the end of the video. In 2007, the attraction’s entrance was updated from the original billboard-style façade to a Hollywood Hills tunnel façade. After a run of almost 18 years, Studio Tram Tour: Behind the Magic closed January 5, 2020. |
||||
Photo by Werner Weiss, 2024 Cars Road Trip attraction entrance |
||||
|
The tram tour returned as Cars Road Trip on June 17, 2021. This PIXAR-ized version of the ride uses the same trams, but the route is substantially shorter. Walt Disney Studios Park is being expanded to become Disney Adventure World, a theme park worthy of the Disney brand. The old load area and the Reign of Fire scene were in the path of that expansion. |
||||
Photo by Werner Weiss, 2024 Cruz Ramirez and Sally Carrera instead of Irène Jacob and Jeremy Irons |
||||
|
The video monitors onboard the tram cars now feature Cruz Ramirez and Sally Carrera as the narrators, with Cruz speaking English and Sally speaking French. The theme is now a road trip on Route 66 — but instead of having evocative scenes of the American Southwest in the tradition of Disney-PIXAR’s Cars (2006), this Route 66 has French forest trees, some billboards, and lots of wooden walls. |
||||
Photo by Werner Weiss, 2024 “World’s Largest Lugnut” |
||||
Photo by Werner Weiss, 2024 Cars-tastrophe Canyon |
||||
|
Cars Road Trip comes across as a temporary attraction to provide much-needed ride capacity while World of Frozen and other expansion projects are under construction. Catastrophe Canyon remains impressive as Cars-tastrophe Canyon, while also showing how unimpressive the rest of the ride is. |
||||
Photo by Werner Weiss, 2024 An artistic Mater-piece, the I-Fuel Tower |
||||
|
Actually, Cars Road Trip could be made into an engaging family attraction. It would require a proper enhancement budget. The Disney decision-makers who control the budgets need to take a trip to Cars Land at Disney California Adventure. They would see how delightful the world of Cars can be when Walt Disney Imagineering is provided with sufficient resources. Imagine Cars Road Trip in a convincing Cars setting, with plenty of imaginative show scenes. |
||||
|
|
Click here to post comments at MiceChat about this article.
© 2024 Werner Weiss — Disclaimers, Copyright, and Trademarks Updated May 17, 2024 |
|||
