The Original Walt Disney Studios Animation Courtyard

Gotta give the Imagineers and the Budgeteers props when its due! The new Walt Disney Studios Courtyard looks absolutely fantastic! As you can see, there's brand new life in this area that was once a fast and cheap Star Wars Launch Bay experience. The nighttime photo here by the great folks at WDWMagic shows just how magical a little effort can be!

It sure looked different back when we were there in 1989...

In the opening days, the then named Disney-MGM Studios were designed to be part theme park, part actual production facilities. There was a bit of both, making for an odd mix that has made it difficult for expansion and planning in later years. Honestly, there was not a lot to do, but what was there was charming. Never intended to be more than a partial day experience, when the suits decided it needed to be a full fledged theme park, planners had to think creatively and truly out of the small sized box they placed it in. There's a reason the park feels a bit thrown together. It was! 

Wanting to one up their neighbor in California -and soon to be competitor in Florida, Universal Studios- the centerpiece attraction for the production half of the park would be a studio tram tour past sound stages, wardrobe warehouses, and outdoor sets. It was an odd combination of sites, but at the beginning, it seemed to be enough.

The star of all the backstage studios facilities was the Animation section. This is the heart of The Walt Disney Company, and the park did its best to honor their legacy. 

Beyond the gateway into the area celebrating animation.

A fairly bland entrance to such an important aspect of Disney film making!

The entrance gate would also be the way to get to The Art of Disney Animation. This attraction would be the first time Disney animators would be on display working on real upcoming theatrical releases.

"I'm not bad, I'm just drawn that way!"

The idea of showcasing animators and animation was not new. In fact, this attraction was a greatly expanded concept from the much smaller "The Art of Animation" exhibit housed in Disneyland's Tomorrowland during the first half of the 1960's. The real highlight for fans of the art was watching the animators. I couldn't get enough- and the nearby store was the perfect spot to allow me to come home with some animation related treasures. 

Inside the complex was also a very clever film, "Back to Neverland" with Robin Williams and Walter Cronkite,  to be found here. (Years later, when the Company was doing things cheaply, the film was also presented in the Animation attraction at California Adventure. It was later removed when Turtle Talk with Crush took over the space.)

Back then in 1989, it didn't seem that Disney had saturated the parks with present day celebrities, so to do so here seemed a much better fit for the new park than Epcot putting in Ellen's Energy Adventure or Gary Sinese in Mission: Space.  (I hated that move to add celebrities where they don't belong. And still do! Much respect to Gary Sinese, however, for his pet project- look here.) The animation, the characters, the celebrities all belonged at Disney-MGM. You'd expect this at a park called "The Studios". Their absence would create an obvious void. The attractions gave a nod to the true stars of old as well as promoting the latest stars and starlets. 

It was this attention to honoring the past as well that made the park a place for families of all ages to appreciate. A very wise choice, and it made for good marketing. Changing the area to Launch Bay years later was a lazy move, and the public burned out on it quickly. Once Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge showed up, the area was finished. 

But here we are once more. Animation is honored again! It's about time for attractions like this that build on the past instead of tearing it down. (Looking at you Josh D'Amaro and the destruction of Rivers of America!)