Hollywood Studios celebrated a MILESTONE anniversary with a special show. 

Souvenir poster

Disney Hollywood Studios celebrated its 35th anniversary on May 1st, 2024. In addition to special merchandise and a collectible park map, the park also put on a special show honoring the people who made it all possible: Cast Members. 

The small show, which was housed at the Theater of the Stars venue (usually home to Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage), began with an appearance from Kermit and Miss Piggy as hosts, which was appropriate since the Muppets have had a presence at the park since opening day in 1989, and Muppet*Vision 3-D has been open since 1991. 

Kermit and Miss Piggy open the festivities

Following this opening skit, speeches were given by one of Walt Disney World’s ambassadors and Hollywood Studios VP Jackie Swisher.

Here’s a peek into the 35th anniversary show today at Disney’s Hollywood Studios! Kermit and Miss Piggy were our hosts!

The park's Vice President Jackie Swisher spoke about what it means to the cast to be a part of OUR stories!#disneyshollywoodstudios35 pic.twitter.com/iSPFVwzajr

— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) May 1, 2024

During her speech, Swisher took time to honor any opening day Disney-MGM Studios cast members in the crowd. After standing for cheers, these cast members were brought to the front of the stage and posed in front of it as several characters entered to do a small-scale reproduction of the Fantasmic! finale, complete with confetti.

And what’s Disney’s Hollywood Studios without Fantasmic! and Sorcerer Mickey? 🤩🎉#disneyshollywoodstudios35 pic.twitter.com/UksWcW0lRh

— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) May 1, 2024

The show then wrapped with a photo-op of the cast members and characters. 

The opening day cast members strike a pose!

On our way out, we bumped into Tom Vazzana, Director of Creative Development at Walt Disney, who talked to us about what makes the park so special to fans and cast members alike. 

We got to speak with Tom Vazzana, Director of Creative Development at Walt Disney World, and he shared with us the thing he thinks makes this park special. 📷#disneyshollywoodstudios35#mediaevent pic.twitter.com/frK6Muk3BH

— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) May 1, 2024

Hollywood Studios celebrated its 35th anniversary in style by remembering to celebrate the cast members who’ve made the (movie) magic happen over the last 3+ decades! Stay tuned to DFB for further coverage of the Hollywood Studios festivities.

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Disclosure: In nearly all circumstances, Disney Food Blog writers and photographers pay full price for their own travel, hotel, food, beverage, and event tickets. We do this because it’s important to us as journalists to ensure not only that we give you unbiased opinions, but also that you can trust us to do so since we’re paying our own way. On rare occasions, when we are invited by a company to attend a preview as media, and when we choose to accept that invitation, we will always make you, our readers, aware of that situation. Today, we were invited by Disney World to attend their media event for the 35th Anniversary of Hollywood Studios. Note that when we attend events as media we are 1) Not required to review that event/food on any of our channels, and 2) Not required to review that event/food favorably. You can always count on DFB to give you a 100% unbiased and honest review of any event that we attend, food that we eat, or beverage that we drink. You can see more in our Disclosure Policy. Thank you for reading. — AJ

What’s your favorite Hollywood Studios memory? Let us know in the comments below.