Venom2053 said:
Disney's Hollywood Studios (original called MGM Studios) opened in 1989 with only 4 attractions and was built to a) try and move some of Hollywoods movie production to florida and b) to compete with Universal Studios that was to open the next year. Many of its attractions were actually rejected rides the were planned to be built in EPCOT (such as The Great Movie Ride and Star Tours).
The Backlot Tour of the park has gotten progressively smaller as the studios have never needed all the sound stages they built for filming (and touring). Disney has since filled these studios with attractions like: Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, and Toy Story Mania. Production of films and TV at the studios were downsized in 1996 and today little to no filming takes place.
There's actually a very interesting read about the Backlot tour, as Universal were planning their own and believe that Disney stole their idea for it (having previously had one in Hollywood too). When Disney released their plans for the studios Universal were mega pissed off, and didn't want to be seen as creating the same thing Disney were, so they changed their plans. This resulted in them building many portions of their backlot tour in Hollywood as seperate attractions (Kongfrontation, Jaws, Earthquake).
They were both built with the intention of bringing filming studios to Florida, but due to a recession in the 80s, the plans were delayed, and eventually cancelled (presumably when they realised the parks were doing fine as solely being tourist attractions).
I've already stated that Universal believed that Disney copied them, but Disney apparently believed that Universal were out of order too, having no right coming into Orlando to 'compete' with Disney (as before, the parks would work more wholesomely together to be Orlando, the toursist destination but for the first time people were making a choice, do we go to Disney Studios or Universal Studios). Since this, we have seen Disney segregate themselves from the Orlando mainland, such as providing their own buses from the airport, creating the Disney Dining Plan so the urge to explore outside of Walt Disney World is lowered, as many propose that the 'conflict' (through want of a better term) between Universal and Disney was the beginning of this approach which Disney now uses.
I hope some people could eleborate on, or possibly correct if neccessary, some of this information.
Anyway, the fact I came to say. I found out the other day that the Big Dipper as Blackpool was the first rollercoaster to be called the Big Dipper. I was quite shocked that I didn't already know that.
