Rumors a plenty

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Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Matt Hochberg

Two old rumors that always seem to re-surface sooner or later came back to the top this week, creating a big week of speculation regarding the Disney-MGM Studios and of course every time one of these rumors comes around, there’s a portion of people who proclaim this time the rumors are true.  The rumors I’m referring to are the update to Star Tours and the changing of the Studios name rumors.

The Star Tours rumor gained significant credibility when it was revealed that Anthony Daniels, voice of C3PO from the Star Wars films, had mentioned at a recent convention that he had just wrapped up filming of a new video for Star Tours.  To many, this was information straight from the horse’s mouth and certainly a sign the change was coming.  Others went a step further and said that the announcement for a Star Tours update would come as a means of Disney countering Universal’s recent announcement about Harry Potter coming to their theme parks.

The rumor lost a lot of credibility with me when the next tidbit of information came out a few days later that the current plans to remodel Star Tours wont be complete until the end of 2008 and that the window of time left to do the work may stretch the reopening into 2009.  In my experience, when we’re talking about projects that are two and three years in advance, short of an official announcement, they are really, really, really unlikely.  You can find a dozen rumors on nearly any website that claim to have information on what Disney will be doing over the next 5 years or so.  Again, these hardly ever come to fruition.  Besides, don’t get me started on Star Tours rumors as in years past, we’ve had everything from quotes from George Lucas that an update is coming to articles in the Orlando Sentinel.  One saving grace for this rumor is the fact that Anthony Daniels, the purported source of this entire rumor, will be at the Disney-MGM Studios for Star Wars Weekends later this month and he’s certain to be asked by a number of fans what the deal is.

The other rumor that reared it’s head was the rumor of the Studios being renamed.  This one comes up the most of any rumor because of what some people see as the inevitable because of the Studios being referred to as the Disney Studios and not the Disney-MGM Studios in some promotional material.  News came out this week that at least some part of the Disney-MGM Studios will be renamed to the Pixar Studios. Paperwork filed with Orange County indicates that the Whiting-Turner Contracting Company of Orlando will be installing a "Disney's MGM Studios - Pixar Studios Facility Package."  In the paperwork, the 555 Stage Lane address is in a backstage area behind the soundstages being converted into the Toy Story Mania attraction.

The rumor of part of the park becoming the Pixar Studios is a new one and somewhat intriguing (maybe because of the novelty of the rumor).  But when I read the report, my thought was the work was filled to complete work on the Toy Story Mania attraction that will be opening up soon, and perhaps have some sort of Pixar theme to Mickey Avenue.  Again, no confirmation or word from Disney about this (in fairness, they hardly ever comment on these sort of rumors) and again, some folks think a Pixar Studios announcement, whether it be a renaming of the entire park or a new section of the Studios, will coincide with a rebuttal to the Harry Potter deal at Universal.

I may seem like a cynic here, shooting down these rumors are nonsense, but I have to go back to what I’ve seen in years past.  These and other rumors have come up time and time again and each time nothing happens, so call me short sighted, but when it comes to these sort of rumors that come up once every 6-9 months, I need an official announcement from Disney before I’ll really believe it.