The building exterior is modeled after the Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles . PHOTO BY CLIFF WANG
MEMORIES OF A CAST MEMBER To really understand what it was like to be a Cast Member on the Great Movie Ride , I spoke to former Cast Member Stephanie Porten via email . Porten worked the ride as a Tour Guide from 2014 to 2016 and before that worked at EPCOT ’ s Innoventions in 2013 .
I asked her what the training was like for the Great Movie Ride . “ Training was its own beast ,” she explained . “ Not only were you learning queue management and how to load the vehicles , but you were also learning the script of the ride itself .”
And not only that , but Cast Members had to learn two versions of the script : one for the “ Western ” scene and one for the “ gangster ” scene . “ Both scenes came with a different set of choreography that had to be followed exactly — not just for timing , but also for safety reasons ,” explained Porten .
Because the training was so intensive , Cast Members really bonded with their trainers and felt like they were all part of the same family . “ The cast affectionately referred to our trainers as our parents , which also meant you could follow your ‘ family tree ’ of who trained whom throughout the history of the ride ,” Porten said . “ I still refer to my trainer , Dave ( an absolutely magical human being ), as ‘ Dad .’ I even got him a mug on Father ’ s Day one year with another ‘ sibling ’ who had Dave as a trainer .”
The close-knit vibe of the Cast Members who worked on the Great Movie Ride was a huge part of what made the ride so magical . Another factor was the incredible attention to detail that the Imagineers used for the ride .
“ I think my favorite thing about the ride is the care and detail that the Imagineers took when creating the ride ,” Porten told me . “ For example , in the Alien sequence , there are computer screens along the hall , just as there would have been on the Nostromo in the movie . However , in the ride , instead of listing the crew on the screen and their location , it lists the Imagineers and what they ’ re doing .”
One example of this is Imagineer Doug Griffith , who was listed as “ still programming the witch ” in reference to the Wicked Witch of the West figure that was “ notoriously hard to create and program ,” according to Porten .
When she wasn ’ t working on the ride , Porten told me she loved to bring friends and families on the ride as guests and point out some of the details that only a Cast Member ( or a huge GMR fan ) would notice .
“ When I rode as a guest , I loved sitting in the back of the vehicle and quietly pointing out secret details to the people I was riding with ,” Porten remembered . That included the hidden