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Disney's Hollywood Studios (formerly the Disney's -MGM Studios) is a theme park located in [[Walt Disney World]].

The genies for a theme park based on movie making really begins in the mid 1980s. Imageneers led by Marty Skylar and Randy Bright were given the task of creating two new pavilions for [[Future World]] in [[Epcot]]. One of the pavilions they created was to be called the Great Movie Ride pavilion. The attraction would have taken guests through various movies and was very similar to the attraction that would eventually open at the Disney's -MGM Studios. Michael Eisner, then the CEO of the Disney Company decided that the idea for the pavilion was strong enough to warrant it's on theme park and told his Imageneers to begin working on it.

Another factor that played a crucial role in the creation of the Disney's -MGM Studios, was that Universal Studios was planning on building an East Coast theme park. In 1982 Universal began to plan its new park which would also be located in Orlando. Universal was looking for a partner in the venture and approached Michael Eisner who was then the head of Paramount Studios. Eisner declined the proposal and the plans for a Universal East were eventually tabled. When Eisner was named CEO of Disney, he knew about Universal's plan and wanted to beat them to the punch. Eisner decided to build a movie theme park of his own, and had Imageneers start working on the concept. The idea of a Disney movie theme park was kept on the back burner until Universal announced it's plans in 1985. After the announcement, Michael Eisner announced that the Disney was already working on a movie based theme park which would be the third gate in Walt Disney World.

Before the new park was even announced Disney had already been working behind the scenes to acquire the rights to the name and logo of Metro-Golden-Mayer Inc. Disney and MGM agreed on a contract in 1985, that allowed Disney to used the MGM name, logo and certain film clips. The new theme park would eventually be named the Disney's -MGM Studios, and would feature the classic MGM logo Leo the Lion.

Construction began on the Disney's -MGM Studios in 1986. Besides being a theme park, the Disney's -MGM Studios was were also a working studio. Both animation and live action studios were built, and guests would eventually be able to tour these studious to see how Disney made films. Imageneers also wanted the park to be the perfect representation of the "Golden Age of Hollywood". To accomplish this the park was themed to look like a small version of Hollywood with replicas of icons such as Grauman's Chinese Theater and their own version of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. To give MGM an "icon" Imageneers created the large water tower, "Earfull Tower." The water tower looked exactly like the one on the Disney Studio lot in California, with the exception of the large Mickey ears placed on top. The tower stood an astonishing 130 ft tall.

Disney beat Universal to the punch when on May 1, 1989 the Disney's -MGM Studios opened. When it opened the park consisted of three separate parts. The theme park was made up of the Hollywood Boulevard, Lakeside Circle and the Backlot annex. The rest of the park consisted of the production studio and the animation studio. The Studios only had five opening day attractions. On The Great Movie Ride, guests boarded large trams and rode through scenes from famous movies. Audio Anamatronic's were used to recreate these scenes. At the end of the ride guests see a compilation of clips from "great movies". The second and third opening day attractions were The Monster Sound Show and Superstar Television. Both of these attractions were interactive stage shows hosted by Sony. On the Monster Sound Show guests were able to help add sound effects to a "all-star haunted house mystery". Superstar Television on the other hand, showed guests how TV production worked by recreating some of the greatest show's in television with guests as the cast members. The other opening day attractions were a lengthy tour of the animation studio and a shorter tour of the production studio.

Although only opening with five attractions, the Disney's -MGM Studios was were quite popular and quickly expanded. Later in 1989, the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular opened on Lakeside Circle. The stunt show recreated stunts from the popular Indiana Jones movie Raiders of the Lost Ark. Later in 1989 Star Tours opened. Star Tours is a motion simulator that transports guests the world of the George Lucas' film series Star Wars. In 1990 New York Street was opened for pedestrians and the 3D show Muppets 3D was added to it. Also added to New York Street was the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Playground. The large playground for kids was based on the 1989 Disney movie Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. In 1991, two shows: Beauty and The Beast and the Voyage of The Little Mermaid were added to the park.

In 1994 Sunset Boulevard was added to the Studios. The popular attraction the Twilight Zone Tower Terror was opened along with Boulevard. On the Tower of Terror guests are transported in Alfred Hitchcock's Twilight Zone where they board a haunted elevator. The elevator drops guests 15 stories before raising them back up and dropping them again! In 1997 the Monster Sound Show was replaced with the ABC Sound Studio One Saturday Morning. The new show was used to feature cartoons airing on the now Disney owned ABC. In 1998, the nighttime spectacular Fantasmic! was added to the Disney's -MGM Studios. The new firework show was a battle of good vs evil staring Mickey Mouse. Fantasmic! was added to try and keep guests in the park all day. In 1999 Sunset Boulevard got another thrill ride with the addition of the Rock N' Roller Coaster Staring Aerosmith. The new attraction took guests on a high speed tour of Hollywood and was set to Aerosmith music.

===Disney's -MGM Studios 2000-2007===With the turn of the 21st century, Disney's -MGM Studios began to change. Walt Disney's One Man Dream opened in 2001 featuring both a museum of Disney artifacts and a short biographical film. In 2003, the animation studio located at the park closed. This closure also ended the Animation Tour that had been a staple of the park since opening day. In 2004, New York Street was expanded to include architecture found in San Francisco and renamed The Streets of America. The section of the Studio Tour that resided behind the Streets of America (Residential Street) was bulldozed in 2004 in order to make room for a new stunt show, Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show, which opened in 2005.