The Magic of Disney Animation to Close at Disney’s Hollywood Studios

31 thoughts on “The Magic of Disney Animation to Close at Disney’s Hollywood Studios”

• Hey Disney, what the hell is wrong with you? Those animation classes are always full and enjoyed by your paying guests. Why don’t you shut down the junk that has little to no lines. You keep raising the prices to get in and taking away good stuff. I’m an annual meeting pass holder and I find this unacceptable. Get your act together.

• Awful! Just awful. We met some great young cast members there, gave us an hour or two talking about working with the animators and characters and how much fun it was to work for Disney at DHS. Lots of disappointments with this and other closings (DisneyQuest ) so we have big expectations for what’s to come.

• “Will the last Attractions cast member please turn out the lights at the end of your shift”

• Too bad as we just discovered this on our last trip and really enjoyed it. Hopefully they just move it to a new location. I would also hope they have some plans for the area right away, I would hate to see them close it and the building remain empty for years while they prep for something new.

• Now I’m even more glad that we’re putting off our next Disney trip until after the Avatar expansion opens. I assume that by that time there will be several new things at HS, too.

  I’m sad that Backlot closed, but the rest of the closures are fine, IMO. Many of the attractions at HS it seems are designed to be quasi-temporary and such a widespread reboot will keep this park fresh.

  As an aside, my kids absolutely love HS and it was unexpected to me that young children would like it so much. I would assume that all of the real estate from Backlot makes room for a new major attraction.

  Disney should announce something about their plans – even if it’s just a teaser. Obviously, they aren’t going to keep these areas vacant…

  • Dan, I am thinking of doing the same. It seems the parks have quite a few major attractions opening over the next couple of years with Frozen Ever After, Rivers of Light, and Avatar Land. All of those are things my family will love and they should be spectacular. I too am thinking by then HS will have “something” New going on.

    My family really enjoyed Animation Academy so I hope they do find a new home for it…and it would be nice to get an update on the plans for the park.

• I truly hope they will be moving the animation class and hopefully expanding them as well. There is always a HUGE wait to draw. In fact we had to bypass it this year for the first time in many, many trips bc we couldn’t wait 🙁 I’m going to stay positive and hope for the best. The Disney Parks Blog is always showing videos of animators drawing characters so maybe they realize it is very popular?

• Hate to hear this. It turned out to be one of the most enjoyable experiences for my daughter. She loved drawing the characters and listening to what the artists had to say. When we talked about going to HS, that was the first thing out of her mouth as far as what to do there. Just seems like for every positive announcement from Disney, there are 10 negative ones.

• I laugh at the comments “we’ve always skipped it but we were def doing it ‘next time'”…. Of course you were…. Also complaining park is suffering “as it is”, uh hello people, that’s a huge chunk of real estate that’s going to new Star Wars area, so it looks like they are actively making the place better… Let’s wait to the announcement of what’s coming too, maybe they’ll move/reopen the drawing classes

• They still sell booze there, right?

• So then it will continue to be a half day park at best for years to come.

• I know this doesn’t work for everyone but there are drawing lessons at the Art of Animation resort that still occur. Still not the same I know. :/

• Seriously, how hard could it be to open a room somewhere (old Sounds Dangerous area?) to teach people how to draw characters?

  One less attraction mean longer lines at all other attractions, or what’s left of them.

• Disaapointing. We waited in line in feb, but found it would be over an hour yet so skipped this past trip. Had put off a few years waiting for kids to age enough to enjoy experience. Now regretting didn’t make it a higher priority.

• I’m so sad. The Drawing class was such a fun event for my whole family. So so sad.

• There is nothing really to go at HS. Especially for children under 40 inches. We usually spend less than a half day there now as it is. This park is really suffering. It needs help and fast!

• Is this temporary? I thought I read that the academy was closing because they were going to put in more studios for multiple classes at one time.

• They must be planning something big because how else could they close so much? I mean cost wise how expensive is it to tech people to draw?

• That really stinks. We’ve never gotten around to doing the animation academy drawing. We’ve seen the movie with Mushu several times but then somehow got sidetracked and never actually got to draw anything. I’ve been wanting to do that since our first trip and had it on our must do list for our next trip. 🙁
  Well, lesson learned I guess…never put anything you really want to do off for the ‘next trip’ as it might not be there the next time.

• Closing the Animation Academy is terrible! We love learning to draw the characters. No reason this should close!

• OK, are they going to just turn HS into a parking lot, or what?

• Darn it, I really wanted to go during my trip this October, especially because I’ve wanted to be an animator since I was 4…it’s sad, what’s happening to DHS.

• Years ago when DHS (MGM) first opened it felt very much the same as it does now: there was nothing to do. Back then there was no Star Tours, no Rockn’ Rollercoaster, no ToT. I’m not even sure there was muppets, but then again we didn’t have to pony up for a park hopper to experience it either.

  • But when it first opened there was a 2-3 hour guided tour around a real working studio including sets used for the golden girls and a tour above the sound stages. I never got to see this “proper” tour but wish I did. More info here http://yesterland.com/backstage.html and here http://yesterland.com/mgm-beginning.html

    • and of course the animation building actually had animators in it!

• Oh No. This is one of the many things we skip over every year and planned on seeing in August. They destroy the big hat now this… they need to *open something* before closing and destroying so much.

• So sad. I was planning to take my son in sept just to meet baymax. I don’t understand why they wouldn’t keep meet and greets open its inexpensive (compared to building new attractions). I’m crushed that they’re making it a graveyard. They shouldn’t be able to charge full price.

• Disney really needs to consider either cheaper one-day tickets for DHS or bringing in something temporary. There’s just not much to do, which is sad in such a beautiful park.

• So … besides RnRC, ToT and Star Tours, are there any attractions left in DHS? And even if they are announcing Pixar Place/Star Wars, that means 2+ years of nothing to do in DHS.

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