That’s a Wrap! Farewell to The Great Movie Ride

By Pink Diva

The Great Movie Ride recently closed at Hollywood Studios at Disney World.  The Great Movie Ride was one of the original rides when Disney’s Hollywood Studios opened on May 1, 1989.  It was the very last ride in operation from opening day.

The Great Movie Ride was a dark attraction taking guests through several different movie sets.  You enter the queue in a replica of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. The theatre is impressive-you can see it as soon as you walk into Hollywood Studios.  Inside the theatre there are movie posters and costumes from classic movies.  The last part of the queue shows various movie clips along with information on those movies.

Once on the ride your Cast Member/Tour Guide took over.  They guided you into the world of movies.  I love that they had live people doing the tours.  unfortunately, the Tour Guide would get into some trouble and either a cowboy/cowgirl or gangster would take over for the tour guide.  They would take you through the rest of the ride until you hit the Indiana Jones part and the Tour Guide would save the day and come back.  From my first trip to Disney at age 5 this is the job I wanted.  I have always wanted to be a Tour Guide on The Great Movie Ride.   I am still very sad that it will never happen.

The Great Movie Ride highlighted not only specific movies, but generic categories of films.  Musicals, gangster, western, sci-fi, romance and horror were all depicted on the ride.  Osborne (Robert Osborne) narrated the entire ride and gave information on each movie/genre you were in. The ride then finished up with three minutes of clips from dozens of movies throughout the years.  The movies were paired up and it was always fun to listen to people shout out the name of the movie.  Below are pictures of some of the movies that are shown.  How many have you seen?

Now that The Great Movie Ride has taken its last bows Disney has announced what will replace it.  Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railroad will be the replacement, however I could not find an opening date announcement.  The dark ride will feature the shorts of Mickey and Minnie that are currently running on the Disney Channel.  This will be the first Mickey themed ride in Disney history.

While I’m definitely sad about the closing the The Great Movie Ride I trust the Imagineers.  Having a Mickey and Minnie themed ride could instantly become something you must do on every trip.  It will be a movie-based ride still so Grauman’s Chinese Theatre may still be standing when the open the attraction.

While I wish our favorite rides would stay forever, the magic of Disney is always changing.  It’s one of the things that continuously brings you back again and again.  The new technology they develop, the new concept rides, or the new food makes each trip new and exciting.  Besides if they never changed, the Magic Kingdom wouldn’t have Fairytale Hall (Snow White’s Scary Adventure), Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride), or Seven Dwarf’s Mine Ride (20,000 League’s Under the Sea).  Epcot would never have gotten Frozen Ever After (Maelstrom), The Seas with Nemo and Friends (The Living Seas), or Test Track (World of Motion).

As we welcome the new, we must say farewell to the old.  The Great Movie Ride: We will see you at the movies!