Studio Entertainment - 1989

The Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park wasn't even two months old when I was lucky enough to pay my first visit. This Entertainment Program managed to make it through a day at the park and then survive another 19 years. One of the things that I miss most about the original days at the Studios was the cool movie merchandise that you could buy there. On that first visit I got an awesome Touchstone Pictures baseball hat that I wore for years. (I loved that hat!)


It doesn't look like there was a whole lot to do back when the park first opened. But it still took you all day to cover the park. The Backstage Studio Tour was a much more grand affair than it is now. This attraction took at least 2 hours to go all the way through.

One of the original ideas for the Studios Theme Park was to always have a celebrity on hand, no matter when you visited. They would participate in the "Star Conversation" show at the Theatre of the Stars where guests could ask big time Hollywood stars whatever questions they wanted. The stars also rode in parades and sometimes put their hand prints in cement in front of the Chinese Theatre.

In case you're wondering here, Morgan Brittany was on the CBS 80's Prime Time soap opera Dallas and Susan Sullivan was part of the cast of another CBS drama, Falcon Crest.

Magical Beginnings Maps

If you haven't traveled to Walt Disney World with very young children recently, you may have missed Disney's recent push to promote their resort as a destination friendly enough for kids of all ages. They call this preschool promotion Magical Beginnings. I hear from so many new parents that they want to wait until their kids are older to take them to Walt Disney World so they'll remember it. As most of us that read and/or write Disney blogs will attest, it is possible to remember visits from very early in our childhood, but more important that that - taking your small children to Walt Disney World really isn't about the memories they'll have it's about the memories you'll have. You'll never forget the first time your child runs up and gives Mickey Mouse a hug, or the wide-eyed look on their face as they travel on "It's a Small World" for the first time.

Touring the Walt Disney World resort theme parks with small children does require a different approach than visiting with school aged kids. Disney has taken some of these tips, suggestions and reminders and put them together in a colorful little brochure that can easily be found at any of the parks Baby Care Centers. In addition to all the useful information in this hand-out, the centerpiece of the publication is some really cute simple maps that present the theme parks from a preschool perspective. They look as if they might have been inspired by the Mary Blair art of "It's a Small World". Since this isn't something every visitor to the parks is likely to pick up, I'd thought I'd share these whimsical maps with you...