Throwback Thursday - Honey I Shrunk the Audience and Honey I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set Playground

The Szalinski family was the focus of the popular Disney movie series, "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" and it's sequels: "Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves" and "Honey, I Blew Up the Kid". The movies were so popular, they spawned two attractions at Walt Disney World, Honey, I Shrunk the Audience in EPCOT and the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set Playground in Disney's Hollywood Studios.

On November 21, 1994 at EPCOT, Honey, I Shrunk the Audience took guests inside the Imagination Institute's  Theater to attend the Inventor of the Year awards ceremony. The current honoree is professor Wayne Szalinski. Guests are given their "safety goggles" (3D glasses) as they enter to prepare for the scientific demonstrations to follow.

Sponsored by Kodak, there was a pre-show video set to the tune of Cyndi Lauper's "True Colors" highlighting the wonders of imagination. You can watch this video on Youtube HERE.

Eric Idle originated the role of Dr. Nigel Channing, Founder of the Imagination Institute in this attraction. He continued this role in the attractions, Journey into Your Imagination and later, Journey Into Imagination with Figment.

What followed was a 23 minute 3D show that featured the original cast of the movies with the usual Szalinski mayhem, where the audience accidentally becomes the latest victim of the shrinking ray. In addition to the 3D effects, the audience was seated on a moving platform to simulate the theater moving and floor shaking when one of the Szalinski children "picks up" the audience. 

After Michael Jackson's untimely death in 2009, this attraction closed on May 9, 2010 to make way for a tribute to the late musician. The Captain Eo show returned to the theater in it's place. 

On December 17, 1990 the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set Playground opened on Streets of American in Disney's Hollywood Studios (at the time known as Disney-MGM Studios).

The playground was themed as the giant backyard scenes from the original film. It featured 30-foot blades of grass, a slide out of a Kodak film canister, giant bees and ants, along with various water-spraying elements, mazes and climbing ropes.

This playground closed on April 2, 2016 to make way for the new Star Wars Galaxy's Edge expansion.

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