Birt Family Focus

Disney MGM Studios - Backlot Tour -- 01/28/03

Howdy!

I was going to talk about the BackStage Pass Tour today, but I recently found out that it is closing on Feb. 1 until further notice. So I will go to the other half of what was originally a 2 part tour of a working studio and talk about the BACKLOT TOUR. When the Studios first opened, both of these tours were together and it was a lengthly but interesting tour. Since they separated, the backstage pass part (walking through sets and looking up close at props) was somewhat boring in delivery and is not well attended. It's too bad, because the props and the Henson Creature Shop parts were very cool.

The Backlot Tour starts as a walking tour that shows you up close and personal how to film sea disasters and other watery stuff. They choose 2 volunteers from the audience just before show time to be the actors in a filmed sequence. They dress them up in yellow slickers and then set up the scene for the audience. It is usually either a storm at sea with the boat sinking or a battle scene with the boat torpedoed and sinking. It's fun to see how they use little toy boats and squirts of air through the water to film a battle at sea. From your perspective as audience it looks totally fake, UNTIL you see the film replayed. It's amazing how very real it looks. You know that boat in "The Perfect Storm"? Maybe 3 feet long. Those waves? Maybe 4 feet high! Wind is from a big fan and the grey, cloudy, stormy sky is a painted backdrop. Film making is truly art. The aformentioned actors don't even get very wet. They use them to film the close-ups. They get sprayed with hoses or have vats of water dumped on them and the set they are standing in, so that when that piece of film is edited in, it looks like they are on the boat and fighting the storm. The slickers keep everyone mostly dry, and all have a good time.

From there, you will board a large 200 seat tram that winds it's way through the back areas of the studio. The CM tour guide points out items of interest and tells little stories about some of the props and such that you will see along the way. My favorite prop is the space ship from Flight of the Navigator. It looks like a big silver sea shell and is actually made of wood.

The tram goes through a big hangar that houses areas for costuming and prop making and decorating. Most of the time you will see folks actually at work there. The Residential Street , where you will see the Osborne Family Spectacular of Lights during the holidays, has all the facades and front yards of houses used in many famous television shows. The most recognizable for me was Blanche's house from the Golden Girls. All the houses look beautiful, but from behind are nothing but a few wooden supports holding up the front wall. All interiors are shot on sound stages- such as you would have seen if the Backstage Pass tour were still operational.

Lastly the tram takes you through Catastrophe Canyon where you almost fall into a crevasse and almost catch on fire from a burning oil truck (you DO feel the heat) and MAY get a bit wet from the water that cascades down from the flash flood. All this happens in just a few short minutes, then they take you around back and show you how they continuously recycle that water for those effects. It's pretty interesting but not very scary, except to very little ones.

The whole tour takes about 25 minutes, most of which is by tram so it is a nice way to get a break for your tired feet late in the day. It does close at dusk or just before, so the best time to take this tour is after lunch. It's much more crowded in the morning. The tour ends at the American Film Institute Showcase. This is a museum of sorts and really interesting to look through. If you are a movie buff, you will want to take your time here.

That's all for now. I'll be back in 2 weeks barring complications with my father's surgery. Next time we'll try to be millionaires. ;-)

Sla`inte~