Soundstage 18 is where Blue Man Group performs now. It's a 65,000
square foot stage that housed shows such as Outta Here!, Make
the Grade, Welcome Freshman, Get the Picture, Fifteen, What Would You
Do?, Weinerville, Legends of the Hidden Temple, Double Dare 2000, Taina,
and Splat! Several shows could be set up at a time depending
on the size of their sets. Here's how it looked when it was
completely empty, awaiting a show to inhabit it:
Nickelodeon Studios Soundstage 18
A shot of the wall in Soundstage 18 with the windows from
the tour covered up.
The other soundstage was identical in size to Soundstage 18 and had just
as much classic programming come out of it. Let's take a look at
Soundstage 19.
Soundstage 19, unlike Soundstage 18, was not accessible from the park.
While Soundstage 18 was literally in the park, Soundstage 19 hung over
into the employee parking lot. Shows that came out of Soundstage
19 include Family Double Dare, Hi Honey I'm Home!, Clarissa Explains
it All, Roundhouse, Nick Arcade, Figure it Out, Slimetime Live, and
all segments for Nickelodeon GAS.
Left side of Soundstage 19 with a floor from when
U-Pick Live broadcasted in Orlando
for Nickelodeon's 25th anniversary.
Right side of Soundstage 19 with the floor from Nick GAS'
Gamefarm.
Soundstage 19 was also utilized for My Family's Got GUTS.
Our teams trained for the events in this stage. Our scenic
department also painted large set pieces in here. The area you're
looking at here is the same area in the photo right above.
Nickelodeon Studios Soundstage 19 during
My Family's Got GUTS.
So whatever happened to the old Nickelodeon Studios tour? For some
reason, rumors have been all over the internet for years. Let's
finally lay those to rest and look at the Nickelodeon Studios tour
today.
Here's the truth: it's all still there, and it's all still inhabited
regularly. Blue Man Group stores all the paper they use in the
finale of their show in the viewing area for Soundstage 19. There
are literally hundreds of boxes stacked in there. Janitorial
supplies also line the walls of the old tour.
Soundstage 19 portion of the old Nickelodeon Studios
tour.
Behind where this photo was taken were big doors that lead to a right
turn to the portion of the tour that showed the control room.
Nickelodeon Studios tour control room doors.
The window that looks into the control room is still very much in-tact,
which honestly has to make it extremely creepy to work in there today.
Nickelodeon Studios tour control room viewing.
The last portion of tour before going down into Game Lab was the viewing
room for Soundstage 18. It's still in completely pristine
condition, as if it were still used today. A few items are stored
here, and Blue Man Group uses the space right outside of this room for
rehearsal.
Soundstage 18 portion of the old Nickelodeon Studios
tour.
And then there's Game Lab.
Perhaps the most unrecognizable part of the entire facility is Game Lab.
The only thing remotely similar to how it used to be are the columns in
the middle of the room that used to bear the faux "Soundstage 17" logo
on them. It is now used as a banquet hall. The elevator for
access to the second floor still exists with the word "Elevator" in one
of the network's font and is the only unchanged portion of the room.
Nickelodeon Studios Game Lab, 2007.
As mentioned earlier in the article, the first and only time Nickelodeon
has returned to Orlando was for the revival of GUTS, titled My
Family's Got GUTS in 2008.
Set of My Family's Got GUTS, 2008.
Most of the original crew returned, and dozens of faces from years gone
by stopped by to visit. It was truly a magical, nostalgic,
beautiful production to be a part of. My memories of working on
My Family's Got GUTS are priceless. Everything from the entire
crew singing me "Happy Birthday" with a cake on my birthday, to seeing
players conquer the Aggro Crag once again.
Aggro Crag on My Family's Got GUTS, 2008.
The new Aggro Crag was an amazing new creation, designed by original set
designer Byron Taylor. Because of the size of the four-person
crag, it had to be contained in its own soundstage. The Extreme
Arena was in Universal Soundstage 23, and the Aggro Crag was in
Universal Soundstage 24. The Crag was quite a sight to behold in
its casual state.
My Family's Got GUTS' Aggro Crag "sleeping" with
no lights on, 2008.
In closing, Nickelodeon Studios was an incredible place, and truly was
the place "where Nick was made." During the glory years, shows were
truly made to kids' specifications and closely examined what kids wanted
to see on their network. The studios catered to all of this
in a way that no other network could, did or will.
Thanks Nickelodeon Studios for all the good times and memories.
Click HERE to view a timeline of
every show to ever tape at Nickelodeon Studios, the year it was taped,
and what soundstage it was in! Thanks to my friend and colleague Adam
Wurtzel for compiling this!
In 2005, while Nickelodeon Studios was still open, two colleagues named
Lee Eck, Adam Wurtzel and I
were at the studios and shot a bunch of
home video footage. I edited it into a video, which I posted on my
personal YouTube account. The video became a huge hit with
thousands of hits and comments. When I went to work on My
Family's Got GUTS, it was in my best interest to take it down.
But now, it's BACK! Check out the famous "Behind the Scenes at
Nickelodeon Studios" video at our YouTube account, "cmonfwank"
or below!
