The Disney-MGM Studios was the last stateside Disney park to receive a certain peak level of media attention covering the behind-the-scenes creation of the park. In the past we’ve looked at some of this coverage, ranging from Disney Channel specials to national media attention. But here’s a look at the new park from its own backyard, courtesy of Tampa’s WTVT. Aside from the fact that the theme song doesn’t quite scan, it’s an interesting peek into a bygone era.

There’s quite a lot to talk about here. The Disney-MGM Studios, now Disney’s Hollywood Studios, is probably the Disney park to undergo the most significant changes since opening. While Epcot has seen most of its landmark attractions closed or repurposed, the entire point of the Studios park has completely altered since this film was made. You can see it in all the talk of a working facility; Disney’s executives took great pride in creating a new, cutting-edge production facility that could serve as “Hollywood East”, serving the company’s ambitious new film production slate.

Unlike old studios in California that had grown piecemeal as production warranted, this new facility would be master-planned and built from the ground up to accommodate modern filming needs. And it was made from the start with the intention of allowing a constant flow of daily guests, seeing how the magic was made.

All of this is now gone. Everything from the soundstage catwalks to the sound and video production suites to the special effects demonstrations to the working backlot are gone. One of the park’s jewels, the working animation facility, is now long gone. Whether it was all a pipe dream in the first place, or hubris to think you could build a studio in Orlando, or whether they just lost their focus and gave up, the fact remains that the park’s intent now is remarkably different than in 1989.

That makes all the heady excitement you see in this video seem that much more from another world. Consider their pride in the design and execution of the Chinese Theater, when nowadays you can’t even see it from Hollywood Boulevard. That pristine park, with everything in its intended place, seems like a completely different venue than the park today.

One thing we must discuss is perhaps the biggest fib ever told on camera about any new Disney attraction – Michael Eisner’s astounding, amazing lie that it was originally Walt’s plan to build a studio park. This is so incredibly, mind-bogglingly untrue that I nearly fell out of my chair when I heard it. Rest assured that this was never the case; while Walt originally thought to build a small park across the street from his studio lot in Burbank, what he had in mind at the time was a tiny version of what would become Disneyland. Walt wasn’t wanting to build soundstages and backlots, he wanted to build rivers with steamboats, and quaint fantasy villages all encircled by a railroad. Eisner, you fib. And Frank! Et tu, Frank? At least I hope Frank just had his story mixed up, and wasn’t fabricating things like Eisner’s artwork of a studio tour with a monorail.

Can we talk about how great Frank Wells is? He so rarely was featured in television specials at the time, content to let Eisner take the spotlight. But he’s great here – all wound up and excited about the new studio. And he predicts you’ll need Kleenex to make it through the Great Movie Ride! Frank seemed enthusiastic and sincere; I miss that guy.

I do enjoy that this piece features a lot of talking heads with Imagineers that weren’t usually seen on film. It’s rare for so many Imagineers to make it on camera, even back then, and there’s something refreshing about their authenticity. They aren’t pulled from central casting like so many talking heads today, and you get the feeling that they’ve actually been down in the trenches and know what they’re talking about. Can you imagine someone like Bob Jolley getting put in a media puff piece today?

Speaking of Jolley, it’s great to see Disney’s rockwork master get some credit. Bob Weis, who led the Studio project, would later leave Disney but return to help bail out Disney’s California Adventure. He’s currently heading up the team on Shanghai Disney. Eric Jacobson, now a big poobah at WDI, makes an appearance with his big hair and spring colors. Even sound effects wizard Jimmy MacDonald makes an appearance; he’s killing it, as usual, and gets in a great zinger directed at Mickey. Aside: Jimmy totally should have recorded a rap album. And, of course, there’s Dick Nunis – always plugging away. Although he must have left his maroon blazer at home that day.

And now some random observations. Hey! A clip of the preview center for the Studio park, held in the old Walt Disney Story at the Magic Kingdom. Hey! The dipmobile from Who Framed Roger Rabbit? which you used to see on the Backlot Tour. Hey! Aerial photos of the park from before Sunset Boulevard was built. Hey! A weirdly-placed clip of Burt Reynolds and Roger Rabbit cutting the ribbon for the Grand Floridian! Hey! A mention of Splash, Too. That went well.

I loved seeing the remaining Nine Old Men at the opening of the animation facility. Roy was obviously proud; after all, this was the beginning of Disney animation’s second golden age and things were really taking off. Being an animation fan was just as exciting at the time as being a park fan; I couldn’t wait for those new Mickey and Donald cartoons, or for new Roger Rabbit shorts. And every time you visited the Magic of Disney Animation tour there was a whole new slate of upcoming films to get excited about. Those were the days.

And, of course, there was weirdness. The weird park groundbreaking, with Bob Hope. The park dedication, with Bob Hope. And everything with Bette Midler. Bette Midler surgically attached to Eisner. Of course she dedicated the backstage tour. I enjoyed the segment that was “Siskel and Ebert being jerks on the New York Street while people randomly circle them taking pictures.” And there was the weird celebrity welcome ceremony at the airport with Ear Force One looming in the background. And Nimoy! Nimoy!

Is it just me, or is the promise of a cross “between theme park and renaissance faire” not completely as enticing as the gentleman seemed to think? Between Streetmosphere, the Prime Time Cafe, and the Great Movie Ride, this was an era with a heavy focus on life-action performances in the park and interactivity on that level.

I wonder, when they were planning to make the New York Street adaptable for filming, promising that it could double as Chicago or Boston as production warranted, did they wonder if the jewelry store window would one day feature a tree made out of toilet paper?

Maybe my favorite moment is when George Lucas is so visibly unenthused about the Epic Stunt Spectacular. Don’t worry, says he! They’re going to make it more realistic! I can’t believe that clip made it out to the public.

And if you ever needed any more evidence that Eisner was pretty much a jerk, check out the ribbon cutting for the Studio Tour at the end. Sure the voice-over is really a bizarre choice, but watch Eisner impatiently eye-roll and wave at the guy to hurry up. Dude, you’re on-camera. Just chill out. You’re cutting a ribbon with Mickey Mouse and Bette Midler, for a tour of empty soundstages. It can wait 10 seconds.

And, as always, we’re promised that big things are ahead. An expansion of the soundstages! More cartoons! A bustling production facility! And all sorts of new things in 1989, including the XZFR Rockin’ Rollerdrome. Now is the time when I’ll point out that, at Eisner’s behest, three of the four major Walt Disney World expansions in 1989 were once intended to have tie-ins to Splash. Eisner loved that movie.

Now sing along! Hooooo…raaaayyyy… forrrrr…

It’s almost like this amazing music and the attractions from which they come had a timeless, cross-generational appeal or something…

This wonderful little video seeks to present the tale of Spaceship Earth, the park’s visual icon. Is it a machine? A vehicle? A monument? You’ll find out.

There’s a lot to look for in this, aside from some really nice talking heads with various WED and PICO personnel. There are some great aerial shots of the new park; aside from the big empty lot where The Living Seas would later be built, you can make out a number of small infrastructure differences from today. The “rose garden” path from Journey into Imagination into World Showcase had not been built yet; neither had the path from World of Motion to the Odyssey. Look for the satellite dishes on the lawn next to CommuniCore East! And, of course, there’s the beautiful original entrance plaza, with its signature fountain.

The video features a brief but nice walkthrough of the attraction’s development, from early consultations with the Annenberg School at USC through to the engineering process. Ray Bradbury speaks a little of the park’s inspiration, although I find his version of history to be, perhaps, ever so slightly embellished. Keep an eye out for the Nautilus submarine in Ray’s office; that submarine – along with a similar amount of clutter – was still in his home study as of 2009. It was sitting in the corner, propped up against the wall; everyone has a Nautilus sitting around, right?

It’s neat to hear Claudio Mazzoli speak about the creation of that mural which we all have probably walked past a million times over the years. And some peeks inside the ride itself offer a look at the original 1982 staging; the Renaissance scene, in particular, has been changed over the years.

It wasn’t all about childhood wishes and “limited time magic” before the kiddies grow up; it was about the marvels of Audio-Animatronics, or the wonders of a Swedish pneumatic trash removal system, or futuristic methods of transportation that were emission-free and used no moving parts. Disney relished showing off a highly efficient operation full of expertly-trained individuals who took pride in the elite quality of their offerings. Those smiling cast members didn’t happen by accident; they were the result of years of concerted effort in the science of play. And what happened behind the scenes was at least as extraordinary and impressive as what happened on-stage.

Another aspect of coverage in the 1980s especially was the unexpected and overwhelming flourishing of the Disney empire. Disney was growing by leaps and bounds, expanding its parks to an unprecedented degree, but it was also expanding wildly in the realms of animation, live-action film, television, and consumer products. It had also, at last, finally started to mine its vast archive of material, making long-unseen treasures available on the Disney Channel, network anthology programs, and syndicated broadcasts. It was a golden era for the Disney fan.

You can get a feel for this odd nexus in Disney history by watching this program from 1988. It aired on A&E, and judging from the video, that cable network was just about as different from today as Disney was. This video was an episode of the program Chronicle, a Boston-based newsmagazine that, amazingly, still seems to be in production today.

Take a look, and get a feel of what it was like back when you could just wander the park and have old ladies walk into frame:

Dick Nunis!! I totally let the Nunis part be a surprise. Didn’t want to spoil you. How casually he strides the park, descending stairs and avoiding old ladies!

There’s something quaint about the whole affair, from the vaguely uninformed news anchors to the weirdly inappropriate Oz intro. It certainly was a different era – one-day admission for two adults and one child was $61.50! That’s about 2/3rds of the current price for a single adult. And today you don’t even get old ladies wandering into frame. Another indicator of a bygone age: they actually admit that adults like to come into the park on their own!

There is some great behind-the-scenes footage in this, which you rarely see elsewhere. There’s a look inside the laundry, a brief clip of the pyrolysis energy plant, and a look inside the central shops where they were working on the Monorails. While these are Mark IV monorails we see, this was during a time when they were beginning to roll out the Mark VI trains at Walt Disney World. There’s no mention of the still-under-construction Disney-MGM Studios, and barely a mention of Epcot Center, although we do get the pleasure of a brief interview with Imagineer Kym Murphy!

What’s truly amazing is in the later part of the episode, when they discuss Disney’s move to exploit their back catalog through syndication and the long-beloved Sunday night anthology program. As a kid who grew up with the Disney Sunday Movie and, later, The Magical World of Disney, one can’t help but feel that this is an opportunity that the modern Disney company has failed to exploit. The same could be said for syndicated programming – after all, when a kid grows up watching an hour of vintage Disney programming every day at 5 as I did, it kind of worms its way into your brain after a while.

Not that it’s obvious in my case, I’m sure.

And yeah, I left the commercials in, because they were too good to cut out.

Eat your heart out, Escape From Tomorrow.

P.S. The other park you see is Magic Mountain in California. In the Walt Disney World footage, keep an eye out for the old Polynesian Village Resort pool.