Another look at one of the New York Street buildings. To make things look even more real, some of the buildings have advertisements for some of the companies that sponsor things in the park, such as Chevrolet. But this picture also shows the nature of a movie set by how the building ends on the left of the picture behind a wall. Of course, that would all be hidden in filming. And you can walk down the stairs in the subway entrance just below the Chevrolet sign. Although the stairs only go down a few feet.

On the other side of New York Street is the Honey I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set Adventure. This is mainly a children's playground, but it has some fun things for everyone to see. I always had trouble of getting a good overall picture of the area because if its small space, but this one, taken from atop one of the climbing areas, gives a good idea of what is there.

Taking the Backlot Tour gives you a chance to see more aspects of behind the scenes work. Along the old Residential Street, which has since been torn down, you could see facades of houses, some of which looked familiar to television and movie viewers. This house was the home of the Golden Girls for many years. Again, only the front part of the house was built, and if a door were open, you could see daylight out the back.

Occasionally along the way were some surprises. During the first year or two of the park's operation, Herbie the Love Bug greeted guests along Residential Street. He would raise his hood, flash his lights, open his doors, squirt water, and raise up on his back tires. The house he was parked at was also used as Vern's house in Ernest Saves Christmas, which was filmed here and in the surrounding area. Also, Catastrophe Canyon can be seen in the background.

Some interesting objects are found in the Boneyard, the area along the tram tour where they put old vehicles and other props from movies. This was the alien spaceship in Flight of the Navigator. Probably not that many people remember the movie, which came out in 1986. But I enjoyed it, so I snapped a quick picture of the ship. In the background is the rear of one of the Residential Street houses, showing how it is open for business.

Another interesting object along the way was the Bulldog Cafe as seen in The Rocketeer. While this was more of a three dimensional set piece than just a facade like New York Street or Residential Street, it is still smaller than actual size. A normal sized person would have a little difficulty fitting through the door.

Down the way from the Backlot Tour is Mickey Avenue. This area was originally off limits to guests, but was opened after a few years to allow access to the Backlot Tour. Originally, the Backlot Tour was part of a longer tour that included the soundstages and started in the Animation Courtyard. But the tour was later broken into two parts, so access to the tram loading area was needed. This area was themed to loosely resemeble Mickey Avenue at the Disney Studios in Burbank.

To further tie in with the Burbank Studios is this sign showing the intersection of Mickey Avenue and Dopey Drive. The sign, seen at the left of the previous picture, is a recreation of a sign at the actual Disney Studios. The original sign has been there since the early 1940s. The trees and the paint colors on the buildings are quite reminiscent of the actual studios where it all began.

- Story and Photos by Steve Burns
Posted

Steve is a three-time Disney Store National Trivia finalist and webmaster of BurnsLand, home of Steve's Disney Railroad Adventures.

E-mail Steve at steve@startedbyamouse.com, discuss this article in the StartedByAMouse.com Disney Discussion Forums or use the Talkback feature below.

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