Changes
/* Attraction History */
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. Because 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, Grumman’s Chinese Theater. Furthermore, 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, instead taking guests on a journey through various classic films.
During the development of the attraction there were a few changes to the ride's plot. Originally, the room that eventually became the Fantasia scene was going to house the Tornado scene from the Wizard of Oz <ref name= "Korkis"> http://allears.net/ae/issue802.htm </ref>. Likewise, the final scene in the attraction was also going to be an extension of the Wizard of Oz scene<ref name= "central"> https://web. Guests archive.org/web/20080623221337/http://www.greatmovieride.com/originalconcept.html </ref>. In this 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”<ref name= "central"/>. Following this, the curtain would open showing that the bandit (or gangster) who had hijacked the ride earlier was still alive<ref name= "central"/>. Finally, guests would approach a large platform where models of all of the Audio Animatronic characters seen earlier in the ride would reappear and take a bow<ref name= "central"/>. Eventually however, Imagineers learned that they did not have the rights to use more of the Wizard of Oz then had already been used <ref name= "central"/>. MGM had originally agreed to let Disney use audio from the film's munchkin scene, the Wicked Witch of the West's dialog, and a small amount of Dorothea's dialog when she finds the Emerald City <ref name= "central"/>. With MGM unwilling to give up more rights for free, and Disney unwilling to pay, the ideas were eventually scrapped. Instead, a suspiciously windy Fantasia scene replaced the Wizard of Oz's tornado, and the montage of films replaced the Wizard finale<ref name= "central"/>. Other changes during the Great Movie Ride's development were a result of Disney's attempt to get the rights to use the likeness of various celebrities. In order to do this, either the celebrity themselves or their estate had to sign off. The following changes were made to the attraction as a result of these negotiations: Although this scene was eventually scrapped, 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 that originally featured a rotating cake and attached water pumps (as seen in the movie) was significantly toned down. The cake in the scene was constantly breaking down and the water pumps would fail, causing the ride path to flood. Disney Imagineers eventually decided to leave the cake stationary, and use 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.
