Walt Disney Studios Entrance Gate

Like every famous film studio, Walt Disney Studios has its own unique entrance gate to stand as a guard to the secrets within and a hint to the wealth of the studio. The gate itself, featuring the iconic Camera and Mickey silhouette, is rarely opened.

Earffel Tower

The Earfful (or Earful) Tower is a playful Disney take on the tradional movie studio water towers that became emblems of their respective homes. First constructed to help put out any fires on-set, they now function largely like the Earfful Tower - as a grand entrance landmark.

Place des Frères Lumière

A Spanish Revival-style courtyard featuring the Fantasia Fountain, dedicated to the Lumiere brothers:

Louis Lumiere (1864-1948)
August Lumiere (1862-1954)

The Lumiere brothers helped give birth to the movies when they presented the world's first public screening of a motion picture in Paris on December 28th, 1895.

A Front Lot courtyard was planned for the park since the very first plans of Disney-MGM Studios Europe in the early 1990s. Palm trees, spanish revivial architecture and the looming presence of Disney Studio 1 were planned from the beginning.

The park was always intended to be set up as if guests were entering a real movie studio, rather than the "Hollywood that never was" boulevard entrance of Disney-MGM Studios Florida.

Disney Studio 1 was based on the main soundstage at Walt Disney's original Hyperion Avenue studios, whilst the area as a whole draws from countless classic studio entrance courtyards, always built to an excessive style to destract from the grimy backlots beyond.

Place des Frères Lumière Loop

As you approach the park itself and step onto the Place des Frères Lumière, the rumbling, rolling sounds of famous movie scores echo through the air. From West Side Story and An American Tail to Dinosaur, Titanic and Gone With The Wind, this is truly the ultimate collection of film soundtracks.

Most of the soundtracks heard here are also used around the Great Movie Ride at Disney-MGM Studios Florida, but the loops are different. With surprisingly few of Disney's own soundtracks included, the rights to the music were likely acquired for both parks at once.

The loop is also heard inside the buildings surrounding the courtyard.

Disney Studio 1 Loop

With a jazzy swing and a tapping drum beat, Disney Studio 1 is always a buzzing and atmospheric place. The jazz sounds are both unique songs and special versions of film classics.

Listen out for great tracks such as Singin' in the Rain, The Trolly Song and the theme from Dr Zhivago.