Disney’s Hollywood Studios

About Disney’s Hollywood Studios

By the ULTIMATE Florida Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

Disney’s Hollywood Studios opened on 1 May 1989 as the Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park, a working studio and a park about the movies. It took its present name on 7 January 2008.

Walt’s studio tour, revived

Walt Disney had once imagined a studio tour in California, but there was not enough land, and filming would have been disrupted. In the 1980s Disney revived the idea as a third gated park at Walt Disney World, and it opened on 1 May 1989 as the Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park.

A working studio

Filming came before the visitors: the first production shot there, on 2 February 1988, was the television film Splash, Too. The park’s focal point was a detailed reproduction of the façade of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

The first filming at the studios took place on 2 February 1988, more than a year before the park opened (Disney Archives).

A new name and new worlds

On 7 January 2008 the park was renamed Disney’s Hollywood Studios. In 2015 Disney unveiled plans for a 25-acre expansion with a Star Wars-themed land and Toy Story Land, which changed the character of the park, from a tribute to film-making to a place where you step inside the films themselves.

Planning your day

The headline rides draw long queues, so plan the day around them and check Disney’s app for the current queue options before you go.

Our advice: see Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge after dark, when the spaceport is lit and the crowds have thinned.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Disney’s Hollywood Studios before you go.