Photos: Figures From "The Great Movie Ride" Dusted Off For A New Holiday Life at Disney's Hollywood Studios
Guests visiting Disney’s Hollywood Studios this holiday season might be able to see some old artifacts from the now-shuttered opening day attraction at the park, The Great Movie Ride.
Located inside one of the display windows at the park on Hollywood Boulevard, guests visiting through the holiday season can spot some of the old figures from the Footlight Parade scene early on in the attraction, now forming a sort of kickline (sans kicking) in the window, dressed in their holiday best.
While there aren’t as many figures in the window display as there were in the original attraction, it is still surely a nice opportunity to see them once again for many fans of the original attraction.
The Great Movie Ride originally opened with the Disney-MGM Studios (Now Disney’s Hollywood Studios) on May 1st, 1989 and was considered the signature attraction of the park, taking guests on a journey through some of cinema’s biggest milestones from early silent films, all the way up to Indiana Jones and more recent hits. While the actual scenes of the attraction were never really updated, a finale to the attraction - a montage set to classic scores and music - was updated numerous times to include more recent hits. Towards the end of the attraction's life, there was also a significant update to the attraction through a collaboration with Turner Classic Movies (TCM), that also saw some of the ride narration re-recorded with Robert Osborne, who also appeared in the finale montage.
The attraction closed in 2017, clearing the way for Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway, which is often criticized purely because it is in the space that once held such a unique and classic attraction.
The Footlight Parade figures as they appeared in the attraction:
For fans of other holiday decorations at the park, do not worry. The Footlight Parade does not replace the holiday ornament kickline that is featured at the Celebrity 5 & 10 on the opposite side of Hollywood Boulevard.
For more context on how the Footlight Parade scene fits into The Great Movie Ride, you can check out our ride-through video below of the now-shuttered attraction.