Stars come out for guests

We don’t visit the history of the Disney-MGM Studios nearly as often as we probably should. From the time the park opened until somewhere in the early part of this century, the Studios was my favorite park on property, perhaps because it seemed tailor-made for my preteen, teenage, early adult sensibilities. Today’s photo shows precisely why it was such a hit with boys just like me.Stepping back to 1992, I can remember how thrilled I was to have an opportunity to hang out with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, even if I already had the suspicion that they were really just people in costumes, and the hotty known as April O’Neil. (Quick aside, April was the give away for me. She was always hot and always excited to take a picture with me, but her features were never quite the same.) Then there was Indiana Jones, which I impatiently waited years for, just to be able to become a part of the show, and now I never miss a chance. Then there was, is, will always be the characters and experiences related to Star Wars. Any boy, young or old, has a brain meltdown when they see Ewoks scurrying along the village with an AT-AT roaming through. And the chance to get in on battling a Death Star? Dream. Come. True. As a boy of the Studios, the only things missing here would be to swap the Sinclair family from Dinosaur for Dick Tracy and the Rocketeer.

Why wouldn’t I switch out Belle and the Beast along with Ariel and Eric? Simple really, little sisters had to have something to draw them to the park too. Otherwise, I could have never convinced my family to come along with me to visit old allies and new adventures.

And in those days, Disney-MGM Studios was a great adventure.