TV Filming Locations (ABC and Disney+)

ABC’s Times Square Studio is located in the heart of New York City’s Times Square. It’s best known as the home to  Good Morning America (GMA), among other ABC and ESPN programs. Access to the studio is only available by attending Adventures by Disney’s New York City Escape or entering for tickets to attend a taping of GMA. Address: 1500 Broadway, New York, NY 10036 Visitor Information (Not Open to the Public): ABC Television Networks

Beetle House is a restaurant and bar themed in honor of Tim Burton. Burton worked as an animator for Disney in the 1980s before moving on to his own feature films, including many for Disney and Fox including Edward Scissorhands (1990), The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), James and the Giant Peach (1996), and Alice In Wonderland (2010). Though the restaurant isn’t officially sanctioned by Burton or Disney, the decor and staff are dressed as references to his films and characters and the menu makes reference to these films including items like Edward’s Lemonade, Coco Skellington, and Giant Peach Salad. The restaurant also has a sister location in New York City. This location was featured in The Nightmare Before Christmas episode of the Disney+ series, Prop Culture. In the episode, host Dan Lanigan brought key members from the film’s production to the restaurant to review props and sets from the Tim Burton cult classic. Read more about the real-life locations featured on the show in our blog post: 7 Real-Life Locations From The Disney+ Series Prop Culture. Address: 1714 N Las Palmas Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90028 Visitor Information: Beetle House LA

CBS Studio Center is a working television and film studio in Hollywood. A few Disney films and TV shows were shot here including The Muppets (2011) and ABC’s The Last Man Standing. The studio is not open to the public and does not offer tours. You can gain access by participating as a studio audience member through a service such as Audiences Unlimited. Address: 4024 Radford Ave, Studio City, CA 91604 Visitor Information (Not Open to the Public): CBS Studio Center

The Glendale-Hyperion Bridge connects Interstate 5 from Glendale (into Atwater Village) to the Silver Lake area of Los Angeles where one of the original Disney animation studios once stood. The bridge, along with its distinct octagonal towers, serves as the architectural inspiration for the bridge (really a monorail track) on Buena Vista Street at the entrance to Disney California Adventure. The bridge can briefly be seen during the 1988 live-action and animated hit Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Test footage from this scene can be seen during the seventh episode of the first season of the Disney+ series Prop Culture as the episode visits the stuntman and original vehicle used as the car body prob for “Benny the Cab”. Address: Hyperion Ave, Los Angeles, CA Visitor Information: Wikipedia

Golden Oak Ranch is a plot of land 30 miles outside of Los Angeles, used by Walt in the 1950s and later purchased by the company in 1959 for use as film and TV production facility. A number of classic Disney productions have been filmed here including Spin and Marty episodes, Old Yeller (1957), The Parent Trap (1961), The Apple Dumpling Gang (1975), and Pete’s Dragon (1977). The ranch is still used today and continues to host productions such as Pearl Harbor (2001), The Country Bears (2002), Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (2007), The Muppets (2011). In television, ABC’s Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Disney+ series WandaVision have shot here as well as an episode of the Disney+ series One Day at Disney (Shorts) featured Golden Oak while profiling their Operations Manager, Steven Sligh. The name Golden Oak is memorialized as the name of the Golden Oak community, a private residential area located on Walt Disney World property, where its clubhouse displays props and memorabilia from classic Disney TV shows and movies that were filmed here. Although no tours are given and it is not open to the public, industry professionals can gain access for scouting and filming purposes. Address: 19802 Placerita Canyon Rd, […]

Launched in 1989, the tall ship Lady Washington was commissioned as the official tall ship of the state of Washington by Grays Harbor Historical Seaport, a not-for-profit public development authority. The ship is a full-scale replica of the original Lady Washington, an 18th-century vessel named in honor of Martha Washington, and resides in this historic seaport when it’s not out on a film shoot or touring the state. The modern ship has a number of Disney connections including playing the role of the HMS Interceptor in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003). A few years later, the Lady Washington stars in the ABC series Once Upon a Time as Captain Hook’s ship the Jolly Roger from season 2 and on. The ship is even credited as the design reference for the RLS Legacy in Disney’s 2002 feature animated film, Treasure Planet (2002). The ship in the movie is based on the adventures of the Hispaniola from the RLS (Robert Louis Stevenson) classic book, Treasure Island. In the Disney+ series, Prop Culture, host Dan Lanigan visits this location in search of props associated with Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003). Read more about the real-life locations featured […]

This carousel, built in 1926, in the heart of LA’s Griffith Park was the inspiration for Disneyland: The idea for [Disneyland] came about when my daughters were very young and Saturday was always Daddy’s day with the two daughters…. I’d take them to the merry-go-round… and as I sit while they rode… I felt that there should be something built where the parents and children could have fun together. So that’s how Disneyland started” – Walt Disney The Merry-Go-Round that Walt references is the one here in the park, between his Los Feliz home and the Disney Studio in Burbank. The Disney+ series Prop Culture filmed a segment here in an episode exploring props and costumes from Disney’s 1964 film, Mary Poppins. In the episode, host Dan Lanigan brings Karen Dotrice, the actress that played Jane Banks, here to discuss how the carousel inspired a fantastical scene in the film while checking out the iconic yellow dress and hat costume that she wore in the movie. Read more about the real-life locations featured on the show in our blog post: 7 Real-Life Locations From The Disney+ Series Prop Culture. The ride is still open to the public, though operating on […]

Kualoa Ranch is a private nature reserve located on the east side of the Hawaiian island of Oahu. The ranch’s unique topography makes it the perfect filming location for exotic jungle scenes like the ones seen in ABC’s LOST and Disney films including George of the Jungle (1997), Mighty Joe Young (1998), and Pearl Harbor (2001). The ranch’s visitor center and gift shop are open to the public, but the only way to get a close-up view of the filming locations is by taking one of the tours that they offer. Address: 49-560 Kamehameha Hwy, Kaneohe, HI 96744 Visitor Information: Kualoa Ranch

Known as “the most haunted house in Ireland”, this medieval manor on the south coast of Ireland was the inspiration for Fowl Manor, home to the main characters of the Artemis Fowl book series (published in the US by Disney Publishing Worldwide) and Disney film of the same name. Unfortunately, no scenes from the movie were shot here – the Fowl Manor seen in the movie was constructed on the Longcross Studios lot, outside of London. Artemis Fowl author Eoin Colfer appeared on the sixth episode of the first season of the Disney+ series Disney Insider to give fans a look at this tourist attraction where he once worked as a dishwasher. “It always seemed to me that it would be an excellent house with all its wonderful staircases and passages and corridors and peepholes, to have a family live; A family that had a life of adventure. So when I started to write Artemis Fowl and I was looking for a place for them to live, it seemed obvious to me, of course, the most haunted house in Ireland: Loftus Hall. So that’s where I put them.” – Artemis Fowl author Eoin Colfer Loftus Hall is now a tourist […]

The Museum of the Moving Image (MOMI) is a museum in Queens, New York devoted to the history of film and television and educating its visitors on the process of filmmaking from its earliest form to the latest technological advancements. A number of Disney related items can be found on display in this museum including screen-used memorabilia from Star Wars and a permanent Jim Henson Exhibition with a variety of items from Muppet TV shows and movies. The Jim Henson Exhibition is a multi-media exhibit featuring nearly 300 objects on display including 47 puppets from Muppet movies and TV shows, Fraggle Rock, The Dark Crystal (1982), Labyrinth (1986) and more. A traveling version of this exhibit, curated by the museum, is currently touring the US. Check out our blog post, A Tour of The Jim Henson Exhibit: Imagination Unlimited, for more info on its current location. The exhibit also features a “Waldo” puppet control mechanism that was developed in order to let puppeteers remotely operate mechanical puppets like those found in Fraggle Rock and Dinosaurs. A later version of this was used to perform Waldo C. Graphic, the “spirit of 3D” who stars in Walt Disney World’s Muppet*Vision 3D. The Henson exhibit is also featured […]

The Studebaker National Museum is a museum in South Bend, Indiana dedicated to the American automobile manufacturer of the same name, based in the same city. The museum features a display of Fozzie’s car from the 1979 film, The Muppet Movie. It’s one of two Studebakers used in the filming and still has paint remnants from when Dr. Teeth & The Electric Mayhem contributed their psychedelic makeover (Can You Picture That?). The museum is currently accepting donations to help them “restore this star to its former glory.” This museum and car were featured in the Disney+ series Prop Culture, where host Dan Lanigan brings Joel Hodgeson (creator of Mystery Science Theater 3000) to meet the museum’s curator Aaron Warkentin to take a look at the famous car. Read more about the real-life locations featured on the show in our blog post: 7 Real-Life Locations From The Disney+ Series Prop Culture. Address: 201 Chapin St, South Bend, IN 46601 Visitor Information: Studebaker National Museum

This is the permanent home to the Walt Disney Studios since the company moved from their Hyperion Studio in 1940. The 51-acre campus is not only the corporate headquarters of the company but also the location of their live-action film and animation production centers. One of the soundstages is dedicated to Disney Legend Julie Andrews who filmed both Mary Poppins (1964) and The Princess Diaries (2001) there. Exterior scenes of the studio lot in 2013’s Saving Mr. Banks were actually filmed here as well. The campus features a number of unique and well-known buildings including The Roy E. Disney Animation Building, named after Walt’s nephew following his death in 2009. This building is topped with a giant blue hat, similar to the one Mickey wears during the Sorcerer’s Apprentice segments of the Fantasia films. Parks fans will recognize the facade of the building that houses Walt Disney Studios’ Art of Disney Animation attraction as an homage to this building. The Michael D. Eisner “Team Disney” Building stands just outside of Disney Legends Plaza. This building features the Seven Dwarfs as columns, holding up the structure – a nod to the studio’s first big feature film hit which helped fund the building […]