The best of the Studios on the web

Wednesday, January 3, 2007
Matt Hochberg

The goal of this site has always been to be the site for information about the Disney-MGM Studios and I’ve tried my best to reach that goal. One has to admit, however, that not everything is perfect and more importantly, there are sites out there that do a good job at covering parts of the Studios besides this one. I hope one day to be able to say I’ve got everything covered but any Studios fan should know there are some useful resources out there on the web that do an admirable job covering an aspect or two of the Studios and I’m going to take some time out to give praise where it’s due.

By far, the best resource for information on the Studios not at studioscentral.com has to be All Ears Net which is run by Deb Wills. I’ve had the honor of meeting and talking to Deb on a number of occasions and Deb runs a fantastic site that covers all of Walt Disney World. Deb’s site has up-to-date menus of Studios restaurants, interesting facts about the many attractions at the Studios and more. I particularly enjoy the archived material on attractions that are now extinct at the Studios and were around before this site was created.

Being a self proclaimed super Walt Disney World nerd, I enjoy reading all sorts of factoids and trivia I can get my hands on and the best resource for that sort of information is at DisneyWorldTriiva.com. The site is the online arm of Lou Mongello’s widely popular Walt Disney World Trivia books and Lou has a large collection of Studios trivia. Some of is it wide known trivia facts (such as the idea for the Studios was first proposed as a pavilion at Epcot) while others are really obscure and interesting (did you know Mama Melrose’s Ristorante Italiano serves up 720 pounds of pasta everyday?). The site is a great place to take some time out of your day and scroll over lots of really engaging information.

One of my favorite streetmoshphere characters has his own website at FrancisFloot.com which is all about his character. If you’ve ever had the opportunity to see Francis in the parks, you’ll know how much fun it is to watch him in action. There’s a video montage of him as well as some photos of Francis, audio “letters” home and the ability to contact him. This is a great resource to catch up with what Francis is up to and get a “fix” when you’re not at the parks.

Speaking of fixes, Mouse World Radio plays lots of great recordings from the Studios and is a favorite place of mine to listen to some of the best recordings from the Studios. Mouse World Radio recently launched Studios Central Radio, which operates in conjunction with this site, and it only plays music and recordings from the Studios. The main stream from Mouse World Radio does play tracks from the other Disney World theme parks as well as audio from elsewhere in Walt Disney World but it’s great to have on while browsing the site for Disney World information.

Lastly, Jim Hill publishes from time to time some really interesting articles about the history and backstory of the Studios at his site. Sometimes the articles are about original ideas that never materialized while other times his articles explore future possibilities for what might be next for the Studios. Search his archives for some real goodies and save lots of time to be able to read because the articles are very in-depth and will grab your attention very quickly.

Agree with what I said? Disagree? Have a story to share sparked by this column? Share your own idea by posting a comment below.