Is the clock ticking on the Sorcerer Mickey Hat icon at the Studios? YES!

[Figment632]

Thank you for putting into words what I had been thinking about for a while but couldn't figure out how to say. Disney's audience in the U.S. these days is not the ones that we grew up with 20-30 years ago. I am tired of hearing that the wand and hat are "more Disney" than without them. Clearly they don't know Walt as well as they think, and they say "it all started with a mouse" but Walt didn't put Mickey everywhere. He designed an entire city plan that had nothing to do with any of his cartoons.

That's why I said that for several reasons, a park like DisneySea would not be well received if it was built the same way here as it is in Tokyo. The pixie dust people wouldn't understand it

Well put these are the same people that love Nemo in the Sea's and think that its ok to make every attraction based off of a film.

 

[PhilharMagician]

The hat may be going!!:sohappy: If they need help I will grab my toolbelt and be on the next plane!!:lookaroun


It was so much better when you walked into the park and looked down the street at the Chinese Theater. Makes more sense for a movie park to me. Oh now I got to go dig out my old pics!!

How long has that damn hat been there anyway?

 

[Expo_Seeker40]

I'm having hat removal doubts. How do we really know they are going to remove this soon, when it was the Imagineers were just working the mostly Fanboi crowd during the presentation? :shrug

74 (bless him :sohappy helped me understand the sweatshirt mom crowd. These people, increasing by the bus/tram load...go to a Disney park and can't comprehend something unless it has a pixi dust or pixar reference to it. They have no problem with generalized branding, and Disney can get away with doing subpar things because the average guest will think it's great....the "oh they'll love it" approach. :lookaroun

 

[jt04]

Good:
Great Movie Ride

Bad:
The Hat
The Wand
Journey into YOUR Imagination
Tiki Room Under New Management
Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor
Stitch's Great Escape
Sounds Dangerous
O' Canada (with Martin Short)
The unfinished refurbishment of SpaceShip Earth

Toss-up:
The Seas with Nemo and Friends
Grand Fiesta Tour

Lifted from Another Park:
Soarin'
Lights, Motors Action

...just my opinion. Jacobson has done more bad than good...and a lot of good people have been laid off while he gets to keep a huge paycheck.

I don't actually think Eric is a bad guy. But he has been the lead Art Director and main creative lead for WDW since 1994 (except for Animal Kingdom, that's Joe Rohde). He has bee a Tom Fitzgerald yes-man for all that time. He could have stood up to Tom, like Joe Rohde did at Animal Kingdom, Tony Baxter did at Disneyland, and Joe Lanzisero did at Tokyo Disneyland. But he did not. Eric does what he is told, he does not stand up for what is right. He knows not to mix stripes with plaids and he knows what color compliments John Hench purple, but he does not lead.

He was given his high position because he always does what he is told. This includes shifting blame to people he bosses don't like when his projects prove to be failures.

Well Orangebird you have made the first coherent case for what has been wrong at WDW IMO. So many management names get thrown out there as the "problem" that it is impossible to tell if someone is making a good case or they are just "axe grinding". And others who trash everything TDO does have lost all credibility with me. But your list is pretty damning and really seems to point to a major problem in the way business is done at WDW. Hopefully folks like Iger/Lasseter/Rohde etc can get things back on track. Thanks for finally making things a bit more clear.

The only thing I disagree with you on is the Nemo overlay at Seas. I thought that was an improvement but......barely.

*Runs away to avoid the Epcot Centerites*

 

[jt04]

The wand was hideous, just as leave a legacy is hideous. The hat itself is not nice and is just an eleborate pin shop.



False, a bad attraction is a bad attraction.

Uh oh. We agree on both points. :lookaroun

Help! I've been hypnotized by 74 or something!:dazzle:

 

[RiversideBunny]

..... we don't like the placement of the Hat. The Hat itself is quite nice, it's just a poor location .....

Yes.
They should relocate the Hat to just outside the park entrance.

 

[jt04]

Yes.
They should relocate the Hat to just outside the park entrance.

I agree, just like they relocated the wand just outside the entrance to Epcot :lookaroun:lol:



:wave:

 

[marni1971]

How long has that damn hat been there anyway?

It `opened` late 2001.

 

[imagineer boy]

Yes.
They should relocate the Hat to just outside the park entrance.

I agree, I think that would be a better location but it would also work as a winnie for the Animation Courtyard area. Either one is good.

Does anyone else think that they should relocate the Earful tower too so that its more noticable as the park's icon as people enter the park?

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

I'm having hat removal doubts. How do we really know they are going to remove this soon, when it was the Imagineers were just working the mostly Fanboi crowd during the presentation? :shrug

Nope. I think if they said it publicly, it's going to happen. Like a PR.

 

[WDW1974]

Good:
Great Movie Ride

Bad:
The Hat
The Wand
Journey into YOUR Imagination
Tiki Room Under New Management
Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor
Stitch's Great Escape
Sounds Dangerous
O' Canada (with Martin Short)
The unfinished refurbishment of SpaceShip Earth

Toss-up:
The Seas with Nemo and Friends
Grand Fiesta Tour

Lifted from Another Park:
Soarin'
Lights, Motors Action

...just my opinion. Jacobson has done more bad than good...and a lot of good people have been laid off while he gets to keep a huge paycheck.

I am by no means an Eric apologist. But again, I can't blame him for the hat and wand. Everything I've been told has said that TDO and Burbank wanted big, relatively cheap, tacky centerpieces for their marketing campaigns. Was he not supposed to design them?

And wasn't he lead designer on BB? That's a pretty major significant quality addition to WDW. Didn't he also ride herd on Mansion's big time upgrade?

And whether you like Soarin (I do) or LMA (I don't), they are quality additions that again weren't in his control when they were added as part of WDW stealing (or trying to) DL's 50th B-Day.

Wasn't Tom Fitzgerald responsible for Tiki Room? The reason I have often referred to it as 'Tiki Room Under Tom Fitzgerald's Management' is because of how I've heard WDI-types mock it.

As to Stich's Great Belchoff, I heard Rick Rothschild, and budget issues, was largely responsible for that mess.

Again, I'm not looking to defend the guy. He isn't the best WDI has by any stretch.

 

[SirGoofy]

Wasn't Tom Fitzgerald responsible for Tiki Room? The reason I have often referred to it as 'Tiki Room Under Tom Fitzgerald's Management' is because of how I've heard WDI-types mock it.

As to Stich's Great Belchoff, I heard Rick Rothschild, and budget issues, was largely responsible for that mess.

You're right on those two points.:wave:

 

[DisneyMusician2]

Nope. I think if they said it publicly, it's going to happen. Like a PR.

Well now that they've ripped pu the backlot tour to a spectacular degree, I think moving the tower might not be such a bad idea, if such a thing were even possible. I'm not sure it is.

 

[Lucky]

They're replacing the hat with a giant bust of Zac Efron. Now how many of you want to get rid of the hat?

 

[SirGoofy]

They're replacing the hat with a giant bust of Zac Efron. Now how many of you want to get rid of the hat?

:lol:

If anything it would be Miley Cyrus.

 

[marni1971]

Well now that they've ripped pu the backlot tour to a spectacular degree, I think moving the tower might not be such a bad idea, if such a thing were even possible. I'm not sure it is.

It`s very possible; unlike real studio towers for holding fire fighting water, the DHS version is empty and purely for show.

 

[WDW1974]

I'm having hat removal doubts. How do we really know they are going to remove this soon, when it was the Imagineers were just working the mostly Fanboi crowd during the presentation? :shrug

74 (bless him :sohappy helped me understand the sweatshirt mom crowd. These people, increasing by the bus/tram load...go to a Disney park and can't comprehend something unless it has a pixi dust or pixar reference to it. They have no problem with generalized branding, and Disney can get away with doing subpar things because the average guest will think it's great....the "oh they'll love it" approach. :lookaroun

Again, just go back to the post I pulled from Micechat.

Disney has conditioned/developed/nurtured a whole set of fans who are diametrically opposed to those of us who were conditioned/developed/nurtured from say 1955-1996 (or so).

What the 'new' group of fans believe is Disney quality is something very different from what the rest of us grew up with. It's sad that even the newbies who do get it only know 'old Disney' from DVDs, pics, our accounts ... oh ... and pins and retro merchandise.

'New' fans think Disney is about giant cartoon hats, character meals everwhere, Hidden Mickeys, pin lanyards etc ... Al Lutz has called them Defenders of Mediocrity and I'd largely agree.

 

[devoy1701]

Well now that they've ripped pu the backlot tour to a spectacular degree, I think moving the tower might not be such a bad idea, if such a thing were even possible. I'm not sure it is.

I agree, I think that would be a better location but it would also work as a winnie for the Animation Courtyard area. Either one is good.

Does anyone else think that they should relocate the Earful tower too so that its more noticable as the park's icon as people enter the park?

I think a water tower in the center of the park would look kind of dumb. And I also think that The Hat is too large for an Animation Courtyard Weenie or for the entrance of the park. The Hat looks fine and IMO would be fine if they were to just get rid of the Pin Station underneath. There is no reason The Hat needs to be anything besides The Hat.

Again, just go back to the post I pulled from Micechat.

Disney has conditioned/developed/nurtured a whole set of fans who are diametrically opposed to those of us who were conditioned/developed/nurtured from say 1955-1996 (or so).

What the 'new' group of fans believe is Disney quality is something very different from what the rest of us grew up with. It's sad that even the newbies who do get it only know 'old Disney' from DVDs, pics, our accounts ... oh ... and pins and retro merchandise.

'New' fans think Disney is about giant cartoon hats, character meals everwhere, Hidden Mickeys, pin lanyards etc ... Al Lutz has called them Defenders of Mediocrity and I'd largely agree.

Nothing wrong with enjoying Hidden Mickeys, collecting pins, or my Mickey Santa Ears that I wear at the parks during the holidays. Not all marketing schemes are bad ones.

 

[Figment632]

Why not put it some where in DTD?

 

[marni1971]

I think a water tower in the center of the park would look kind of dumb.

It dosn`t need to be in the center; look where WDSP's tower is.