In January, theme park gets new name, entertainment Scott Powers
Sentinel Staff Writer
August 10, 2007
So long, Disney-MGM Studios. In a long-anticipated move, Walt Disney World is renaming its movies-oriented theme park, dropping the "MGM" name from the brand.
But contrary to much of the speculation, the new name will contain neither Pixar nor ABC.
Disney's Hollywood Studios will debut in January, company officials announced Thursday. The name change not only gives the park a broader, updated image, as Disney officials maintain, but also drops a name that caused some legal problems in the 1990s.
Disney officials insist that dispute, with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., is behind them and had no bearing on the decision to rename the park. In the 1990s, Disney and MGM were locked in lawsuits for many years over the name, until courts ruled that Disney could continue using the name at Walt Disney World.
"The new name reflects how the park has grown from representing the golden age of movies to a celebration of the new entertainment that today's Hollywood has to offer -- in music, television, movies and theater," Disney World President Meg Crofton stated in a news release.
When Disney-MGM studios opened on May 1, 1989, the original lineup of attractions was tilted heavily toward images and themes drawn from Hollywood's "golden age" of the 1920s, '30s and '40s. Since then, however, shows, rides and other attractions have drawn much more on Disney's television shows and more contemporary movies and other popular entertainment.
Even as it announced the name change, Disney revealed several entertainment changes that will debut at about the same time.
"I don't think it's a change in direction, I think it's a natural evolution," said Michael O'Grattan, Disney World vice president for Disney-MGM Studios. "We have so many new products, like Lights Motors Action! and some of the things we have coming in, like Toy Story Mania."
The current Disney Stars and Motor Cars parade will be replaced with "Block Party Bash," a higher-energy play, party and dance show that has been a hit at Walt Disney Co.'s California Adventure theme park in California. In addition, new characters from Playhouse Disney, notably those from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Little Einsteins and Handy Manny, will perform in the "Playhouse Disney-Live On Stage!" show. And this fall's release of the new Disney Channel movie Disney High School Musical 2: School's Out will coincide with a new theme-park street show to replace the existing "High School Musical Pep Rally."
The name MGM was originally adopted for the park through a 1985 licensing agreement with the MGM and some related corporations. In addition to giving Disney rights to the name, the contract offered rights to some of the more famous images and characters from famous MGM movies such as The Wizard of Oz.
However, in the 1990s the two corporations sparred off and on over Disney's use of the name. In 1992, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled that Disney retained rights to the name for Disney-MGM Studios at Walt Disney World. Another ruling in 1997 concluded that MGM had rights to the name in most other uses.
Even after the name change, Disney will continue to use some MGM properties.
Jeff Pryor, MGM executive vice president for corporate communications, would not comment Thursday on Disney's announcement.
There has been widespread speculation for several years that the theme park would be renamed as either Disney-ABC Studios, in honor of the broadcast network owned by the Walt Disney Co., or as Disney-Pixar Studios, in honor of the computer-animation movie company that Disney bought last year.
Disney officials always disputed that those name changes were being considered, and O'Grattan said those names were not in any recent discussions.
"It's all been about repositioning the studio to be really inclusive to all the new products we've had," he said.
Still, the new name defies geographic logic. Since Disney closed its Central Florida animation unit in 2004, it has virtually no active studios anywhere near Walt Disney World. And its movie studios are in Burbank, Calif., not Hollywood.
"Hollywood -- it's not so much the place, it's the essence of the name that Hollywood conjures up for people," O'Grattan said. "I think it's a perfect match for us."
Scott Powers can be reached at spowers@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5441.
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