On With The Show!

Every CP goes through a special orientation in the park that they are working in. Hollywood Studios cast members attend "On with the Show!" During this orientation, cast members learn how to clock in to work and where they can pick up costumes! Then they get a special tour of Hollywood Studios and get to see the behind the scenes and the on-stage area. Anywhere that a guest can see a cast member is considered "on stage." No matter where cast members are in the park, they are constantly part of the show!

I'll try to give you a little fun fact for each area we visited! Only on-stage area pictures are allowed!

Our tour started backstage and proceeded down Hollywood Boulevard, the main entrance street for Hollywood Studios. We learned a few fun facts, one being that the Mickey mouse at the entrance of the park on top of the tall stand is 5 and a half feet tall, giving the illusion that he is actually smaller.

After Hollywood Boulevard, we went down Sunset Boulevard (where Tower of Terror, Beauty and the Beast, and Fanstasmic are located). The Fantasmic stadium seats 9 thousand guests and fills up basically every night twice a night. The line for the earlier show starts at least an hour and a half before the performance.

We then walked in front of the hat through the Echo Lake area. The giant dinosaur on Echo Lake is named Gurtie. We walked passed Star tours which has 12 different scenes established for the ride allowing for 54 different combinations!

We walked down the Streets of America which is meant to look like New York and then down Commissary Lane. We walked by the mountain featuring the film Splash which was the first PG-13 Disney film. Disney created Touchstone Pictures to produce the film so that a PG-13 rating would not be under Disney Films. We stopped in the Sci Fi dine-in. Some of the License plates on the cars in the dine-in are the initials of imagineers that worked on the theme parks. We even got to go on the Great Movie Ride where there is a hidden Minnie Mouse on the Hollywood mural to the left of the tram once you get on the ride. Hidden Minnies are rare finds - most are just Mickey.



After the Great Movie Ride we walked down Pixar Place. The bricks used in the Pixar Place entry way are the same as the ones used at Pixar Studios. Disney now owns the rights to those bricks so no one else can purchase them. We walked passed Toy Story Midway Mania which has been around for 6 years and still has on
e of the longest queue lines in Disney World. If it's anything less than an hour, jump on that line! We walked by One Man's Dream and I talked to our tour guide a little about Walt Disney's life and Saving Mr. Banks. The tour guide was awesome and very knowledgeable about Hollywood Studios.



After the tour, we went to a presentation about those Four Keys: Safety, Courtesy, Efficiency, and Show. The presenters expressed that WE as cast members, create magic for guests. It is definitely true that we are responsible for giving guests a magical experience. Tune in for my next post about some small ways I was able to do that at the attractions I work in!