This is very true. USF was built as both a theme park and a movie studio backlot... a backlot which was designed for actual use (regardless of how the industry never fully embraced FL). So design quirks like Central Park being over near Hollywood and Cafe La Bamba were intentional. If you were filming in the NY section by where Starbucks is now, the camera would capture across the water and thus Central Park was meant to be caught on camera as looking like NY, not Hollywood. Some simple set dress and signage changes and the USF "Central Park" could be made to look like somewhere in Hollywood. It was all for filming purposes. Other examples: The buildings on the waterfront in NY are intentionally designed in similar architectural styles to San Francisoo... in case you were filming in USF's SF area and the camera pointed towards NY. Ever wonder why the building atop the old Disaster exit (now where the SF and London transition is) says "Amity" and was wood? Because back in the day when Amity was around, the camera needed a New England style building in the background when filming in Amity.
Today, that design choice is creating thematic issues for USF as UDX is now focused on hyper-theming and immersion. The very premise of USF being a backlot has seemingly been abandoned as part of the theme park language they use with guests today. Back in the day, we couldn't even refer to USF as a "Theme park" or "park"... it was always the "Studio". Even tickets were not tickets, they were a "Studio Pass". Look up the original blue and white admission media, it's printed right on it. It seems all of the original park concept has been abandoned and a new design "language" has yet to emerge... or hopefully, is a long-term goal of the new design regime as they transform USF bit by bit. I'm sure there is still an internal struggle between the parks side of things and the production side which still offers the "backlot" for production. Will be interesting to see where things go design-wise as more opportunities to transform areas at USF arise.