Sign a petition for Citizens of Hollywood to return to Disney World

Kat Corson, a Disney fan and former host of our “Early Night Live” YouTube show, started a petition through Change.org entitled “Bring Back the Citizens of Hollywood to Disney’s Hollywood Studios.” The petition, which Corson launched Aug. 20, 2023, with a goal of 1,000 signatures, already has over 700 names attached one week later.

A Plea for Disney to Bring the Citizens of Hollywood Back Home

The Citizens of Hollywood are a group of improv comedians who roamed the entrance areas of Hollywood Boulevard and Sunset Boulevard at Disney’s Hollywood Studios from 1989 to 2020. Seemingly having popped right out of the storybook version of Hollywood the park depicts, the Citizens represented such varied occupations as film directors, talent agents, police officers, and aspiring stars.

In the petition description, Corson writes, “The Citizens of Hollywood were and still are a crucial part of not only entertainment but the park as a whole.” She continues, “There is no Disney’s Hollywood Studios without the Citizens of Hollywood. So I implore Disney to bring the Citizens of Hollywood home and kindly ask for those who have interacted with the Citizens, to sign this petition and show your support for these fabulous stars.”

The Citizens of Hollywood Have Been Gone Since the Pandemic

Like many businesses, Walt Disney World closed with the onset of the pandemic in March 2020. When its parks reopened with safety protocols in July of that year, most live entertainment was still missing. Though a sweep of favorite productions later returned, including Hollywood Studios’ own “Fantasmic!,” the Citizens of Hollywood remained — and still remain — absent.

A glimmer of hope for Citizens of Hollywood fans came in January 2022. On the Sunset Boulevard portion of the Walt Disney World Marathon race course, four familiar Citizens cheered on runners, captured by Disney Food Blog. An abundance of fans quote-tweeted excited messages at the news. The Citizens’ reappearance, though welcome, was sadly a one-time occurrence and not an indication of the Citizens’ imminent return to daily operations.

An Opening-Day Staple

The Citizens of Hollywood have been a staple of Disney’s Hollywood Studios since the park’s opening day. But don’t take our word for it. At timecode 1:56 in the clip below, you can see one of the Citizens, a reporter character, interact with Florida Governor Bob Martinez during Fox 13 Tampa Bay’s broadcast from May 1, 1989.

On opening day, the Orlando Sentinel interviewed Randy Printz, project director for the park. Printz spoke of the design team’s intentions for the romanticized Hollywood that greeted guests at the park entrance.

“We consciously set out to let people live out a fantasy,” Printz said. “We want to immerse you in that belief that you’ve landed in Hollywood in the Golden Age.”

While much of Disney’s Hollywood Studios has changed significantly since 1989, Printz’s sentiment for Hollywood Boulevard remains. The area still visually looks like it did on opening day, and embodies the same spirit it designers strived for. Now, though, the area is missing the very component that pulled off the magic trick for everything else. Without the Citizens of Hollywood, guests encounter a street rather than a community.

For those who never got to see the Citizens of Hollywood in action, it’s difficult to overstate how prevalent the performers were to guests’ experience. By the mid-2010s, the Orlando Sentinel reported over two dozen Citizens populated the front half of the park. In 2016, Disney reduced the troupe to 19, an unfortunate decision but the Citizens still remained a lively ensemble. In her petition, Corson describes the Citizens as the heart of Hollywood Studios. They interacted with guests — and each other — in ways that made visitors participants in the park’s atmosphere rather than just observers of it.

Relive the Citizens’ Talent and Sign the Petition

If you’d like to relive some funny Citizens of Hollywood memories — or become acquainted with their eclectic personalities for the first time — take a stroll through Hollywood Studios history via our YouTube archives below. Just don’t let the videos distract you from signing the petition.

You never knew what antics you might see the Citizens of Hollywood rope guests into on Hollywood Boulevard. Here, several of them conduct an ECV race between two guests riding electronic scooters.

In this video from 2011, meet Stone Granite and Evie Starlight. The pair asks two guests celebrating their marriage to re-enact their proposal for everyone.

Within the Citizens of Hollywood’s fictional backstory, some performances were broadcast on “radio” and “recorded” live in front of guests. During the holiday season, one such broadcast was the Hollywood Glee Club singing Christmas songs with their own chaotic flair. Here’s a clip from 2018 of Beau Wrangler conducting Betty Shambles and others in the Glee Club in which Beau fills in for the previous year’s leader, who was struck by lightning. “He was such a good conductor,” Beau laments.

A highlight of any day in Hollywood Studios was the “Funniest Citizen” competition, often held at the end of the day. Performers asked the crowd to name random objects, and the Citizens cracked jokes about that object on the spot. Sometimes the subject would be common, like “pencil” or “football.” Other times, the actors’ work was cut out for them, such as when a guest suggested “communion wafers” and the Citizens hilariously followed suit. After a few rounds of this, guests would vote on who they thought was the funniest Citizen of Hollywood. Here’s a performance from 2017.

Sign the Citizens of Hollywood Petition

Click here to sign the petition and voice your support for Disney to bring back the Citizens of Hollywood to the streets of Disney’s Hollywood Studios.