Hollywood Blvd

• Great Movie Ride
• Mickey's profile is in a high window on the left during the gangster scene.
• There are two different skits. Which one you see depends on what section of seats you get into. There is a cowboy/western show and a mob/gangster shootout.
• If you want a certain scene, just let the cast member know.
• If you have children and the first or second row on each car is filled, ask to wait for the next show. Often, the Gangster or Cowboy will talk to your kids.
• In the Egyptian-style section, check out some of the wall tiles as fast as you can while the ride moves through. Most of them are normal hieroglyphics, but several have pictures of funny MGM and Disney stuff. (For example, one of the tiles has R2-D2 and another has C-3PO from Star Wars.)
• In the Alien section, the first status monitor on the bottom left side, you read the ship's statistics. However, if you scan to about the middle of the message, you read something like "Walt Disney World welcomes all aliens currently residing on board this ship" or something like that, then continues something about Goofy and some other characters. You have to be on the on the farthest left seat to see it though.
• As you enter the Gangster scene and approach the run down porch, look over your left shoulder towards the roof you will see Mickey's silhouette in a warehouse window. Interesting note on this Mickey: this was put there by a "Mugsy" a few years back; that is where they wait to take over the ride. The imagineers liked it so much that they decided to keep it.
• In the Emerald City scene in Oz, if you look at the Yellow Brick road, you will see that it forms the word "OZ" with one of the parts of the Emerald City.
• The Hollywood Brown Derby
• The Catwalk Bar, located on top of the Brown Derby and Soundstage, is open even when the restaurant isn't serving. You can go right upstairs and get their custom "Catwalk Cooler" drink and, often, be the only patron in the entire building.

Commissary Lane

Streets of America

• Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Play Area
• Climb the stairs between the garden hose and the slide coming out of a roll of film. There is a dog's nose. Put your hand in the nostrils and the dog will sniff you.
• Muppet Vision 4-D
• You'll see a long brick wall to your right as you approach the ride from Star Tours. Along the top of the wall are planters with flowers and such in them. You should be able to see a planter with an ice cream sundae in it. There's also a planter that looks as though it USED to have a sundae but has since melted.
• Just after you go through the turnstile, go to your right and you'll find a doormat. Under the doormat, you will find a key.
• As you are in the queue to enter the ride, before you enter the building look up as you snake along the queue. There is a large diameter pipe which sticks out of the brick wall and then bends 90 degrees down towards the ground (in the shape of Gonzo's nose). Around this pipe, in chalk, the rest of Gonzo's face is drawn in.
• In the preshow area, there is a large cargo net with a lot of orange and green cubes in it that appear to be jello. This is called A-Net-Full-Of-Jello (Annette Funicello).
• Also in the preshow area, make sure you look in the prop boxes. They're filled with goodies that belong to the Muppet stars.
• Sweetums, a scary-looking but friendly monster, walks around the front of the theater at various times during the show. If you think your child might enjoy seeing him up close, try to sit toward the front of the theater.
• Look for the Swedish Chef commandeering the projection paraphernalia in the rear of the theater.
• In the scene that follows Bean running away, a soaked Piggy passes by and says "Good Riddence." If you listen closely you can hear Gonzo say "Hey, Fatso."
• Some of the marching soldiers in the final production number are not wearing pants! Some are even up on the scaffolding in the preshow area. You can see them as you enter through the first set of doors closest to the small phone in the very front of the area. Turn around and look up. The soldiers are right there. No pants!!!
• There is a ball and a whistle on the top of the monstrous projector in the back. The ball has glasses and the whistle has 2 bulging eyes. They look like Honeydew and Beaker.
• The sheet music in front of the penquins in the orchestra pit is the music to The Rainbow Connection.
• See this attraction from the front row and watch the penguins. You'll be surprised with all of the reactions that they come up with and how they interact with the people on the screen.
• Listen closely during the grand finale when all the soilders come out carrying the different countries flags. At one point you can hear them softly singing "It's A Small World!"
• On the walls outside of the ride as you leave have graffitti all over them. Stop and read some of it.
• Make sure you check out the Muppet Fountain in the courtyard in front of the building as well as the fire truck at the exit of the attraction.
• New York Skyline
• On the street in the New York neighborhood you can hear gun shots and gangsters talking inside the buildings.
• All the buildings on this street are hollow. Knock on them, you'll see! You can see through small cracks in doors or windows through some of them.
• Star Tours
• The queue line for this ride is an attraction in and of itself! You start off walking around an ewok village (at night you can hear the ewoks chanting) until you move under an AT-AT walker that is guarding the entrance. Once inside, you are walking through the hangar area of an intergalactic travel agency. You'll see familiar characters from the "Star Wars" films as well as droids transported on converyors and other droids performing equipment maintenance.
• While waiting in line at Star Tours, listen for an announcememt requesting a "Egroeg Sacul" (pronounced "sock all") to respond. Egroeg Sacul is George Lucas spelled backwards.
• When you are in the line, there is a section were there is a singing robot working on another robot. If you look down at the floor under these robots, there is a metal box that has 3D muppets written on it.
• While waiting in line, you may hear the announcement, "Will the owner of the speeder with the license number THX 1138 please move their vehicle, you are in a no hover zone." THX 1138 is the 1st movie that George Lucas did.
• The flight simulator used is the same used by the military to train pilots.
• The line "I've got a bad feeling about this," is uttered by Rex at the beginning of the flight. This line is a running gag that's been used in all six of the Star Wars films by various characters.
• The "roughest ride" (and the best view) can be had on the ends of the very back row, while the front and middle afford a much smoother ride. If you have a preference in seating, ask a cast member and you'll usually be accomodated if at all possible.
• If the ride isn't terribly busy and you get motion sick easily, try asking a Cast Member if you can ride without the motion. That way you can at least experience the film.
• The reason Rex doesn't work properly is because he has a red plastic strip attached to his torso that reads "Remove Before Flight." The strip is easy to see, but you have to be sitting right up close to be able to read it as it flips around during the trip.
• The man at the end of Star Tours movie ride, in the control booth is a person cast into the part; he's supposed to look like George Lucas.
• If there are light crowds, ask a Cast Member to let you see the simulator in motion on the closed circuit video camera they have.
• The "Tatooine Traders" giftshop immediately after the ride is modeled after the Mos Espa village from "Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace."
• There's a great photo opportunity when you exit from the Tatooine Traders shop (immediately after the ride). Have someone pose on the replica of a speeder bike.

Mickey Avenue

• Backlot Tour
• The best time to see this attraction (without waiting in REALLY long lines) is early in the day.
• Avoid the front row of the line during the pre-ride show if you don't want to get wet.
• Avoid the left-hand side of the tram if you don't want to get wet.
• As you're leaving Catastrophe Canyon, look to the left as you leave behind the "back stage" area of the canyon. You will pass all of the pipes and stuff and on the wall on the left, there is a skeleton carved into the wall. This carving faces you and is very easy to see.

Animation Courtyard

Sunset Blvd

• Rock 'N Roller Coaster
• You are going on a tour of the record plant G-Force Records when you meet Aerosmith. They invite you to go along with them to a condert they are performing that night, but unfortunately there isn't enough room for everyone in Aerosmith's limo. While Aerosmith heads off to the concert, they order a "super-stretch" limo for everyone else to catch a ride to the concert. You hear a "live" broadcast from the concert while you're speeding along through Southern California.
• While waiting to tour Studio C, listen at the doors to Studio A and B. You will hear sounds from real recording sessions.
• One of the posters in the inside zig-zag queueing area is of a record album cover (MC5) and it has a U.S. flag pasted on it. Through the flag, you might be able to see the shadow of a marijuana leaf, which was considered unsavory for a family-oriented theme park.
• The music posters in the rotunda will change out (as will the background music in the plaza). This is because G-Force is a record company and things are always changing in the music biz.
• One of the PA announcements in the G-Force Records lobby is something to the effect of, "phone call for Jude on line one... Hey, Jude, pick up line one!"
• Love the music in the plaza and the queue? There is more than 60 hours of it so you may never hear it repeat.
• There is this door with marbles in it and when you rub it, it makes the worst sound in the world.
• When you are walking on to the Rock 'N Roller Coaster ride, right before you step into the turnstiles at the end you, will see a small bulletin board advertising a car wash service - "Wash This Way." "Walk This Way" happens to also be the song Aerosmith is "recording" in the studio. The ever famous "Love In An Elevator" was also notably changed to "Love In A Rollercoaster..."
• The limos go from 0 to 57 mph in 2.8 seconds.
• When you are about to end the ride, you go up and over another section of the track. If you look down, you can see the next 'Limo' entering that first loop
• Tower of Terror
• As the story goes, on the night of October 31, 1939, there was a thunder storm in Hollywood Hills, and the elite of the film industry sheltered in the Hollywood Tower Hotel's lobby. A child actress, her governess, a yound couple and an over-worked bellman were among those in the lobby that night. They were last seen heading for the elavator. After they stepped into the elevator, the building was struck by lightning and the elevator vanished along with the passengers and several sections of the upper hotel.
• When the Tower of Terror was being built, it was struck by lightning.
• Immediately upon entering the Tower of Terror hotel lobby, look to the left. There is a Mah Jongg game in progress. Disney World invited 4 of the world's top players to play for an hour and then get up and walk away from the table. Then they preserved the pieces so that no one entering the building who knew the game would be able to comment that the game pieces were staged. Now that's attention to detail!
• In the lobby, look for a pair of glasses with the lenses broken. This honors the Twilight Zone's episode with Burgess Meredith: the last man on earth after an atomic blast who loved to read. He finds the remnants of a library and is all set to finally read to his heart's content, when he accidentally breaks his glasses!
• When you walk into the lobby in the right hand line, there is a magazine on a table to your right. The byline on the magazine says that it contains cartoons by Walt Disney.
• In the lobby, there is a stack of 3 or 4 suitcases right next to the reception desk. They are the same suitcases seen in the video in the library, the luggage of the missing guests.
• On the wall next to the concierge's desk is plaque honoring The Hollywood Tower Hotel with AAA's 13-diamond award. In real life, it only goes up to 5 diamonds.
• To add detail to the boiler room, ride designers added several large fusebox/breakers from the time period. They are located on your left as you leave the study/library through the false wall/door. They actually work (they don't control any electricity, but the switches move). You can take a lever and throw it up or down, depending on its orientation as you get to it. It will make a LOUD POP. The larger boxes make the best noise.
• If you have a child that is too young/small/scared to ride, nicely ask a cast member if your child can help out while the rest of your family rides. Cast members have been known to give kids a bellhop jacket and flashlight and allow them to direct people off the elevators.
• Upon returning to the exit area after the ride, watch as the elevator door opens. What once was a painted yellow "B" suddenly becomes the dreaded number "13"
• When you are exiting, look to the right of the last hallway and you will see the menu for the sunset room on Oct. 31. It's from the day the hotel closed due to the, uh, accident.
• It has been said that if you look at the Tower at night from the direction of the Swan and Dolphin Resorts, it looks like a lion. It is hard to see during the day because much of the effect is generated by lighting effects. Look for two lights in the middle that look like eyes and an opening for a mouth about a level below them. The two side towers are supposed to look like the lion's shoulders. They created this effect because the attraction was built around the same time that "The Lion King" was released.

Stars and Motor Cars Parade

• The parade takes about 25 minutes to complete, starts at Star Tours and ends near the Park Entrance.
• Streetmosphere performers are stationed at various points along the parade route to act as "emcees." If possible, try to stand near to a single performer (If you're in between two, you will be able to heart both of the talk without hearing either clearly).
• This parade is meant to be interactive, and there are many walk-around characters who will stop to shake hands with guests along the parade route.
• Seven guests will be selected each day to act as "Grand Marshals" or carry banners near the end of the parade.
• Pay special attention to the different cars in the parade, as each car is themed to the people riding in and walking around it.
• Best viewing spots for the parade are purported to be either at the beginning (near Star Tours), or at the end side street (near Sid Cahuenga's).

Hollywood Hills Amphitheater

Copyright 2005 - Embott Enterprises