DHS Hypothetical Question

[HMF]

A thought occurred to me. I know in an ideal world The hat would have been removed and GMR would have stayed but I was wondering would you rather have GMR with the Hat or M&M:RR without the hat. I know the two are completely un-related but I was just wondering .

 

[GlacierGlacier]

Personal anecdote:

I'm 18. I used to visit the parks annually with my family when I lived out of state, but now that I live here I visit almost monthly.

I could not ever remember a time before the hat.

For me, the hat was a constant in the park, with it always being at the end of Hollywood Boulevard. I barely even knew the theater was back there.

But the first visit I took since they removed the hat totally blew me away.

The perspective you experience when walking down Hollywood Boulevard towards the Chinese Theater is, in my opinion, more powerful than the Magic Kingdom's castle. It still knocks me off of my feet every time I walk into the park. That view is so, so much more iconic to me than that garbage hat ever was.

 

[DisneyFreak]

I'd sacrifice the GMR for the removal of the hat. The hat never belonged.

 

[BasiltheBatLord]

Save GMR. Call me a hat sympathizer if you want, I always kind of liked it, although I totally understand that it ruined the sightlines of the Blvd. I wish they would have moved the hat somewhere else.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

I'd sacrifice the GMR for the removal of the hat. The hat never belonged.

But GMR is the park’s heart.

Or was

 

[CaptainAmerica]

The cast members ruined the Great Movie Ride a long time ago. They did an extremely poor job finding cast members who fit their assigned roles.

 

[DisneyFreak]

The cast members ruined the Great Movie Ride a long time ago. They did an extremely poor job finding cast members who fit their assigned roles.

I wholeheartedly agree with this! The ride was definitely not what it once was. We were there a mere month after it opened in 1989 and waited 2.5 hours in line for the ride and it was totally worth it.

If DHS had kept it's actual theme as a working studio and theme park I may have tolerated the hat to keep the GMR

 

[Bartledvd]

Miss the hat can get a pic of the theater else where in the world but no more hat anywhere. Miss GMR it was a favorite of ours.

 

[ppete1975]

id sacrifice that tired gmr (which if you rode for the first time in its last few years, you were very meh) for anything. It was tired, in my opinion felt cheap even for its time, and unless they had came in and redone all of it (cleaned, better animatronics, better sets) to me it wasn't worth saving (nostalgia and personal memories is why people care, that's also why I was sad about energy the centrorium and wom being gone .. and the shift from classic Epcot). I'm also excited for mickey, this feels more like Disney and is what WDW should have more of. On a separate note, when I was a kid and even now I see all of the IP and non IP and I'm like wheres mickey Donald and pluto??? When I went for the first time I expected a lot more classic characters, so this to me is a great addition!! Sorry I rambled.

 

[PorterRedkey]

I hate the hat! I love(d) GMR!!!!!!

Removing GMR, was akin to removing Horizons from EPCOT Center. GMR was the thesis statement for DHS like Horizons was for EPCOT. GMR celebrated movies in a Hollywood park. There is not more of a perfect fit than that. Unfortunately, we will not see a ride like this from Disney again. The long-form dark rides I loved from my youth are all slowly fading away.

If they would have refurbed GMR, keep the hat! If they would have kept the hat and let GMR rot, bring on Mickey!

The sad truth, for many, is MRR will be an improvement over GMR. Maybe not by scope or scale, but definitely the tech and tricks used to tell the story.

This never had to happen as it has been said many times before. Mickey to Animation. Refurb of GMR. Too bad Disney is hurting for money these days.

 

[999th Happy Haunt]

The Great Movie Ride I loved had been long gone by the time it closed forever. The TCM refurb ruined it for me.

 

[Goofyernmost]

It's really easy to be on the winning side when we vote on something that already has happened. In case, you didn't figure it out, I voted for getting rid of the hat and putting in a new ride. The hat had nothing to do with the ride, but, it had everything to do with the sight line that seeing the theater created. Guess what... it's back.

 

[rnese]

I didn't hate the hat. I hated it's location. Possibly it should have been at the top of the hill as sort of a walk-through to enter Fantasmic, or outside the entrance of the park.

 

[Kman101]

I didn't hate the hat. I hated it's location. Possibly it should have been at the top of the hill as sort of a walk-through to enter Fantasmic, or outside the entrance of the park.

Same. If the hat were outside the entrance or as a walk-through to enter Fantasmic I would have been fine with it. It's location was wrong. Now if say Disney plopped it down at the Studios in Paris it'd probably be an improvement ... or if they created a new movie based park with the hat as the icon.

It's really ironic though. They tear down the hat and now they're putting Mickey in the building his hat blocked for over a decade. LOL. I know those things don't go hand and hand but it's still (in a sad way) amusing. The location would still be terrible but it'd make sense now. Go figure. (Please no one take that as me championing the hat coming back; it's just an ironic situation)

 

[Goofyernmost]

Same. If the hat were outside the entrance or as a walk-through to enter Fantasmic I would have been fine with it. It's location was wrong. Now if say Disney plopped it down at the Studios in Paris it'd probably be an improvement ... or if they created a new movie based park with the hat as the icon.

It's really ironic though. They tear down the hat and now they're putting Mickey in the building his hat blocked for over a decade. LOL. I know those things don't go hand and hand but it's still (in a sad way) amusing. The location would still be terrible but it'd make sense now. Go figure. (Please no one take that as me championing the hat coming back; it's just an ironic situation)

Why, oh why, are you championing the hat coming back???? Ugggg!

 

[Club34]

i could be wrong [and i'm wrong a lot] but i think the new mickey railroad ride is going to be a classic. obviously not a an E ticket, but classic disney magic. i mean if they're going to put in IP then put OG IP.

 

[WDWTank]

Same. If the hat were outside the entrance or as a walk-through to enter Fantasmic I would have been fine with it. It's location was wrong. Now if say Disney plopped it down at the Studios in Paris it'd probably be an improvement ... or if they created a new movie based park with the hat as the icon.

It's really ironic though. They tear down the hat and now they're putting Mickey in the building his hat blocked for over a decade. LOL. I know those things don't go hand and hand but it's still (in a sad way) amusing. The location would still be terrible but it'd make sense now. Go figure. (Please no one take that as me championing the hat coming back; it's just an ironic situation)

I heard it wasn’t in the place originally intended, and I heard from “multiple sources” that there was supposed to be a ride in there.

 

[Magic Feather]

I heard it wasn’t in the place originally intended, and I heard from “multiple sources” that there was supposed to be a ride in there.

Originally, it was going to be placed outside what we currently know as the park entrance, with two Ferris wheels flanking the hat, like Mickey ears, but decorated as film reels:

 

[Sir_Cliff]

Same. If the hat were outside the entrance or as a walk-through to enter Fantasmic I would have been fine with it. It's location was wrong. Now if say Disney plopped it down at the Studios in Paris it'd probably be an improvement ... or if they created a new movie based park with the hat as the icon.

I really didn't like the hat, nor the giant Mickey wand at Epcot which slightly preceded it. When people become nostalgic for Eisner, I think they'd do well to look back to this era when Disney seemed to be actively setting out to ruin their parks by sticking giant "things" over the park icons that stuck around for years, and years, and years. Disney theme parks should be better than amusement parks with giant "Disney" things around in the style of the AoA resort.

As for the WDS Paris, I far prefer the smaller Sorcerer's Apprentice hat integrated into their (otherwise pretty useless) animation building. That at least looks like an organic architectural element that echoes the actual WDFA building. The BAH was just a giant metal hat with Mickey's severed hand alongside for no particular reason. I don't think it was even very attractive.

 

[Winter]

I'd take the hat if it means we get both TGMR and Runaway Railway (in a different spot)

I never hated the hat though, so...