Disney's Hollywood Studios

ABOUT THIS PLACE

The park opened on May 1, 1989, as Disney-MGM Studios, meant to be both a theme park and a working film and television studio. Walt Disney Feature Animation Florida had a building here and real soundstages ran productions. Disney closed the Florida animation operation in 2004, the backlot idea faded, and the name changed to Disney's Hollywood Studios in 2008. What replaced the studio tour is heavier theming. Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge opened in 2019, covering about 14 acres at a cost estimated near a billion dollars, and holds Rise of the Resistance and Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run. Toy Story Land opened the year before on about 11 acres. The older headline rides are still the two on Sunset Boulevard: the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, a drop ride inside the Hollywood Tower Hotel, and Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, a launched coaster with three inversions. Seven themed areas make up the 135 acres in all, including Hollywood Boulevard, Echo Lake, Grand Avenue and the Walt Disney Studios Lot