The attraction's entrance and standby queue were relocated and rebuilt for the opening of Toy Story Land, giving the ride a new carnival game-box marquee, a toy-scaled themed queue, and a Mr. Potato Head Audio-Animatronic 'Boardwalk Barker'.
Everything that changed here
across the land, newest first- 2019
Added a permanent mesh shade canopy over the outdoor queue switchbacks in response to guest feedback about the unshaded land.
- 2018
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Slinky Dog Dash opened with Toy Story Land at Disney's Hollywood Studios, a Mack Rides launched family coaster (two LSM launches) themed to Andy's 'Dash & Dodge Mega Coaster Kit.'
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Alien Swirling Saucers opened with Toy Story Land at Disney's Hollywood Studios, a Toy Story-themed spinning flat ride where the Little Green Men pilot guests' flying-saucer rockets beneath The Claw.
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The former Play It! site passed into Toy Story Land on June 30, 2018, when Pixar Place closed and the Toy Story Mania! entrance was relocated.
Kept because it is what places this memorial's site in Toy Story Land on today's map.
20162 changes
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A third ride track opened alongside a new queue and load area, expanding the attraction's hourly capacity by roughly 50%.
2 tracks→3 tracks -
Demolition of the former backlot began, with construction on Toy Story Land starting April 3, 2016.
20151 change
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Disney announced at the D23 Expo that the former backlot land would be redeveloped into Toy Story Land and Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge.
Both land articles independently give the August 15, 2015 announcement date, and the Toy Story Land infobox names the Studio Backlot Tour as what it replaced. Toy Story Land opened June 30, 2018 and Galaxy's Edge opened August 29, 2019.
20146 changes
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After the Studio Backlot Tour closed, the Frozen-themed Wandering Oaken's Trading Post moved out of Soundstage 1 and into the vacated showcase building at the tour's former exit.
Attractions Magazine, published September 29, 2014, reports Oaken's moving from Soundstage 1 into the former AFI Showcase space, which "served as the exit for the Backlot Tour." The successor use was retail, not an attraction, so no in-scope attraction replaced the showcase and no replaced_by pointer is set; the surrounding backlot was later cleared, with Wikipedia stating the Backlot Tour land and most of the Streets of America made room for Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge and Toy Story Land. -
The Studio Backlot Tour ran its last trams through Catastrophe Canyon and closed permanently after more than 25 years.
Yesterland: "The Studio Backlot Tour closed permanently on September 27, 2014." Wikipedia's article text gives the same final operating day while its infobox lists September 28, 2014, the first day it no longer ran; we record the last day guests rode. -
Cast members were told that the Studio Backlot Tour would permanently close on September 27, 2014.
Wikipedia states the September 20 cast briefing plainly but cites no source for it; the Orlando Sentinel's "Disney's Studio Backlot Tour turning out the lights" ran September 25, 2014. -
The American Film Institute Showcase and its adjoining shop closed permanently after operating for the last time on Sunday, August 17, 2014, with "The Best in Film: AFI's 100 Years, 100 Movies" as the final exhibit.
Attractions Magazine, published that day, said the showcase and gift shop "located at the end of the Studio Backlot Tour at Disney's Hollywood Studios will be closing for good after today, Aug. 17, 2014." LaughingPlace's August 21 retrospective reports it had closed and names the final exhibit. Wikipedia's Studio Backlot Tour article corroborates the month - "The exhibit and store were closed in August 2014, a month prior to the attraction's closure" - the tour itself closing September 27, 2014. -
Disney confirmed that the showcase and its adjoining shop would close on August 17, 2014, and that the collectible merchandise would not be relocated elsewhere in the park.
TouringPlans, published August 14, 2014, names the August 17 closing date and states plainly: "The merchandise and collectibles will not be relocated and will no longer be available at the park." A wdwmagic.com report of the same date was cited originally but returns HTTP 403 to our fetcher, so it was removed rather than carried unread. -
The American Film Institute showcase exhibit that guests walked through to exit the tour closed, along with its store.
20131 change
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The showcase's adjoining shop took on the collectible movie props and autographed memorabilia previously sold at Sid Cahuenga's near the park entrance.
TouringPlans' August 14, 2014 report states the collectibles at the AFI shop "had previously been found" at Sid Cahuenga's, and describes that shop as having closed "last year" to make way for a MyMagic+ Service Center. The dating is relative to a 2014 article, so it is held to year-only, and the sentence asserts only the transfer of merchandise, which is what the source directly carries.
20101 change
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The Bo Peep's Baaa-loon Pop game screen was reworked into Rex and Trixie's Dino Darts, adding a Toy Story 3 character to the ride's game lineup.
Bo Peep's Baaa-loon Pop→Rex and Trixie's Dino Darts
20091 change
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The tour reopened from a two-month refurbishment that had begun January 4, 2009 with a recorded audio spiel throughout the ride and in Catastrophe Canyon, replacing the live tram guides.
Wikipedia gives the January 4 closure and March 29 reopening with new audio; the detail that Imagineering had told cast members in 2008 an automated spiel was in development is thinner than the refurbishment dates themselves.
20082 changes
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Toy Story Mania! opened in the Pixar Place area of Disney's Hollywood Studios as an interactive 3D midway-style shooting dark ride from Walt Disney Imagineering, debuting with two ride tracks.
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Toy Story Midway Mania! opened on May 31, 2008 in the renovated soundstages that Who Wants to Be a Millionaire - Play It! had used.
20061 change
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The show closed permanently on August 19, 2006 after a run of more than five years.
20051 change
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The show lost its FASTPASS option in 2005, when Lights, Motors, Action!: Extreme Stunt Show opened.
Year only, no precise date; the supporting sentence on Wikipedia carries no inline citation, hence medium confidence.
20031 change
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Residential Street, the outdoor set of replica television-family homes on the tram route, was walled off from the tour and demolished to clear space for the Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show.
The stunt show opened May 5, 2005 and its article names "Studio Backlot Tour - Residential Street" as what it replaced; Wikipedia says its arena forced the tour to be re-routed and New York Street lost its arch to make room for the tram turnaround. Small portions of Residential Street were reused for the tour's downsized boneyard and tram roadways.
20015 changes
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The theater space that had ended the tour with a movie preview reopened on October 1, 2001 as Walt Disney: One Man's Dream, the building that operates today as Walt Disney Presents.
The Studio Backlot Tour article says only 'In 2001, the space was converted into Walt Disney: One Man's Dream'; the October 1, 2001 date comes from Wikipedia's attraction list, which attributes that theater to Inside the Magic only through 1994, so the exact room is not firmly established. -
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire - Play It! opened on April 7, 2001 in Soundstage 3, one of the soundstages the walking tour had visited, and Soundstages 2 and 3 were rebuilt as Toy Story Midway Mania! in 2008.
Wikipedia's attraction list files Backstage Pass and Millionaire (April 7, 2001 - August 19, 2006) under the same 'Soundstages 2 & 3' heading; the Studio Backlot Tour article says Soundstage 3 opened to the public in April 2001 for Millionaire and that Soundstages 2 and 3 were converted to Toy Story Midway Mania! in 2008. -
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire - Play It! opened at Disney-MGM Studios on April 7, 2001 in converted production soundstages, seating 647 guests for roughly 25-minute sessions in which players competed for points and collectible pins rather than cash.
Wikipedia's list article files the venue as Soundstages 2 & 3 while the attraction infobox gives the location as Animation Courtyard; the 647-guest capacity and 25-minute length are the Florida figures given on the attraction's Wikipedia page. Yesterland's page documents mainly the Disney California Adventure version and supports only the Florida opening date and the points-not-cash rule here. -
The Backstage Pass walking tour closed permanently in 2001, ending the park's guided walk through its production soundstages while the tram-only Studio Backlot Tour continued without it.
Yesterland ('In 2001, the Backstage Pass walking tour closed permanently') and the Studio Backlot Tour article ('In 2001, Backstage Pass was closed') agree on 2001; Wikipedia's list of park attractions instead ends the run in 2000. No source opened supports a month or day. -
Backstage Pass, the walking half carved out of the original 1989 tour, closed, and Soundstage 3 opened to guests in April 2001 to house Who Wants To Be A Millionaire - Play It!.
19991 change
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After Mortal Kombat: Conquest was canceled following its run at the studio, Disney bought the show's sets so that walking tour guests would have something to look at in the soundstages.
Yesterland dates the series' run at Disney-MGM to 1998-1999 and gives no date for the set purchase, so this is filed at the year of cancellation.
19964 changes
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The rebuilt Studio Backlot Tour opened on June 30, 1996 and took over both the walking tour's entrance at the far end of Mickey Avenue and its water tank special effects stage, which became the tram tour's opening act, pushing the walking tour's entrance next door.
Wikipedia: 'In 1996, the entrance to the Backlot Tour was moved to replace the Backstage Pass entrance at the end of Mickey Avenue.' Yesterland gives the June 30, 1996 opening date and the water tank as the tram tour's opening act. -
The tram tour relaunched as the Studio Backlot Tour, a roughly 35-minute version entering at the far end of Mickey Avenue where the walking tour had begun, with the water tank special effects demonstration as its opening act.
Yesterland says the Studio Backlot Tour "opened at Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park on June 30, 1996" and was "an updated subset of the Backstage Studio Tour." Wikipedia adds that it took over the Backstage Pass entrance, with a prop warehouse built for extra queue and a new tram loading area. This was a rename and re-route of the same attraction, not a new one. -
The soundstage segment was remodelled around the live-action 101 Dalmatians and the walkthrough was renamed Backstage Pass, billed with the studio's current release as Backstage Pass to 101 Dalmatians.
Inside the Magic→Backstage Pass, with film-of-the-moment brandingD23: 'In 1996, this last area was remodelled to show clips and sets from the live action version of 101 Dalmatians.' Yesterland: 'Inside the Magic was renamed Backstage Pass (often appended with a movie name, such as Backstage Pass to 101 Dalmatians).' The sources do not date the individual film titles. -
A small gallery of props and costumes from Disney films opened at the exit of the Studio Backlot Tour, the space that later operated as The American Film Institute Showcase.
LaughingPlace's retrospective opens: "A mainstay of Disney's Hollywood Studios since 1996 the American Film Institute Showcase has closed it's doors. What started as a small area for Disney to showcase props and costumes from some of their films in 1996 was expanded to focus on pieces of movie history the AFI choose as worthy to be showcased." It is the only source giving a year, and it dates the gallery rather than the AFI branding, so the beat is written as the gallery opening. Wikipedia describes the exit as a walk-through "American Film Institute museum exhibit based on AFI's 50 Greatest Villains," which points to AFI-branded content arriving later than the 1996 gallery; the year the partnership took over the space is not sourced. Impact is major because this is the venue's debut - the uncertainty is carried by the medium confidence, not by the impact.
19912 changes
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By 1991 the walking half was billed as its own attraction, Inside the Magic: Special Effects and Production Tour, entered separately from the tram tour at the end of Mickey Avenue.
one combined tram-and-walking tour→two separately entered attractionsYesterland cites the 1991 park guide book, which listed the tram as a '30-minute shuttle ride' with the walking portion billed separately; Wikipedia says 'by 1991,' which is approximate, and its attraction list dates Inside the Magic from 1990, so the split may have come a year earlier. -
The walking half was split off as a separate attraction and the tram was billed on its own as a 30-minute shuttle ride, the Backstage Studio Tour featuring Catastrophe Canyon.
Year is an upper bound: Wikipedia hedges the timing as "by 1991," and Yesterland cites the 1991 Guide Book listing rather than an announcement. The two sources also name the spinoff differently, Yesterland as Inside the Magic: Special Effects and Production Tour and Wikipedia as Backstage Pass, the name it carried from 1996.
19901 change
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The theater that had closed the walk with a sneak preview of Disney's newest film was split off on May 25, 1990 for the stage show Here Come the Muppets, and a smaller theater was built behind it to carry on the preview finale.
Wikipedia's attraction list dates Here Come the Muppets in the former Walt Disney Theater to May 25, 1990 and calls that theater 'originally the final portion of the Disney-MGM Studios Backstage Studio Tour'; the Studio Backlot Tour article says the split came 'within months of the park's opening.'
19892 changes
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The walking half of the two-hour Backstage Studio Tour opened with Disney-MGM Studios on May 1, 1989, leading guests on foot past the water effects tank, the special effects workshop, an enclosed catwalk above the soundstages and the post-production rooms.
D23 and Yesterland both give May 1, 1989 and describe the walking segment as 'Inside the Magic-Special Effects and Production Tour'; the Wikipedia article on the tour instead gives an April 29, 1989 opening for the attraction. -
The Backstage Studio Tour opened with the Disney-MGM Studios as one of the park's two operating attractions, pairing a walking tour of the production facilities with a tram ride through the backlot that climaxed at Catastrophe Canyon.
Yesterland quotes the 1989 park guide book, "This 2-hour guided tour involves an hour of walking," and ties the debut to the park's May 1, 1989 opening; the Disney's Hollywood Studios article says this tour and The Great Movie Ride were the only two attractions operating on opening day. Wikipedia's Studio Backlot Tour infobox gives April 29, 1989 instead; we record the park's opening day. The original tram loaded near what later became Star Wars Launch Bay.
That's every change on the record in Toy Story Land since 1989.
The spotters in our Discord catch the next one first — and the record only grows when someone notices.