If The Great Movie Ride isn’t the most-missed attraction in all of Walt Disney World, it’s certainly among the Top 5.
Located inside a replica of Hollywood’s famous Grauman’s Chinese Theater, the ride took guests on a nostalgic journey through the history of motion pictures.
The theater’s distinctive façade was [and still is] visible to guests as they entered the park and walked along Hollywood Boulevard, serving as a focal point of the Studios.
Twelve classic film scenes from the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer catalogue were recreated during the ride-through [at the time, Disney didn’t think it had enough classic non-animated films of its own, so it worked out a deal with MGM to use some of theirs].
The Great Movie Ride was an instant classic, drawing large and enthusiastic crowds for most of its run.
When it closed in 2017 after 28 years, to make way for Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway – the first Disney parks attraction to headline Mickey Mouse – fans of the Great Movie Ride sank into a Great Depression.
It was, after all, the last of the Disney/MGM Studio’s original opening-day attractions to be shuttered, which was a not-too-subtle way of telling us the park was moving away from its original mission as a working studio and was heading toward more diverse, exciting adventures.
Still, many fans wondered: “Why close such a beloved attraction?”
Former Walt Disney Imagineering leader Marty Sklar offered this opinion after another long-running Disney parks attraction closed: “We’re not a museum. We have to keep coming up with new and interesting attractions so our guests remain engaged.”
The Great Movie Ride was originally planned as an attraction for EPCOT.
“After EPCOT opened [in 1982], we took a step back and evaluated the project,” Sklar told me in 2012. “We realized that we had omitted one very important aspect of American industry – entertainment.”
With that in mind, a pavilion focused on movies, television and radio went on the Imagineers’ drawing board, to be placed in EPCOT’s Future World section.
But as plans and concepts were bandied about, the idea of one pavilion for EPCOT quickly grew into an entire new theme park devoted to the entertainment industry.
The fact that Universal was planning to build a studio park of its own in Orlando only heightened Disney’s resolve when it came to building an entertainment-themed park.
The centerpiece of the park would be The Great Movie Ride.
As a student of classic movies, I was blown away the first time I experienced The Great Movie Ride; I absolutely adored this attraction and made it a point to ride it again and again.
It wasn’t so much a ride, as it was the celebration of all those wonderful movies of long ago.
As a Disney promotional pamphlet stated: “Getting on The Great Movie Ride is like being on the soundstage during the shooting of some of the most famous films of all time.”
And, of course, there was the stunning stop along the Yellow Brick Road in the elaborate Munchkinland scene from The Wizard of Oz.
That scene – and, indeed, the entire attraction – struck a chord with old-time movie buffs like me.
But after several decades of this glorious excursion down motion pictures’ memory lane, even I grew weary of the nostalgic cinematic journey.
The short answer was: They didn’t.
But what young children, their parents and their grandparents do know and appreciate are cartoons and, specifically, the whacky world of Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Pluto, and Donald and Daisy Duck.
Disney’s Imagineering team, led by now-retired creative director Kevin Rafferty, did a masterful job in bringing Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway’s from concept to finished product. The attraction debuted on March 4, 2020.
It’s one of those attractions where there’s so much going on, you need to experience it multiple times to truly appreciate all its nuances.
The Great Movie Ride has taken its place among Disney’s beloved, but shuttered attractions. And, yes, it is missed.
But as Marty Sklar once said, “Walt Disney always had one foot in the past, because he loved nostalgia, but he also had the other foot in the future, because he was excited about what lies ahead.”
In all probability, decades from now, Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway will be replaced with an exciting new adventure. And disgruntled fans of MMRR will wonder: “Why close such a beloved attraction?”
Simply put, it’ll be time to move on to something new and different.
Chuck Schmidt is an award-winning journalist who has covered all things Disney since 1984 in both print and on-line. He has authored or co-authored seven books on Disney, including his latest, The Beat Goes On, for Theme Park Press. He also has written a regular blog for AllEars.Net, called Still Goofy About Disney, since 2015.
Baloney. They could have updated the rode like they’ve done with others like Pirates. Add some newer movies and move on from some older ones. A ride celebrating the history of film is the only thing that should be in the Chinese theater. I will never ride the runaway railway. It’s ok to have rides geared toward adults that are boring for kids
Yes, The Great Movie Ride Is Missed, and who cares about Disney’s interpretation of a Universal ride? Ratatouille is even worse… the trackless system is the only thing worthwhile and it’s used to much greater success on Rise of the Resistance.
They should’ve put Mickey’s Runaway Railway an Ariel’s area since that’s been gone for a while. The Great Movie Ride just needs to still be there. The new ride is OK but more for a nostalgic reasons than anything else.
The Great Movie Ride was much better. They could have put Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railroad somewhere else in the park and kept the movie ride. Just my opinion.
M&MRR is as average of a ride as they come. Not great, not horrible. Unfortunately it is the same ho-hum type of ride that has eroded many people’s love for Disney World. Rode it. Thought it was cute. Would not wait in line for it again.