The attraction that would one day be known as the Great Movie Ride actually began as an idea for Epcot. In the early 1980’s a team of Imagineers, led by Randy Bright and WDI president Marty Skylar were tasked with creating two new pavilions for Future World in [[Epcot]]. The team came up with two ideas, the [[Wonders of Life]] pavilion, and the Great Moments at the Movies pavilion. While the Wonders of Life was green lit for inclusion in Epcot, the Great Moments and the Movies attraction was set aside by Disney CEO Michael Eisner.
The original plans for the Great Moments at the Movies, called for the pavilion to be placed in between [[The Land]] and the [[Journey Into Imagination]] pavilions. ¬The The basic plot for the attraction would not only have given guest an inside look into how films were made, but it would have also allowed them to enter the films themselves. The façade for the new pavilion would have featured a movie set back drop, with a ticket booth for an entrance. The façade was intentionally designed to look fake, as a commentary on Hollywood itself. After seeing the Great Moments at the Movies concept, Michael Eisner decided that the attraction was strong enough to build a whole new park around. Eventually, Disney decided to create the Disney MGM Studios, with the Great Movie Ride as the new park’s centerpiece.
Since the Great Movie Ride (as it was now called) was now going to be the focus of a new park, Disney Imagineers decided that they needed to create a new façade for the attraction. Since the Disney MGM Studios, were set in the golden age of Hollywood (the 1920s-1930s), Imagineers decided to house the attraction inside one of Hollywood’s landmarks, Grauman’s Chinese Theater. Since the attraction was no longer going to be housed in Epcot, Imagineers also decided that the Great Movie Ride’s plot would focus less on education, and instead it would take guests on a journey through various classic films. Originally, the final scene in the attraction was going to be an extension of the Wizard of Oz scene. Guests would have come face to face with the Wizard, who would say his famous line “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain”. Following this, the curtain would open showing that the bandit or gangster who had hijacked the ride earlier was still alive. Finally, guests would approach a large platform where models of all the of the Audio Animatronic characters seen earlier in the ride would reappear and take a bow. The Great Movie Ride opened with the Disney MGM Studios on May 1, 1989.
Since its opening, the Great Movie Ride has only seen two major changes. The first change to the attraction came shortly after its opening. The Footlight Parade scene, which originally featured a rotating cake and attached water pumps (as seen in the movie), was significantly toned down. The cake in the scene would constantly break down, and the water pumps would fail, causing the ride path to flood. Disney Imagineers eventually decided to leave the cake stationary, and sue lighting effects instead of water pumps. The other change came in 2008, when the Wicked Witch of the West Audio Animatronic was replaced with a newer model.
==Attraction Plot==
On the Great Movie Ride, there are two different experiences, one involves a 1920s gangster hijacking the ride, and another involves an old west outlaw.