I know that some, if not many of you are probably thinking that it's pathetic of me to mourn about a ride at a theme park. But to me, it was more than an attraction that I really loved; it was a life-changing experience for me! If I had not ridden the ride at the time of my elementary school youth, I probably never would've taken an enjoyment for classic movies at such a high-level, let alone give me the love and passion for films that I have today! Riding this was my "A-ha moment" in life, the awakening of a new outlook on life that I never thought that I would get from a Disney theme park attraction, and today it is officially closed for no one ever to ride it again! And I'm sure you're wondering how this ride affected me so much? Well, join me on this dark day in Disney Theme Park history, as I pay tribute to the ride by talking about my past experiences as a 7-year-old kid about to start elementary school, to the last time that I ever rode it. And how it exactly made me who I am today.
Now for those of you who aren't quite familiar with the ride, I'll give you a quick summary of it and a tiny bit of its history. The ride opened during the opening of Disney's attempt at creating a Hollywood theme park based on their competitor "Universal" known as "Disney's MGM Studios" (that's currently known today as "Disney's Hollywood Studios") on May 1st 1989. Inside a replica of the famous Hollywood landmark the "Grauman's Chinese Theater," guests would be seated into two ride vehicles controlled by a tour guide as you would go through each film genre. Scenes from classic Hollywood movies like "Casablanca," "The Searchers," "Alien," "Mary Poppins," and "The Wizard Of OZ" would be recreated by life-sized animatronics modeled after the actors who starred in those films. At some point during the ride, your vehicle would be hi-jacked by either a gangster or a western bandit, where you then become their hostage as you ride through the movies. That is until they get killed by stealing a cursed jewel in the "Raiders of the Lost Ark" portion of the ride, resulting in your tour guide coming back who was in-disguise as a cloaked temple guard from earlier in that scene. After visiting OZ's land, both vehicles would enter a dark room with a large screen to watch a montage of many other classic and modern-day movies to conclude the audience's journey through cinema.
I was 7 years old when I first experienced the ride in the Spring of 1999, and I was more than excited to be visiting both Disney and Universal for the first time! When I went to visit "Disney's MGM Studios" naturally, the first ride that I went on was "The Great Movie Ride." My first experience on the ride was as average as to how any other kid would have probably felt when riding it. I was enchanted by seeing Mary Poppins and Bert sing on the rooftops; scared by the scenes involving the shoot-outs, and the whole "Alien" sequence; amazed at seeing Tarzan swing around (who I mistook for "George of the Jungle"); and in awe when I entered the land of OZ seeing the Munchkins sing, the Wicked Witch popping-up, and Dorothy and friends gazing at the Emerald City. When the ride was over, I thought it was cool, but that was it. It didn't change my outlook on movies, mainly because I didn't understand or remember the other films shown on the ride. Pretty much everything that I pointed out from my nostalgia is the only bits from the ride that I remembered at the time (except for the skeletons). It was also the only time I ever got to see the portion of the ride when a cowboy steals your vehicle during a bank robbery. It pains me that I barely remember it, and don't even have so much as a recording of it to help me forget that experience. I can only recall the burning building in front of me, and the shooting between the bandits and the sheriff. I didn't even remember the bandit ever hi-jacking the vehicle either. Also, despite the Alien scene terrifying me, while I do remember seeing Ripley hiding, I didn't even know that there was an Alien in the scene for how dark it was. I thought there was more shooting going on.
Before we had the wonders of"YouTube" showing footage of Disney attractions, I only had two videos of the ride in my collection. The first is a Home Movie of when my Mom and Dad went on the ride at the park before I was born, that had the Mary Poppins scene, Cagney's bit, a second or two of John Wayne and "Alien", and the whole appearance of the Wicked Witch (that I remember watching briefly before I ever went on the ride for the first time). The second video was a theme park video called "Around The World With Mickey & Friends" that involved the characters sitting at Mickey's house watching home movies of their trip in the park, which was a shorten updated complication of three previous videos sold at the parks ("A Day At..." "The Magic Kingdom," "Epcot," and "MGM Studios") with an exclusive preview of their new theme park that was coming out "Animal Kingdom" (even though that park was already open by the time my Mom purchased the video). The portion of the video that would show "The Great Movie Ride" begins with a director directing a guest after walking into his shot and standing on top of Mickey Mouse's cement footprints, as we would then cut inside the theater to see Mickey and Minnie on the ride waiting with excitement for it to begin. The video would show three portions of the ride (out of order) which were the gangster alley shoot-out, the "Raiders of the Lost Ark" set, and the Western bandit hi-jacking the car and blowing up the bank, as we would watch Mickey and Minnie react to all of this in terror (almost as if the video wanted to promote the dark side of the ride, rather than its enchanting side). Upon watching these clips of the ride regularly as a kid, I began to wonder about the movie featured on the ride, dying to experience the ride again to get the names of the films shown and remember the things that I missed (like how the tour guide gets back).
I would spend most of my childhood years wondering and dreaming about re-experiencing the ride, until the summer of 2004 as I was just about to enter the 5th grade! When my family and I arrived at "Hollywood Studios," after riding "The Rock N Roll Roller-Coaster" since the ride wasn't opened yet, we went inside. The first thing that grabbed my attention was the trailers for the movies that were going to be featured on the ride. During my last visit, I never got a chance to see the trailers, we just went right to the room where we would be seated into our vehicle, as I wondered what was being shown on the big screen, and who was that tough guy wearing the fedora hat and trench-coat. I thought it was footage from an old gangster film, based on the gangster alley portion of the ride. Finally getting the opportunity to watch the trailers multiple times (the first one I remembering seeing was "Raiders Of the Lost Ark"), I took an interest in all the films shown waiting eagerly to re-experience the ride. I finally realized that the tough guy that I saw on the big screen when I was a kid, wasn't a gangster, but Humphrey Bogart bidding farewell to Ingrid Bergman in "Casablanca."
When I was seated, I was so thrilled that I gave my little brother Jack "paw" after thinking that we weren't going to ride it since we heard that there were some technical difficulties as we were waiting. With the images of the trailers and most of the film titles in the back of mind being beyond excited to see how the ride was going to create the scenes that I forgot, my tour guide came on to introduce herself, the neon lights on the marquee started to light-up, the song "Hooray for Hollywood" played as my vehicle started moving inside the neon-lit theater. My second experience was just as impressive as I remembered my first one, as I awed at the life-like animatronics; ducked during the shoot-out in the gangster alley; got nervous when a gangster hi-jacked the vehicle that I was in (not expecting that gangsters hi-jack vehicles too on this ride); and cheered when my tour guide came back. But my second experience on the ride felt a lot different than it was the first time. I wasn't just caught up in the action. I regained my memory of the things that I have forgotten, this time, I was legitimately more than interested in the films that were being recreated in front of my very eyes, as well as the actors portrayed on the ride (such as James Cagney, Clint Eastwood, John Wayne, and Humphrey Bogart). They seemed like films that I would thoroughly enjoy based on the trailers and the ride's version of them. Even with movies that didn't keep me hooked for an extended period when I was little like "Fantasia" and (shockingly) "Raiders of the Lost Ark," the ride inspired me to give them another look. So I tried as hard as I can to remember the films being shown and begged my Dad to film parts of the ride so that I can revisit the footage and get the names for the movies that I have forgotten. The film that intrigued me the most was "The Public Enemy" with James Cagney, mainly because that it took place at gangster alley, James Cagney looked cool, and I was curious to see characters like Mugsy and his two dim-witted thugs appear in the movie, which to my surprise was all just made-up for the ride (but I'm getting ahead of myself).
Upon all the awesomeness that the ride has brought through its action, effects, sets, and choice of fascinating movies, NOTHING COULD PREPARE ME FOR THE LAST PART OF THE RIDE! After riding through OZ and heading towards the big-screen for the grand finale, while I did remember a film montage being shown at the end, I didn't remember any of it except for laughing at "The Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" clip to break-up the romantic kissing bit. So going back to this part again, I was interested, but I felt like that my experience was going to be the same as watching a montage of movie clips for movie collections shown for the previews on VHS tapes. But I was wrong! From the moment when I saw Charlie Chaplin approach the screen (who I remembered seeing and hearing about in the 4th grade), I went from laughing and looking at images of the silent movies with delight, to being shocked to see the montage always change genres by showing films both new and old, that was perfectly edited, paced, and composed. Seeing so many iconic clips from movies that I've mostly never heard of but seen their images somewhere before, getting a good view at Hollywood's legendary stars in their famous roles saying their famous quotes, and swinging from light-hearted musicals, to over the top comedy, to hardcore action and adventure, to inventive horror and Sci-Fi images, to Hollywood epics that look big as I'm hearing many different kinds of classic film scores, didn't make me feel like I was watching a simple montage. I felt like I was going through the "Stargate" in "2001: a Space Odyssey". It felt surreal for how fast and quick the clips from these classic films just kept jumping out at me, and would sometimes fill the entire big screen with more than only one film clip as the tone and atmosphere would keep on changing to suit each genre that it would suddenly become. It was beautifully breath-taking to look at every single frame, primarily when being supported by a ride that has already caught my interest in the movies that were shown beforehand. And when the ride was over, I walked out feeling reborn.
I no longer saw films as just pure entertainment full of different genres to appeal to a particular crowd; I felt that there was so much more to it. And the first thing that I had to do when I get home was to rent or persuade my parents to buy the movies featured on the ride. And only the films that I either didn't see or have watched all the way through. I already had a copy of "Fantasia" in my video collection. I viewed it again, finding myself amazed by the grand-scale animation being set to the music's motion so beautifully. My Mom bought me a DVD copy of "Singin' in the Rain" since I couldn't rent it anywhere, that I loved so dearly from the setting, characters, direction, and song and dance scenes. And my Dad had an old recording of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" that sucked me in with its adventure, excitement, and lead character, despite being disappointed that there was no stoned gargoyle with a cursed jewel. But as much as I admired those films, the others took me a little time to understand. My parents had "Casablanca" on VHS, but after sitting through almost an hour of Bonus footage before seeing the actual film, by the time that I got to the film I was lost, tired, and confused (which would make sense considering how young I was at the time). I begged my parents (and Santa) to get me "The Public Enemy", and when I watched it, I was bored and upset by the lack of action, and that there was no character named Mugsy in the film. But as I got a little older and watched these films, again and again, I admired them more and more for its writing, characters, performances, and visuals. Some of the movies that were featured on the ride, I didn't get a chance to know the titles. The ride never claimed what western film that Clint Eastwood was dressed as, and I couldn't remember the name of the western film that John Wayne was in the trailer, which caused me to rent any western film starring them, hoping that I'd recognize which film the ride was mimicking. And I knew the opening scene with the girls lined up singing was based on the musical trailer that was in Black-&-White with the dancing showgirls, but I somehow missed the title. Upon doing some research as time went by, I found the titles for the films and finally gave them a look and enjoyed them all. The only film I couldn't see was "Alien" since I was too young, but I finally got my chance to see it for the first time when I reviewed it for the blog. The only film I didn't see yet that was on the ride was "Tarzan, the Ape Man" since I wasn't too interested in that stuff at the time (unless if it was "George of the Jungle") until much later, that I will review in the future.
Though I saw most of the films on the ride, my obsession didn't stop there. I was still thinking about most of those glorious images shown on the montage and remembering how rich my experience was, trying so hard to remember every single frame but couldn't. And keep in mind that this was before "YouTube" started to pick-up. I tried researching the films featured on the ride, but aside from the quotes in the montage, and getting the names for the films on the actual ride portion, I had little to no luck. I kept researching and researching until I found myself stumbling upon film websites like IMDB, and Filmsite.Org gave me lists, photos, quotes, insight, and trailers for many great films that were categorized by many different themed lists (not just the greatest films of all time). My Mom even gave me a few film books about the movies made from classic Hollywood that lead up to the present. So by that point, after finding so many film sites and having a fair number of film books that exposed me to so many other great movies, and being able to rent all of this stuff at my library for no fee, this all increased my love obsession for films. I would soon talk about them endlessly, rent as many as I possibly can, and endlessly study them, eventually leading to me having my blog, where I would express my passion for films through my reviews. And it all started from a simple trip to Disney World.
In the summer of 2013, I came back to "Disney's Hollywood Studios" to ride "The Great Movie Ride" a third time with my brother Jack and my cousin Kyle, to embrace how it started my endless devotion to the art of films. Only this time, I was determined to sit in the front seat next to the tour guide, and whoever was going to hi-jack the vehicle. I didn't care how long I had to wait for it; I simply had to do it. The cast-member who made the seating arrangements gave me that shot, which made me so happy and excited that I asked him to sign an old autograph book as a special thanks for arranging it. I know that asking for a seating arrangement isn't an uncommon thing, but it meant so much to me that I didn't know how else to thank him. Before I rode on the ride for the 3rd time, I have occasionally watched many videos on "Youtube" that showed the whole ride over the years, so I knew what to expect (except who was going to hold-up my tour guide this time). Still, nothing could ever duplicate the experience of actually being there. And you can bet that when I rode inside that neon-light theater next to my tour guide, I was just as thrilled and awe-inspired as I did when I first found my passion for films. I did notice, however, that the ride wasn't as pitch-perfect as I remembered it. I thought "The Footlight Parade" sequence felt lackluster since we're only looking at a rotating projection screen of Busby Berkeley-style kaleidoscope dance sequences with life-less mannequin showgirls standing on the cake in the middle. I found it weird to not hear Ingrid Bergman talk at all during the climactic scene in "Casablanca." And the projector screen showing Mickey Mouse in "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" seemed just tacked on. But I was still in complete awe when I was on it all the way through, realizing that even the ride that changed me is not perfect like all films in general. And before I left, I asked my tour guide to sign my book for being a part of my third experience.
In 2015, "Turner Classic Movies" began to sponsor the ride and the ride was refurbished to have the primary host of the channel, Robert Osborne to host the ride, appearing in the pre-show, narrating parts of the ride, and would appear in the finale before showing a new and improved montage. Despite the ride now feeling more like a marketing tool to get more people to watch TCM, rather than presenting itself as a simple loving tribute to films, it was nice seeing Osborne host the ride as the ride would get younger audiences to watch old classic movies on the best classic movie channel of all time. The new montage looked incredible (especially how we see all the film clips that we saw earlier now drifting into space at the end), and I started having ideas about experiencing the ride again. I dreamed of riding it again with my girlfriend (since she's a big "Wizard of Oz" fan, and loves movies as much as I do) upfront with my tour guide. Perhaps choose the vehicle where it gets hi-jacked by a western bandit since I haven't experienced that since the first time I ever went on it. But unfortunately, it was never meant to be.
On August 7th of this year, I found a video on "YouTube" titled "Top 10 Disney's Great Movie Ride Secrets | A Disney Ride Farewell" (that has plenty of fascinating information, that even explains why the problems that I have with the ride are there). After watching the video, I was in disbelief that Disney was going to close one of their oldest and most iconic attraction at their Hollywood themed park. I began doing some research on it, praying for it to be false, but it all turned out to be 100% true. After hearing so many rumors over the years about the ride closing down (dating back to when I was just starting Middle School), I never thought that this would ever happen. The ride to me seemed as iconic as say "The Haunted Mansion" or "Pirates of the Caribbean", as in it will go through some minor changes and alterations over time, but will never lose the heart and scenes that we admired most from the ride. And I thought that with TCM now sponsoring the ride, I was so sure that it was going to be as immortal as some of Disney's best attractions, but I was dead wrong. It not only hurts me that this ride is closing down for good, but what they're planning to replace it with is what really got me angry. If they were going to replace it with a different kind of ride paying tribute to movies, I'd be okay with it. But they're not! Instead, they're replacing it with a ride starring Mickey and Minnie that's based on their new shorts from the Disney channel, that'll be both a dark ride and a simulation ride. Okay, look, I get why they're replacing it, because kids would be more interested in a Mickey Mouse attraction than a classic movie attraction, considering that this is Disney World. But here's the thing, the park is still called "Disney's Hollywood Studios," set mostly as old fashion Hollywood, and there's a ride that perfectly captures that feeling of the park's theme. And now with that particular ride gone, to be replaced with a ride that has little to do with the classic Hollywood theme that the park has set, it now to me seems pointless to still call the park "Hollywood Studios" since you don't have the one ride that ties everything together. They might as well just change the park's name to "Florida Adventure" now with that attraction gone, and the backlot ride closed a few years earlier. I don't hate the idea of giving Mickey Mouse his very own ride. I'm all for it, primarily when being based on the current short series that I find to be very funny and well animated. I just don't at all support what they had to get rid of to achieve it. And now, no one will ever get the chance to experience "The Great Movie Ride" ever again because of that decision. I do have hope that maybe someday that this ride will be restored, only with newer and better updates that still keep the spirit of the original in terms of theme and layout. I mean, after all, the animatronics modeled after the stars are some of the best life-like animatronics that I've ever seen from Disney, and it would be a total waste if Disney just got rid of them for good. Maybe there will at least be a better use for them in the future. But that's more than likely not happening anytime soon, and realistically probably never will.
The ride that has inspired me and played such a significant role in making me who I am today is now gone! Gone for no child to appreciate or be introduced to classic cinema the same way how I was. Gone for no one to get a chance to experience the other part of the show that they missed. Gone for no one to experience or re-experience the identity for the "Hollywood Studios" theme park. Thank god that its legacy will always live on "YouTube" to give people a chance to see it in full, because if that didn't exist either I'd be mourning as if I lost someone close and dear to me. I will never forget the times that I rode on the ride and how it affected my life, and will forever miss it for that. Every movie has an end, and I suppose that it sadly applies to rides based on movies, especially with one as great as this!
"THE GREAT MOVIE RIDE"
May 1st 1989-August 13th 2017
If you want to find the best video to re-live the ride that shows nearly every little detail that you may have missed, that also goes over a bit of the history of the ride, then be sure to check out "The Great Movie Ride - Martins Ultimate Tribute" on MartinsVidsDotNet who's made many extraordinary videos regarding the Disney parks and their history!
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