Reaction to the name change

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Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Matt Hochberg

The news of the name change to the Studios came to my first in the form of a text message and then a flurry of text messages to my phone and quickly I began thinking about the changes that were quickly going to be coming to the Studios. First and foremost, I was really shocked by the change.  There were no rumors that came out in the days or weeks before the official announcement.  The last outbreak of name rumors came out earlier this year when we learned that Mickey Avenue was going to be renamed to Pixar Place and since then, it’s been all quiet on the Western front since.  Just goes to show you “those in the know” and all those rumors tend to be really baseless often times.

So the big question is what I think of the name change.  To be honest, I don’t hate it but I don’t love it either.  Sometimes you hear a name and you think “Wow, that is great!”  This isn’t one of those times; rather, I thought it was okay, not great.  The new name helps widen the scope of the park to include pretty much anything they can throw in there.  I did like the Disney-MGM Studios name because of its uniqueness and Hollywood Studios is rather generic. Again, I don’t think it’s bad, but it doesn’t do much for me.

Why the name change?  Evidently Disney’s deal with MGM to use the name wasn’t going to be picked up by Disney for one reason or another and Disney had to get rid of the name by the end of 2007, which is a convenient reason to widen the extent of the park’s theme to match pretty much anything that doesn’t fit into the other three parks.  Disney hasn’t done much with the MGM license since the opening of the park. Since then, it’s been all Disney and Pixar productions that have been featured for the most part.   If you were wondering what happened to the idea to include Pixar in the name, well evidently I’ve read that the reasoning was because including Pixar in the name of the Studios would confuse guests as they would expect to find all the Pixar attractions in the old MGM Studios, and clearly quite a number of Pixar based attractions exist outside the Studios.

Of course, I couldn’t help but think quite a lot of signage, promotional material and references need to be updated to the new name.  Expect to find a deluge of old MGM Studios references on eBay once the changeover begins.  Besides that, many recorded spiels needs to be updated and a ton of Cast Members, who have been trained quite extensively to refer to the Studios as “The Disney-MGM Studios” have to be re-trained on the correct current name. 

As soon as the name change was announced, I immediately thought back to a few months ago when Disney specifically said no name change was coming. Back on June 13, 2007, a local Orlando news station reported on the rumor that the Disney-MGM Studios would be changed to the Disney-Pixar Studios.  Disney denied the rumor and said, “Disney confirmed that an area of the park will be named for Pixar once a new Toy Story ride opens, but the MGM name will remain for the entire park.”  Was this a case of something changing in the last two months that forced Disney to change the name of the park? Or was that simply a lie because Disney wasn’t ready to announce the name change?  That particular news story was the primary reason I discounted many name changes rumors because the Mouse itself commented that there was to be no new name change.

The name change also raises a number of questions for me.  What will happen to the Great Movie Ride? The MGM Arch? Earful Tower? Will they need to be torn down? Re-done?  My gut instinct is Disney can keep the Great Movie Ride references but I think the Arch and Earful Tower need to be re-painted or removed/replaced.  Of course, they may be safe thanks to some special clause in the contract.  It should be noted that Disney recently filed a construction permit called “Great Movie Ride Modifications - Facility Package” which could mean the removal of MGM licensed characters or simply just maintenance and nothing really to it.  It would be a surprise to me if Disney did have to remove all of its MGM licensed items but then again, I didn’t see this name change coming either.

The general consensus I’ve gotten thus far is most people are okay with the change. Many are relieved to know the name will not be the Disney-Pixar Studios or some sort of Pixar inclusion into the name.  And I think because there weren’t a number of rumors in advance of the news, many were a little “shell shocked” by the news.  By in large, it’s not a polarizing name change like one that would include Pixar in it isn’t the case here; it’s simple, effective and nothing that shocks you.  And for those wondering, this isn’t the first time a Disney park has been renamed.  Epcot has had nearly half a dozen names such as Epcot Center, Epcot 94, Epcot 95 and E.P.C.O.T. 

I’ll leave you with a story regarding the name change. The day after it was announced, I went to the Disney-MGM Studios and as I entered the park I stopped at the bag check security station to have Disney security check my bag.  The Cast Member noticed my studioscentral.com shirt and asked me “What’s your name?”  I gave him my name and responded, “I visit your site, it’s great.  What are you going to do about your domain name?” And if you’re wondering, I will have a new domain name but haven’t fully decided on it yet but be sure to check here for an update on what the new domain name will be.