Previously, we took a look at Hollywood Boulevard at the Disney-MGM Studios. So now let's take a look at some of the other areas of the park.

The area just off of Hollywood Boulevard takes its name from the body of water that it surrounds, Echo Lake. Incidentally, Echo Lake is one of Mickey's ears in the large Mickey face that was designed into the park's layout. The picture above shows the view across Echo Lake to Vine Street.

Along Vine Street, in addition to the 50's Prime Time Cafe and Hollywood & Vine Restaurants are many details, such as this entrance to the Echo Lake Apartments tucked away among the buildings. Details such as this help everything to seem even more authentic.

Walking to the end of Vine Street takes you to the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular. While I don't always pay that much attention to live shows, this one is pretty, well, spectacular. It is fun to see the recreations of the scenes from Raiders of the Lost Ark. Here, Indy and the airplane mechanic battle it out once again as things begin to heat up around them.

Between Indiana Jones and Star Tours is the Backlot Express restaurant. The catch phrase of the restaurant is "A Warehouse Of Good Eats", and the place is themed to a studio warehouse. Among the dining areas are old movie props and equipment. Each room has a theme, such as the plaster shop or the stunt warehouse.

Proceeding past the Backlot Express, you find yourself at another George Lucas inspired attraction, Star Tours. This attraction, which opened almost a year after the rest of the park, takes you back to the world of Star Wars and puts you in the middle of the action. Even though the second story of the Ewok Forest waiting area (hidden behind the trees in this picture) is mainly for show, I remember one time seeing Chewbacca and an Ewok running around up there, chasing each other and waving to the crowd below.

On past Star Tours is MuppetVision 3D. This picture was taken in the days soon after the attraction opened, and before the Toy Story Pizza Planet Arcade and other shops and restaurants were added to the area. So this part of the park wasn't very crowded, except for right after the movie ended. And the Muppet designs added some unique color to this part of the park.

Just a few steps from the Muppets is the Backlot area of the park, featuring New York Street. This street was designed to show how backlots use such tricks as forced perspective to make areas seem bigger, and how sometimes it is easier to film a street scene on a backlot instead of on an actual busy street. Several productions have filmed here in the past, although now the street is mainly here for the guests to see.

Here is a detail of some of the buildings on the street. You can see the balloon at the top of MuppetVision behind these buildings. As real and as authentic as these buildings look, it is hard to remember that they are just false fronts, nothing more than a facade. And New York Street is currently becoming Big City Street, as areas are being changed and added to represent Chicago and San Francisco.

Continued

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