Like most things in Walt Disney World, Disney's Hollywood Studios can trace it's origins back to Walt Disney himself. In the 1960s, Walt wanted to build a theme park that would show guests the movie making process. At that time Universal Studios had a popular backstage tram tour and Walt wanted to do something similar on the backlot Disney Studios. Due to land coasts and potential traffic problems this idea never came to fruition. Although the Disney Studios backlot tour was never built, the idea would resurface later.
The genies genesis 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 Disney-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 own theme park and told his Imageneers to begin working on it.
At the same time that the new Epcot pavilions were being designed, Disney decided that it needed a new production studio. The studio was needed because due to the fact that the Disney production schedule had increased dramatically in the 1980's. Instead of spending a lot of money on land, it was decided that the studio would be built on the property they already owned in Florida. The need for a new production studio was one of the driving forces behind the inclusion of a studio tour in the new Disney theme park.
Another factor that played a crucial role in the creation of the Disney-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 use the MGM name, logo and certain film clips. The new theme park would eventually be named Disney-MGM Studios, and would feature the classic MGM logo Leo the Lion.
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