hollywood studios fun facts

· hollywood studios (formally disney’s mgm studios) was originally supposed to be a pavilion at epcot, which is why the two parks are so close together. the imagineers soon realized that their mission was far too big to be condensed into the size of a pavilion.

· the rock-n-roll roller coaster starring aerosmith goes from 0 to 57 miles per hour in just 2.8 seconds.

· the sorcerer mickey hat was added in 2001 as part of the 100 Years of Magic Celebration.

· the flight simulators used in star tours are the same ones used to train military pilots.

· tower of terror stands at 199 feet tall, which is just one foot under flight regulations for there to have to be a blinker on top of the building.

· the lagoon where fantasmic! takes place is only 1.5 feet deep.

· in the queue for the tower or terror, there is a set of luggage made from real alligator skin.

· the brown derby in hollywood studios is modeled after the original brown derby, which no longer exists. the photos on the wall that are in black frames are copies of the original photos. the photos that are in gold frames, however, are original photos from the real brown derby.

· when the great movie ride was built, disney bought a real lockheed plane for the casablanca scene. it was cut in half, and the back half can now be seen in the jungle cruise at magic kingdom.

· on the right side of the wall just before you enter the preshow room in the queue for rock-n-roll roller coaster, there is a poster with a large american flag on it. there used to be a large pot leaf on the poster, but after numerous people complained about it not being appropriate for a disney ride, it was covered up. if you look closely, you can still see the shape of the pot leaf underneath the flag.

· in the room before the staging area at the queue for star tours, there are two mechanical birds above you. they are a homage to the two ravens in splash mountain.

· disney had real mahjong players set up the mahjong game in the queue for the tower of terror so guests could see that it was authentic.

· there is over 60 hours of recorded music that is played outside of rock-n-roll roller coaster so that guests never hear the same song in a day. also, this music is periodically switched to match the changing times.