Disney's Hollywood Studios
Disney's Hollywood Studios is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, near Orlando. It is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks and Products division. Based on a concept by Marty Sklar, Randy Bright, Michael Eisner, the park opened on May 1, 1989, as the Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park, was the third of four theme parks built at Walt Disney World. Spanning 135 acres, the park is dedicated to the imagined worlds from film, television and theatre, drawing inspiration from the Golden Age of Hollywood. Disney's Hollywood Studios was developed as both a theme park inspired by show business and an operating production studio, with active film and television production services, an animation facility branch, a functioning backlot. Construction on the combined park and studio began in 1987, but was accelerated when the construction of the similarly-themed Universal Studios Florida began a few miles away. To increase public interest and the variety of film representation within the park, Disney entered into a licensing agreement with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where from the park's original name was derived.
The park's production facilities were removed throughout the 2000s, many of the park's soundstages were retrofitted for newer attractions and guest use. The park's current name took effect in 2008, with the removal of the MGM-branding throughout the park. In the 2010s, the park began to distance itself from the original studio backlot intention and entered a new direction of immersive theming and attraction development inspired by Hollywood stories; the park's icon was the Earffel Tower from the park's opening until 2001 when the Sorcerer's Hat—a stylized version of the magical hat from Fantasia—was erected in the park's central hub. It served as the park's icon until its removal in January 2015. In 2017, the park hosted 10.72 million guests, ranking it the fifth most-visited theme park in North America and the ninth most-visited theme park in the world. The World you have entered was created by The Walt Disney Company and is dedicated to Hollywood—not a place on a map, but a state of mind that exists wherever people dream and wonder and imagine, a place where illusion and reality are fused by technological magic.
We welcome you to a Hollywood. A team of Walt Disney Imagineers led by Marty Sklar and Randy Bright had been given an assignment to create two new pavilions for Epcot's Future World section; the brainstorming sessions led to Wonders of Great Movie Ride pavilions. The latter was to look like a soundstage backdrop, with a movie theater-style entrance in the middle and would have sat between the Land and Journey Into Imagination pavilions; when newly appointed CEO Michael Eisner saw the plans for the pavilion, he requested that, instead of placing the ride in an existing park, it should be the anchor for a new park themed with Hollywood and show business. In 1985, Disney and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer entered into a licensing contract that gave Disney worldwide rights to use the MGM brand and logo for what would become Disney-MGM Studios, which included working production facilities for films and television shows, a backlot, a satellite animation studio for Walt Disney Feature Animation, which began operation prior to the park's debut.
In 1988, MGM/UA responded by filing a lawsuit that claimed Disney violated the agreement by operating a working movie and television studio at the resort. On May 1, 1989, the theme park opened adjacent to the production facilities, with MGM's only affiliation being the original licensing agreement that allowed Disney to use MGM's name and lion logo in marketing, separate contracts that allowed specific MGM content to be used in The Great Movie Ride. On opening day, the only two operating attractions were the Studio Backlot Tour and The Great Movie Ride. Disney filed a countersuit, claiming that MGM/UA and MGM Grand, Inc. had conspired to violate Disney's worldwide rights to the MGM name in the theme park business and that MGM/UA would harm Disney's reputation by building its own theme park at the MGM Grand hotel and casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. On October 23, 1992, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Curtis B. Rappe ruled that Disney had the right to continue using the Disney-MGM Studios name on film product produced at the Florida facility, that MGM Grand had the right to build a Las Vegas theme park using the MGM name and logo as long as it did not share the same studio backlot theme as Disney's property.
The 33-acre MGM Grand Adventures Theme Park opened in 1993 at the Las Vegas site and closed permanently in 2000. Disney was contractually prohibited from using the Disney-MGM Studios name in certain marketing contexts. In the 1990s, as the park's popularity and attendance grew, the park saw its first expansion in 1994, with the addition of Sunset Boulevard and The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror attraction; the backlot's New York streets were opened to guest access to relieve traffic and renamed as Streets of America. During that same decade, Walt Disney Feature Animation's on-site satellite studio assisted in the production of Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King, with Mulan and Lilo & Stitch being completed at the park's studio. In 2001, the Sorcerer's Hat—a stylized version of the magical hat from Fantasia—was erected in front of the park's Chinese Theater and began to serve as the park's icon from onwards, displacing the Earffel Tower in that role. In 2004, Disney shuttered the Florida animation unit.
The backlot's Residential Street was demolished to accommodate the new location for Lights, Action! Extreme Stu
Television
Television, sometimes shortened to tele or telly, is a telecommunication medium used for transmitting moving images in monochrome, or in color, in two or three dimensions and sound. The term can refer to a television set, a television program, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising and news. Television became available in crude experimental forms in the late 1920s, but it would still be several years before the new technology would be marketed to consumers. After World War II, an improved form of black-and-white TV broadcasting became popular in the United States and Britain, television sets became commonplace in homes and institutions. During the 1950s, television was the primary medium for influencing public opinion. In the mid-1960s, color broadcasting was introduced in most other developed countries; the availability of multiple types of archival storage media such as Betamax, VHS tape, local disks, DVDs, flash drives, high-definition Blu-ray Discs, cloud digital video recorders has enabled viewers to watch pre-recorded material—such as movies—at home on their own time schedule.
For many reasons the convenience of remote retrieval, the storage of television and video programming now occurs on the cloud. At the end of the first decade of the 2000s, digital television transmissions increased in popularity. Another development was the move from standard-definition television to high-definition television, which provides a resolution, higher. HDTV may be transmitted in various formats: 1080p, 720p. Since 2010, with the invention of smart television, Internet television has increased the availability of television programs and movies via the Internet through streaming video services such as Netflix, Amazon Video, iPlayer and Hulu. In 2013, 79 % of the world's households owned; the replacement of early bulky, high-voltage cathode ray tube screen displays with compact, energy-efficient, flat-panel alternative technologies such as LCDs, OLED displays, plasma displays was a hardware revolution that began with computer monitors in the late 1990s. Most TV sets sold in the 2000s were flat-panel LEDs.
Major manufacturers announced the discontinuation of CRT, DLP, fluorescent-backlit LCDs by the mid-2010s. In the near future, LEDs are expected to be replaced by OLEDs. Major manufacturers have announced that they will produce smart TVs in the mid-2010s. Smart TVs with integrated Internet and Web 2.0 functions became the dominant form of television by the late 2010s. Television signals were distributed only as terrestrial television using high-powered radio-frequency transmitters to broadcast the signal to individual television receivers. Alternatively television signals are distributed by coaxial cable or optical fiber, satellite systems and, since the 2000s via the Internet; until the early 2000s, these were transmitted as analog signals, but a transition to digital television is expected to be completed worldwide by the late 2010s. A standard television set is composed of multiple internal electronic circuits, including a tuner for receiving and decoding broadcast signals. A visual display device which lacks a tuner is called a video monitor rather than a television.
The word television comes from Ancient Greek τῆλε, meaning'far', Latin visio, meaning'sight'. The first documented usage of the term dates back to 1900, when the Russian scientist Constantin Perskyi used it in a paper that he presented in French at the 1st International Congress of Electricity, which ran from 18 to 25 August 1900 during the International World Fair in Paris; the Anglicised version of the term is first attested in 1907, when it was still "...a theoretical system to transmit moving images over telegraph or telephone wires". It was "...formed in English or borrowed from French télévision." In the 19th century and early 20th century, other "...proposals for the name of a then-hypothetical technology for sending pictures over distance were telephote and televista." The abbreviation "TV" is from 1948. The use of the term to mean "a television set" dates from 1941; the use of the term to mean "television as a medium" dates from 1927. The slang term "telly" is more common in the UK; the slang term "the tube" or the "boob tube" derives from the bulky cathode ray tube used on most TVs until the advent of flat-screen TVs.
Another slang term for the TV is "idiot box". In the 1940s and throughout the 1950s, during the early rapid growth of television programming and television-set ownership in the United States, another slang term became used in that period and continues to be used today to distinguish productions created for broadcast on television from films developed for presentation in movie theaters; the "small screen", as both a compound adjective and noun, became specific references to television, while the "big screen" was used to identify productions made for theatrical release. Facsimile transmission systems for still photographs pioneered methods of mechanical scanning of images in the early 19th century. Alexander Bain introduced the facsimile machine between 1843 and 1846. Frederick Bakewell demonstrated a working laboratory version in 1851. Willoughby Smith discovered the photoconductivity of the element selenium in 1873; as a 23-year-old German university student, Paul Julius Gottlieb Nipkow proposed and patented the Nipkow disk in 1884.
This was a spinning disk with a spiral pattern of holes in it, so each hole scanned a line of the image. Although he never built a working model
Walt Disney World
The Walt Disney World Resort called Walt Disney World and Disney World, is an entertainment complex in Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, Florida, in the United States, near the cities Orlando and Kissimmee. Opened on October 1, 1971, the resort is owned and operated by Disney Parks and Products, a division of The Walt Disney Company, it was first operated by Walt Disney World Company. The property, which covers nearly 25,000 acres, only half of, used, comprises four theme parks, two water parks, twenty-seven themed resort hotels, nine non-Disney hotels, several golf courses, a camping resort, other entertainment venues, including the outdoor shopping center Disney Springs. Designed to supplement Disneyland, in Anaheim, which had opened in 1955, the complex was developed by Walt Disney in the 1960s. "The Florida Project", as it was known, was intended to present a distinct vision with its own diverse set of attractions. Walt Disney's original plans called for the inclusion of an "Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow", a planned community intended to serve as a test bed for new city-living innovations.
Walt Disney died on December 1966, during construction of the complex. Without him spearheading the construction, the company built a resort similar to Disneyland, abandoning the experimental concepts for a planned community. Magic Kingdom was the first theme park to open in the complex, in 1971, followed by Epcot, Disney's Hollywood Studios, Disney's Animal Kingdom. Today, Walt Disney World is the most visited vacation resort in the world, with average annual attendance of more than 52 million; the resort is the flagship destination of Disney's worldwide corporate enterprise and has become a popular staple in American culture. In 1959, Walt Disney Productions began looking for land to house a second resort to supplement Disneyland in Anaheim, which had opened in 1955. Market surveys at the time revealed that only 5% of Disneyland's visitors came from east of the Mississippi River, where 75% of the population of the United States lived. Additionally, Walt Disney disliked the businesses that had sprung up around Disneyland and wanted more control over a larger area of land in the next project.
Walt Disney flew over a potential site in Orlando, Florida – one of many – in November 1963. After witnessing the well-developed network of roads and taking the planned construction of both Interstate 4 and Florida's Turnpike into account, with McCoy Air Force Base to the east, Disney selected a centrally-located site near Bay Lake. To avoid a burst of land speculation, Walt Disney World Company used various dummy corporations to acquire 30,500 acres of land. In May 1965, some of these major land transactions were recorded a few miles southwest of Orlando in Osceola County. In addition, two large tracts totaling $1.5 million were sold, smaller tracts of flatlands and cattle pastures were purchased by exotically-named companies such as the "Ayefour Corporation", "Latin-American Development and Management Corporation" and the "Reedy Creek Ranch Corporation". Some are now memorialized on a window above Main Street, U. S. A. in Magic Kingdom. The smaller parcels of land acquired were called "outs".
They were 5-acre lots sold to investors. Most of the owners in the 1960s were happy to get rid of the land, swamp at the time. Another issue was the mineral rights to the land. Without the transfer of these rights, Tufts could come in at any time and demand the removal of buildings to obtain minerals. Disney's team negotiated a deal with Tufts to buy the mineral rights for $15,000. Working in secrecy, real estate agents unaware of their client's identity began making offers to landowners in April 1964 in parts of southwest Orange and northwest Osceola counties; the agents were careful not to reveal the extent of their intentions, they were able to negotiate numerous land contracts with some including large tracts of land for as little as $100 an acre. With the understanding that the recording of the first deeds would trigger intense public scrutiny, Disney delayed the filing of paperwork until a large portion of the land was under contract. Early rumors and speculation about the land purchases assumed possible development by NASA in support of the nearby Kennedy Space Center, as well as references to other famous investors such as Ford, the Rockefellers, Howard Hughes.
An Orlando Sentinel news article published weeks on May 20, 1965, acknowledged a popular rumor that Disney was building an "East Coast" version of Disneyland. However, the publication denied its accuracy based on an earlier interview with Disney at Kennedy Space Center, in which he claimed a $50 million investment was in the works for Disneyland, that he had no interest in building a new park. In October 1965, editor Emily Bavar from the Sentinel visited Disneyland during the park's 10th-anniversary celebration. In an interview with Disney, she asked him if he was behind recent land purchases in Central Florida, his reaction, combined with other research obtained during her Anaheim visit, led Bavar to author a story on October 21, 1965, where she predicted that Disney was building a second theme park in Florida. Three days after gathering more information from various sources, the Sentinel published another article headlined, "We Say:'Mystery Industry' Is Disney". Walt Disney had planned to publicly reveal Disney World on November 15, 1965, but in light of the Sentinel story, Disney asked
Paula Abdul
Paula Julie Abdul is an American dancer, singer and television personality. She began her career as a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers at the age of 18 and became the head choreographer for the Laker Girls, where she was discovered by The Jacksons. After choreographing music videos for Janet Jackson, Abdul became a choreographer at the height of the music video era and soon thereafter she was signed to Virgin Records, her debut studio album Forever Your Girl became one of the most successful debut albums at that time, selling 7 million copies in the United States and setting a record for the most number-one singles from a debut album on the Billboard Hot 100 chart: "Straight Up", "Forever Your Girl", "Cold Hearted", "Opposites Attract". Her six number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 tie her with Diana Ross for seventh among the female solo performers who have topped the chart. Abdul was one of the original judges on the television series American Idol from 2002 to 2009, has since appeared as a judge on The X Factor, Live to Dance, So You Think You Can Dance.
Notably, she received choreography credits in numerous films, including Can't Buy Me Love, The Running Man, Coming to America, Action Jackson, The Doors, Jerry Maguire, American Beauty. She has received five MTV Video Music Award nominations, winning twice, as well as receiving the Grammy Award for Best Music Video for "Opposites Attract" in 1991, she received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography twice for her work on The Tracey Ullman Show, her own performance at the American Music Awards in 1990. Abdul was honored with her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, is the first entertainer to be honored with the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards' Hall of Fame Award. Abdul was born in California to Jewish parents. Abdul's father, Harry Abdul, born into the Syrian Jewish community in Aleppo, was raised in Brazil, subsequently immigrated to the United States, her mother, the concert pianist Lorraine M. Rykiss, grew up in one of the two Jewish families in Minnedosa and has Ashkenazi Jewish ancestors from Ukraine.
She has a sister named Wendy. As an avid dancer, Abdul was inspired towards a show business career by Gene Kelly in the film Singin' in the Rain. Abdul began taking dance lessons at an early age in ballet and tap, she attended Van Nuys High School, where she was an honor student. At 15, she received a scholarship to a dance camp near Palm Springs, in 1978 appeared in a low-budget Independent musical film, Junior High School. In 1980, she graduated from Van Nuys High School. Abdul studied broadcasting at Northridge. During her freshman year, she was selected from a pool of 700 candidates for the cheerleading squad of the Los Angeles Lakers NBA basketball team—the famed Laker Girls. Within a year, she became head choreographer.' Abdul was discovered by The Jacksons, after a few of the band members had watched her while attending a Los Angeles Lakers game. She was signed to do the choreography for the video to their single "Torture". Abdul recalled feeling intimidated by having to tell the Jacksons how to dance, stating that she was "not quite sure how got through that."
The success of the choreography in the video led to Abdul's career as choreographer of music videos, notably Janet Jackson's "Nasty" and "Control" videos. It was due to the success of the video that Abdul was chosen to be the choreographer for the Jacksons' Victory tour. Abdul choreographed sequences for the giant keyboard scene involving Tom Hanks's character in Big. In 1987, Abdul used her savings to make a singing demo. Soon thereafter, she was signed to the newly formed Virgin Records by Jeff Ayeroff, who had worked in marketing at A&M Records with Janet Jackson. Although she was a skilled dancer and choreographer, Abdul was a untrained singer, worked with various coaches and record producers to develop her vocal ability, with her vocal range defined as mezzo-soprano. Ayeroff recalled signing Abdul to a recording contract years stating: "She said,'I can sing, you know. I want to do an album.' Paula's in our industry. Here's someone with a personality and she's gorgeous, she can dance. If she can sing, she could be a star.
So she went into the studio and cut a demo record and she could sing." Her debut studio album, Forever Your Girl, would become the most successful debut album in history at that time, reaching number one on the Billboard 200 chart after 64 weeks, set a record for the most singles from a debut album to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States. The album was certified platinum in 1989. A remix album, Shut Up and Dance: Mixes, was released and reached number seven in the United States, becoming one of the most successful remix albums to date. At the 32nd Grammy Awards, Abdul won her first Grammy for Best Music Video for "Opposites Attract", she was nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "Straight Up", but lost to Bonnie Raitt's "Nick of Time". In 1991, singer Yvette Marine filed a lawsuit against Abdul and the Virgin label, alleging that it was her vocals that were used on several tracks from Forever Your Girl, most notably "Opposites Attract". A jury sided with Abdul and the label two years in 1993, rejecting Marine's claim to credit and copyright compensation.
Abdul saw continued success with her second studio album Spellbound, which saw two additional number-one singles: "Rush Rush" and "The Promise of a New Day". Spellbound retained the dance-pop sound from Forever Your Girl and introduced elements of R&B, and
A cappella
A cappella music is group or solo singing without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It contrasts with cantata, accompanied singing; the term "a cappella" was intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato style. In the 19th century a renewed interest in Renaissance polyphony coupled with an ignorance of the fact that vocal parts were doubled by instrumentalists led to the term coming to mean unaccompanied vocal music; the term is used, albeit as a synonym for alla breve. A cappella music was used in religious music church music as well as anasheed and zemirot. Gregorian chant is an example of a cappella singing, as is the majority of secular vocal music from the Renaissance; the madrigal, up until its development in the early Baroque into an instrumentally-accompanied form, is usually in a cappella form. Jewish and Christian music were a cappella, this practice has continued in both of these religions as well as in Islam.
The polyphony of Christian a cappella music began to develop in Europe around the late 15th century AD, with compositions by Josquin des Prez. The early a cappella polyphonies may have had an accompanying instrument, although this instrument would double the singers' parts and was not independent. By the 16th century, a cappella polyphony had further developed, but the cantata began to take the place of a cappella forms. 16th century a cappella polyphony, continued to influence church composers throughout this period and to the present day. Recent evidence has shown that some of the early pieces by Palestrina, such as what was written for the Sistine Chapel was intended to be accompanied by an organ "doubling" some or all of the voices; such is seen in the life of Palestrina becoming a major influence on Bach, most notably in the Mass in B Minor. Other composers that utilized the a cappella style, if only for the occasional piece, were Claudio Monteverdi and his masterpiece, Lagrime d'amante al sepolcro dell'amata, composed in 1610, Andrea Gabrieli when upon his death it was discovered many choral pieces, one of, in the unaccompanied style.
Learning from the preceding two composeres, Heinrich Schütz utilized the a cappella style in numerous pieces, chief among these were the pieces in the oratorio style, which were traditionally performed during the Easter week and dealt with the religious subject matter of that week, such as Christ's suffering and the Passion. Five of Schutz's Historien were Easter pieces, of these the latter three, which dealt with the passion from three different viewpoints, those of Matthew and John, were all done a cappella style; this was a near requirement for this type of piece, the parts of the crowd were sung while the solo parts which were the quoted parts from either Christ or the authors were performed in a plainchant. In the Byzantine Rite of the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Eastern Catholic Churches, the music performed in the liturgies is sung without instrumental accompaniment. Bishop Kallistos Ware says, "The service is sung though there may be no choir... In the Orthodox Church today, as in the early Church, singing is unaccompanied and instrumental music is not found."
This a cappella behavior arises from strict interpretation of Psalms 150, which states, Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. In keeping with this philosophy, early Russian musika which started appearing in the late 17th century, in what was known as khorovïye kontsertï made a cappella adaptations of Venetian-styled pieces, such as the treatise, Grammatika musikiyskaya, by Nikolai Diletsky. Divine Liturgies and Western Rite masses composed by famous composers such as Peter Tchaikovsky, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Alexander Arkhangelsky, Mykola Leontovych are fine examples of this. Present-day Christian religious bodies known for conducting their worship services without musical accompaniment include some Presbyterian churches devoted to the regulative principle of worship, Old Regular Baptists, Primitive Baptists, Plymouth Brethren, Churches of Christ, Church of God, the Old German Baptist Brethren, Doukhobors the Byzantine Rite and the Amish, Old Order Mennonites and Conservative Mennonites.
Certain high church services and other musical events in liturgical churches may be a cappella, a practice remaining from apostolic times. Many Mennonites conduct some or all of their services without instruments. Sacred Harp, a type of folk music, is an a cappella style of religious singing with shape notes sung at singing conventions. Opponents of musical instruments in the Christian worship believe that such opposition is supported by the Christian scriptures and Church history; the scriptures referenced are Matthew 26:30. There is no reference to instrumental music in early church worship in the New Testament, or in the worship of churches for the first six centuries. Several reasons have been posited throughout church history for the absence of instrumental music in church worship. Christians who believe in a cappella music today believe that in the Israelite worship assembly during Temple worship only the Priests of Levi sang and offered animal sacrifices, whereas in the church era, all Christians are commanded to sing praises to God.
They believe that if God
Star Tours – The Adventures Continue
Star Tours – The Adventures Continue is a 3D motion simulator attraction located at Disney's Hollywood Studios, Tokyo Disneyland, Disneyland Paris. Set in the Star Wars universe Star Tours – The Adventures Continue takes guests on a turbulent excursion trip across the galaxy, as droids C-3PO and R2-D2 attempt to safely return a spy to the Rebel Alliance; the Adventures Continue features locations and characters from Episode I – The Phantom Menace through Episode VIII – The Last Jedi, unlike its predecessor, which took place after the events of the original trilogy. The attraction opened on May 20, 2011 at Disney's Hollywood Studios, on June 3, 2011 at Disneyland, on May 7, 2013 at Tokyo Disneyland, on March 26, 2017 at Disneyland Paris. In April 2005, at Star Wars Celebration III, creator George Lucas confirmed that a Star Tours II was in production. In May 2009, /Film reported that filming for the new version of Star Tours was underway in West Hollywood, California. During pre-production, one of the locations that Imagineers wanted guests to visit was the ice planet of Hoth while it was under siege by Imperial walkers.
However, the idea was scrapped because it would interfere with the attraction's placement in the Star Wars timeline. According to Imagineer Jason Surrell, after the Hoth battle idea was replaced with an encounter with the planet's native fauna, the concept was presented to George Lucas. Lucas, although liking the idea, requested that the battle scene be used instead if it meant disrupting the series' canon. Lucas offered the possibility that there was an earlier scuffle between Rebel and Imperial forces on the planet before the events in Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back unfolded and that they "later decided to build a base there figuring the Empire wouldn’t think the rebels would return to that same location." The Kashyyyk sequence was suggested by John Lasseter. Industrial Light & Magic was responsible for the extensive computer-generated imagery seen throughout the attraction. At the 2009 D23 Expo in Anaheim, Walt Disney Imagineering announced that Star Tours at Disneyland and Disney's Hollywood Studios would be closed in October 2010 for total renovation and would reopen in May and June 2011 as Star Tours II.
The updated ride system would consist of high-definition video, a Dolby 3D high-definition screen, an improved motion simulator, as well as several other newly added special effects. A short teaser trailer was shown at the expo featuring a podracing scene similar to that from Episode I – The Phantom Menace. An accompanying teaser picture depicted a red-colored "StarSpeeder 1000" spacecraft. In May 2010, Disney announced exact dates for the closure of Star Tours at both parks, both earlier than the announced October 2010 date. Star Tours closed on July 27 on September 7 at Disney's Hollywood Studios. On June 11, 2010, at the "What's Next?" presentation, Disney announced that the re-imagined attraction would take place between episodes III and IV of the Star Wars film series and would be named Star Tours–The Adventures Continue. They premiered an image showcasing the StarSpeeder 1000 flying through Coruscant. On August 12, during Celebration V, Disney showed a preview'commercial' of what guests may expect to see, including visits to Endor and Alderaan.
By September 24, two new characters were revealed for Star Tours–The Adventures Continue. The first one was Ace, the new pilot, the second one was the Aly San San spokesdroid, voiced by Allison Janney. During D23's "Destination D" event, Disneyland Resort President George Kalogridis stated that the new ride would feature 54 possible different experiences. On October 26, Tom Fitzgerald, Executive VP and Senior Creative Executive of Walt Disney Imagineering, stated that while "Ace" was supposed to be the pilot of the Starspeeder 1000's, by the time riders take off, the pilot would be C-3PO. Fitzgerald mentioned that Captain Rex, the former Star Tours pilot, would make an appearance somewhere on the new version of the attraction. Anthony Daniels, who played C-3PO in all the Star Wars films, returned to portray the character in three mediums. Fitzgerald revealed on February 11, 2011, that more characters would be encountered on the ride, including Darth Vader, Boba Fett, Imperial Stormtroopers, "Skytroopers", Admiral Ackbar, Princess Leia and Chewbacca.
He confirmed on locations that guests could visit on the new attraction. Destinations include Tatooine, Hoth, Naboo and the Death Star as it orbits Geonosis; the attraction in Florida began soft openings on May 14, with the official opening at midnight on May 20, 2011. The attraction in Anaheim began soft openings on May 20, with the official opening in the morning of June 3, 2011. Tokyo Disneyland's Star Tours attraction closed on April 2, 2012, reopened as the revamped attraction on May 7, 2013. Disneyland Paris' Star Tours attarction was the final incarnation to change. In 2012, Star Tours – The Adventures Continue was awarded as the most "Outstanding Attraction Refresh" by the Themed Entertainment Association. At the 2015 D23 Expo, it was announced that an adventure themed to The Force Awakens would be added to the attraction; the new adventure became available beginning November 16, 2015. A new adventure themed to Crait from The Last Jedi will be added to the adventure matrix; the Crait and Batuu sequences were added on November 17, 2017.
The exteriors of all four Star Tours attractions are different in thei
Walt Disney Imagineering
Disney Imagineering, some times just Imagineering or more Walt Disney Imagineering Research & Development, Inc. is the research and development arm of The Walt Disney Company, responsible for the creation and construction of Disney theme parks and attractions worldwide. Founded by Walt Disney to oversee the production of Disneyland, it was known as Walt Disney, Inc. WED Enterprises, from the initials meaning "Walter Elias Disney", the company co-founder's full name. Headquartered in Glendale, Imagineering was founded by Walt Disney to oversee the production of Disneyland. Imagineering is composed of "Imagineers", who are illustrators, engineers, lighting designers, show writers and graphic designers; the term Imagineering, a portmanteau, was introduced in the 1940s by Alcoa to describe its blending of imagination and engineering, used by Union Carbide in an in-house magazine in 1957, with an article by Richard F Sailer called "BRAINSTORMING IS IMAGination engINEERING". Disney filed for a trademark for the term in 1989, claiming first use of the term in 1962.
Imagineering is a registered trademark of The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney, Inc. was formed by Walt Disney on December 16, 1952 with an engineering division tasked with designing Disneyland. In light of objections from Roy as well as those of potential stockholders, WDI was renamed WED Enterprises in 1953 based on Walt's initials. In 1961, WED moved into the Grand Central Business Park. WED Enterprises theme park design and architectural group became so integral to the Disney studio's operations that the Disney Productions bought it on February 5, 1965 along with the WED Enterprises name; the unit was renamed as of January 1986 to Walt Disney Imagineering. In 1996, Disney Development Company, the Disney conglomerate's real estate development subsidiary, merged into Imagineering. Imagineering created Disney Fair, a U. S. traveling attraction, which premiered in September 1996. With poor attendance, the fair was pulled after a few stops. Disney Entertainment Projects, Inc. a new Disney Asian Pacific subsidiary, selected a renamed fair called DisneyFest as its first project taking it to Singapore to open there on October 30, 1997.
By 1997, Imagineers were in several buildings in Grand Central Business Park when Disney purchased the park. In September 1999, Disney Imagineering announced the Grand Central Creative Campus redesign of the industrial park with a new office-studio complex anchored by Disney Imagineering; some of the building were demolished to make way for new buildings. The additional space would be for production facilities and offices; as part of The Walt Disney Company’s March 2018 strategic reorganization, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts merged with Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media segments into Walt Disney Parks and Consumer Products. Imagineering is governed by 15 principles and practices in the construction of attractions and theme parks; these 15 principles have since been published for individuals wanting to achieve their creative goals. New concepts and improvements are created to fulfil specific needs. For instance, the ride vehicle of the attraction Soarin' Over California has been designed to help guests experience the sensation of flight.
During development, Imagineer Mark Sumner found an erector set in his attic, which inspired the solution to create this experience. The ride simulates hang gliding. One of Imagineering's techniques, "blue sky speculation", is a process in which ideas are generated without limitations. Imagineers start with a bold idea in extreme detail, regardless of the budgetary or physical constraints; as a result, it can take up to five years for an idea to turn into a finished attraction. The company consider this the beginning of a design process, believing, "if it can be dreamt, it can be built."Imagineering strive to perfect their work, in which Walt coined as "plussing". He believed that there is always room for innovation and improvement, stating "Disneyland will never be completed as long as there's imagination left in the world". Imagineering has returned to abandoned ideas. For example, the Museum of the Weird, was a proposed walk-through wax museum that became the Haunted Mansion. Disney theme parks are story-telling and visual experiences known as “The Art of the Show.”
The use of theming and attention to detail are essential in the Disney experience. Creative director John Hench noted the similarities between theme park design and film making, such as the use of techniques including forced perspective. One notable example of forced perspective is Cinderella Castle in Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World; the scale of architectural elements is much smaller in the upper reaches of the castle compared to the foundation, making it seem taller than its actual height of 189 feet. The attraction, Pirates of the Caribbean, evokes a “rollicking buccaneer adventure,” according to Hench. In contrast, the Disney Cruise Line ships create an elegant seafaring atmosphere. Minor details in theme park shops and restaurants are crucial; when guests walk down the area of Main Street, U. S. A. they are to notice a bakery fragrance, reminiscent of suburban America in the 1900s. In addition to theme parks, Imagineering has devised retail stores and hotels which have "stories" and create a specific mood.
For instance, the Disney's Contemporary Resort features an A-frame structure, modern décor and futuristic features including a quiet monorail in the lobby. These details reinforce the hotel's contemporary nature. In 2010, Disney Educational Products produced a series of videos
FastPass+ was available
Wheelchair accessible