Guests visiting Disney’s Hollywood Studios can now experience the “Premiere Night, Every Night” lighting package and spotlights that Imagineer Zach Riddley touted last week.
A combination of new LED lights, golden lighting accents, and spotlights are meant to make the Chinese Theater come alive when the sun sets. The vibe is supposed to be that of a premiere night of a big movie – in this case the premiere of “Perfect Picnic”, the Mickey Mouse short that plays in the pre-show area of Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway. Here’s how Riddley describes it:
The new nighttime appearance features bright gold accents, all-new energy-efficient LED lighting. But the part I am really excited about is the triumphant return of spotlights searching the sky as the theatre welcomes guests to the premiere of the latest Mickey Mouse short at Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway. This is a culmination of years of work by our teams to bring “premiere night, every night” energy to this iconic golden age of Hollywood architecture. I love when our teams are able use their unique skills to enhance the stories within our parks and this definitely showcases what our Imagineers ingenuity.
We visited Disney’s Hollywood Studios last night to find the new look and spotlights turned on. Unfortunately, the critics have returned a “rotten” score for this new look – or more specifically, the spotlights that Riddley was so excited about.
What we ended up seeing last night was actually quite difficult to see. We ended up using some low-light settings usually reserved for the darkest of dark rides to even bring out a little bit of the spotlights. Forget trying to get any photos or video on your smartphone. We’re not sure if it was just the atmospheric conditions, or perhaps Disney is still adjusting the lights, but what we saw could easily be confused with 6 Cast Members standing on the roof waving flashlights around. Hardly the triumph that Riddley made it out to be. Hopefully Disney is able to increase the brightness on these spotlights to make them the true beacon at the end of Hollywood Boulevard that they should be. Here’s a quick video followed by some photos of the spotlights that all but disappear (if it wasn’t for the low layer of clouds, and our camera settings) by the time we make it into the heart of Hollywood Boulevard.
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!