We all know that the Walt Disney Studios have been built next door to what can be considered as the most elaborate and detailed Magic Kingdom the Walt Disney Company ever built - so most of the time guests of the park say that Paris’s second gate does not have the same attention to detail as its big brother. Sometimes its even possible to hear and read people saying that the Walt Disney Studios Park has absolutely no details, no theming and nothing to look at other than plain buildings and the attractions inside them. Well my friends, as much as I would love to say that the Studios have as much theming and detail as DLP next door (that would be plain lying) I still think that most people don’t realise that there are many hidden treasures even in the movie studio themed park.

Right from the moment the guests steps into the park the front gates are a clear remainder of the studio based theming this park features - the palm trees, the elaborate gates, the entrance courtyard as well as the colour scheme and the water tower emphasize this clear distinction between this park and all its predecessors: here the Imagineers based all there design efforts on one clear idea “this is a working movie studio and you are stepping into it” instead of a mix of a "Hollywood that never was" and a behind the scenes look.
To emphasize the “working studio concept” Paul Osterhout and Tom Morris (the project's leaders) went as far as to theme the boutiques and service buildings surrounding the entrance plaza as the actual working offices of a Hollywood studio courtyard using architectural styles referencing back to the Spanish revival architecture frequently found on the stiod lots built in the 30s. Like any Hollywood studio office area of the 1930’s it’s from here that the whole business of creating movies in the soundstages and sets is coordinated and directed.

How many of You ever noticed the three different styles of theming used in the giant "Legends of Hollywood" shop taking nearly the whole left half of the Studio 1? The first part of the boutique has an ancient Egyptian theme for the the "Alexandria Theatre" drawn from a historic movie palace. It features four magnificent columns covered in hieroglyphs and walls adorned with detailed Egyptian paintings. The second part / the middle section plunges visitors into a surfer's paradise combining elements from the Hawaiian as well as Californian scenery both of which are depicted more in detail in other areas of Studio 1. As in the first section various props are displayed high above the guests suspended from the ceiling creating an akward scenery as if some props were already stored while others were currently rearranged for the next shooting. Guests can discover surfboards, sun beds and badminton rackets all of which help to create a warm, holiday feeling that is already evoked by the more exotic earlier Egyptain element that blends smoothly… The final part of the boutique is set in an American refuelling station - Last Chance Gas - that seems to be located enxt to the Road 66. To create the more crammed atmosphere of a gas station the ceiling is lower and the room less spacious - but still spacious enough for a classic VW Beetle who is on the repair platform above the head of the guests (who by chance also bears the racing number and colors of Herbie, the most famous VW Beetle ever), while the walls are adorned with license plates and a car mechanic's tools. Outside the building a Woody Buick Station Wagon parks alongside some old-style gas pumps. Interestingly above the gas station brought in from Road 66 the Gossip Column towers which is more of a Hollywood landmark thereby once again blending styles and locations...

But let's not get ahead of ourselves and take a look at the building housing this boutique first of all! Because not only the interior but the whole building is already the treat for us Disney-fanatics! What many think is only a “covered version of Main Street, U.S.A.” in fact is one of the greatest tributes to Walt and his animators in the whole park! After all how many of You ever realised that the whole architecture style of Studio 1 is based on the old Disney Studio’s building in Hyperion Avenue? Yes my friends, that roof, the architectural elements, the white stucco and all the design elements of the building are a clear reference to the building where legendary Disney animators as Fred Moore, Ben Sharpensteen, Ward Kimbale and Marc Davis drew all the cells of the masterpiece that started it all - “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”.
But let's return to the inside of the Studio 1 where we already started to explore the melting pot of many of tinsel towns greatest landmarks both real and fictional created by the Disney Imagineers who are bathing them in the never ending sunset atmosphere adding that extra magical touch. Many of Hollywood’s most well known historical landmarks have been reproduced or caricatured so to strengthen the concept theme of a movie about tinsel town's hay days being filmed right as you stroll, browse or eat in the building. Plus: the Imagineers came up with countless incredible “fake” landmarks to fill up sightlines which are barely indistinguishable from the real landmarks.

Since we already had a short look at the interior of the shop on the left side of the building let's turn to the right where the facades hide the restaurant "En Coulisse". Here the line up starts with a legendary part of Hollywood, probably less known to the European audiences than to the American: Schwab's Pharmacy. This drugstore owned by Leon Schwab was a popular meeting place for writers and actors looking for work in the 1940s and was featured in the famous movie "Sunset Boulevard" and the stage musical based on it which is also the source for the famous line "I'm ready for my Close Up" by Norma Desmond that adornes the Studio 1 as a light up sign. The Imagineers took great care in finding an impressive string of some less some better known but always important landmarks. Next up is "The Brown Derby" which can also be found in Walt Disney World’s Disney MGM Studios where it is not only part of the facade of a restaurant but a restaurant itself. The Brown Derby was a well-known Hollywood restaurant in the shape of a bowler hat where a host of movie stars wined and dined in a relaxed atmosphere during Hollywood’s golden age but has been demolished long ago. In a reference to the original Brown Derby in Los Angeles the rear of the facade is used to display countless copies of the original drawings that were on display in the original restaurant too. These incredible caricatures include such Hollywood stars as Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Sammy Davis Jr., Ronald Reagan (who was one of the MCs of Disneyland’s opening ceremony in 1955 and was also present at the EuroDisneyland opening in 1992), Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Cary Grant, Omar Sharif and many other stars.

Now how about a tribute to the very same writer who gave us the “Jungle Book” - Rudyard Kipling? It is just a few meters ahead past the "Club Swankedero" an imaginary nightclub inspired by the clubs of the 1930's and 40's which is one of the "fake" landmarks... I'm speaking of the "Gunga Den" bar - which once again was actually an existing Hollywood meeting place named after the adventure movie “Gunga Din” (with the original owner replacing the "i" with an "e" to avoid royalties) based in turn on a best-selling book by Rudyard Kipling!
Two more "landmarks" created from the scratch by the Walt Disney Studio’s design team in its effort to come up with a "larger than life” Hollywood are still up on the right side of the building: "The Hep Cat Club", a homage to the jazz clubs of the 1950's made famous during the "Rat Pack" era, and the " Liki Tiki", a tropical bar straight out of the 1960's complete with thatched roof (a subtle homage to the Tiki Room attraction at the original Disneyland). But this was only a close look at the facades on ground level - a close look at the second floor (where some of the 670 seats of the restaurant En Coulisse offer a great view of the action in Studio 1) has two more surprises in store: a tribute to Carmen Miranda (the legendary Portuguese singer who was famous for her fruit-decorated turban) with the word play of the neon sign reading "Carmen's Veranda" and the sign advertising the "Cocoanut Groove" - one of Hollywoods celebrated nightspots. One a first level this certainly all adds to the Hollywood atmosphere - but on a second level it also entertains the movie and Hollywood buff with its tributes.

Inspirations from Hollywood’s most beloved architectural styles and icons certainly are also present in the facades on the other street side, in front of the shop "Legends of Hollywood". These architectural inspirations are vividly expressed in the “Shutterbugs” - a photography shop facade itself built in the shape of a giant camera. Constructing whole buildings to resemble the most significant offering of the shop was quiet common style in South California  and is also known as “expressive architecture”. Right next door to Shutterbugs the "Glamour Girl Cosmetics" is at home in a representation of a typical 1930's office building.
The Alexandria Theatre’s elaborate exterior, which includes the information and restaurant reservation counter, just as its interior we already looked at, is inspired by the colourful "Movie Palaces" that were a feature of Los Angeles from the 1920's to the 1940's, to be exact by the "Egyptian Theater", which is Hollywood's oldest cinema built in 1922 in an exotic design inspired by the discovery of King Tut's tombs in the same year. The 1,100-seat movie palace was the home for the very first Hollywood premiere (once again 1922, and the movie was "Robin Hood") and is still operating today thanks to the nonprofit film organization American Cinematheque which presents non-mainstream, specialty films there.

Once past this tribute to a nearly forgotten historic landmark up comes the "Hollywood and Vine Five & Dime", a nostalgic take on the small sundries stores that have been progressively replaced by department stores and supermarkets. But not only buildings and famous stars are objects of the tribute here but also the lifestyle of Hollywood as the surfer's paradise clearly shows. Part of this is also the recreation of American icons such as tabloid newspapers and freeways “larger then life” within Studio 1 - I'm talking about the “The Gossip Column” found on top of the gas station and themed to the original news stands where magazines were sold during the golden age of Hollywood, while the “Last Chance Gas” is a fuel station like those that could be found on Route 66, which travels across America from Chicago all the way to Santa Monica, California, where not too few Hollywood stars loved and love to relax. But the Route 66 is not only an real American landmark but also a prominent sight and location in many Hollywood movies ... a freeway where convertibles travelled with the sun rising on the horizon!

As You see my friends at least on the Frontlot and in Studio 1 with the "Lights! Camera! Action"-set the Walt Disney Studio’s design team succeeded in recreating Tinsel Town having a level of detail on par to the Disneyland Park next door ... at least for me they made it! I hope you appreciated this stroll down the “Lights! Camera! Action!”-set and now will appreciate the studios during your next visit a bit more!

For now it's TTFN - tatafornow

MickeyFantasmic