The Mouse-prints Get Bigger. Disney’s New Golden Oak Ranch Studios.
As our frequent readers should know, one of our favorite places in the Disney world aside from the Disney Parks and Resorts happens to be where there is no attractions, or shows. Just offices, sound stages, and a lot of history.
We’re talking the Walt Disney Studios lot in Burbank, California which also happens to be the headquarters of The Walt Disney Company. You’ll find some great talent and top executives there, as well as a lot of celebrities because this is also a working studio lot. Production takes places from time to time on the large sound stages and various areas around the lot, but if you’ve ever been there before, you’d know that the place isn’t THAT big. And Disney knows that. So what happens when you outgrow your space?
You extend the “Mouse-prints.”
Earlier last week, the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors approved a plan that would give the Company another full studio filled with more sound stages, production offices, and set space. The land originally was purchased by Walt Disney himself years ago when he needed a space for backdrops for his TV shows and movies.
Located in the Santa Clarita Valley a few miles north of Los Angeles, Disney’s Golden Oak Ranch will allow the studio to expand its operations for more efficiency and even provide more than $533 million for the local Southern California economy. Disney’s hope for the 58 acre lot and planned studio is to encourage more production to return to the SoCal area as many entertainment productions have left because of lower business and production costs elsewhere.
Disney has yet to announce an opening date of the new facility, but expect it to take more than a few years. We’ll keep you all posted on the progress of the new studios here. You can get more information on the Golden Oak ABC Studios by clicking HERE.
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What do you think? Does bigger entertainment offerings from Disney require a new studio? Are you happy to see Disney continually investing in the local economy? Let us know in the comments.
