Disney Hollywood Studios Celebrates 30th Anniversary

Orlando’s first movie-themed park first opened its gates in May 1989 with the name “Disney MGM Studios” and it immediately made Central Florida the vacation capital of the world

Thirty years ago, Disney opened its third Orlando-based theme park and changed the way we looked at amusement parks under their powerful brand. Up until that point, park goers had been entertained with fantastic rides and characters at Disney’s Magic Kingdom, followed by EPCOT Center’s (later renamed to simply Epcot) educational approach to amusing people of all ages. But now, there was a third one—and this was a huge statement by Disney.

Since then, Disney Hollywood Studios has continued to evolve every so many years. Some rides and attractions have been added, some have been removed, and then some have been remade or have evolved to incorporate newer entertainment technologies. However, the one thing that has not changed is the theme park’s movie-inspired approach to entertainment, bringing together the classic Tinseltown with the modern Hollywood action-packed excitement.

One particular point of evolution—perhaps a quantum leap for Disney’s Hollywood Studios—was Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm in 2012. When this was announced, you could foresee Disney would incorporate the sci-fi storyline somewhere in their theme parks and at the beginning, it seemed to be a sporadic addition here and there.

Then Disney shook the world—and perhaps the galaxy too—by announcing the creation of a large scale, fully-immersive Star Wars-themed land. And every one of us thought to ourselves: this is going to be big, very big.

Today, Disney Hollywood Studios is getting ready to open that new section, appropriately named Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. The new attraction is scheduled to open any day now since Disney has become known for getting ahead of its planned schedule. After all, the Orlando theme park giant now has competition from multiple theme parks, local attractions and many more entertainment venues throughout the city.

Vista Cay Resort by Millenium wishes Disney Hollywood Studios a very happy birthday and we look forward to welcoming tourists and business visitors who enjoy this and the rest of Orlando’s theme parks. And we hope you will consider us as an excellent resort property to enjoy Central Florida’s amazing hospitality.